· Private foundation
Thomas and Cindy Massie Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
Read this first · the figures below need context
92% of Thomas and Cindy Massie Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 2 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2020, the last year Thomas and Cindy Massie Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 5 organizations, $879k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2020
- Under $10k9 grants · $22k
- $10k–50k4 grants · $88k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $420k
- $250k+1 grant · $350k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Alaska Community Fund (DAF) | $350,000 |
| Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding trust Inc | $220,000 |
| Bering Strait FDN | $150,000 |
| KICY | $50,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $43,351 |
| Unalakleet Covenant Church | $22,358 |
| University of Alaska Fairbanks | $12,000 |
| The Leap FDN | $10,000 |
| University of Alaska Anchorage | $4,500 |
| Univeristy of Hawaii at Hilo | $4,500 |
| University of Oregon | $3,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $2,289 |
| Boston Conservatory at Berklee | $1,500 |
| Whatcom Comm College | $1,500 |
| Idaho State University | $1,500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY23–23, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
24 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2020, 14 since wound down; 24 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call). Read against FY2020, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $18k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- ACAlaska Community Fund2× · 2020–2021 · $840k
- NVNative Village of Unakleet2× · 2021–2023 · $301k
- BSBERING STRAITS FOUNDATION5× · 2020–2024 · $245k · revenue -96% · 99% of their budget
Funded once
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2017 · $50k
- BGBOYS & GIRLS CLUBone grant, 2017 · $30k
- SFSMILES FOR LIFE FOUNDATIONone grant, 2017 · $10k
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.
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.
Building partnerships, building trails. Working to build trails across the state and build capacity for trail organizations.
Ilisagvik college provides quality post-secondary academic, vocational and technical education in a learning environment that perpetuates and strengthens iupiat culture, language, values and traditions. it is dedicated to providing…
To provide electric power to 59 remote alaskan villages.
Oppose 2024 Alaska Ballot Measure 2, which would have repealed nonpartisan open primaries and ranked choice voting.
Provide training in the electrical industry for electrical apprentices and journeymen.
Ashland university, guided by our christian heritage, is a comprehensive, private university that provides a transformative learning experience, shaping graduates who work, serve and lead with integrity in their local, national, and global…
Promote and encourage cooperation among Alaska electric utilities and their customers while promoting the operation of electrical plants adequate for the needs of Alaskan consumers.
Anchorage Community Land Trust strives to develop healthy and prosperous communities in Anchorage by acquiring, developing, and planning for the land and projects necessary to bring about sustainable neighborhood revitalization and…
We engage, empower, and elect alaskans to stand up for our clean air and water, healthy communities, and a strong democracy.
Inspired by lutheran scholarly tradition and the liberal arts, augustana provides an education of enduring worth that challenges the intellect, fosters integrity and integrates faith with learning and service in a diverse world.
How this is measured
13 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. 13 of the 59 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds MORGAN STANLEY GLOBAL IMPACT FUNDING TRUST INC ↗
- Who funds BERING STRAITS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds The Alaska Community Foundation ↗
- Who funds NOME COMMUNITY CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds THE LEAP FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds ALA KAHAKAI TRAIL ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds ALASKA STATE FAIR INC ↗
- Who funds Alaska Pacific University ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Rasmuson Foundation · The Alaska Community Foundation · M J Murdock Charitable Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Thomas and Cindy Massie Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thomas and Cindy Massie Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Thomas and Cindy Massie Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Thomas and Cindy Massie 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.
Play a game based on Thomas and Cindy Massie’s filings →