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The Whitman Institute at a glance

· Private foundation

The Whitman Institute

Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$57k
Granted FY2023
1
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$57k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2023.

Community Improvement$2.0MCivil Rights$900kPublic Benefit$796kArts & Culture$502kInternational$482kEducation$268kPhilanthropy$191kEnvironment$150kOther$0
02FY2023 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$56,879
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THOUSAND CURRENTS$56,879
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 (FY17–22, $418k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 28% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%COMONWEAL: $28k → 8%ON THE MOVE: $85k → 9%INNER CITY STRUGGLE: $25k → 14%COMMONWEAL: $25k → 8%ON THE MOVE: $50k → 9%UNLOCKING FUTURES INC: $25k → 17%COMMONWEAL: $8k → 8%ON THE MOVE: $50k → 9%COMMONWEAL: $3k → 8%ON THE MOVE: $50k → 9%ON THE MOVE: $5k → 9%AYNI INSTITUTE: $10k → 16%TIDES CENTER: $50k → 10%LATINO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5k → 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

WA
MN
MI
NY
MA
OH
PA
CA
MD
AZ
NM
NC
DC
LA
AL
GA
TX
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.

78%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.2M · 26 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +103% since the first grant, against +27% for those funded once.

26 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2023, 25 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
41

Total granted

$4.2M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+103%
+27%

Still filing today

92%
54%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationCommunity ImprovementCivil RightsInternationalOther
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

  • SA
    SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC
    3× · 2017–2021 · $778k · revenue +490%
  • TC
    THOUSAND CURRENTS
    6× · 2017–2023 · $432k · revenue +378%
  • COMMUNITY INITIATIVES
    5× · 2017–2021 · $400k · revenue +254%

Funded once

  • ST
    SOGOREA TE LAND TRUST
    one grant, 2022 · $150k · revenue -60%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $50k
  • UR
    United Roots
    one grant, 2019 · $50k · revenue -100%
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
Next River

Next River is an institute for practicing the future. We cultivate the research, narratives, practices, and connections that transform our cultural landscape toward collective liberation.

Social Science
2
New Roots Institute

New Roots Institute is a nonprofit empowering the next generation with knowledge and training to end factory farming.

Food & Nutrition
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
The Climate Center

The Climate Center is a climate and energy policy nonprofit working to rapidly reduce climate pollution at scale, starting in California.

Education
5
Rules Foundation

/The Rules is a global network of activists, organizers, designers, coders, researchers, writers and others dedicated to changing the rules that create inequality, climate change, and poverty around the world.

—
6
Justice Funders

Serve as a partner, educator, and guide for philanthropy in reimagining practices that advance a thriving and just world.

—
7
Coop Careers Inc

Building a movement of diverse, upwardly mobile college grads overcoming underemployment through digital skills and peer connections.

Education
8
Nexus Community Partners

Nexus' mission is to build more engaged and powerful communities by supporting community building initiatives that expand community wealth and foster social and human capital.

Philanthropy
9
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
10
Guernica Centre for InternationalJustice

The Guernica Centre for International Justice represents the interests of victims in national and international legal proceedings, putting in place transnational accountability strategies that seek to maximize the protection of victims'…

International
11
Equal Justice Society

The Equal Justice Society (EJS) is transforming the nations consciousness on racethrough law, social science, and the arts. EJS works to dismantle structural andinstitutional racism to advance robust equal protection under the Fourteenth…

Civil Rights
12
Movement Generation

MG advances a Just Transition away from profit and pollution, towards healthy and resilient local economies. We've engaged over 160 organizations and thousands of change agents through retreats, political education, skills workshops,…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc; the most unlike its peers is Vesper Society. 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

55 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. 55 of the 74 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)
19
Early backer (in before they grew)
52/55
Grantees still filing
41/55
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $777,500 · EnvironmentSOCIAL AND ENVIRON…SOGOREA TE LAND TRUST: $150,000 · EnvironmentSOGOREA TE LAND TR…BEND THE ARC: $80,000 · OtherON THE MOVE: $240,000 · OtherON THE MOVEVOICE OF WITNESS A NONPROFIT PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATION: $282,000 · OtherVOICE OF WITNESS A NONPROFIT PUBLIC BE…Forward Together: $245,000 · OtherForward TogetherTHE PRAXIS PROJECT INC: $75,000 · Other+37 more: $972,379 · Other+37 moreBLUEPRINT NORTH CAROLINA: $220,000 · EducationBLUEPRINT NOR…ACCE Institute: $210,000 · EducationACCE Institut…PROTEUS FUND INC: $100,000 · EducationPROTEUS FUND …United Roots: $50,000 · EducationUnited RootsLEAD CALIFORNIA: $32,500 · EducationSmartmeme DBA Center for Story-based Strategy: $25,000 · Education+1 more: $15,000 · EducationCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $400,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY I…Rockwood Leadership Institute: $50,000 · PhilanthropyRockwood Le…THE BLACK BELT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · PhilanthropyTHE BLACK B…Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Inc: $25,000 · PhilanthropyTHE CENTER FOR CULTURAL POWER: $25,000 · PhilanthropyTHE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $25,000 · PhilanthropyTHOUSAND CURRENTS: $431,936 · InternationalTHOUSAND C…Alliance for Global Justice Corp: $50,000 · InternationalAlliance f…MILLENNIUM CAMPUS NETWORK INC: $30,000 · InternationalMILLENNIUM…GRASSROOTS INTERNATIONAL INC: $30,000 · InternationalGRASSROOTS…THE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC: $290,000 · Community ImprovementTHE RIGHT …THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $70,000 · Community ImprovementTHIRD SECT…MOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $65,000 · Community ImprovementMOVEMENT S…RVC SEATTLE: $35,000 · Community ImprovementRVC SEATTL…COMMON COUNSEL FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Community ImprovementCOMMON FUTURE: $25,000 · Community ImprovementIntersection for the Arts: $286,500 · Arts & CultureIntersect…Alternate RootsInc: $65,000 · Arts & CultureAlternate…East Bay Center for the Performing Arts: $50,000 · Arts & CultureEast Bay …ALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS INC: $30,000 · Arts & CultureALLIED ME…ONE COMMON UNITY: $25,000 · Arts & CultureBETTER FAMILY LIFE INC: $20,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $10,000 · Arts & Culture
Environment$927,500Other$1,894,379Education$652,500Philanthropy$575,000International$541,936Community Improvement$510,000Arts & Culture$486,500

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 budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $777,500 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetTHOUSAND CURRENTS: $431,936 over 6y, 2.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $400,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetTHE RIGHT QUESTION INSTITUTE INC: $290,000 over 5y, 9.9% of budgetIntersection for the Arts: $286,500 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetVOICE OF WITNESS A NONPROFIT PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATION: $282,000 over 5y, 10% of budgetForward Together: $245,000 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetON THE MOVE: $240,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetBLUEPRINT NORTH CAROLINA: $220,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetACCE Institute: $210,000 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetSOGOREA TE LAND TRUST: $150,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPROTEUS FUND INC: $100,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE PRAXIS PROJECT INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetTHIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC: $70,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMOVEMENT STRATEGY CENTER: $65,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetAlternate RootsInc: $65,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetPROJECT SOUTH INC: $62,500 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetCOMMONWEAL: $62,500 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetUnited Roots: $50,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEast Bay Center for the Performing Arts: $50,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetRockwood Leadership Institute: $50,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetTHE OHIO ORGANIZING COLLABORATIVE: $50,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetTHE BLACK BELT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetAlliance for Global Justice Corp: $50,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetRVC SEATTLE: $35,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLEAD CALIFORNIA: $32,500 over 2y, 6.6% of budgetALLIED MEDIA PROJECTS INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMILLENNIUM CAMPUS NETWORK INC: $30,000 over 4y, 8.0% of budgetGRASSROOTS INTERNATIONAL INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetUNLOCKING FUTURES INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetINNERCITY STRUGGLE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMinnesota Council of Nonprofits Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetNAEVA: $25,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetCOMMON COUNSEL FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetThe Center for Investigative Reporting Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMON FUTURE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR CULTURAL POWER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSmartmeme DBA Center for Story-based Strategy: $25,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetURGE UNITE FOR REPRODUCTIVE & GENDER EQUITY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetVOICE OF THE EXPERIENCED VOTE: $25,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTHE SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WE DREAM NETWORK INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetVESPER SOCIETY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR WASHINGTONS FUTURE: $12,500 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetPUENTE HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetGRASSROOTS GLOBAL JUSTICE: $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…Tides FoundationThe San Francisco Fou…ImpactassetsincThe Ford FoundationRockefeller Philanthr…NEO Philanthropy IncWellspring Philanthro…Proteus Fund IncThe Libra FoundationSilicon Valley Commun…Surdna Foundation Inc
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation IncDC34.7× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Tides Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Impactassetsinc · The Ford Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · NEO Philanthropy Inc · Wellspring Philanthropic Fund Inc · Proteus Fund Inc · The Libra Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Surdna Foundation Inc

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 Whitman Institute funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Whitman Institute. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%1%4%8%15%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
5get no government money at all
10report 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 Whitman Institute?

Find your warmest path to The Whitman Institute 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 74 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Whitman Institute’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