Skip to content
The Richards Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Richards Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
18
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$505k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Environment$4.8MEducation$2.8MPhilanthropy$2.6MReligion$1.2MArts & Culture$519kHealth$339kInternational$275kScience & Tech$250kOther$0
02FY2024 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k6 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $70k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $525k
  • $250k+5 grants · $1.8M
$100,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$8.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COASTAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$505,000
SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN HIGHLANDS CONSERVANCY$500,000
ONE HUNDRED MILES INC$300,000
THE TELLURIDE FOUNDATION$270,000
TELLURIDE SCIENCE RESEARCH CENTER$250,000
THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA$225,000
DEPLOYUS INC$100,000
COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH$100,000
CARE$100,000
HOPEWAY FOUNDATION$25,000
HIGH MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE$25,000
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WEST GEORGIA$20,000
TELLURIDE MOUNTAIN CLUB$5,000
MUSC FOUNDATION$1,000
COASTAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA$1,000
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 (FY17–24, $52k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%OPEN HANDS UNITED CHRISTIAN MINISTRY: $50k → 13%CRISIS ASSISTANCE MINISTRY: $1k → 10%F3 FOUNDATION: $1k → 10%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

NH
WA
MT
WI
NY
MA
CT
CA
CO
VA
NC
SC
DC
GA
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 12% of The Richards Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Richards 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.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$8.8M · 33 repeat orgs$2.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +29% for those funded once.

33 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
44

Total granted

$8.8M
$2.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+29%

Still filing today

70%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $283k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentEducationArts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesPublic BenefitOther
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

  • OH
    One Hundred Miles Inc
    7× · 2018–2024 · $1.5M · revenue +22% · 26% of their budget
  • UO
    University of West Georgia Foundation Inc
    2× · 2019–2020 · $900k · revenue +9%
  • Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy
    4× · 2018–2024 · $800k · revenue +183%

Funded once

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA FOUND
    one grant, 2018 · $500k
  • CF
    COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $200k
  • TE
    TRINITY EPISCOPAL SCHOOL
    one grant, 2017 · $176k · revenue +4%
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
Climate Foundation

To research and develop healthy climate solutions comprising global food security, ecosystem regeneration and carbon balance in seas and soils.

Science & Tech
2
CarbonPlan

Improving the transparency and scientific integrity of climate solutions through open data and tools.

Environment
3
Coalition for Green Capital D/B/a American Green Bank Consortium

Cgc operates as a nonprofit financial institution that invests directly and through partners to transform financial markets by using public and private investing to accelerate the deployment of projects that strengthen the grid, reduce…

Environment
4
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
5
Climate Breakthrough Inc

To launch breakthrough climate mitigation efforts by identifying, supporting, and unleashing innovative leaders with transformative strategies.

Human Services
6
Climate Leadership Council Inc

To develop and promote a carbon dividends framework - based on carbon fees whose revenues are rebated to citizens through dividends - as the most cost-effective, equitable, and politically viable climate solution.

Environment
7
E3G Third Generation Environmentalism

E3g is a leading international not-for-profit think tank specialising in climate diplomacy harnessing expertise in the politics and economics of climate change.

Environment
8
Climate Catalyst Inc

Climate catalyst sparks collective action to tackle the biggest climate challenges we face today: cutting emissions in heavy industries.

Environment
9
Center for International Environmental Law Inc

To investigate, research, write, publish, present conferences and teach with respect to global, regional, transboundary, and comparative environmental issues and to make the findings from such activities available to the general public; to…

International
10
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
11
Cdp North America Inc

Cdp north america, inc. 's ("cdp-na") vision for the future is a thriving economy that works for people and planet in the long term. we focus investors and companies on taking urgent action to build a truly sustainable economy by measuring…

Environment
12
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Goodpower Education Fund Inc; the most unlike its peers is Open Hands United Christian Ministryinc. 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

62 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. 62 of the 88 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
61/62
Grantees still filing
46/62
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COVENANT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $1,177,000 · OtherCOVENANT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHTHE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $650,000 · OtherTHE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIAUNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA FOUND: $500,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA FOUNDCOASTAL CONSERVATION LEAGUE: $350,000 · OtherCOASTAL CONSERVATION LEAGUESOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER: $300,000 · OtherSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTERMASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: $250,000 · OtherTELLURIDE SCIENCE: $250,000 · OtherGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: $220,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $200,000 · OtherJournalism Funding Partners: $226,162 · Other+44 more: $1,111,077 · Other+44 moreOne Hundred Miles Inc: $1,460,000 · EnvironmentOne Hundred Miles IncSouthern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy: $800,000 · EnvironmentSouthern Appalachian Highlands Co…THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $700,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LANDDEPLOYUS INC: $250,000 · EnvironmentDEPLOYUS INCWINDWARD FUND: $150,000 · Environment+12 more: $621,850 · Environment+12 moreCOASTAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA INC: $1,225,500 · PhilanthropyCOASTAL COMMUNITY…ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $350,000 · PhilanthropyROCKEFELLER PHILA…DRAPER RICHARDS KAPLAN FOUNDATION: $250,000 · PhilanthropyDRAPER RICHARDS K…COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF W GEORGIA: $188,500 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDAT…University of West Georgia Foundation Inc: $900,000 · EducationUniversity…TRINITY EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $176,000 · EducationTRINITY EP…GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $100,887 · EducationGEORGE MAS…+5 more: $95,250 · Education+5 moreTELLURIDE FOUNDATION: $320,000 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $5,000 · Recreation & SportsCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $275,000 · InternationalPULITZER CENTER ON CRISIS REPORTING: $135,000 · Public BenefitFUND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT: $105,000 · Public Benefit
Other$5,234,239Environment$3,981,850Philanthropy$2,014,000Education$1,272,137Recreation & Sports$325,000International$275,000Public Benefit$240,000

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 budgetOne Hundred Miles Inc: $1,460,000 over 7y, 26% of budgetCOASTAL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA INC: $1,225,500 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetUniversity of West Georgia Foundation Inc: $900,000 over 2y, 6.8% of budgetSouthern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy: $800,000 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $700,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC: $350,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTELLURIDE FOUNDATION: $320,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetSOUTHERN ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER: $300,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $275,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTELLURIDE SCIENCE: $250,000 over 1y, 7.9% of budgetDEPLOYUS INC: $250,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetJournalism Funding Partners: $226,162 over 2y, 11% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF W GEORGIA: $188,500 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetTRINITY EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $176,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetWINDWARD FUND: $150,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetALLIANCE FOR YOUNG ARTISTS AND WRITERS INC: $135,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetPULITZER CENTER ON CRISIS REPORTING: $135,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetFUND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT: $105,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $100,887 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGOODPOWER EDUCATION FUND INC: $100,000 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetSUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE MILKEN INSTITUTE: $95,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGrist Magazine Inc: $80,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetGEORGIA FORESTWATCH INC: $75,000 over 5y, 7.5% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $68,850 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHopeWay Foundation: $65,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCITIZENS CLIMATE EDUCATION CORP: $60,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOPEN HANDS UNITED CHRISTIAN MINISTRYINC: $50,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetUNIVERSITY RADIO FOUNDATION INC: $42,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMyers Park High School Foundation Inc: $40,000 over 1y, 7.5% of budgetCHARLOTTE BALLET: $35,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCONSERVATIVES FOR CLEAN ENERGY INC: $30,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetUniversity of South Carolina Educational Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CONSERVATION COALITION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetHIGH MOUNTAIN INSTITUTE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE COMPANYINC: $20,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetMANOMET INC: $20,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetThe Preservation Society of Charleston Inc: $12,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCharleston Library Society: $10,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCatawba Lands Conservancy: $10,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSENIOR PHARMASSIST INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCHARLOTTE RESCUE MISSION: $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LIGHT FACTORY: $7,500 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetCARSON SARCOMA FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetTelluride Mountain Club: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPhilips Academy of North Carolina Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGilmer Community Food Pantry: $5,000 over 1y, 1.7% 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.

Foundation for the Ca…Green South Foundatio…Duke Energy FoundationThe Eleanor H Barnhar…PatagoniaorgCombined Jewish Phila…John D and Catherine …Z Smith Reynolds Foun…Gaylord and Dorothy D…Coastal Community Fou…United States Energy …Triangle Community Fo…
Foundation for the CarolinasNC26.1× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Foundation for the Carolinas · Green South Foundation Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · The Eleanor H Barnhardt Charitable Trust · Patagoniaorg · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Z Smith Reynolds Foundation Inc · Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation · Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina Inc · United States Energy Foundation · Triangle Community Foundation Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Manomet Inc: 12% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
19report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
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 Richards Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Richards 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 88 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Richards’ 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