Skip to content
The Players Alliance Inc at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

The Players Alliance Inc

Tpa's mission is to address baseball's systemic barriers to equity & inclusion by creating pathways to opportunities on and off the field for an undeniable pipeline of black talent.

$2.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
76
Grants FY2024still arriving
23
States reached
$187k
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, FY2023 to 2024.

Recreation & Sports$2.4MEducation$751kArts & Culture$453kYouth Development$417kHuman Services$105kCommunity Improvement$100kHealth$73kPhilanthropy$63kOther$0
02FY2024 · 76 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k16 grants · $88k
  • $10k–50k47 grants · $954k
  • $50k–250k13 grants · $1.1M
$15,000
Median grant
23
States reached
$15M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MBP HELPING HANDS INC$187,000
BRONX CHILDREN MUSEUM$167,500
JACKIE ROBINSON FOUNDATION INC$120,000
NEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL MUSEUM$100,000
NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME$75,000
BALTIMORE URBAN BASEBALL ASSOC$68,500
JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY$50,000
JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY$50,000
RESILIENCE PARTNERS$50,000
GRANDVIEW HIGH SCHOOL$50,000
BASEBALLGENERATIONS FOUNDATION$50,000
ALABAMA STATE UNIVERSITY$50,000
MARQUIS GRISSOM BASEBALL ASSOCIATION$50,000
YMCA OF METROPOLITAN ATLANTA INC$45,000
DEKANEY HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL BOSTER CLUB$44,000
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 (FY23–24, $125k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%THIS WEEKS INC-BUILDING CHAMPIONS OF CHARACTER: $5k → 18%YMCA OF METROPOLITAN ATLANTA INC: $45k → 13%LEAD CENTER FOR YOUTH: $75k → 13%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
WA
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
IA
PA
NJ
CA
MO
VA
MD
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
LA
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.

62%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.7M · 30 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

30 repeat relationships: 30 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 33 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

30
23

Total granted

$2.7M
$800k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+12%
+21%

Still filing today

57%
61%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $873k went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’23’24
Recreation & SportsEducationYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • NL
    NEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL MUSEUM INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $200k · revenue +72%
  • BU
    Baltimore Urban Baseball Association Inc
    2× · 2023–2024 · $154k · revenue +56% · 37% of their budget
  • TU
    Tuskegee University
    2× · 2023–2024 · $150k · revenue +13%

Funded once

  • CO
    CITY OF MONTGOMERY
    one grant, 2023 · $200k
  • GK
    GLOBAL KIDS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $125k · revenue +37%
  • TC
    THE CENTER FOR YOUTH AND FAMILY SOLUTIONS
    one grant, 2023 · $75k · revenue +21%
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
Mlb-Mlbpa Youth Development Foundation
Recreation & Sports
2
Icon Baseball Inc

Youth Education

—
3
Marauders Baseball Club

Youth Baseball league

—
4
Dragon Elite Baseball Club

National youth baseball competition.

Recreation & Sports
5
Rockets Baseball

To provide opportunities and exposure by competing at the highest levels in high school baseball. our aim is to help players further their athletic careers, while preparing them to make an immediate impact at the next level. we strive to…

—
6
Mayhem Baseball Corporation Nfp
Philanthropy
7
3UP 3DOWN Baseball Academy Inc

Baseball academy for youth

Recreation & Sports
8
Baseball King Academy Inc

Baseball academy

Arts & Culture
9
Falcons Baseball
—
10
Warren Park Youth Baseball League
Recreation & Sports
11
Junior Major League Inc

Youth Baseball Organization

Youth Development
12
Legacy Youth Sports Fellowship

Fostering youth sports and competition

Recreation & Sports
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Backfield in Motion; the most unlike its peers is Yankee Foundation. 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

48 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. 48 of the 86 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.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
44/48
Grantees still filing
25/48
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JACKIE ROBINSON FOUNDATION INC: $220,000 · OtherJACKIE ROBINSON FOUNDATION INCCITY OF MONTGOMERY: $200,000 · OtherCITY OF MONTGOMERYBOARD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA: $156,500 · OtherBOARD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMATRI-STATE YOUTH BASEBALL ACADEMY: $130,000 · OtherTRI-STATE YOUTH BASEBALL ACADEMYSAVE ONE FOUNDATION: $120,000 · OtherSAVE ONE FOUNDATIONNORTHWOOD BASEBALL LEAGUE INC: $110,000 · OtherNORTHWOOD BASEBALL LEAGUE INCECORSE PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $110,000 · OtherECORSE PUBLIC SCHOOLSJACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY: $100,000 · OtherSOUTHFIELD BASEBALL SHOWCASE: $75,000 · OtherFULL COUNT FOUNDATION: $70,000 · OtherKNIGHTS BASEBALL INC: $70,000 · Other+32 more: $640,000 · Other+32 moreMBP HELPING HANDS: $389,000 · Recreation & SportsMBP HELPING HANDSBaltimore Urban Baseball Association Inc: $154,000 · Recreation & SportsBaltimore Urban Baseball A…MGBA Inc: $100,000 · Recreation & SportsMGBA IncPITCCH IN FOUNDATION INC: $92,144 · Recreation & SportsPITCCH IN FOUNDATION INCTHE NATASHA WATLEY FOUNDATION: $45,000 · Recreation & SportsMENTORING VIABLE PROSPECTS: $40,000 · Recreation & Sports+12 more: $217,500 · Recreation & Sports+12 moreNEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL MUSEUM INC: $200,000 · Arts & CultureNEGRO LEAGU…BRONX CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $167,500 · Arts & CultureBRONX CHILD…NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM INC: $75,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL BA…Tuskegee University: $150,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY ACADEMY: $39,560 · EducationXAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA: $35,000 · EducationCOPPIN STATE UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION INC: $35,000 · EducationEdward Waters University Inc: $30,000 · EducationTHE EINSTEIN GROUP INC: $25,000 · EducationPhilander Smith College: $15,000 · Education+4 more: $18,500 · EducationGLOBAL KIDS INC: $125,000 · Youth DevelopmentBASEBALLGENERATIONS FOUNDATION: $65,000 · Youth DevelopmentFELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES: $35,000 · Youth DevelopmentCHICAGO BASEBALL AND EDUCATIONAL ACADEMY INC: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentJACKIE JOYNER KERSEE FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Youth DevelopmentIGNITE WORLDWIDE: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentTHE CENTER FOR YOUTH AND FAMILY SOLUTIONS: $75,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF METROPOLITAN ATLANTA (1361): $45,000 · Human ServicesTHIS WORKS INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesResilience Partners NFP: $100,000 · Community ImprovementLIFEDRIVEN FOUNDATION INC: $72,600 · Health
Other$2,001,500Recreation & Sports$1,037,644Arts & Culture$442,500Education$348,060Youth Development$275,000Human Services$125,000Community Improvement$100,000Health$72,600

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 budgetMBP HELPING HANDS: $389,000 over 2y, 52% of budgetJACKIE ROBINSON FOUNDATION INC: $220,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetNEGRO LEAGUES BASEBALL MUSEUM INC: $200,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetBRONX CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $167,500 over 2y, 6.6% of budgetBaltimore Urban Baseball Association Inc: $154,000 over 2y, 37% of budgetTuskegee University: $150,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBAL KIDS INC: $125,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetResilience Partners NFP: $100,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetMGBA Inc: $100,000 over 2y, 7.6% of budgetPITCCH IN FOUNDATION INC: $92,144 over 2y, 9.8% of budgetNATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM INC: $75,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR YOUTH AND FAMILY SOLUTIONS: $75,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLIFEDRIVEN FOUNDATION INC: $72,600 over 1y, 66% of budgetTHE NATASHA WATLEY FOUNDATION: $45,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF METROPOLITAN ATLANTA (1361): $45,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMENTORING VIABLE PROSPECTS: $40,000 over 2y, 28% of budgetUNIVERSITY ACADEMY: $39,560 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetXAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOPPIN STATE UNIVERSITY DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION INC: $35,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetFELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEdward Waters University Inc: $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWALK-OFF CHARITIES OF JAX INC: $30,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetDC GRAYS BASEBALL INC: $30,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetRon Papa Jack Jackson Baseball Foundation: $27,500 over 2y, 89% of budgetTHE BASEBALL INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCHICAGO BASEBALL AND EDUCATIONAL ACADEMY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 8.1% of budgetTHE EINSTEIN GROUP INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAT BAT INC: $20,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetCAROLINAS METRO INC: $20,000 over 1y, 8.7% of budgetJACKIE JOYNER KERSEE FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBECKUM STAPLETON LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL: $15,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetRADCLIFFE'S YOUTH SPORTS ORGANIZATION: $15,000 over 1y, 8.8% of budgetBACKFIELD IN MOTION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetJOSH GIBSON FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetBASEBALL BEYOND BORDERS: $10,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetRISE 2 GREATNESS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetTONY GWYNN LEGACY EAST: $10,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetIGNITE WORLDWIDE: $10,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetDWIGHT-ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBROOKLYN DREAMS CHARTER SCHOOL: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHIS WORKS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPURPOSE BUILT SCHOOLS ATLANTA INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMURRAY STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $3,500 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.

Dick's Sporting Goods…Good Sports IncTickets for Kids Foun…Major League Baseball…MLB-MLBPA Youth Devel…Strada Education Foun…Rochester Area Commun…The Chicago Community…T Rowe Price Program …Enterprise Holdings F…The Pfizer Foundation…Verizon Foundation
Dick's Sporting Goods FoundationPA25.6× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation · Good Sports Inc · Tickets for Kids Foundation · Major League Baseball Charities Inc · MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation · Strada Education Foundation Inc · Rochester Area Community Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · T Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving Inc · Enterprise Holdings Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Verizon 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 Players Alliance Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Players Alliance Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • Edward Waters University Inc: 11% of income from government
  • The Baseball Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
16report 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 Players Alliance Inc?

Find your warmest path to The Players Alliance Inc 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 86 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Players Alliance’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