· Private foundation
Trace 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| DEEP SOUTH TODAY | $123,000 |
| SALT SPRING INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION AND ACTION | $103,625 |
| JOURNALISM DEVELOPMENT NETWORK | $50,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
US giving: 69% of grant dollars ($829k). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 31% that went abroad ($377k) is mapped below.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 60% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Beyond the US: 31% of all-years giving ($377k)
5 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +56% since the first grant, against +43% for those funded once.
6 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
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, 18% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $227k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- TAThe Alfred Friendly Foundation5× · 2018–2022 · $215k · revenue -85%
- TITHE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR CRIMINAL LAW REFORM AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLIC4× · 2021–2024 · $110k
- JDJOURNALISM DEVELOPMENT NETWORK INC2× · 2022–2025 · $90k · revenue +56%
Funded once
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITYgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $86k · revenue +47%- UOUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF LAWone grant, 2017 · $71k
- ABAmerican Bar Association Fund for Justice and Educationone grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +15%
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.
International consortium of investigative journalists, inc.'s (icij) mission is to show people how the world really works through stories that rock the world; forcing positive change.
The International Center is a District of Columbia 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 1977, has as its principal purpose the promotion of greater international understanding and the lessening of international frictions and…
The fuller project is the global newsroom dedicated to groundbreaking reporting that catalyzes positive change for women.
The organization provides critical support to independent journalists to investigate news stories regarding corruption, malfeasance, exploitation, misappropriation of funds in the public and private sectors.
Internews is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to empower local media worldwide to give people the news and information they need, the ability to connect and the means to make their voices heard.
The iib represents the interests of the international banking community before u.s. legislative/regulatory bodies liaises with international regulatory bodies serves as a source of information to the media and other interested parties…
The american journalism project, inc. is a first-of-its-kind venture philanthropy dedicated to building and supporting local news across the country. american journalism project makes grants to nonprofit news organizations, partners with…
Nbr conducts advanced independent research on strategic, political, economic, energy, globalization, and health issues affecting u.s. relations with asia. drawing upon an extensive network of the world's leading specialists and leveraging…
The assocn. of foreign press corrs. usa serves the community of international correspondents in the u.s. through educational programs, educational publications, and the production of educational content, as well as scholarships, excellence…
The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…
To provide accurate, objective information and analysis on international strategic issues for legislators, diplomats, foreign affairs analysts, international business leaders, economists, the military, defense commentators, journalists,…
How this is measured
10 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. 10 of the 24 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 The Alfred Friendly Foundation ↗
- Who funds DEEP SOUTH TODAY ↗
- Who funds JOURNALISM DEVELOPMENT NETWORK INC ↗
- Who funds GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education ↗
- Who funds OO PROJECT ↗
- Who funds THE INT'L CENTER FOR JOURNALISTS INC ↗
- Who funds THIRD SECTOR NEW ENGLAND INC ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA ↗
- Who funds INTEREXCHANGE INC ↗
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: The Ford Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Trace Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Trace Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Third Sector New England Inc: 3% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Trace Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Trace 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 Trace’s filings →