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The October Hill Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The October Hill 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.

$248k
Granted FY2022
14
Grants FY2022
8
States reached
$68k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

52% of The October Hill Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Charities Aid Foundation America, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2022, the last year The October Hill Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 11 organizations, $248k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

13
’17
9
’18
10
’19
7
’20
10
’21
11
’22
6
’23
4
’24
0
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

International$878kEnvironment$757kArts & Culture$176kAnimals$161kHuman Services$146kFood & Nutrition$115kEducation$100kPublic Safety & Disaster$5kOther$0
02FY2022 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2022

  • Under $10k4 grants · $20k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $160k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $68k
$10,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$8k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA$67,659
GALAPOGOS CONSERVANCY$40,000
DAILY BREAD FOOD PANTRY$25,000
REVIVE THE ROOTS$25,000
OIKONOS$20,000
MONARCH BUTTERFLY FUND$10,000
WORLD REPAIR PLANTING FOUNDATION INC$10,000
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION$10,000
DANBURY ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY INC$10,000
FRIENDS OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY$10,000
NEWTOWN CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH$5,000
FERAL CATS OF EAST WINDOSR INC$5,000
NEWTOWN VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE ASSOC INC$5,000
YELLOWSTONE TO YUKON CONSERVATION INITIATIVE$5,000
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 (FY17–21, $102k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 2% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%BEAVER INST INC: $2k → 12%REGIONAL YMCA OF WESTERN CT: $100k → 9%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

ME
WA
MT
WI
NY
MA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
KY
VA
MD
DC
HI
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 34% of The October Hill Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 39% of the giving stays in CT; by stated purpose, 37%.

The October Hill Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 19 repeat orgs$548k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +43% since the first grant, against +22% for those funded once.

19 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2022, 10 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call). Read against FY2022, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
19

Total granted

$1.1M
$416k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+43%
+22%

Still filing today

68%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $50k 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
EnvironmentEducationAnimalsArts & CultureHuman ServicesFood & 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 WILDLIFE FUND INC
    4× · 2018–2021 · $116k · revenue +43%
  • NW
    NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION
    7× · 2017–2024 · $61k · revenue +72%
  • MB
    MONARCH BUTTERFLY FUND
    6× · 2017–2024 · $48k · revenue +17%

Funded once

  • RY
    REGIONAL YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN CONNECTICUT INC
    one grant, 2017 · $100k · revenue +5%
  • AI
    AMERICAN IRELAND FUND dba THE IRELAND FUNDS AMERICA
    one grant, 2020 · $59k
  • TS
    TOWER SCHOOL
    one grant, 2017 · $50k
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
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
2
Global Forest Generation

Global Forest Generation restores and protects forest ecosystems in partnership with grassroots leaders and local communities across vast landscapes which play a critical role in preserving water, protecting biodiversity, storing carbon,…

Environment
3
Fauna & Flora International Usa Inc

Our mission is to act to conserve threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take into account human needs.

Philanthropy
4
Natura Bolivia Foundation

The Natura Bolivia Foundation is dedicated to implementing, and evaluating the impact of conservation and development programs, with a focus on watershed conservation, protected areas, and incentive based conservation in Bolivia. We work…

International
5
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
6
Int'l Union for Conservation of Nature & Natural Resources - Us

Iucn-us fund builds bridges between us donors and iucn by catalyzing, accelerating, funding and promoting iucn's work - conserving nature and natural resources in the united states and throughout the world.

Environment
7
Rainforest Alliance Inc

RA works at the intersection of business, agriculture & forests to improve lives & protect nature by transforming how land is used, production of goods & consumer choices.

—
8
Land Conservancy of Ridgefield Inc

The Land Conservancy of Ridgefield, Inc. ("the Land Conservancy"), founded in 1967, preserves and protects, for the general benefit of the public, Ridgefield, Connecticut's natural resources including land and water resources, the plant…

Environment
9
The Quebec-Labrador Foundation Inc

The program mission of the quebec-labrador foundation u.s. is defined by a regional component (new england and eastern canada), and an international component, which ties our regional model to a global conservation network. qlf's program…

Philanthropy
10
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
11
Nature and Culture International

Nature and culture international conserves biologically diverse landscapes in latin america, in concert with local cultures, for the well-being of the planet.

Environment
12
Natura International Inc

Natura International conserves rainforests and other key natural ecosystems and the endangered species they contain through creation of protected areas in collaboration with local governments and communities in Latin America. In this way…

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Galapagos Conservancy Inc; the most unlike its peers is GreenWood. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

31 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. 31 of the 48 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
31/31
Grantees still filing
26/31
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE AMERICAN IRELAND FUND (DBA THE IRELAND FUNDS AMERICA/THE IRELAND FUNDS): $167,833 · OtherTHE AMERICAN IRELAND FUND (DBA THE IRELAND FUNDS AM…GALAPAGOS CONSERVANCY INC: $140,000 · OtherGALAPAGOS CONSERVANCY INCGLOUCESTER COUNTRY NATURE CLUB: $110,000 · OtherGLOUCESTER COUNTRY NATURE CLUBGREEN TEAM INTERNATIONAL INC: $98,000 · OtherGREEN TEAM INTERNATIONAL INCAMERICAN IRELAND FUND dba THE IRELAND FUNDS AMERICA: $59,000 · OtherTOWER SCHOOL: $50,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $50,000 · OtherTHE CHARLTON SCHOOL: $44,000 · OtherHELP YOURSELF EDIBLES INC: $40,000 · OtherOIKONOS - ECOSYSTEM KNOWLEDGE: $40,000 · Other+21 more: $311,000 · Other+21 moreCHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA: $621,457 · PhilanthropyCHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMER…WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $116,000 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDL…MONARCH BUTTERFLY FUND: $48,000 · EnvironmentMONARCH BUT…NEWTOWN FOREST ASSOCIATION INC: $30,000 · EnvironmentNEWTOWN FOR…OLD-GROWTH FOREST NETWORK INC: $30,000 · EnvironmentOLD-GROWTH …YELLOWSTONE TO YUKON: $15,000 · EnvironmentYELLOWSTONE…+1 more: $500 · EnvironmentNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $60,500 · AnimalsDANBURY ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY: $60,000 · AnimalsALLIANCE FOR TOMPOTIKA CONSERVATION: $25,000 · AnimalsWOONASQUATUCKET VALLEY COMMUNITY BUILD INC: $130,000 · Community ImprovementREGIONAL YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN CONNECTICUT INC: $100,000 · Human Services+1 more: $2,000 · Human ServicesRevive the Roots: $25,000 · EducationECOEDUCATE INC: $20,000 · EducationFRIENDS OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY INC: $20,000 · EducationSWEET BRIAR INSTITUTE: $10,000 · Education
Other$1,109,833Philanthropy$621,457Environment$239,500Animals$145,500Community Improvement$130,000Human Services$102,000Education$75,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA: $621,457 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN IRELAND FUND (DBA THE IRELAND FUNDS AMERICA/THE IRELAND FUNDS): $167,833 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetGALAPAGOS CONSERVANCY INC: $140,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetWOONASQUATUCKET VALLEY COMMUNITY BUILD INC: $130,000 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $116,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetREGIONAL YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN CONNECTICUT INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $60,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetDANBURY ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY: $60,000 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetMONARCH BUTTERFLY FUND: $48,000 over 6y, 9.1% of budgetTHE CHARLTON SCHOOL: $44,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetOIKONOS - ECOSYSTEM KNOWLEDGE: $40,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetNEWTOWN FOREST ASSOCIATION INC: $30,000 over 2y, 29% of budgetOLD-GROWTH FOREST NETWORK INC: $30,000 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetFARM FRESH RHODE ISLAND INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetALLIANCE FOR TOMPOTIKA CONSERVATION: $25,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetRevive the Roots: $25,000 over 1y, 35% of budgetGreenWood: $25,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetDaily Bread An Ecumenical Food Pantry Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 9.0% of budgetECOEDUCATE INC: $20,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetFRIENDS OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetYELLOWSTONE TO YUKON: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FILM COLLABORATIVE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSWEET BRIAR INSTITUTE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEWTOWN CHILDRENS MUSEUM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOODSTOCK MUSEUM: $5,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetNEWTOWN VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBeaver Institute Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetNATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Jeniam FoundationFairfield County's Co…Ge Aerospace Foundati…The Blackbaud Giving …Vanguard Charitable E…The Pfizer Foundation…National Philanthropi…Network for GoodDonor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …American Online Givin…Amazonsmile Foundation
Jeniam FoundationCT15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jeniam Foundation · Fairfield County's Community Foundation Inc · Ge Aerospace Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Network for Good · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 October Hill Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The October Hill Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 30%
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 October Hill Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The October Hill 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 48 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on October Hill’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