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Plinth

· Public charity

The Seminar Network Inc

Stand together trust funds initiatives that support bottom-up solutions by empowering people through key institutions like business, communities, education, and government.

$132M
Granted FY2024still arriving
186
Grants FY2024still arriving
36
States reached
$7.9M
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2019–2024.

Education$146MPublic Benefit$68MPhilanthropy$40MCivil Rights$39MInternational$17MCrime & Legal$17MHuman Services$15MHealth$11MOther$0
02FY2024 · 186 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 186 grants below total $113,153,888 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $132,473,446 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $19,319,558 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k8 grants · $65k
  • $10k–50k26 grants · $580k
  • $50k–250k74 grants · $8.7M
  • $250k+78 grants · $104M
$169,375
Median grant
36
States reached
$304M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
VELA Education Fund$7,940,000
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Inc$6,100,811
Khan Academy$5,758,860
Abundance Institute$5,720,600
Bill of Rights Institute$4,212,170
Youth Entrepreneurs dba Empowered$3,187,820
Vine and Fig Tree Institute I, Inc.$3,000,000
Populace Inc$3,000,000
Institute for Humane Studies$2,680,000
National Philanthropic Trust$2,666,667
Yes Every Kid Foundation$2,644,028
Recidiviz Inc$2,405,000
Global Orphan Project$2,303,000
Defense Priorities Foundation$2,262,995
Edward Charles Foundation$2,225,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY21–21, $1.4M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Edward Charles Foundation: $1.4M → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

VT
IL
WI
MI
MA
IA
IN
PA
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
WV
VA
AZ
KS
TN
NC
DC
OK
LA
TX
FL

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$299M · 129 repeat orgs$43M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +11% since the first grant, against +3% for the ones you funded once.

129 repeat relationships — 118 still active in FY2024, 11 since wound down; 58 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

129
106

Total granted

$299M
$18M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
+3%

Still filing today

97%
94%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $25M went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’23’24
EducationPublic BenefitArts & CultureHuman ServicesCivil RightsSocial ScienceOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • VE
    VELA EDUCATION FUND
    4× · 2020–2024 · $29M · revenue +314% · 67% of their budget
  • GM
    GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC
    3× · 2021–2024 · $26M · revenue +6%
  • BO
    Bill of Rights Institute
    5× · 2019–2024 · $15M · revenue +175% · 43% of their budget

Funded once

  • KL
    KHAN LAB SCHOOLgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $1.2M · revenue +27%
  • SS
    SILICON SCHOOLS FUND INC
    one grant, 2023 · $1.1M · revenue +8%
  • BE
    BELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue +27%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
2
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
3
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Competitive enterprise institute (cei) is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. we believe that consumers are best helped not by government regulation but by being…

—
4
Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics

The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…

Social Science
5
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
6
The International Institute for Strategic Studies - Us

To provide accurate, objective information and analysis on international strategic issues for legislators, diplomats, foreign affairs analysts, international business leaders, economists, the military, defense commentators, journalists,…

International
7
Fielding Graduate University

We provide exemplary interdisciplinary programs for a community of scholar-practitioners within a distributed learning model grounded in student-driven inquiry and leading to enhanced knowledge.

—
8
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
9
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
10
Center for American Progress

The center for american progress (cap) is an independent nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. our aim is…

Civil Rights
11
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
12
American Press Institute Inc

American press institute acts as a scout on the frontier of technology and audience behavior to identify where change is occurring and helps news organizations learn how to implement and scale that change successfully so they have a…

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ethics and Public Policy Center Inc and the most unlike its peers is National School Choice Awareness Foundation Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyPolicy Research and AdvocacyHealth Access Advocacy and …Community College Foundatio…Faith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Youth Development ServicesCommunity Foundations
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 19 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%9%<5yr14%17%5–10yr19%24%10–20yr16%18%20–35yr13%18%35–55yr16%14%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%9%<5yr14%15%5–10yr19%27%10–20yr16%18%20–35yr13%23%35–55yr16%9%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 9% of your grantees by number, and just 9% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/306
the rest of the field
13%
240,396/1,819,259

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

294 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 294 of the 306 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

47
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
26
Early backer (in before they grew)
292/294
Grantees still filing
156/294
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC — $25,620,015 · EducationGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATI…KHAN ACADEMY INC — $8,447,896 · EducationKHAN ACADEMY INCYes Every Kid Foundation — $6,654,028 · EducationYes Every Kid FoundationYouth Entrepreneurs Inc — $6,203,528 · EducationYouth Entrepreneurs IncABUNDANCE INSTITUTE — $5,720,600 · EducationPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE — $5,600,000 · EducationARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY — $4,795,000 · Education+66 more — $46,638,364 · Education+66 moreAMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY FOUNDATION — $19,355,968 · OtherAMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY FOUNDATIONBill of Rights Institute — $14,960,048 · OtherBill of Rights InstituteInstitute for Humane Studies — $12,177,354 · OtherInstitute for Humane StudiesCENTER FOR GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY — $9,368,018 · OtherCENTER FOR GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITYAmericans for Prosperity Foundation — $8,258,004 · OtherAmericans for Prosperity FoundationPARAGON HEALTH INSTITUTE — $5,620,275 · OtherPOPULACE INC — $6,000,000 · Other+67 more — $44,755,094 · Other+67 moreVELA EDUCATION FUND — $28,877,367 · PhilanthropyVELA EDUCATION F…Greater Horizons — $15,800,000 · PhilanthropyGreater HorizonsNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST — $4,333,333 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL PHILANT…ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC — $3,300,000 · PhilanthropyROCKEFELLER PHIL…THE GLOBAL ORPHAN PROJECT INC — $2,628,316 · Philanthropy+3 more — $818,610 · PhilanthropyStand Together Foundation — $12,621,696 · Public BenefitStand Toget…TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION — $5,425,000 · Public BenefitTEXAS PUBLI…CATO INSTITUTE — $4,271,108 · Public BenefitCATO INSTIT…VINE & FIG TREE INSTITUTE I INC — $3,000,000 · Public BenefitVINE & FIG …YOUNG AMERICANS FOR LIBERTY FOUNDATION — $1,287,246 · Public BenefitBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH — $1,250,000 · Public Benefit+20 more — $9,237,900 · Public Benefit+20 moreFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC — $14,698,918 · Civil RightsCause of Action Institute — $5,475,000 · Civil RightsALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM — $995,000 · Civil Rights+6 more — $1,465,000 · Civil RightsFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND — $15,000,000 · Community ImprovementQUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT — $1,867,625 · Community Improvement+1 more — $125,000 · Community ImprovementEDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION — $9,158,000 · Human ServicesDefense Priorities Foundation — $4,600,377 · Human ServicesTIDES CENTER — $1,269,000 · Human ServicesSAFE FAMILIES FOR CHILDREN ALLIANCE — $644,000 · Human Services+3 more — $660,000 · Human Services
Education$109,679,431Other$120,494,761Philanthropy$55,757,626Public Benefit$37,092,950Civil Rights$22,633,918Community Improvement$16,992,625Human Services$16,331,377

Showing your 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetVELA EDUCATION FUND — $28,877,367 over 4y, 67% of budgetGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC — $25,620,015 over 3y, 11% of budgetGreater Horizons — $15,800,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND — $15,000,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBill of Rights Institute — $14,960,048 over 5y, 43% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC — $14,698,918 over 5y, 18% of budgetStand Together Foundation — $12,621,696 over 5y, 37% of budgetInstitute for Humane Studies — $12,177,354 over 4y, 28% of budgetCENTER FOR GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY — $9,368,018 over 4y, 68% of budgetEDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION — $9,158,000 over 3y, 14% of budgetKHAN ACADEMY INC — $8,447,896 over 2y, 21% of budgetAmericans for Prosperity Foundation — $8,258,004 over 3y, 63% of budgetYes Every Kid Foundation — $6,654,028 over 3y, 100% of budgetYouth Entrepreneurs Inc — $6,203,528 over 5y, 44% of budgetPOPULACE INC — $6,000,000 over 2y, 59% of budgetABUNDANCE INSTITUTE — $5,720,600 over 1y, 81% of budgetPARAGON HEALTH INSTITUTE — $5,620,275 over 3y, 100% of budgetPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE — $5,600,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetCause of Action Institute — $5,475,000 over 3y, 100% of budgetTEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION — $5,425,000 over 5y, 8.2% of budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY — $4,795,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetDefense Priorities Foundation — $4,600,377 over 2y, 95% of budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST — $4,333,333 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE — $4,271,108 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA — $3,645,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetSCHOOLHOUSEWORLD INC — $3,621,137 over 3y, 48% of budgetPacific Legal Foundation — $3,591,091 over 4y, 5.3% of budgetROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC — $3,300,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetVINE & FIG TREE INSTITUTE I INC — $3,000,000 over 1y, 100% of budgetTHE REASON FOUNDATION — $2,646,258 over 2y, 10% of budgetTHE GLOBAL ORPHAN PROJECT INC — $2,628,316 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetRECIDIVIZ INC — $2,405,000 over 1y, 10.0% of budgetECONOMIC POLICY INNOVATION CENTER INC — $2,400,000 over 2y, 81% of budgetEdChoice Inc — $2,396,000 over 3y, 9.6% of budgetNew Civil Liberties Alliance — $2,312,040 over 2y, 17% of budgetRECIDIVIZ INC — $2,113,750 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH — $2,080,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetTHE HENRY L STIMSON CENTER — $2,059,308 over 2y, 8.2% of budgetADAMS VALVE FOUNDATION — $2,000,000 over 1y, 94% of budgetCHARLES KOCH FOUNDATION — $1,999,980 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetQUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT — $1,867,625 over 2y, 14% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION INC — $1,664,702 over 2y, 15% of budgetSKILLUP COALITION — $1,627,500 over 2y, 17% of budgetGREATSCHOOLS INC — $1,500,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetTHE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES — $1,410,000 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetCARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE — $1,359,992 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetYOUNG AMERICANS FOR LIBERTY FOUNDATION — $1,287,246 over 4y, 13% of budgetTIDES CENTER — $1,269,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Charles Koch InstituteCharles Koch Foundati…The Lynde and Harry B…Donors Trust IncAdolph Coors Foundati…Beth and Ravenel Curr…Walton Family Foundat…State Policy NetworkSarah Scaife Foundati…Bradley Impact Fund I…Atlas Economic Resear…John William Pope Fou…
Charles Koch InstituteVA146× affinity72 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Charles Koch Institute · Charles Koch Foundation · The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc · Donors Trust Inc · Adolph Coors Foundation · Beth and Ravenel Curry Foundation · Walton Family Foundation Inc · State Policy Network · Sarah Scaife Foundation Incorporated · Bradley Impact Fund Inc · Atlas Economic Research Foundation · John William Pope Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization The Seminar Network Inc funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%your share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 306 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines