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· Private foundation

Walking Stick Family Fund

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.

$126k
Granted FY2025still arriving
41
Grants FY2025still arriving
17
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What you fund
0193% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2018–2025.

Environment$221kEducation$129kArts & Culture$100kFood & Nutrition$93kHealth$35kPhilanthropy$28kAnimals$6kInternational$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 41 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k39 grants · $96k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $30k
$2,000
Median grant
17
States reached
$3.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
909 WBUR$20,000
A CLIMATE TO THRIVE$10,000
NORTHEAST ORGANIC FARMING ASSOCIATION$7,000
WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$6,000
MAINE PUBLIC BROADCASTING$6,000
NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL$5,000
OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST$5,000
WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING$5,000
BOSTON DANCE ALLIANCE$5,000
THE SIERRA CLUB$4,000
WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$4,000
MAINE ORGANIC FARMERS$3,000
MASS AUDUBON$3,000
MAINE AUDUBON$3,000
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND$2,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY22–22, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%GLOBAL DISASTER RELIEF TEAM: $1k → 8%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

ME
VT
NH
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
OH
PA
CA
WV
VA
MD
AZ
NC
DC
GA
TX
FL

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$522k · 73 repeat orgs$121k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +45% since the first grant, against +1% for the ones you funded once.

73 repeat relationships — 20 still active in FY2025, 53 since wound down; 19 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

73
47

Total granted

$522k
$78k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+45%
+1%

Still filing today

68%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 65% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $43k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentArts & CultureEducationFood & NutritionHealthInternationalOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • GN
    GROW NATIVE MASSACHUSETTS INC
    7× · 2018–2024 · $70k · revenue +45%
  • AC
    A CLIMATE TO THRIVE
    5× · 2021–2025 · $50k · revenue +82%
  • TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2018–2024 · $49k · revenue +40%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $7k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2024 · $7k
  • TT
    THE TRUSTEES OF THE NEW YORK SOCIETY LIBRARY
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue 0%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Native Plant Trust Inc

The organization's mission is to conserve and promote new england's native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes.

Environment
2
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
3
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
4
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
5
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
6
Grist Magazine Inc

Grist is an independent, non profit media organization dedicated to reporting on climate change.

Environment
7
Ocean Conservancy

Ocean conservancy unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.

Environment
8
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
9
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
10
Fresh Energy

Shape and drive bold policy solutions to achieve equitable carbon-neutral economies.

Environment
11
Conservation Law Foundation Inc

Conservation law foundation, inc. (clf) protects new england's environment for the benefit of all people and future generations. we use the law, science, and markets to create solutions that preserve and restore our natural resources,…

Environment
12
Cdp North America Inc

Cdp north america, inc. 's ("cdp-na") vision for the future is a thriving economy that works for people and planet in the long term. we focus investors and companies on taking urgent action to build a truly sustainable economy by measuring…

Environment

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Charles River Conservancy Inc and the most unlike its peers is New York University. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyPolicy Research and AdvocacyEnvironmental Conservation …Local History MuseumsJewish Community Organizati…Local Food System Organizat…Pregnancy Support ServicesCommunity FoundationsPublic Library Operations
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 35 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%1%<5yr14%2%5–10yr19%15%10–20yr16%32%20–35yr13%20%35–55yr16%31%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%11%5–10yr19%22%10–20yr16%16%20–35yr13%13%35–55yr16%38%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 1% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
1%1/86
the rest of the field
13%
240,395/1,819,479

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

84 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 84 of the 142 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
82/84
Grantees still filing
56/84
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY — $49,468 · OtherTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITYNORTHEAST ORGANIC FARMING ASSOCIATION — $42,000 · OtherNORTHEAST ORGANIC FARMING ASSOCIATION909 WBUR — $22,270 · Other909 WBURGREENPEACE INC — $12,000 · OtherBASS HARBOR MEMORIAL LIBRARY — $10,500 · OtherWOMEN'S & MEN'S HEALTH SERVICES — $10,500 · Other+79 more — $164,755 · Other+79 moreGROW NATIVE MASSACHUSETTS INC — $70,000 · EnvironmentGROW NATIVE MASSACHUSETTS INCA CLIMATE TO THRIVE — $50,000 · EnvironmentA CLIMATE TO THRIVENATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC — $18,500 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCI…AMERICAN RIVERS INC — $8,000 · Environment+21 more — $45,175 · Environment+21 moreJESUP MEMORIAL LIBRARY — $38,500 · EducationJESUP MEM…HOLDERNESS SCHOOL — $4,000 · EducationHOLDERNES…BENNINGTON COLLEGE CORPORATION — $3,600 · EducationBENNINGTO…STEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC — $3,250 · EducationSTEPPINGS…University of Arizona Foundation — $2,000 · Education+4 more — $2,800 · EducationWGBH Educational Foundation — $10,100 · Arts & CultureWEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING FOUNDA — $8,500 · Arts & CultureMaine Public Broadcasting Corporation — $6,900 · Arts & CultureWISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO ASSOCIATION INC — $3,000 · Arts & CultureTURTLE STUDIOS CORPORATION — $3,000 · Arts & CultureIOWA PUBLIC RADIO INC — $2,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF PUBLIC RADIO ARIZONA — $2,000 · Arts & CultureMAINE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEREST REPORTING — $1,450 · Arts & Culture+2 more — $650 · Arts & CultureCAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $27,500 · Philanthropy+1 more — $550 · PhilanthropyMaine Farmland Trust — $9,500 · Food & NutritionTHE SYLVIA CENTER — $8,000 · Food & NutritionNATIONAL YOUNG FARMERS COALITION INC — $7,000 · Food & NutritionMAINE ORGANIC FARMERS AND GARDENERS ASSOCIATION — $1,750 · Food & Nutrition+2 more — $1,475 · Food & NutritionPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC — $12,000 · HealthEVERY MOTHER COUNTS — $4,300 · HealthBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION — $2,500 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $2,000 · HealthSOUTH FLORIDA PUBLIC MEDIA GROUP INC — $2,000 · Health
Other$311,493Environment$191,675Education$54,150Arts & Culture$37,600Philanthropy$28,050Food & Nutrition$27,725Health$22,800

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetGROW NATIVE MASSACHUSETTS INC — $70,000 over 7y, 4.4% of budgetA CLIMATE TO THRIVE — $50,000 over 5y, 4.3% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY — $49,468 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetJESUP MEMORIAL LIBRARY — $38,500 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetCAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $27,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC — $18,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC — $12,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGREENPEACE INC — $12,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWGBH Educational Foundation — $10,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMaine Farmland Trust — $9,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetWEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING FOUNDA — $8,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTHE SYLVIA CENTER — $8,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN RIVERS INC — $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC — $8,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL YOUNG FARMERS COALITION INC — $7,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMaine Public Broadcasting Corporation — $6,900 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAmazon Watch Inc — $5,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetOUR CHILDREN'S TRUST — $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBOSTON DANCE ALLIANCE INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE NEW YORK SOCIETY LIBRARY — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEVERY MOTHER COUNTS — $4,300 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFAIRNESS & ACCURACY IN REPORTING INC — $4,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHOLDERNESS SCHOOL — $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREENPEACE FUND INC — $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAppalachian Mountain Club — $4,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRAINFOREST ALLIANCE INC — $3,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBENNINGTON COLLEGE CORPORATION — $3,600 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetINSIDE CLIMATE NEWS INC — $3,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSTEPPINGSTONE FOUNDATION INC — $3,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO ASSOCIATION INC — $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of Acadia — $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTURTLE STUDIOS CORPORATION — $3,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetMaine Audubon Society — $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC — $2,750 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLAND FOR GOOD INC — $2,250 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Arizona Foundation — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIOWA PUBLIC RADIO INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC — $2,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF PUBLIC RADIO ARIZONA — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSUNRISE MOVEMENT EDUCATION FUND — $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTH FLORIDA PUBLIC MEDIA GROUP INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetStewardship Education Alliance — $2,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetBERKSHIRE ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION TEAM INC — $1,900 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE EARTH — $1,825 over 3y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Maine Community Found…Boston Foundation IncEastern Bank Foundati…Eastern Cambridge Fou…American Tower Corpor…PatagoniaorgCombined Jewish Phila…Hattie a and Fred C L…Beard Family Charitab…Stevenson Family Char…The Charlotte Foundat…Colket Family Foundat…
Maine Community Foundation IncME25.9× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Maine Community Foundation Inc · Boston Foundation Inc · Eastern Bank Foundation · Eastern Cambridge Foundation · American Tower Corporation Foundation Inc · Patagoniaorg · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Hattie a and Fred C Lynam Trust · Beard Family Charitable Trust John E Beard Trustee · Stevenson Family Charitable Trust · The Charlotte Foundation Inc · Colket Family Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Walking Stick Family Fund funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 90%1%5%11%20%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Boston Medical Center Corporation — 23% of income from government
  • Greater Boston Food Bank Inc — 22% of income from government
  • Boston Area Gleaners Inc — 20% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University — 12% of income from government
  • Turtle Studios Corporation — 12% of income from government
  • The Cambridge Historical Society — 11% of income from government
  • Charles River Watershed Association Inc — 8% of income from government
  • Boston Dance Alliance Inc — 5% of income from government
  • Grow Native Massachusetts Inc — 3% of income from government
  • Commonwealth Zoological Corporation D/B/a Zoo New England — 2% of income from government
  • Bikes Not Bombs Inc — 2% of income from government
  • Appalachian Mountain Club — 1% of income from government
  • Wgbh Educational Foundation — 1% of income from government
  • Emerald Necklace Conservancy Inc — 0% of income from government
  • Bennington College Corporation — 0% of income from government
  • Steppingstone Foundation Inc — 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
9get no government money at all
18report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
typical government reliance, FY20–25

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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Walking Stick Family Fund?

Find your warmest path to Walking Stick Family Fund 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 142 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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 camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines