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Thomas R and Kathy S McPherson Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Thomas R and Kathy S McPherson Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$74k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$31k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2025.

Religion$297kEducation$190kArts & Culture$100kScience & Tech$75kYouth Development$49kHealth$40kInternational$24kHuman Services$13kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $8k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $66k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$55k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BROWNSON MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH$30,750
JUDSON THEATRE INC$25,000
FIRST HEALTH OF THE CAROLINAS INC$10,000
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF THE SANDHILLS INC$6,500
THE TIN WHISTLES SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION$1,500
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 (FY17–21, $13k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%NORTHERN MOORE FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER INC: $10k → 10%NORTHERN MOORE FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER INC: $2k → 10%NORTHERN MOORE FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER INC: $1k → 10%NORTHERN MOORE FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER INC: $500 → 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.
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.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$789k · 15 repeat orgs$750 to everyone else

15 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
2

Total granted

$789k
$750

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+67%
+107%

Still filing today

80%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationYouth DevelopmentInternationalHuman ServicesReligionArts & CultureOther
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

  • JT
    JUDSON THEATRE INC
    4× · 2021–2025 · $100k · revenue +79%
  • NS
    NC STATE ENGINEERING FOUNDATION INC
    7× · 2017–2023 · $75k · revenue +172%
  • BA
    BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF THE SANDHILLS INC
    7× · 2017–2025 · $49k · revenue +67%

Funded once

  • CC
    CHARLOTTE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $500 · revenue +107%
  • PH
    PRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE CENTERgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $250 · revenue +51%
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
North Carolina State University Foundation Inc

Supports, by financial assistance and otherwise, the various colleges within the university, the libraries, and other university-connected functions.

Education
2
North Carolina State University College of Sciences Foundation Inc

Provide financial support for all types of education and research within the college of sciences at north carolina state university.

Philanthropy
3
North Carolina State University Alumni Association Inc

The nc state alumni association engages alumni and friends through programs and services that foster pride and enhance a lifelong connection to nc state university ("nc state").

—
4
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
5
Greensboro College

Greensboro College provides a liberal arts education grounded in the traditions of the United Methodist Church and fosters the intellectual, social, and spiritual development of all students while supporting their individual needs.

Education
6
North Greenville University

North greenville university exists to glorify god by cultivating graduates who are equipped to serve as transformational leaders for church and society.

Education
7
Barton College

Founded in 1902, barton college is a four-year, private, liberal arts college located in wilson, n.c. the barton experience focuses on academic excellence within a wide range of professional and liberal arts programs leading to…

Education
8
Columbia College

Columbia college improves lives by providing quality education to both traditional and nontraditional students, helping them achieve their true potential.

Education
9
Greenville College

Greenville college d/b/a greenville university empowers students for lives of character and service through a transforming christ-centered education in the liberal arts, sciences, and professional studies.

Education
10
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
11
North Carolina Textile Foundation Inc

To advance wilson college of textiles through engagement, partnership and philanthropy. as a charitable organization, the foundation supports the college and dean of the college and such support shall include but is not limited to…

Education
12
Nc State Natural Resources Foundation Inc

To promote education and research in the college of natural resources of north carolina state university as well as aid and promote, by financial assistance and otherwise, all types of education, research and extension in the college of…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Boys and Girls Club of the Sandhills Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Tin Whistles Scholarship Foundation. 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

15 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. 15 of the 17 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/15
Grantees still filing
12/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BROWNSON MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $297,000 · OtherBROWNSON MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHSANDHILLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $105,002 · OtherSANDHILLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INCFIRST HEALTH OF THE CAROLINAS INC - THE FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Other+5 more: $8,000 · OtherNC STATE ENGINEERING FOUNDATION INC: $75,000 · EducationNC STATE ENGINEERING …Davidson College: $35,000 · EducationDavidson CollegeGiven Tufts Foundation Inc: $27,000 · EducationGiven Tufts Foundatio…UNCG EXCELLENCE FOUNDATION INC: $16,000 · EducationUNCG EXCELLENCE FOUND…JUDSON THEATRE INC: $100,000 · Arts & CultureJUDSON THEATRE…BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF THE SANDHILLS INC: $49,380 · Youth DevelopmentZoe Empowers: $24,000 · InternationalFIRSTHEALTH OF THE CAROLINAS INC: $20,000 · HealthNORTHERN MOORE FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER INC: $13,300 · Human Services
Other$430,002Education$153,000Arts & Culture$100,000Youth Development$49,380International$24,000Health$20,000Human Services$13,300

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 budgetSANDHILLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $105,002 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetJUDSON THEATRE INC: $100,000 over 4y, 14% of budgetNC STATE ENGINEERING FOUNDATION INC: $75,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF THE SANDHILLS INC: $49,380 over 7y, 1.0% of budgetDavidson College: $35,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetGiven Tufts Foundation Inc: $27,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetZoe Empowers: $24,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetFIRSTHEALTH OF THE CAROLINAS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNCG EXCELLENCE FOUNDATION INC: $16,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHERN MOORE FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER INC: $13,300 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetThe Tin Whistles Scholarship Foundation: $5,000 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetTHE AOPA FOUNDATION INC: $750 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHARLOTTE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPRESBYTERIAN HERITAGE CENTER: $250 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Duke Energy FoundationThe Winston-Salem Fou…Gordy-Steidinger Foun…Gs Donor Advised Phil…American Endowment Fo…National Philanthropi…The Pfizer Foundation…Morgan Stanley Global…The Blackbaud Giving …Natl Christian Charit…Vanguard Charitable E…The Bank of America C…
Duke Energy FoundationNC18.3× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Duke Energy Foundation · The Winston-Salem Foundation · Gordy-Steidinger Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · American Endowment Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bank of America Charitable 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 Thomas R and Kathy S McPherson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thomas R and Kathy S McPherson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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.

    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 17 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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    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