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The Robert and Carol Adams Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Robert and Carol Adams 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.

$26k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$7k
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.

Health$82kScience & Tech$40kHuman Services$34kInternational$21kEducation$14kCommunity Improvement$10kFood & Nutrition$4kArts & Culture$4kOther$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$4,875
Median grant
4
States reached
$432k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION$6,500
UNBOUND NOW HOUSTON$4,875
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY$4,875
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN$3,250
BEST CHRISTMAS EVER$3,250
FEEDING AMERICA$3,250
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 (FY23–23, $2k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%UNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $2k → 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.
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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$188k · 13 repeat orgs$28k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
5

Total granted

$188k
$12k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+12%
+40%

Still filing today

77%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 38% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $16k 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
HealthArts & CultureEducationInternationalFood & NutritionScience & TechOther
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

  • AC
    AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
    7× · 2017–2025 · $40k · revenue +36%
  • PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC
    2× · 2017–2022 · $28k · revenue +12%
  • MM
    MARY MOON FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2017–2020 · $18k · revenue +11%

Funded once

  • LJ
    LAKE JOSEPHINE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCI
    one grant, 2018 · $4k
  • SE
    SPANISH EDUCATION FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $3k · revenue +71%
  • SO
    STAR OF HOPE MISSION
    one grant, 2017 · $2k · revenue -60%
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
Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy

Iatp works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems.

Food & Nutrition
2
Planned Parenthood Global Inc

To advance the planned parenthood mission internationally, including support for the provision and protection of sexual and reproductive health services and rights, and ensuring that all people have access to reproductive and sexual…

Health
3
Minnesota Medical Association

To be the leading voice of medicine to make minnesota the healthiest state and the best place to practice.

—
4
Healtheast Woodwinds Hospital

Fairview is driven to heal, discover, and educate for longer, healthier lives.

Health
5
Management Sciences for Health Inc

(msh) saves lives and improves the health of the world's poorest (see schedule o) and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.

International
6
Partners in Food Solutions

Improve the food value chain in developing countries by mobilizing corporate volunteers to share knowledge and expertise with small and growing food processors.

International
7
The Global FoodBanking Network

To nourish the world's hungry through uniting and advancing food banks.

International
8
Grand Itasca Clinic and Hospital

Provide quality, accessible, and valuable health care services via a hospital, home health agency, and clinic to the surrounding rural community.

Health
9
Food Forward Inc

Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.

Food & Nutrition
10
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
11
San Francisco Food Bank

To end hunger in san francisco and marin counties by soliciting food donations nationally, distributing this food to qualifying public service agencies and neighborhood pantries, advocating for improved government food programs, and…

—
12
Healtheast St John's Hospital

Fairview is driven to heal, discover, and educate for longer, healthier lives.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Evidence Action; the most unlike its peers is Spanish Education Fund. 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

18 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. 18 of the 22 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
13/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $28,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERIC…MARY MOON FOUNDATION INC: $18,000 · HealthMARY MOON FOUNDATION INCMedicine for Humanity: $16,000 · HealthMedicine for HumanityPhagebiotics Research Foundation: $14,000 · HealthPhagebiotics Research FoundationUNBOUND NOW HOUSTON INC: $30,875 · OtherUNBOUND NOW HOUSTON INCO F M P INC: $6,000 · OtherO F M P INCWE CAN RIDE INC: $6,000 · OtherWE CAN RIDE INCLAKE JOSEPHINE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCI: $4,000 · OtherLAKE JOSEPHINE IMPROVEMENT AS…BEST CHRISTMAS EVER INC: $3,250 · OtherBEST CHRISTMAS EVER INCLITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR: $3,000 · OtherSTAR OF HOPE MISSION: $2,000 · OtherUNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $2,000 · OtherAMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY: $40,375 · Science & TechAMERICAN CHEMICAL SOC…EVIDENCE ACTION: $18,000 · InternationalEVIDENCE AC…WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $3,250 · InternationalWORLD CENTR…AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $6,500 · EducationFAMILIES FORWARD LEARNING CENTER: $4,000 · EducationSPANISH EDUCATION FUND: $3,000 · Arts & CultureThe Pasadena Literary Alliance: $2,000 · Arts & CultureGRAND PERFORMANCES: $2,000 · Arts & CultureFeeding America: $3,250 · Food & NutritionSECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND: $1,000 · Food & Nutrition
Health$76,000Other$57,125Science & Tech$40,375International$21,250Education$10,500Arts & Culture$7,000Food & Nutrition$4,250

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 budgetAMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY: $40,375 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $28,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMARY MOON FOUNDATION INC: $18,000 over 4y, 21% of budgetEVIDENCE ACTION: $18,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMedicine for Humanity: $16,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetWE CAN RIDE INC: $6,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetFAMILIES FORWARD LEARNING CENTER: $4,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetBEST CHRISTMAS EVER INC: $3,250 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFeeding America: $3,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSPANISH EDUCATION FUND: $3,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetThe Pasadena Literary Alliance: $2,000 over 2y, 9.1% of budgetGRAND PERFORMANCES: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSTAR OF HOPE MISSION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND: $1,000 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.

California Community …Network for GoodAmerican Endowment Fo…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
California Community FoundationCA12× affinity4 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Community Foundation · Network for Good · American Endowment Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Robert and Carol Adams Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Robert and Carol Adams Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 Robert and Carol Adams Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Robert and Carol Adams 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 22 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 Robert and Carol Adams’ 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