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Plinth

· Private foundation

The Theresa and Frank Caplan Foundation

THE ORGANIZATION'S MISSION IS TO PROVIDE GRANTS FOR INNOVATIVE AND CREATIVE PROJECTS AND RESEARCH THAT WILL SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE AND ENHANCE THE DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH, SAFETY, EDUCATION OR QUALITY OF LIFE OF CHILDREN FROM INFANCY THROUGH SEVEN YEARS OF AGE.

$432k
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$63k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.

Education$2.1MHealth$691kScience & Tech$451kEnvironment$69kHuman Services$45k
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k5 grants · $204k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $230k
$49,998
Median grant
6
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Harvard University$63,000
Boston College$58,924
Virginia Tech$58,320
University of Texas Foundation$50,000
Boston University$49,998
University at Albany$45,302
Connecticut College$44,287
University of South Florida$34,671
University of Wisconsin Madison$29,589
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 74% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%NEMOUS FUND FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: $50k → 10%Boston College: $59k → 7%MASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $38k → 8%University of Massachusetts: $51k → 12%SOUTH END COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER: $50k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: $46k → 11%Carnegie Mellon University: $83k → 11%Drexel University: $79k → 22%University of Southern California: $47k → 14%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY METROPOLITAN CENTER FOR RESEARCH: $100k → 17%University of North Texas: $72k → 8%University of Texas Foundation: $50k → 10%NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $50k → 14%University of S Florida Foundation: $50k → 13%HOPE COLLEGE: $65k → 10%Wayne State University: $50k → 21%The University of Alabama: $47k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CENTER FOR RESEARCH: $36k → 15%Regents of the Univ of Wisconsin Sy: $44k → 10%Oregon State University: $50k → 18%Connecticut College: $44k → 9%YALE CHILD STUDY CENTER: $82k → 12%VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: $47k → 14%Utah State University: $52k → 12%Frazer Center: $45k → 14%Augusta University Reseach Institut: $50k → 18%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $56k → 19%Ohio University Foundation: $44k → 22%American Academy of Pediatrics: $66k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO: $50k → 14%RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $32k → 8%GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY: $40k → 6%Virginia Tech: $58k → 21%Johns Hopkins University: $50k → 19%BOSTON COLLEGE: $33k → 7%HARVARD UNIVERSITY (THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE): $52k → 8%BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER: $40k → 16%Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh Fdn: $50k → 11%DREXEL UNIVERSITY: $53k → 22%NYU Steinhardt: $51k → 17%NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES: $50k → 14%University of Wisconsin-Madison: $40k → 10%Purdue for Life Foundation: $50k → 19%TUFTS UNIVERSITY: $65k → 16%Thomas Jeffereson University: $45k → 22%University of California Los Angeles: $53k → 14%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: $50k → 17%Mass General for Children: $120k → 16%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

MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
MO
VA
MD
DE
KS
TN
DC
AL
GA
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.

04

Where the work is directed

The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.

About 10% of The Theresa and Frank Caplan Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another.

The Theresa and Frank Caplan Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address

Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

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.

16%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$480k · 5 repeat orgs$2.4M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +58% since the first grant, against +34% for the ones you funded once.

5 repeat relationships — 2 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
41

Total granted

$480k
$2.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+58%
+34%

Still filing today

80%
51%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 24% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $283k 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
EducationHealthScience & TechEnvironmentArts & CultureOther

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

  • DU
    DREXEL UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2017–2023 · $132k · revenue +10%
  • NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
    2× · 2017–2019 · $100k · revenue +15%
  • TRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE
    2× · 2018–2024 · $91k · revenue +58%

Funded once

  • MG
    Mass General for Children
    one grant, 2022 · $120k
  • NY
    New York Universitygraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $100k · revenue +76%
  • CM
    Carnegie Mellon Universitygraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $83k · revenue +33%

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
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania

The trustees of the university of pennsylvania (the "university") sees itself as having a public service mission. in such regard, the university aims to provide a rich and diverse educational environment for its students; to pioneer…

Education
2
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
3
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
4
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
5
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
6
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
7
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
8
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
9
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
10
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

Stanford university is one of a select group of american universities that have achieved eminence in both undergraduate and graduate education and research - cont'd sch o.

Education
11
Cornell University

Education, research, medical services and other public services.

Education
12
Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is an independent, research-oriented university with broadly based strengths in health, including medicine, nursing and dentistry; in engineering; in the arts and sciences; and in law, management and social…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Trustees of Tufts College and the most unlike its peers is Massachusetts Audubon Society 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 backsteadyFaith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Community Health CentersLand Conservation Organizat…Developmental Disabilities …Public University Foundatio…
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 59 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr19%3%10–20yr16%13%20–35yr13%26%35–55yr16%58%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr19%3%10–20yr16%12%20–35yr13%24%35–55yr16%62%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 3% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
3%1/40
the rest of the field
13%
240,395/1,819,525

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.

05the grantee network

33 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. 33 of the 56 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
32/33
Grantees still filing
27/33
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Mass General for Children — $120,000 · OtherMass General for ChildrenCarnegie Mellon University — $82,901 · OtherUniversity of North Texas — $71,601 · OtherUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison — $69,440 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI — $64,824 · OtherVirginia Tech — $58,320 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT HEALTH CENTER — $57,500 · OtherTRUSTEES OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY — $56,240 · OtherUniversity of California Los Angeles — $52,753 · OtherUTAH STATE UNIVERSITY — $52,333 · Other+19 more — $883,433 · Other+19 morePresident and Fellows of Harvard College — $175,718 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard CollegeDREXEL UNIVERSITY — $132,353 · EducationDREXEL UNIVERSITYNew York University — $100,000 · EducationNew York UniversityTRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE — $91,424 · EducationTRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGEVanderbilt University — $86,993 · EducationVanderbilt UniversityYale University — $82,000 · EducationYale UniversityUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — $77,150 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAHOPE COLLEGE — $65,000 · EducationTrustees of Tufts College — $64,865 · EducationFLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC — $50,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK — $50,000 · EducationPurdue Research Foundation — $49,896 · EducationAUGUSTA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC — $49,537 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY — $47,610 · EducationTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY — $45,000 · EducationThe Ohio University Foundation — $44,326 · EducationCONNECTICUT COLLEGE — $44,287 · Education+1 more — $32,000 · EducationAMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS — $65,527 · HealthTHE NEMOURS FOUNDATION — $50,003 · HealthCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PITTSBURGH FOUNDATION — $50,000 · HealthBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION — $40,000 · HealthNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES — $99,965 · Science & TechUniversity of Kansas Center for Research Inc — $36,120 · Science & TechMASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY INC — $37,500 · EnvironmentNORTH AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCA — $31,500 · EnvironmentSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION — $40,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$1,569,345Education$1,288,159Health$205,530Science & Tech$136,085Environment$69,000Arts & Culture$40,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College — $175,718 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDREXEL UNIVERSITY — $132,353 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University — $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES — $99,965 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE — $91,424 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVanderbilt University — $86,993 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCarnegie Mellon University — $82,901 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYale University — $82,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — $77,150 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS — $65,527 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOPE COLLEGE — $65,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTrustees of Tufts College — $64,865 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NEMOURS FOUNDATION — $50,003 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTH END COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER INC — $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PITTSBURGH FOUNDATION — $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC — $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC — $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK — $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY — $49,998 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPurdue Research Foundation — $49,896 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAUGUSTA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC — $49,537 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY — $47,610 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FRAZER CENTER INC — $45,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY — $45,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Ohio University Foundation — $44,326 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCONNECTICUT COLLEGE — $44,287 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION — $40,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION — $40,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $39,675 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY INC — $37,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUniversity of Kansas Center for Research Inc — $36,120 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $32,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCA — $31,500 over 1y, 0.8% 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through you, not between each other.

Fidelity Investments …
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA5.2× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Theresa and Frank Caplan Foundation 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Boston Medical Center Corporation — 23% of income from government
  • Trustees of Tufts College — 13% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University — 12% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University — 12% of income from government
  • Yale University — 12% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College — 7% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston College — 3% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Audubon Society Inc — 1% of income from government
  • The Nemours Foundation — 0% of income from government
  • Connecticut College — 0% of income from government
  • Rutgers University Foundation — 0% of income from government
  • Portland State University Foundation — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
1report 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

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 56 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-PF 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 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