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Ward Creek Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Ward Creek Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$444k
Granted FY2025still arriving
21
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$104k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Health$479kArts & Culture$385kEducation$339kCivil Rights$115kCommunity Improvement$55kHuman Services$50kScience & Tech$49kPublic Benefit$46kOther$0
02FY2025 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $65k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $165k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $215k
$10,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$6.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE FOUNDATION FOR AIDS RESEARCH$104,180
REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS INC$60,326
JAMES W FOLEY LEGACY FOUNDATION$50,066
CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION INC$49,156
COMMON GOOD AI INC$30,263
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA$25,142
CENTER FOR CREATIVE CHANGE$19,865
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SF FOUNDATION$10,084
REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM$10,084
THE LENFEST INSTITUTE FOR JOURNALISM$10,084
THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB JOURNALISM INSTITUTE INC$10,000
JUPITER MEDICAL CENTER INC$9,941
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS$9,896
CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION$9,630
SACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHES$5,109
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 (FY20–25, $100k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 50% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 12%WRITING DOWNTOWN: $10k → 13%JAMES W FOLEY LEGACY FOUNDATION: $50k → 5%SACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHES: $15k → 12%SACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHES: $5k → 12%SACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHES: $5k → 12%SACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHES: $5k → 12%SACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHES: $5k → 12%SACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHES: $5k → 12%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

NH
NY
MA
NV
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CA
MO
MD
NC
DC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$983k · 17 repeat orgs$515k to everyone else

17 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
32

Total granted

$983k
$356k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+24%
+26%

Still filing today

65%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 62% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $159k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationInternationalHuman ServicesHealthCivil RightsOther
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

  • TF
    THE FOUNDATION FOR AIDS RESEARCH
    6× · 2020–2025 · $417k · revenue +16%
  • RW
    Reporters Without Borders Inc
    3× · 2020–2025 · $75k · revenue +103%
  • TL
    THE LENFEST INSTITUTE FOR JOURNALISM SPECIAL ASSET FUND OF TPF
    5× · 2021–2025 · $65k · revenue +81%

Funded once

  • AM
    AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU MEMORIAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $40k · revenue 0%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2024 · $26k
  • COMMUNITY INITIATIVESgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +158%
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
Sociedad Interamericana De Prensa Inc

Between 2024 and 2025, the committee on freedom of the press and information, together with its subcommittees on impunity and chapultepecsalta, participated in approximately nine activities. these included a panel discussion entitled…

Education
2
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Inc

International consortium of investigative journalists, inc.'s (icij) mission is to show people how the world really works through stories that rock the world; forcing positive change.

International
3
Kurt Schork Memorial Fund
Education
4
Global Investigative Journalism Network Inc

To support the training and sharing of information among journalists worldwide in investigative and computer-assisted reporting.

Arts & Culture
5
Allbritton Journalism Institute

Allbritton journalism institute aims to train a new generation of non-partisan political reporters from diverse backgrounds to produce high-quality, fact-based journalism.

Education
6
Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University Inc

The Knight First Amendment Institute defends the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, public advocacy and public education. Our aim is to promote a system of free expression that is…

Education
7
Washington Monthly Institute

Dedicated to increasing public knowledge through washington monthly magazine and website www.washingtonmonthly.com published since 1969, the print magazine is the country's most important watchdog of american government, focusing on what's…

Social Science
8
Council On Foreign Relations Inc

The council on foreign relations (cfr) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and…

International
9
Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics

The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…

Social Science
10
The Paris Review Foundation Inc

The mission of the organization is to foster the development of creative individuals as writers and artists and to promote public appreciation of excellence in the literary and graphic arts by publishing a magazine containing fiction,…

Education
11
The Paley Center for Media

Description of organization mission: the paley center for media is the premier institution dedicated to advancing the understanding of media-it's artistic value, social impact and historical importance-for the public and media…

Arts & Culture
12
Border Center for Journalists and Bloggers
Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The National Press Club Journalism Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Foundation for Aids Research. 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

33 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. 33 of the 59 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/33
Grantees still filing
20/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

REBUILD LOCAL NEWS FOUNDATION: $80,897 · OtherREBUILD LOCAL NEWS FOUNDATIONCLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION: $49,335 · OtherCLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATIONUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SF FOUNDATION: $44,522 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SF FOUNDA…REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM: $30,921 · OtherREPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOMCOMMON GOOD AI: $30,263 · OtherCOMMON GOOD AIIndividual grant recipient: $26,303 · OtherSILVER KNIGHT ENDOWMENT (MIAMI): $25,000 · OtherFULBRIGHT: $20,000 · Other+25 more: $206,174 · Other+25 moreTHE FOUNDATION FOR AIDS RESEARCH: $417,419 · HealthTHE FOUNDATION FOR AIDS RESE…+1 more: $9,941 · HealthUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $136,193 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF SOUT…President and Fellows of Harvard College: $60,425 · EducationPresident and Fell…CRAIG NEWMARK GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM CUNY FOUNDATION INC: $24,844 · EducationCRAIG NEWMARK GRAD…CENTER FOR CREATIVE CHANGE: $23,596 · EducationCENTER FOR CREATIV…EXTRA MILE EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $15,186 · EducationEXTRA MILE EDUCATI…THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB JOURNALISM INSTITUTE INC: $10,000 · Education+2 more: $9,268 · EducationCENTER FOR TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION INC: $49,156 · Arts & CultureCENTER FOR …AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $39,740 · Arts & CultureAUSCHWITZ-B…NORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC: $20,247 · Arts & CultureNORTON MUSE…Verge Center for the Arts: $20,014 · Arts & CultureVerge Cente…NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS: $20,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL AS…INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS & EDITORS INC: $15,094 · Arts & CultureINVESTIGATI…+3 more: $13,554 · Arts & Culture+3 moreReporters Without Borders Inc: $75,206 · Civil RightsCOMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC: $36,574 · Civil RightsJAMES W FOLEY LEGACY FOUNDATION INC: $50,066 · Human ServicesSACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHES: $40,273 · Human ServicesWriting Downtown Inc: $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE LENFEST INSTITUTE FOR JOURNALISM SPECIAL ASSET FUND OF TPF: $65,303 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $25,000 · Philanthropy
Other$513,415Health$427,360Education$279,512Arts & Culture$177,805Civil Rights$111,780Human Services$100,339Philanthropy$90,303

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 budgetTHE FOUNDATION FOR AIDS RESEARCH: $417,419 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $136,193 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetReporters Without Borders Inc: $75,206 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetTHE LENFEST INSTITUTE FOR JOURNALISM SPECIAL ASSET FUND OF TPF: $65,303 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $60,425 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSACRAMENTO LOAVES & FISHES: $40,273 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetAUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $39,740 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCOMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC: $36,574 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY INITIATIVES: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCRAIG NEWMARK GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM CUNY FOUNDATION INC: $24,844 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCENTER FOR CREATIVE CHANGE: $23,596 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC: $20,247 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetVerge Center for the Arts: $20,014 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK JOURNALISTS: $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetOVERSEAS PRESS CLUB FOUNDATION: $15,774 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetEXTRA MILE EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $15,186 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetINVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS & EDITORS INC: $15,094 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetHOSTAGE AID WORLDWIDE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetTHE REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetJupiter Medical Center Inc: $9,941 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $5,418 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER INC: $5,154 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,050 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSACRAMENTO BALLET ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetKENNAN INSTITUTE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN LIBRARY IN PARIS USA FOUNDATION: $4,797 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS' ASSOCIATION: $3,850 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCE: $3,400 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.

Gannett Foundation IncJohn D and Catherine …The Ford FoundationJohn S and James L Kn…Craig Newmark Foundat…Democracy Fund IncThe Scripps Howard Fo…Rochester Area Commun…Jewish Communal FundSilicon Valley Commun…National Philanthropi…Verizon Foundation
Gannett Foundation IncNY16.5× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gannett Foundation Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The Ford Foundation · John S and James L Knight Foundation · Craig Newmark Foundation · Democracy Fund Inc · The Scripps Howard Foundation · Rochester Area Community Foundation · Jewish Communal Fund · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Verizon 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 Ward Creek Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ward Creek Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Jupiter Medical Center Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
5report 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
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 Ward Creek Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Ward Creek 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 59 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 Ward Creek’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