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Upward Unlimited at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Upward Unlimited

Upward Sports is the world's largest Christian sports provider for youth athletics.

$302k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$200k
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 2025.

Religion$2.7MYouth Development$1.1MCrime & Legal$395kRecreation & Sports$217kHuman Services$201kHousing & Shelter$72kHealth$63kEducation$50kOther$0
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 3 grants below total $239,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $302,132 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $63,132 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $39k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $200k
$29,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$54M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
North American Mission Board$200,000
Impact Sports$29,000
First Baptist Church$10,000
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 (FY24–24, $172k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%New Day Orphanage: $11k → 10%SonShine Club: $20k → 15%Isaiah 117 House: $20k → 18%Hearts 4 Ukraine: $15k → 10%Grace Klein Community Inc: $9k → 16%Neighborhood Focus: $40k → 10%Miracle Hill: $42k → 10%Band of Brothers Prison Ministry Inc: $15k → 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
OH
PA
CA
CO
KY
VA
DE
TN
NC
SC
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 8% of Upward Unlimited’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Upward Unlimitedlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

12%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$473k · 4 repeat orgs$3.6M to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
80

Total granted

$473k
$3.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
0%

Still filing today

25%
56%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesYouth DevelopmentReligionPhilanthropyCrime & LegalEducationOther
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

  • NA
    NORTH AMERICAN MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $300k
  • FB
    FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF SPARTANBURG INC
    4× · 2017–2020 · $88k
  • IS
    IMPACT SPORTS INTERNATIONAL
    2× · 2024–2025 · $60k · revenue 0%

Funded once

  • UU
    Upward Unlimited Foundation
    one grant, 2017 · $1.0M · revenue -100% · 71% of their budget
  • AM
    ANDERSON MILL ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH
    one grant, 2024 · $450k
  • J
    JUMPSTART
    one grant, 2024 · $375k · revenue 0% · 59% of their budget
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
Sole Ministries

None

Religion
2
Gods Promise Ministries International

Religious Purposes

Housing & Shelter
3
Jessica Yoon Ministries

Spread the Christianity

Religion
4
Grace Community International

Grace community exists to glorify jesus christ through biblically-based teaching designed to win the world for christ through heads of households, disciple the world through families, equip christian families to live the christian life…

Housing & Shelter
5
Cole Young Ministries

Ministry

Religion
6
House of Prayer for All Nations

Church ministry

Religion
7
The Porch Ministries

Our ultimate mission at the porch is clear and simple: to raise up mighty sons of god who will carry the authority of the kingdom of heaven, and make jesus known in the earth. we desire to raise up men of god who will love his truth with…

Religion
8
Free to Worship Ministries

This church will be that place of emergency where people can come any time of day or night. We will be a place that will lead people back to health both spiritually and naturally.

Religion
9
Wounded Spirits Ministries

The focus of the ministry is to establish christian camps and retreats that will reach men and women who have been affected by post traumatic stress disorder with the gospel of jesus christ, and equip them to recognize, manage, and…

Recreation & Sports
10
Salt With a Mission

Teach the ministry of christ

Religion
11
Vision International Missions

To propagate the gospel of jesus christ; to examine candidates and appoint missionaries. to endorse missionary programs according to standards set forth in the new testament, to establish churches, church schools & mission societies in…

Religion
12
Jesus in Vietnam Ministries
Religion
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Young Life; the most unlike its peers is Mexico Orphan Missions Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

52 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 52 of the 87 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.

7
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
49/52
Grantees still filing
21/52
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Upward Unlimited Foundation: $1,000,000 · OtherUpward Unlimited FoundationANDERSON MILL ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH: $450,000 · OtherANDERSON MILL ROAD BAPTIST CHURCHNORTH AMERICAN MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION INC: $300,000 · OtherNORTH AMERICAN MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION …INTERNATIONAL MISSION BOARD OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION: $130,000 · Other+46 more: $847,224 · Other+46 moreSOUTH CAROLINA CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION: $730,000 · ReligionSOUTH CAROLINA CHRISTI…IMPACT SPORTS INTERNATIONAL: $60,000 · ReligionIMPACT SPORTS INTERNAT…WIN AWAKENING INC: $35,000 · Religion+8 more: $137,000 · Religion+8 moreJUMPSTART: $375,000 · Crime & LegalJUMPSTARTPRISON FELLOWSHIP MINISTRIES: $20,000 · Crime & LegalYOUNG LIFE: $150,000 · Youth DevelopmentNASHVILLE YOUTH SPORTS CLUB INC: $29,000 · Youth DevelopmentCLARK COUNTY YOUTH SPORTS ASSOCIATION: $25,000 · Youth DevelopmentFIRE PIT RANCH: $20,342 · Youth DevelopmentHOPE REMAINS YOUTH RANCH INC: $15,400 · Youth DevelopmentLEAD COLLECTIVE INCCHA: $15,000 · Youth DevelopmentDAVIDS TABLE INC: $15,000 · Youth DevelopmentSIDEWALK HOPE INC: $12,500 · Youth DevelopmentHouston Youth Athletic Club: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentMIRACLE HILL MINISTRIES INC: $42,300 · Human ServicesNEIGHBORHOOD FOCUS: $40,000 · Human ServicesHANDS AND FEET PROJECT INC: $20,500 · Human ServicesSWITCH: $20,000 · Human ServicesSONSHINE CLUB: $20,000 · Human ServicesISAIAH 117 HOUSE: $20,000 · Human ServicesHEARTS 4 UKRAINE: $15,000 · Human ServicesBAND OF BROTHERS PRISON MINISTRY INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesNEW DAY ORPHANAGE: $10,500 · Human ServicesGRACE KLEIN COMMUNITY INC: $9,000 · Human ServicesCAMPUS OUTREACH COLUMBIA: $150,000 · PhilanthropyMISSION METROPLEX INC: $15,000 · PhilanthropyMISSION INCREASE: $15,000 · PhilanthropyANDERSON UNIVERSITY: $50,000 · EducationGreer Christian Learning Center Inc: $10,500 · Education
Other$2,727,224Religion$962,000Crime & Legal$395,000Youth Development$292,242Human Services$212,300Philanthropy$180,000Education$60,500

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 budgetUpward Unlimited Foundation: $1,000,000 over 1y, 71% of budgetSOUTH CAROLINA CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION: $730,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetJUMPSTART: $375,000 over 1y, 59% of budgetYOUNG LIFE: $150,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAMPUS OUTREACH COLUMBIA: $150,000 over 1y, 7.4% of budgetCOLORADO YOUTH SPORTS CLUB: $83,000 over 1y, 48% of budgetIMPACT SPORTS INTERNATIONAL: $60,000 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetANDERSON UNIVERSITY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMIRACLE HILL MINISTRIES INC: $42,300 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCOLLINS HOME FAMILY MINISTRIES: $40,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD FOCUS: $40,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetWIN AWAKENING INC: $35,000 over 1y, 97% of budgetNASHVILLE YOUTH SPORTS CLUB INC: $29,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetRO-TWELVE MINISTRIES: $25,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetHEARTS FOR ETERNITY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetCLARK COUNTY YOUTH SPORTS ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 1y, 45% of budgetTELEIOS MINISTRY: $25,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetFOURTH WATCH EVANGELISTIC MINISTRY: $25,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetSEATTLE YOUTH SPORTS CLUB: $20,700 over 1y, 34% of budgetHANDS AND FEET PROJECT INC: $20,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetFIRE PIT RANCH: $20,342 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetPRISON FELLOWSHIP MINISTRIES: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSWITCH: $20,000 over 1y, 4.8% of budgetSONSHINE CLUB: $20,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetISAIAH 117 HOUSE: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOPE REMAINS YOUTH RANCH INC: $15,400 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetLEAD COLLECTIVE INCCHA: $15,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetMISSION METROPLEX INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRONT PORCH HOUSING: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHEARTS 4 UKRAINE: $15,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetDAVIDS TABLE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetBAND OF BROTHERS PRISON MINISTRY INC: $15,000 over 1y, 8.8% of budgetMISSION INCREASE: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFAITH HOME INC: $14,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMEXICO ORPHAN MISSIONS INC: $12,500 over 1y, 10% of budgetALPHA INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES INC DBA ADVANCING INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS: $12,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetCAROLINA PREGNANCY CENTER: $12,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetSIDEWALK HOPE INC: $12,500 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetChristian Families Against Destructive Decisions: $10,500 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetNEW DAY ORPHANAGE: $10,500 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTAYLORS FREE MEDICAL CLINIC INC: $10,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBROWN FAMILY MINISTRIES INC: $10,500 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetGreer Christian Learning Center Inc: $10,500 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetDELAWARE YOUTH SPORTS CLUB: $10,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetHouston Youth Athletic Club: $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetONELIFE INSTITUTE INC: $9,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGRACE KLEIN COMMUNITY INC: $9,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDISCIPLES VILLAGE: $9,000 over 1y, 1.0% 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.

South Carolina Christ…J M Smith FoundationSpartanburg County Fo…Delta FoundationScansource Charitable…Kellett Family Founda…Spartanburg Regional …United Way of the Pie…The Jolley FoundationChristian Community F…The US Charitable Gif…Celanese Foundation
South Carolina Christian FoundationSC53.8× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: South Carolina Christian Foundation · J M Smith Foundation · Spartanburg County Foundation · Delta Foundation · Scansource Charitable Foundation · Kellett Family Foundation · Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System Foundation · United Way of the Piedmont Inc · The Jolley Foundation · Christian Community Foundation Inc · The US Charitable Gift Trust · Celanese Foundation

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%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 · 0–10%
    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 Upward Unlimited?

    Find your warmest path to Upward Unlimited 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 87 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 Upward Unlimited’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