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Plinth

· Private foundation

Walter R Ferguson Charitable Foundation

Its FY2019 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$510k
Granted FY2018
19
Grants FY2018
9
States reached
$100k
Largest

Read this first · the figures below need context

100% of Walter R Ferguson Charitable Foundation’s FY2019 grant dollars went to Community Foundation Of Collier County Inc, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2019 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2018, the last year Walter R Ferguson Charitable Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 11 organizations, $510k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

11
18
0
19

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20182019.

Philanthropy$8.7MHealth$155kAnimals$125kArts & Culture$110kCivil Rights$50kCrime & Legal$25kCommunity Improvement$25kFood & Nutrition$5kOther$0
02FY2018 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2018

  • Under $10k6 grants · $30k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $180k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $300k
$20,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CANCER ALLIANCE OF NAPLES$100,000
NASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIET$100,000
CEDARS SINAI MEDICAL CENTER$50,000
PROJECT LIBERTY SHIP-BALTIMORE$50,000
SALVATION ARMY CORRECTIONS DIVISION$25,000
SOUTH WEST FLORIDA HORSE RESCUE$25,000
PURE THOUGHTS INC$25,000
LABELLE DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION$25,000
CLINIC FOR THE REHAB OF WILDLIFE$20,000
IRON GAIT PERCHERONS$20,000
SENIOR HOUNDSABOUND INC$20,000
THE PENN STATE IFC$10,000
GENTLE SOULS ANIMAL SANCTUARY$10,000
HUSKY BASEBALL CLUB$5,000
ROYAL ANIMAL REFUGE INC$5,000
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 (FY18–18, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%FROTH & BUBBLE FOUNDATION: $5k → 11%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

NY
OH
PA
CA
MD
AZ
TN
GA
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 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
Florida Pointer Rescue Inc

Rescue pointer dogs and treat back to health and f

Animals
2
Dollys Legacy Animal Rescue

Foster-based animal rescue that rescues homeless and abandoned animals, providing them with veterinary care including specialized care, heartworm treatment, surgery, severe illness treatment & hospitalization, then placing them for…

Animals
3
South Florida Animal Rescue Network Inc

Rescue rehab and rehome dogs and horses in need. We rescue them from auction shelters the streets etc.

Animals
4
Saving Paws Rescue of Florida Inc

To assist in the medical care, misc care and rehoming of animals that do not have a home

Animals
5
2nd Chance Ranch and Rescue

Sanctuary for abused or abandoned animals

Animals
6
Angels for Sara Sanctuary

Rescue senior dogs from shelters; people who go into nursing homes; people who have passed.We get their medical needs taken care of; then we will try to find them their forever homes. We work with seniors who are needing a companion and…

Animals
7
Sweet Dreams Senior Pet Sanctuary

The mission of sweet dreams senior pet sanctuary is to support elderly individuals who can no longer care for their senior pets by providing a safe and loving home for their cherished companions. the sanctuary offers two primary programs…

Animals
8
South Florida Beagle Rescue Inc

beagle rescue

Animals
9
Canine Estates Inc
Animals
10
Missouri Forget-Me-Not Horse Rescue Sanctuary

Our mission is to provide aid and sanctuary to abused, neglected, abandoned or donated horses that come to us in need. to work with law enforcement and other agencies in their efforts to rectify situations in which horses are in peril. to…

Animals
11
Platte Ranch Forever Home Sanctuary
Animals
12
Saving Saluda Strays
Animals

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Southwest Florida Community Foundation Inc and the most unlike its peers is Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. 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 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 14 of the 22 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/14
Grantees still filing
11/14
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $2,893,176 · PhilanthropySOUTHWEST FLORIDA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INCNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST — $2,893,176 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUSTCOLLIER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $2,893,176 · OtherCOLLIER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC+9 more — $155,000 · OtherCANCER ALLIANCE NETWORK INC — $100,000 · HealthCEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER — $50,000 · Health+1 more — $5,000 · HealthNASHVILLE STEAM PRESERVATION SOCIETY — $100,000 · Arts & CultureSOUTH WEST FLORIDA HORSE RESCUE INC — $25,000 · AnimalsSENIOR HOUNDSABOUND INC — $20,000 · AnimalsIron Gait Percherons Inc — $20,000 · AnimalsROYAL ANIMAL REFUGE — $5,000 · AnimalsLABELLE DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION CORP — $25,000 · Community ImprovementFroth and Bubble Foundation — $5,000 · Human Services
Philanthropy$5,786,352Other$3,048,176Health$155,000Arts & Culture$100,000Animals$70,000Community Improvement$25,000Human Services$5,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetSOUTHWEST FLORIDA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $2,893,176 over 1y, 13% of budgetCOLLIER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $2,893,176 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST — $2,893,176 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCANCER ALLIANCE NETWORK INC — $100,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetCEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER — $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPURE THOUGHTS INC — $25,000 over 1y, 7.1% of budgetSOUTH WEST FLORIDA HORSE RESCUE INC — $25,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetLABELLE DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION CORP — $25,000 over 1y, 33% of budgetSENIOR HOUNDSABOUND INC — $20,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetROYAL ANIMAL REFUGE — $5,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetDR BOB'S HOME — $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetFroth and Bubble Foundation — $5,000 over 1y, 5.0% 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.

Southwest Florida Community Foundation IncFL15.6× affinity5 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Southwest Florida Community Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile 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 Walter R Ferguson Charitable Foundation 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 or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 69%
  • Southwest Florida Community Foundation Inc69% 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)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
typical government reliance, FY2025

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.

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 22 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 2018, released 2018. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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