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The Vervane Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Vervane Foundation Inc

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.

$956k
Granted FY2024still arriving
16
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$150k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0187% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Environment$2.1MPhilanthropy$1.7MArts & Culture$805kFood & Nutrition$695kEducation$382kCivil Rights$288kCommunity Improvement$254kInternational$200kOther$0
02FY2024 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $11k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
  • $50k–250k11 grants · $920k
$50,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$7.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PAWNEE SEED PRESERVATION SOCIETY$150,000
GRIST MAGAZINE INC$120,000
THE CULTURAL CONSERVANCY$100,000
KINDLE PROJECT$100,000
NA AHILLAHEE FUND$100,000
COLORADO PLATEAU FOUNDATION$100,000
CALIFORNIA HERITAGE INDIGENOUS RESEARCH PROJECT (CHIRP)$50,000
YALE UNIVERSITY$50,000
ALASKA VENTURE FUND$50,000
TULE RIVER INDIAN TRIBE$50,000
NORTHEAST NATIVE NETWORK OF KINSHIP$50,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
ENVIRONMENTAL GRANTMAKERS ASSOCIATION$8,208
SEED COMMONS$1,220
LAND TRUST ALLIANCE$1,095
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 (FY20–24, $240k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 90% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%NORTHEAST NATIVE NETWORK OF KINSHIP: $50k → 12%SEVENTH GENERATION FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INC: $50k → 18%EKVNV YEFOLECVLKE: $100k → 18%RURAL UTAH PROJECT EDUCATION FUND: $25k → 8%SEVENTH GENERATION FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INC: $3k → 18%BUILDING ONE COMMUNITY: $13k → 9%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

AK
WA
MN
NY
MA
SD
IA
CT
CA
UT
CO
MD
AZ
NM
DC
OK
AL
GA
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.

77%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.7M · 16 repeat orgs$1.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

16 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
30

Total granted

$4.7M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
+14%

Still filing today

75%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $226k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEnvironmentFood & NutritionEducationArts & CultureCommunity 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

  • LT
    LAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $1.5M · revenue +46%
  • Grist Magazine Inc
    2× · 2023–2024 · $240k · revenue +21%
  • CP
    COLORADO PLATEAU FOUNDATION
    2× · 2023–2024 · $200k · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • GH
    GREENWICH HISTORICAL SOCIETYBUSH-HOLLEY HOUSE
    one grant, 2017 · $125k
  • PS
    PROJECT SOUTH INC
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue -44%
  • S1
    SAWALEM 1080 ACRES CANTICLE FARM
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
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
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
2
Conservation Legacy

Conservation legacy engages future leaders who protect, restore, and enhance our nation's lands through community-based service.in 2024, conservation legacy engaged 2,524 participants who completed over 1.5 million service hours on public…

Youth Development
3
Taproot Earth

Taproot Earth works with communities to support strategies around the use of water, energy and land.

Environment
4
Native Plant Trust Inc

The organization's mission is to conserve and promote new england's native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes.

Environment
5
Global Forest Generation

Global Forest Generation restores and protects forest ecosystems in partnership with grassroots leaders and local communities across vast landscapes which play a critical role in preserving water, protecting biodiversity, storing carbon,…

Environment
6
Minnesota Land Trust

The minnesota land trust protects and restores minnesota's most vital natural lands in order to provide wildlife habitat, clean water, outdoor experiences and scenic beauty for generations to come.

Environment
7
Nantucket Conservation Foundation Inc

The nantucket conservation foundation owns, protects, and stewards over 9,000 acres of land and coastal shoreline, conserves nantucket's rare and significant natural resources, and engages in impactful ecological research to inform…

Environment
8
Greater Yellowstone Coalition

Greater yellowstone coalition works with all people to protect the lands, waters, and wildlife of the greater yellowstone ecosystem, now and for future generations.

Environment
9
The Commons Inc

To partner with individuals and organizations to access, organize, and share data that inspires action that restores our environment.

—
10
The Alliance for Collective Action

The Alliance for Collective Action convenes leaders of environmental and social movements to advance solutions for a thriving planet. We advance our mission through the Alliance Center building and community, as well as through Collective…

Environment
11
The Partnership Project Inc

The Partnership Project is organized and operated exclusively to enhance protection of the natural environment by improving the effectiveness of environmental organizations. It currently has 17 groups participating, including the largest…

Environment
12
Water Protector Legal Collective

The water protector legal collective is an indigenous-led legal nonprofit that provides support and advocacy for indigenous peoples and original nations, the earth, and climate justice movements.

Crime & Legal
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fairfield County's Community Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Project South Inc. 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

37 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. 37 of the 58 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
37/37
Grantees still filing
24/37
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

IMPACT ASSETS DONOR ADVISED FUND: $948,901 · OtherIMPACT ASSETS DONOR ADVISED FUNDGRIST MAGAZINE INC: $305,000 · OtherGRIST MAGAZINE INCALASKA VENTURE FUND: $151,000 · OtherGREENWICH HISTORICAL SOCIETYBUSH-HOLLEY HOUSE: $125,000 · OtherPROJECT SOUTH INC: $100,000 · OtherSAWALEM 1080 ACRES CANTICLE FARM: $100,000 · OtherOWENS VALLEY INDIAN WATER COMMISSION: $100,000 · OtherEKVNV YEFOLECVLKE: $100,000 · OtherNa'ah Illahee Fund: $200,000 · OtherNa'ah Illahee Fund+23 more: $746,125 · Other+23 moreLAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC: $1,499,493 · EnvironmentLAND TRUST ALLIANCE INCGrist Magazine Inc: $240,000 · EnvironmentGrist Magazine IncENVIRONMENTAL GRANTMAKERS ASSOCIATION: $62,082 · Environment+1 more: $20,000 · EnvironmentCOMMON COUNSEL FOUNDATION: $330,000 · Community ImprovementCOMMON COU…Native American food sovereignty alliance dba NAFSA: $110,000 · Community ImprovementNative Ame…THE LAKOTA FUND INCORPORATED: $100,000 · Community ImprovementTHE LAKOTA…NDN COLLECTIVE INC: $70,000 · Community ImprovementNDN COLLEC…+1 more: $2,970 · Community ImprovementPawnee Seed Preservation Society Inc: $400,000 · Food & NutritionSEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC: $25,000 · Food & Nutrition+2 more: $15,000 · Food & NutritionKINDLE PROJECT: $200,000 · PhilanthropyAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $150,000 · PhilanthropyFAIRFIELD COUNTY'S COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS: $25,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $10,000 · PhilanthropyThe Cultural ConservancySacred Land Foundation: $200,000 · Arts & CultureFIRST PEOPLES FUND: $100,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CONNECTICUT PLAYERS FOUNDATION INC D/B/A LONG WHARF THEATRE: $25,000 · Arts & CultureCOLORADO PLATEAU FOUNDATION: $200,000 · EducationCT LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $50,000 · EducationSARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: $25,000 · EducationSPRINGFIELD PARTNERS FOR COMMUNITY ACTION INC: $15,000 · EducationYale University: $10,000 · Education
Other$2,876,026Environment$1,821,575Community Improvement$612,970Food & Nutrition$440,000Philanthropy$410,000Arts & Culture$325,000Education$300,000

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 budgetLAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC: $1,499,493 over 4y, 3.3% of budgetPawnee Seed Preservation Society Inc: $400,000 over 2y, 67% of budgetCOMMON COUNSEL FOUNDATION: $330,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetGrist Magazine Inc: $240,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetKINDLE PROJECT: $200,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetCOLORADO PLATEAU FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 2y, 7.0% of budgetNa'ah Illahee Fund: $200,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetThe Cultural ConservancySacred Land Foundation: $200,000 over 2y, 5.7% of budgetAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $150,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNative American food sovereignty alliance dba NAFSA: $110,000 over 2y, 7.9% of budgetPROJECT SOUTH INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetFIRST PEOPLES FUND: $100,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetEKVNV YEFOLECVLKE: $100,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTHE LAKOTA FUND INCORPORATED: $100,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetNDN COLLECTIVE INC: $70,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL GRANTMAKERS ASSOCIATION: $62,082 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetSEVENTH GENERATION FUND FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INC: $52,500 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTHE COMMON SCHOOL INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetNORTHEAST NATIVE NETWORK OF KINSHIP AND: $50,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetSEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetUNITED WAY OF GREENWICH INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFAIRFIELD COUNTY'S COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSTEWARDSHIP UTAH FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CONNECTICUT PLAYERS FOUNDATION INC D/B/A LONG WHARF THEATRE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSPRINGFIELD PARTNERS FOR COMMUNITY ACTION INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDOMUS KIDS INC: $12,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBUILDING ONE COMMUNITY CORP: $12,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetRESOURCE GENERATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetYale University: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FOOD BANK OF LOWER FAIRFIELD COUNTY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetConnecticut Farmland Trust Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE WORKING WORLD INC: $2,970 over 2y, 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.

Rsf Social Finance IncImpactassetsincCommon Counsel Founda…Seventh Generation Fu…Amalgamated Charitabl…Ndn Collective IncNovo FoundationRockefeller Philanthr…Tides FoundationFirst Nations Develop…The Schmidt Family Fo…Cedar Tree Foundation
Rsf Social Finance IncCA33.1× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Rsf Social Finance Inc · Impactassetsinc · Common Counsel Foundation · Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Ndn Collective Inc · Novo Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · Tides Foundation · First Nations Development Institute · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Cedar Tree 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 Vervane Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Vervane Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Northeast Native Network of Kinship and: 44% of income from government
  • Yale University: 12% of income from government
  • Connecticut Farmland Trust Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Domus Kids Inc: 7% of income from government
  • The Connecticut Players Foundation Inc D/B/a Long Wharf Theatre: 1% of income from government
  • Springfield Partners for Community Action Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
8report 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 Vervane Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to The Vervane Foundation 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 58 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 Vervane’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