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The Seed Fund Grants Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Seed Fund Grants Inc

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.

$464k
Granted FY2025still arriving
28
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Environment$1.4MCommunity Improvement$447kRecreation & Sports$180kScience & Tech$140kPublic Benefit$140kCivil Rights$125kPhilanthropy$85kFood & Nutrition$75kOther$0
02FY2025 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $19k
  • $10k–50k21 grants · $395k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$20,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$9.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BRONX RIVER ALLIANCE$50,000
SHARED-USE MOBILITY CENTER$40,000
TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES$30,000
AMERICAN FORESTS$25,000
OPEN PLANS$23,000
CLIMATE RIDE$22,326
EL PUENTE$20,000
RIDERS ALLIANCE FUND INC$20,000
STREET LAB INC$20,000
REGIONAL PLAN ASSOCIATION$20,000
Individual grant recipient$20,000
TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND$20,000
RIDERS ALLIANCE$20,000
ISLAND PRESS$20,000
Individual grant recipient$15,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 47% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%CLIMATE RIDE: $36k → 9%THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $20k → 22%MARIN AGRICULTURAL LAND TRUST: $20k → 8%GREENBELT ALLIANCE: $20k → 10%RIDERS ALLIANCE: $35k → 17%BRONX RIVER ALLIANCE: $50k → 28%USDN: $25k → 6%CLIMATE RIDE: $22k → 9%TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $20k → 22%RIDERS ALLIANCE: $20k → 17%BRONX RIVER ALLIANCE: $25k → 28%AMERICAN FORESTS: $25k → 14%USDN: $20k → 6%THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $20k → 10%TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES: $30k → 17%NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN: $25k → 28%AMERICAN FORESTS: $25k → 14%THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $20k → 10%TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES: $20k → 17%AMERICAN FORESTS: $20k → 14%MARIN COUNTY BICYCLE COALITION: $20k → 8%THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $20k → 10%TRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES: $20k → 17%AMERICAN FORESTS: $20k → 14%GREENLINING INSTITUTE: $20k → 10%THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $20k → 10%RIDERS ALLIANCE FUND INC: $20k → 17%EL PUENTE: $20k → 20%TRANSFORM: $20k → 10%SHARED-USE MOBILITY CENTER: $40k → 14%EL PUENTE: $20k → 20%CLIMATE PLAN: $20k → 10%SHARED-USE MOBILITY CENTER: $20k → 14%STREET LAB INC: $20k → 20%SHARED USE MOBILITY CENTER: $20k → 14%CARBON CYCLE INSTITUTE: $20k → 8%ISLAND PRESS: $25k → 14%ISLAND PRESS: $25k → 14%ISLAND PRESS: $20k → 14%TRI-STATE TRANSPORTATION: $20k → 17%TRI-STATE TRANSPORTATION: $20k → 17%TRI-STATE TRANSPORTATION: $20k → 17%OPEN PLANS: $23k → 17%OPEN PLANS: $20k → 17%REGIONAL PLAN ASSOCIATION: $20k → 17%SAN FRANCISCO WALDORF SCHOOL: $34k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $25k → 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
MT
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
PA
CA
CO
VA
DC
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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.5M · 51 repeat orgs$601k to everyone else

51 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 37 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

51
43

Total granted

$2.5M
$531k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
+42%

Still filing today

78%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $71k 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
EnvironmentArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementEducationYouth DevelopmentAnimalsOther
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

  • CR
    CLIMATE RIDE INC
    8× · 2017–2025 · $133k · revenue +15%
  • THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND
    6× · 2017–2025 · $120k · revenue +109%
  • American Forests
    6× · 2019–2025 · $91k · revenue +253%

Funded once

  • MA
    MARIN AGRICULTURAL LAND TRUSTgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $35k · revenue +33%
  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO WALDORF SCHOOL
    one grant, 2019 · $34k
  • TG
    THE GREENLINING INSTITUTE
    one grant, 2020 · $20k · revenue -3%
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
Bay Nature Institute dba Bay Nature Bay Nature Magazine

Bay Nature connects the people of the San Francisco Bay Area to our natural world and motivates people to solve problems with nature in mind. Our vision is that all people have a close relationship with theirnatural world.

Environment
2
Sustainable Conservation

Sustainable Conservation advances the collaborative stewardship of Californias land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people. For over three decades, Sustainable Conservation has built coalitions of people with different…

Environment
3
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
4
CarbonPlan

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

Environment
5
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory

The San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory is dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats through science and outreach.

Environment
6
Green Cities Accord

Green Cities Accord is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering climate resilient communities through investments in tree canopy infrastructure to improve environmental health, climate resilience, and equity in communities. We focus…

Environment
7
Grist Magazine Inc

Grist is an independent, non profit media organization dedicated to reporting on climate change.

Environment
8
Rescape California

ReScape addresses climate change by providing a regenerative, nature-based whole systems foundation for landscaping education, workforce development and policy.Foundational to our work is a whole systems watershed framework that…

Environment
9
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
10
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
11
Bayorg

Bay ecotarium is the largest non-profit 501(c)(3) watershed conservation group in the san francisco bay area committing to global climate resilience and ocean conservation, inspiring actionable environmental stewardship locally, and…

Arts & Culture
12
North East Trees Inc

In 2024, our work made a lasting impact on both people and the environment. Together with our community, we planted 2,739 new plants and trees, ensuring future shade, cleaner air, and greener neighborhoods. We also cared for 7,442 trees,…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The San Francisco Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Wildlife Conservation Society. 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

70 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. 70 of the 103 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)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
69/70
Grantees still filing
49/70
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ISLAND PRESS: $170,000 · EnvironmentISLAND PRESSCLIMATE RIDE INC: $132,951 · EnvironmentCLIMATE RIDE INCTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $120,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LANDAmerican Forests: $91,000 · EnvironmentAmerican ForestsBRONX RIVER ALLIANCE INC: $75,000 · EnvironmentBRONX RIVER ALLIANCE INCSan Francisco Estuary Institute: $65,000 · EnvironmentSan Francisco Estuary InstituteSan Francisco Bicycle Coalition: $50,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL AREAS CONSERVANCY INC: $50,000 · EnvironmentBaykeeper: $45,000 · EnvironmentNEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN: $40,000 · Environment+17 more: $264,100 · Environment+17 moreTRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES INC: $110,500 · OtherTRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES INCSPUR - SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA PLANNING AND URBAN RESEARCH ASSOCIATION: $110,000 · OtherSPUR - SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA PLANNING AND URBAN…California Bicycle Coalition: $80,000 · OtherCalifornia Bicycle CoalitionSHARED-USE MOBILITY CENTER: $80,000 · OtherSHARED-USE MOBILITY CENTERIndividual grant recipient: $60,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $51,000 · OtherTHE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $50,000 · OtherRIDERS ALLIANCE FUND INC: $75,000 · OtherRIDERS ALLIANCE FUND INCWalk San Francisco Foundation: $55,000 · Other+45 more: $680,950 · Other+45 moreREGIONAL PLAN ASSOCIATION INC: $110,000 · Community ImprovementTransformca dba Transform: $50,000 · Community ImprovementTHE GREENLINING INSTITUTE: $20,000 · Community ImprovementSTREET LAB INC: $20,000 · Community ImprovementSan Francisco Transit Riders: $15,000 · Community ImprovementTHE EXPLORATORIUM: $110,000 · Arts & CultureIntersection for the Arts: $20,000 · Arts & CultureSTUDIO REV: $15,000 · Arts & CultureIndependent Arts & Media: $10,000 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $10,000 · Arts & CultureHeyday: $8,000 · Arts & CultureSouthern California Streets Initiative: $8,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $500 · Arts & CultureMARIN COUNTY BICYCLE COALITION: $56,100 · EducationPROCTOR ACADEMY: $30,000 · EducationSTERNE SCHOOL: $20,000 · EducationASPEN GLOBAL CHANGE INSTITUTE INC: $15,000 · EducationLiteracy for Environmental Justice: $55,000 · Youth DevelopmentMycelium Youth Network: $30,000 · Youth DevelopmentCYCLES OF CHANGE: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentOPENPLANS INC: $61,000 · Public BenefitSeamless Bay Area Alliance formerly Seamless Bay Area: $30,000 · Public Benefit
Environment$1,103,051Other$1,352,450Community Improvement$215,000Arts & Culture$181,500Education$121,100Youth Development$95,000Public Benefit$91,000

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 budgetISLAND PRESS: $170,000 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetCLIMATE RIDE INC: $132,951 over 8y, 1.7% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $120,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES INC: $110,500 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetREGIONAL PLAN ASSOCIATION INC: $110,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetTHE EXPLORATORIUM: $110,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSPUR - SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA PLANNING AND URBAN RESEARCH ASSOCIATION: $110,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetAmerican Forests: $91,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetCalifornia Bicycle Coalition: $80,000 over 4y, 4.1% of budgetRIDERS ALLIANCE FUND INC: $75,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetBRONX RIVER ALLIANCE INC: $75,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetSan Francisco Estuary Institute: $65,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetOPENPLANS INC: $61,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetMARIN COUNTY BICYCLE COALITION: $56,100 over 5y, 2.4% of budgetWalk San Francisco Foundation: $55,000 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetLiteracy for Environmental Justice: $55,000 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetTransformca dba Transform: $50,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetSan Francisco Bicycle Coalition: $50,000 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetTHE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL AREAS CONSERVANCY INC: $50,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetBaykeeper: $45,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetPOINT REYES BIRD OBSERVATORY: $45,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEL PUENTE DE WILLIAMSBURG INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMARIN AGRICULTURAL LAND TRUST: $35,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSPRING STREET CLIMATE FUND INC: $35,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetPIE RANCH: $30,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetSeamless Bay Area Alliance formerly Seamless Bay Area: $30,000 over 2y, 9.1% of budgetMycelium Youth Network: $30,000 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetPROCTOR ACADEMY: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGOWANUS CANAL CONSERVANCY INC: $25,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetEarth Island Institute Inc: $25,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE GREENLINING INSTITUTE: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGREENBELT ALLIANCEPEOPLE FOR OPEN SPACE: $20,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetURBAN SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTORS NETWORK: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSTREET LAB INC: $20,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetOUTDOORS EMPOWERED NETWORK: $20,000 over 2y, 5.1% of budgetSTERNE SCHOOL: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetIntersection for the Arts: $20,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE URBAN FOREST: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetGLOBAL PHILANTHROPY PARTNERSHIP: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSTUDIO REV: $15,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetSan Francisco Transit Riders: $15,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetCanopy: $15,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCALIFORNIA WILDLIFE FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBROOKLYN GREENWAY INITIATIVE: $15,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetASPEN GLOBAL CHANGE INSTITUTE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

PatagoniaorgTransitcenter IncThe San Francisco Fou…Lily Auchincloss Foun…Clif Family FoundationThe New York Communit…Resources Legacy FundImpactassetsincThe Summit Charitable…Mary a Crocker TrustGordon E and Betty I …Freedom Together Foun…
PatagoniaorgCA32.9× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Patagoniaorg · Transitcenter Inc · The San Francisco Foundation · Lily Auchincloss Foundation Inc · Clif Family Foundation · The New York Community Trust · Resources Legacy Fund · Impactassetsinc · The Summit Charitable Foundation Inc · Mary a Crocker Trust · Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation · Freedom Together 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 Seed Fund Grants Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Seed Fund Grants Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 45%
  • Boston Harbor Now Inc: 45% of income from government
  • The Cambridge Historical Society: 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
23report 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 Seed Fund Grants Inc?

Find your warmest path to The Seed Fund Grants 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 103 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 Seed Fund Grants’ 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