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Walter M Milford Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Walter M Milford Charitable Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$18k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Health$39kEducation$39kPhilanthropy$38kArts & Culture$33kHousing & Shelter$23kHuman Services$12kReligion$11kAnimals$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$419k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FARNSWORTH ART MUSEUM$5,000
CURTIS ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE FOUNDATION$5,000
HOMEWORTHY$5,000
PENOBSCOT BAY YMCA$2,500
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 (FY18–25, $23k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 2% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%WHISPERING MANES THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER: $250 → 15%PENOBSCOT BAY YMCA: $3k → 11%WHIPERING MANES THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER: $250 → 15%HOMEWORTHY: $5k → 11%KNOX COUNTY HOMELESS CONDITION: $5k → 11%KNOX COUNTY HOMELESS CONDITION: $5k → 11%KNOX COUNTY HOMELESS CONDITION: $5k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
NH
IL
NY
CA
MD
DC
GA
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 12% of Walter M Milford Charitable Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Walter M Milford Charitable Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 5.3% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

45%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$87k · 8 repeat orgs$105k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +41% since the first grant, against +36% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
24

Total granted

$87k
$98k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+36%

Still filing today

75%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 57% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8k 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
HealthHuman ServicesInternationalArts & CultureEducationPublic Safety & DisasterOther
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

  • UO
    University of Miami
    4× · 2020–2024 · $38k · revenue +66%
  • H
    Homeworthy
    4× · 2022–2025 · $20k · revenue +18%
  • FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES
    2× · 2018–2020 · $2k · revenue +41%

Funded once

  • FO
    Friends of Cancer Researchgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue +42%
  • PF
    PLAYING FOR CHANGE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue -23%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $9k
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
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc

The mission of dfci is to provide expert, compassionate, and equitable care to children, adults, and their families, while advancing the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of cancer and related diseases. we train new…

Health
2
Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a world-renowned center for biological discovery and training that is notably affiliated with more than 60 Nobel Prize winners. Research is conducted by full-time faculty as well as hundreds of the…

Science & Tech
3
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Sanford burnham prebys medical discovery institute's mission is to advance the biomedical sciences by cultivating the next generation of scientific leaders, providing meaningful opportunities for researchers of all backgrounds to learn,…

Health
4
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
5
MRIGlobal

To improve the lives of people through innovative scientific and engineering research.

Science & Tech
6
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Inc

The multiple myeloma research foundation (mmrf) is the largest nonprofit in the world solely focused on accelerating acurefor multiple myeloma patient. we drive the development and delivery of next-generation therapies, leverage data to…

Health
7
Targeting Resistance in Cancer Cooperative
Health
8
Mount Sinai Medical Center of Florida Inc

To provide high quality health care to our diverse community enhanced through teaching, research, charity care and financial responsibility.

Health
9
Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is a private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of New York Department of Education in 1929 to foster public awareness of modern and contemporary art. (Continued in Schedule O)

Arts & Culture
10
Arc Research Institute

Our mission is to accelerate scientific progress, understand the root causes of disease, and narrow the gap between discoveries and impact on patients.

Health
11
Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States Inc

The fsmb serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best…

Health
12
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory

To improve human health by discovering fundamental mechanisms of tissue repair, aging and regeneration, translating our discoveries for the benefit of medicine and society, and developing the next generation of scientific leaders.

Science & Tech
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Whispering Manes Therapeutic Riding Center Inc; the most unlike its peers is Litvak Dance Arts Foundation. 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

17 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. 17 of the 35 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
12/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE JEWISH COLLBORATIVE OF SAN DIEGO: $10,000 · OtherTHE JEWISH COLLBORATIVE OF SA…Individual grant recipient: $9,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $5,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientSUNDOG: $5,000 · OtherSUNDOGVINCENT CURRAN FOUNDATION: $2,500 · OtherOPERATION HELPING HANDS: $2,500 · OtherBELLA POINT CAMDEN ASSIST LIVING: $2,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $2,500 · OtherHABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $2,500 · OtherMISSION ESTANCIA: $2,500 · OtherGREEN HOPE FOUNDATION INC: $2,200 · OtherTHE COMMUNITY KITCHEN INC: $2,500 · OtherLifeFlight of Maine LLC: $2,500 · Other+9 more: $6,150 · Other+9 moreUniversity of Miami: $37,500 · EducationUniversity of MiamiTHE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · PhilanthropyTHE MIAMI FOUNDATI…Curtis Island Lighthouse Foundation: $10,000 · PhilanthropyCurtis Island Ligh…Friends of Cancer Research: $25,000 · HealthFriends of Canc…MOUNT SINAI MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $5,000 · HealthMOUNT SINAI MED…+1 more: $500 · HealthPLAYING FOR CHANGE FOUNDATION: $25,000 · InternationalPLAYING FOR C…FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $1,700 · InternationalFRIENDS OF TH…Homeworthy: $20,000 · Human ServicesHomeworthyPENOBSCOT BAY YMCA: $2,500 · Human ServicesPENOBSCOT B…+1 more: $500 · Human ServicesTHE WILLIAM A FARNSWORTH LIBRARY AND ART MUSEUM INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureLitvak Dance Arts Foundation: $2,500 · Arts & Culture
Other$57,350Education$37,500Philanthropy$35,000Health$30,500International$26,700Human Services$23,000Arts & Culture$7,500

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 budgetUniversity of Miami: $37,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of Cancer Research: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLAYING FOR CHANGE FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetHomeworthy: $20,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCurtis Island Lighthouse Foundation: $10,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetMOUNT SINAI MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WILLIAM A FARNSWORTH LIBRARY AND ART MUSEUM INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLitvak Dance Arts Foundation: $2,500 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY KITCHEN INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLifeFlight of Maine LLC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $1,700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWHISPERING MANES THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER INC: $500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Brain Tumor Association: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetENCINITAS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $100 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

The Pfizer Foundation…Raymond James Charita…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Pfizer Foundation IncNY11.1× affinity5 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Walter M Milford Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Walter M Milford Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get 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 Walter M Milford Charitable Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Walter M Milford Charitable 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.

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 35 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

Play a game based on Walter M Milford’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