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Upstream Works at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Upstream Works

Upstream Works Collaborative provides creative,accessible service solutions to help changemakers navigate complex challenges.

$92k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$13k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through 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, FY2024 to 2025.

Community Improvement$189kHealth$44kFood & Nutrition$34kEducation$34kHuman Services$34kYouth Development$30kRecreation & Sports$17kCivil Rights$17kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $75k
$12,900
Median grant
1
States reached
$963k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Food Policy Council Inc$13,350
Men and Women United for Youth & Families$13,025
Kind Kitchen Group$13,000
West Marion Community Forum Inc$12,900
Toxic Free NC$12,500
Gaston Family Health Services Inc$10,125
Island Culturez$8,850
Farmer Foodshare$7,750
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 (FY24–25, $30k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Men and Women United for Youth & Families: $13k → 21%Equity Before Birth: $17k → 11%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 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
Ubuntu Black Family Wellness Collective

Ubuntu Black Family Wellness Collective is a free and charitable clinic and social safety net. Ubuntu Black Family Wellness Collective serves Black pregnant and parenting mamas, their babies and children through community-based, holistic…

Health
2
Broad River Community Market

To create a thriving, equitable food system by working with local farms to provide crucial access to fresh produce to food insecure people in Cleveland County.

Food & Nutrition
3
Equitable Giving Circle

Through radical, no-strings-attached giving, EGC disrupts systemic inequality by funding community-led projects, including sustainable food security programs, housing support, and wellness initiatives

Philanthropy
4
Northwest Farms to Families

The NWF2F DBA Minority Growers Collective is a 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit founded in February of 2021 to meet the education, training, and financial assistance needs of agricultural growers and producers of color and meet the needs of…

Food & Nutrition
5
North Carolina Empowerment Organization
Civil Rights
6
Bounty & Soul

Together we connect, share, and celebrate nutritious food, education and community.

Food & Nutrition
7
Project Milk Mission

Project milk mission is at the forefront of a vital mission - reducing infant mortality rates by championing breastfeeding, with a special focus on supporting low-income african american mothers. through comprehensive services spanning the…

Food & Nutrition
8
Black Girls Cook

Black Girls Cook aims to empower and inspire inner-city adolescent Black girls through food security, culinary arts, urban farming, entrepreneurship, and STEM, emphasizing Black Diaspora cultural histories and food practices.

Food & Nutrition
9
Durham's Partnership for Children

To ensure every child in durham enters school ready to succeed, we lead community strategies for children birth to 5, and their families that promote healthy development and learning and echance access to high quality care.

Education
10
North Carolina Partnership for Children Inc

The north carolina partnership for children (ncpc) is the lead organization and backbone of the smart start network, setting statewide vision, policy, and funding priorities. while local partnerships translate the statewide vision into…

Education
11
Families First in Cabarrus County

To provide parenting and early childhood programs that nurture children, empower parents, and strengthen whole families to flourish by significantly improving school readiness and economic mobility. We start early through home visiting,…

Human Services
12
Beloved Community Inc

Catalyze people and institutions to implement sustainable cross-sector diversity practices that result in economic growth

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is El Centro Hispano Inc; the most unlike its peers is Sankofa Birth Foundation 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

14 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. 14 of the 18 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
7/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Upstream Works: $167,500 · Community ImprovementUpstream WorksEL CENTRO HISPANO INC: $16,750 · Community ImprovementEL CENTRO HISPANO INCWEST MARION INC: $12,900 · Community ImprovementWEST MARION INCISLAND CULTUREZ: $8,850 · Community ImprovementBULL CITY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION: $16,750 · OtherBULL CITY ATHLETIC ASSOCIATI…MAAME MOBILIZING AFRICAN AMERICAN MOTHERS THROUGH EMPOWERMENT INC: $16,750 · OtherMAAME MOBILIZING AFRICAN AME…HEARTS HELPING EACH ADOLESCENT REACH THEIR SPARK: $16,750 · OtherHEARTS HELPING EACH ADOLESCE…FATHERHOOD OF DURHAM: $16,750 · OtherFATHERHOOD OF DURHAMMecklenburg Food Policy Council: $13,350 · OtherMecklenburg Food Policy Coun…TOXIC FREE NORTH CAROLINA INC: $12,500 · OtherTOXIC FREE NORTH CAROLINA IN…GASTON FAMILY HEALTH SERVICES INC: $10,125 · OtherGASTON FAMILY HEALTH SERVICE…Sankofa Birth Foundation Inc: $16,750 · HealthSankofa B…BREASTFEEDING FAMILY FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES: $16,750 · HealthBREASTFEE…EQUITY BEFORE BIRTH: $16,750 · Human ServicesMEN & WOMEN UNITED FOR YOUTH & FAMILIES INC: $13,025 · Human ServicesKIND KITCHEN GROUP: $13,000 · Food & NutritionFARMER FOODSHARE INC: $7,750 · Food & NutritionREFUGEE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP INC: $16,750 · Civil Rights
Community Improvement$206,000Other$102,975Health$33,500Human Services$29,775Food & Nutrition$20,750Civil Rights$16,750

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUpstream Works: $167,500 over 1y, 19% of budgetSankofa Birth Foundation Inc: $16,750 over 1y, 24% of budgetEL CENTRO HISPANO INC: $16,750 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBREASTFEEDING FAMILY FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES: $16,750 over 1y, 4.4% of budgetHEARTS HELPING EACH ADOLESCENT REACH THEIR SPARK: $16,750 over 1y, 11% of budgetREFUGEE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP INC: $16,750 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetEQUITY BEFORE BIRTH: $16,750 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetKIND KITCHEN GROUP: $13,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetWEST MARION INC: $12,900 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTOXIC FREE NORTH CAROLINA INC: $12,500 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetGASTON FAMILY HEALTH SERVICES INC: $10,125 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFARMER FOODSHARE INC: $7,750 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

Z Smith Reynolds Foun…Triangle Community Fo…North Carolina Commun…United Way of the Gre…Foundation for the Ca…Carolina Farm Steward…Strowd Roses IncDuke UniversityImpactassetsincNEO Philanthropy IncDuke Energy FoundationThe Pfizer Foundation…
Z Smith Reynolds Foundation IncNC21.8× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Z Smith Reynolds Foundation Inc · Triangle Community Foundation Inc · North Carolina Community Foundation · United Way of the Greater Triangle Inc · Foundation for the Carolinas · Carolina Farm Stewardship Association · Strowd Roses Inc · Duke University · Impactassetsinc · NEO Philanthropy Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · The Pfizer 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 Upstream Works funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Upstream Works. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report 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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Upstream Works?

    Find your warmest path to Upstream Works 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 18 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 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

    Play a game based on Upstream Works’ 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