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The Shadow Funders Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Shadow Funders 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.

$5k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Religion$86kEducation$82kArts & Culture$67kEnvironment$35kRecreation & Sports$25kPublic Safety & Disaster$10kFood & Nutrition$4kInternational$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$3,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$736k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ALL SAINTS PARISH$3,000
CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC$1,500
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 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%PACIFIC FOREST TRUST INC: $35k → 10%FOOD ROOTS: $1k → 12%CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL: $25k → 12%COLUMBIA RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM INC: $50k → 13%NORTHWEST TENNESSEE LOCAL FOOD NETWORK: $2k → 18%VALENTINO ACHAK DENG FOUNDATION: $1k → 10%FOOD ROOTS: $500 → 12%ARCHDIOCESE OF PORTLAND IN OREGON: $10k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $30k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $25k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $25k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $25k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $25k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $5k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $3k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $3k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $3k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $3k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $3k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $3k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $3k → 12%ALL SAINTS PARISH: $1k → 12%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF THE COLUMBIA WILLAMETTE INC: $500 → 12%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 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
Oregon Websites and Watershed Project Inc

Develop educational network to communicate historical and scientific information empasizing natural and cultural resources to pacific northwest.

Environment
2
Oregon Agricultural Trust

Oregon agricultural trust partners with farmers and ranchers to protect agricultural lands for the benefit of oregons economy, communities, and landscapes.

Environment
3
Friends of Family Farmers

Promote and project socially responsible agriculture in oregon, while working to support independent, family scale farmers and rachers who are ecologically farming in ways that are respectful of land, animals and community.

Food & Nutrition
4
The Dry Farming Institute

We support growers exploration of dry farming and other water resilient agricultural practices through collaborative projects, outreach, and education.

Food & Nutrition
5
Oregon Tilth Inc

Oregon tilth is a leading nonprofit certifier, educator and advocate for sustainable organic agriculture and products since 1974. the organizations mission to make the food system and agriculture biologically sound and socially equitable…

—
6
Fsc I&P

Fsc i&p promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests. this mission aligns with the forest stewardship council (fsc), its network of offices, and other organizations.…

Philanthropy
7
Department of Bioregion

The Department of Bioregion's mission is a "world of interconnected bioregions and bioregional movements". It does this by creating departments of bioregions around the world and, providing administrative support to bioregional organizing…

Environment
8
Center for Sustainable Economy

Promoting economic sustainability

Environment
9
Portland Farmers Market

Pfm operates world-class farmers markets that contribute to the success of local food growers and producers and create vibrant community gatherings. as a trade association, success for our vendors is our primary objective. listening and…

Community Improvement
10
Feeding Washington

Create a strong and effective statewide infrastructure that efficiently leverages resources to expand capacity in Washington State's Feeding America network.

Food & Nutrition
11
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
12
350PDX

Building a diverse grassroots movement to address the causes of climate disruption through justice-based solutions by inspiring, training and mobilizing people to act.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette Inc; the most unlike its peers is Northwest Tennessee Local Food Network. 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

8 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. 8 of the 14 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
4/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ALL SAINTS PARISH: $157,020 · OtherALL SAINTS PARISHThe Pacific Forest Trust Incorporated: $35,000 · OtherThe Pacific Forest Trust IncorporatedCENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL: $25,000 · OtherCENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOLLA CAVERNA CULTURA PARA TODOS SC: $15,900 · OtherLA CAVERNA CULTURA PARA TODOS SCARCHDIOCESE OF PORTLAND IN OREGON: $10,000 · OtherK Jeans-Gail: $10,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $9,098 · OtherCOLUMBIA RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM: $50,000 · Arts & CultureCOLUMBIA RIVER MAR…+1 more: $1,500 · Arts & CultureNORTHWEST TENNESSEE LOCAL FOOD NETWORK: $2,000 · Food & NutritionFOOD ROOTS: $1,500 · Community ImprovementFRIENDS OF OUTDOOR SCHOOL: $1,000 · EducationVALENTINO ACHAK DENG FOUNDATION: $1,000 · InternationalPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF THE COLUMBIA WILLAMETTE INC: $500 · Health
Other$262,018Arts & Culture$51,500Food & Nutrition$2,000Community Improvement$1,500Education$1,000International$1,000Health$500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCOLUMBIA RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetThe Pacific Forest Trust Incorporated: $35,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFOOD ROOTS: $1,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVALENTINO ACHAK DENG FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF THE COLUMBIA WILLAMETTE INC: $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.

The Oregon Community …Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
The Oregon Community FoundationOR14.9× affinity5 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Oregon Community Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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 Shadow Funders Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Shadow Funders Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette Inc: 7% of income from government
  • The Center for Independent Documentary Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Columbia River Maritime Museum: 3% of income from government
  • Food Roots: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
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.

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 14 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 Shadow Funders’ 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