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The Northern Lights Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Northern Lights Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$230k
Granted FY2025still arriving
21
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Environment$164kPublic Safety & Disaster$148kHealth$125kCivil Rights$107kHuman Services$86kArts & Culture$82kFood & Nutrition$81kInternational$55kOther$0
02FY2025 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $6k
  • $10k–50k19 grants · $224k
$10,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$4.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LEELANU CONSERVANCY$25,000
CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$20,000
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$19,000
FRIENDS IN DEED$10,000
SKAGIT VALLEY FOUNDATION$10,000
AMERICAN RED CROSS LA REGION$10,000
KEXP$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
MARFA PUBLIC RADIO KRTS$10,000
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$10,000
HOPI FOUNDATIONKUYI RADIO$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
CALIFORNIA FIRE FOUNDATION$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY21–25, $26k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 96% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%THE AFIYA CENTER: $1k → 14%BOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS: $4k → 16%AMERICAN RED CROSS LA REGION: $10k → 14%AFGHAN HEALTH INITIATIVE: $1k → 9%NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA: $10k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
NH
WA
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
OH
CA
UT
CO
AZ
NM
NC
DC
TX
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

56%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$559k · 23 repeat orgs$439k to everyone else

23 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 19 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
43

Total granted

$559k
$298k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+30%

Still filing today

70%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 33% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $141k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
InternationalCivil RightsHuman ServicesEnvironmentCrime & LegalFood & NutritionOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $103k · revenue +167%
  • Feeding America
    2× · 2020–2021 · $45k · revenue +40%
  • TA
    TRAVERSE AREA RECREATION & TRANSPORTATION TRAILS INC
    3× · 2021–2024 · $30k · revenue +177%

Funded once

  • SJ
    ST JOSEPH'S MERCY ANN ARBOR CANCER CENTER
    one grant, 2019 · $25k
  • WW
    WHEN WE ALL VOTE
    one grant, 2021 · $20k · revenue +405%
  • PP
    PLANNED PARENTHOOD (CHECK #000161)
    one grant, 2022 · $16k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
American Flood Coalition Inc

To drive transformational adaptation to protect communities across the country from higher seas, stronger storms, and more frequent flooding.

Environment
2
Food & Water Watch

Food & water watch conducts extensive research and public education to ensure the food and water we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced. so we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of…

Food & Nutrition
3
American Water Works Association

To promote public health, safety, and welfare through the improvement of the quality and quantity of drinking water and the development and furtherance of understanding of the problems relating thereto.

Public Benefit
4
Women Donors Network

Women donors network advances a just, equitable, and sustainable world through the power of philanthropy, women's leadership, and collective and individual action.

Philanthropy
5
The Water Research Foundation

The purpose of the water research foundation (wrf) is a definitive research organization to advance the science of all things water to better meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. to engage exclusively in…

Environment
6
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
7
International Women's Forum Inc

The mission of the international women's forum is to advance women's leadership worldwide. iwf takes direct action to achieve our mission in three important ways. connect: our convenings provide networking and cutting-edge content…

Education
8
Women's Foodservice Forum

Accelerate the advancement of women leaders in the food industry. we believe in limitless opportunity for all women.

Food & Nutrition
9
Fair Count Inc

Fair count builds long-term power within historically undercounted communities. with the census as our north star, we use every iteration of civic participation as a catalyst to build a more equitable democracy.

Community Improvement
10
American Gas Association

American gas association's (the association) mission is to develop and advocate for informed, innovative, and durable policy that fulfills our nation's energy needs, environmental aspirations and economic potential. we are committed to…

—
11
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
12
Center for Arms Control and

A nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to enhancing international peace and security in the 21st century, thereby retaining its focus on nuclear weapons but expanding to include other present emerging security threats.

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Indigenous Women Rising Indigeous Women Rising. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

44 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 44 of the 84 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
43/44
Grantees still filing
30/44
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Individual grant recipient: $50,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientPLANNED PARENTHOOD: $34,000 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOODTRAVERSE AREA RECREATION & TRANSPORTATION TRAILS INC: $30,000 · OtherTRAVERSE AREA RECREATION & TRANSPORTATION TRAILS INCST JOSEPH'S MERCY ANN ARBOR CANCER CENTER: $25,000 · OtherWHEN WE ALL VOTE: $20,000 · Other+51 more: $402,780 · Other+51 moreWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $102,500 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KIT…DIRECT RELIEF: $20,000 · InternationalDIRECT RELIEFMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $15,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRO…RAZOM INC: $10,000 · InternationalRAZOM INCOUTREACH INC: $8,000 · International+2 more: $6,500 · InternationalLEELANAU CONSERVANCY: $95,000 · EnvironmentLEELANAU CONS…PROTECT OUR WINTERS: $18,000 · EnvironmentPROTECT OUR W…+2 more: $7,500 · Environment+2 moreFeeding America: $45,000 · Food & NutritionEastWest Food Rescue: $9,000 · Food & NutritionVITAMIN ANGEL ALLIANCE INC: $4,000 · Food & NutritionAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $24,000 · Civil RightsSPREAD THE VOTE INC: $10,000 · Civil RightsMIDWEST ACCESS COALITION: $5,000 · Civil RightsTREVOR PROJECT INC: $3,000 · Civil RightsTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $3,000 · Civil RightsTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $3,000 · Civil RightsVIOLENCE POLICY CENTER: $20,000 · Crime & LegalEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $10,000 · Crime & LegalIN OUR OWN VOICE NATIONAL BLACK WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE AGENDA: $10,000 · Crime & LegalCALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,000 · PhilanthropyANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF NORTH CAROLINA: $4,000 · PhilanthropyFRIENDS OF BEECHWOOD CEMETERY INC: $3,000 · PhilanthropySEATTLE FOUNDATION: $2,000 · Philanthropy
Other$561,780International$162,000Environment$120,500Food & Nutrition$58,000Civil Rights$48,000Crime & Legal$40,000Philanthropy$34,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $102,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLEELANAU CONSERVANCY: $95,000 over 7y, 1.3% of budgetFeeding America: $45,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTRAVERSE AREA RECREATION & TRANSPORTATION TRAILS INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $24,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVIOLENCE POLICY CENTER: $20,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetPROTECT OUR WINTERS: $18,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHWEST HARVEST EMM: $12,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSPREAD THE VOTE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetCOMMON CAUSE EDUCATION FUND: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetIN OUR OWN VOICE NATIONAL BLACK WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE AGENDA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFARESTART: $10,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetREPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRAZOM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $9,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEastWest Food Rescue: $9,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOUTREACH INC: $8,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetYOSEMITE FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION WESTERN HEMISPHERE REGION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINDIGENOUS WOMEN RISING INDIGEOUS WOMEN RISING: $5,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetMIDWEST ACCESS COALITION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF NORTH CAROLINA: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGLEN CANYON INSTITUTE: $4,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetBOSTON HEALTH CARE FOR THE HOMELESS PROGRAM INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVITAMIN ANGEL ALLIANCE INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMICHIGAN LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $3,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTREVOR PROJECT INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSEATTLE FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWomen for Afghan Women Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMaris Place: $1,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetAFGHAN HEALTH INITIATIVE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

ImpactassetsincTides FoundationCommunity Foundation …Amalgamated Charitabl…Vanguard Charitable E…Shell USA Company Fou…Network for GoodJpmorgan Chase Founda…The Pfizer Foundation…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The Blackbaud Giving …Charities Aid Foundat…
ImpactassetsincMD13.4× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Impactassetsinc · Tides Foundation · Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Shell USA Company Foundation · Network for Good · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Northern Lights Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Northern Lights Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 8%
  • Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program Inc: 8% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Northern Lights Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Northern Lights Family Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 84 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Northern Lights Family’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home