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The Susie Tompkins Buell Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Susie Tompkins Buell Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$396k
Granted FY2024still arriving
19
Grants FY2024still arriving
11
States reached
$50k
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.

Civil Rights$706kPublic Benefit$615kEnvironment$355kHuman Services$291kPhilanthropy$220kInternational$207kArts & Culture$196kHealth$153kOther$0
02FY2024 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $720
  • $10k–50k15 grants · $245k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $150k
$15,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$6.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
RED WINE & BLUE EDUCATION FUND$50,000
GLOBAL PRESS INSTITUTE$50,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA$50,000
VOTO LATINO FOUNDATION$25,000
VOTE MAMA FOUNDATION$25,000
REMAKE$25,000
VOTEAMERICA INC$25,000
PODER IN ACTION$15,000
BLACK LEADERS ORGANIZING COMMUNITIES (BLOC)$15,000
WE ARE DOWN HOME$15,000
SPARK REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE NOW$15,000
MAKE THE ROAD STATES-PA$15,000
Individual grant recipient$15,000
MOTHERING JUSTICE$15,000
ARIZONA COALITION FOR CHANGE$10,000
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 (FY18–24, $245k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 20% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%MAKE THE ROAD STATES-PA: $15k → 20%MAKE THE ROAD STATES INC: $15k → 20%VOCES DE LA FRONTERA: $10k → 17%COLORADO PEOPLES ALLIANCE: $10k → 12%SAN FRANCISCO VILLAGE: $250 → 10%REMAKE: $50k → 10%REMAKE: $50k → 10%REMAKE: $50k → 10%REMAKE: $25k → 10%TIDES CENTER: $10k → 10%TIDES CENTER: $10k → 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

VT
WA
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
NV
OH
PA
CA
CO
VA
AZ
NM
NC
DC
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.

61%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.8M · 27 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

27 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2024, 17 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
66

Total granted

$1.8M
$984k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+50%

Still filing today

78%
82%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 63% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $145k 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
Civil RightsArts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesHealthCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • RW
    RED WINE & BLUE EDUCATION FUND
    3× · 2022–2024 · $150k · revenue +120%
  • THE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC
    3× · 2020–2023 · $55k · revenue +69%
  • WA
    WORKING AMERICA EDUCATION FUND
    2× · 2020–2022 · $40k · revenue +324%

Funded once

  • CE
    CLIMATE EMERGENCY FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $150k · revenue +137%
  • AP
    AGHAAZ PROJECT AT VITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
  • WOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF CALIFORNIA
    one grant, 2019 · $75k · revenue -42%
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
Women Donors Network

Women donors network advances a just, equitable, and sustainable world through the power of philanthropy, women's leadership, and collective and individual action.

Philanthropy
2
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
3
Jobs with Justice San Francisco

A long-term, strategic alliance of labor, community, faith-based, and student organizations working together to build greater economic power for workers and community members through employee rights at work and access to good jobs,…

Employment
4
Asociacion Interamericana Para La Defensa Del Ambiente

To strenghten people's ability to guarantee their individual and collective right to a healthy environment, via the development, implementation, and effective enforcement of national and international law.

Crime & Legal
5
UltraViolet Action

Ultraviolet action (uva) is a 501c4 organization. ultraviolet action is the premier national organization advocating for gender justice issues using creative, strategic campaigning and digital-first organizing. ultraviolet drives feminist…

Public Benefit
6
Womens Funding Network

Our mission as a global alliance is to provide strategies, research, and resources that support the critical agency and influence of women's foundations and gender justice funders in the movement for equality, justice, and power for all.

Education
7
Forward Together

Forward Together is a national reproductive justice organization that centers people, families, and communities who experience reproductive oppression. They prioritize queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and other peoples of color and utilize…

Health
8
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
9
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide

Educational & charitable. to provide legal and scientific information to public interest attorneys and scientists in numerous countries.

—
10
Democracy Works Inc

The organization's mission is to leverage web-technologies to improve civic engagement and voter education.

Civil Rights
11
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
12
Pro Publica Inc

Pro publica is an independent, non-profit, pulitzer prize-winning newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories. [see continuation on schedule o] we produce…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Women's Foundation of California; the most unlike its peers is Houston in Action. 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

85 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. 85 of the 105 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)
25
Early backer (in before they grew)
84/85
Grantees still filing
50/85
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

IGNITE: $170,000 · OtherIGNITEGLOBAL PRESS INSTITUTE: $135,000 · OtherGLOBAL PRESS INSTITUTEAGHAAZ PROJECT AT VITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP: $100,000 · OtherAGHAAZ PROJECT AT VITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNER…VOTO LATINO INC: $75,000 · OtherVOTO LATINO INCWILDEARTH GUARDIANS: $75,000 · OtherWILDEARTH GUARDIANSWOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF CALIFORNIA: $75,000 · OtherWOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF CALIFORNIACOMMONWEALTH CLUB: $60,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $60,000 · Other+47 more: $443,711 · Other+47 moreThe Representation Project: $125,100 · Civil RightsThe Representation Proje…UltraViolet Education Fund: $105,000 · Civil RightsUltraViolet Education Fu…THE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $55,000 · Civil RightsTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCT…THE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $50,000 · Civil RightsTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION …VOTEORG: $35,000 · Civil RightsVOTEORGMOTHERING JUSTICE: $30,000 · Civil RightsSPARK REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE NOW: $30,000 · Civil RightsVOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · Civil RightsPUBLIC RIGHTS PROJECT: $25,000 · Civil RightsVOTE MAMA FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · Civil RightsVOTEAMERICA: $25,000 · Civil Rights+8 more: $105,000 · Civil Rights+8 moreCLIMATE EMERGENCY FUND: $150,000 · EnvironmentCLIMATE EM…NEW VENTURE FUND: $50,000 · EnvironmentNEW VENTUR…Ten Strands: $25,000 · EnvironmentTen Strand…SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $25,000 · EnvironmentSIERRA CLU…REDFORD CENTER INC: $20,000 · EnvironmentREDFORD CE…RED WINE & BLUE EDUCATION FUND: $150,000 · EducationRED WINE …WORKING AMERICA EDUCATION FUND: $40,000 · EducationWORKING A…AMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC: $25,000 · EducationAMERICANS…WE ARE DOWN HOME: $25,000 · EducationWE ARE DO…The Edible Schoolyard Project dba The Alice Waters Institute: $9,700 · Education+1 more: $3,333 · EducationRemake: $175,000 · Human ServicesRemakeMake The Road States Inc: $30,000 · Human ServicesMake The …TIDES CENTER: $20,000 · Human ServicesTIDES CEN…VOCES DE LA FRONTERA INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesCOLORADO PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE: $10,000 · Human Services+1 more: $250 · Human ServicesGlobal Press Institute: $150,000 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $15,000 · Arts & CultureTHE 19TH NEWS: $10,000 · Arts & CultureDIA CENTER FOR THE ARTS INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureFOR-SITE Foundation: $10,000 · Arts & CultureTHE WOMENS MEDIA CENTER INC: $10,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $5,725 · Arts & CulturePLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $150,000 · HealthCOLORADO ORGANIZATION FOR LATINA OPPORTUNITY AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: $10,000 · HealthFORWARD MT FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Health+2 more: $3,383 · Health
Other$1,193,711Civil Rights$635,100Environment$270,000Education$253,033Human Services$245,250Arts & Culture$210,725Health$173,383

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetRemake: $175,000 over 4y, 6.4% of budgetRED WINE & BLUE EDUCATION FUND: $150,000 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $150,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCLIMATE EMERGENCY FUND: $150,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetGlobal Press Institute: $150,000 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetThe Representation Project: $125,100 over 3y, 2.0% of budgetUltraViolet Education Fund: $105,000 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetVOTO LATINO INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWILDEARTH GUARDIANS: $75,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetWOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF CALIFORNIA: $75,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $55,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWORKING AMERICA EDUCATION FUND: $40,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetVOTEORG: $35,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFUTURES WITHOUT VIOLENCE: $35,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMOTHERING JUSTICE: $30,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetMake The Road States Inc: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPoder in Action: $30,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetSPARK REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE NOW: $30,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetVOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetZERO FOODPRINT: $25,000 over 1y, 9.2% of budgetPUBLIC RIGHTS PROJECT: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPANORAMA GLOBAL: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTen Strands: $25,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetAMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVOTE MAMA FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetREPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FOR ALL FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVOTEAMERICA: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWE ARE DOWN HOME: $25,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetREDFORD CENTER INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFAITH IN FLORIDA INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFlorida Immigrant Coalition Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOUSTON IN ACTION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSPARK: $15,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetBVM CAPACITY BUILDING INSTITUTE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW VOICES PITTSBURGH INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetARIZONA CENTER FOR EMPOWERMENT: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPENNSYLVANIA STANDS UP INSTITUTE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% 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.

Amalgamated Charitabl…New Venture FundNEO Philanthropy IncTides FoundationSilicon Valley Commun…The San Francisco Fou…Marin Community Found…ImpactassetsincTides CenterWay to RiseWindward FundHopewell Fund
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation IncDC43× affinity24 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · New Venture Fund · NEO Philanthropy Inc · Tides Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Tides Center · Way to Rise · Windward Fund · Hopewell Fund

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
16report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 Susie Tompkins Buell Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Susie Tompkins Buell 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 105 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 Susie Tompkins Buell’s 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