Skip to content

· Public charity

Way to Rise

WAY TO RISE centers communities most impacted by injustice, funding sustained nonpartisan civic engagement led by both state-based organizations and national groups that support state-based partners

$11M
Granted FY2024still arriving
86
Grants FY2024still arriving
20
States reached
$550k
Largest
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2023 to 2024.

Civil Rights$5.4MPublic Benefit$4.4MPhilanthropy$3.8MHuman Services$2.1MCommunity Improvement$1.8MEnvironment$1.1MCrime & Legal$925kEducation$600kOther$0
02FY2024 · 86 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k13 grants · $302k
  • $50k–250k61 grants · $6.3M
  • $250k+12 grants · $4.0M
$100,000
Median grant
20
States reached
$8.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FLORIDA RISING TOGETHER$550,000
AMALGAMATED CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC$550,000
CLIMATE EMERGENCY FUND$400,000
NEW VENTURE FUND$350,000
GEORGIA COALITION FOR THE PEOPLES AGENDA$315,000
HOPEWELL FUND$300,000
NEO PHILANTHROPY$275,000
SUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION$250,000
IMAGINE NC FIRST$250,000
CENTER FOR EMPOWERED POLITICS EDUCATION FUND$250,000
THE GOOD NATION FOUNDATION$250,000
TEAMSTER RANK & FILE EDUCATION AND LEGAL DEFENSE FOUNDATION$250,000
NEW GEORGIA PROJECT$225,000
SOCIAL IMPACT FUND$225,000
SOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND$200,000
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 (FY23–24, $3.2M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 70% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%ACTIVATE 48 EDUCATION FUND: $200k → 11%TIDES CENTER: $25k → 10%MAKE THE ROAD NEVADA: $150k → 7%MAKE THE ROAD PENNSYLVANIA: $200k → 20%MANO AMIGA SM: $100k → 10%THE LEVEL UP PROJECT: $35k → 16%WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND EMPOWERMENT NETWORK: $55k → 16%COLABORATIVA LA MILPA: $100k → 12%ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE - ATLANTA: $50k → 9%GEORGIA LATINO ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: $50k → 14%STATE POWER FUND: $600k → 12%MAKE THE ROAD NEVADA: $165k → 20%WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND EMPOWERMENT NETWORK: $50k → 16%HOPE COMMUNITY CENTER: $100k → 13%PROJECT 68' EDUCATION FUND INC: $375k → 15%VOCES DE LA FRONTERA: $70k → 17%ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE ATLANTA: $50k → 9%STATE POWER FUND: $100k → 12%GRITA CANTA VOTA: $50k → 6%ACTIVATE 48 EDUCATION FUND: $100k → 11%ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE ATLANTA: $50k → 9%GEORGIA LATINO ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: $50k → 14%GEORGIA COALITION FOR THE PEOPLES AGENDA: $315k → 13%INSTITUTO LAB: $130k → 11%INSTITUTO LAB: $50k → 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

WA
WI
MI
NY
MA
NV
IN
OH
PA
CA
CO
MO
VA
DE
AZ
TN
NC
SC
DC
LA
MS
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

47%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$8.8M · 32 repeat orgs$10M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +47% since the first grant, against +45% for those funded once.

32 repeat relationships: 32 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 46 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

32
50

Total granted

$8.8M
$5.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
+45%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.6M went to new ones.

50%100%’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’23’24
Civil RightsHuman ServicesPublic BenefitEducationCommunity ImprovementArts & CultureOther
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

  • SP
    STATE POWER FUND
    2× · 2023–2024 · $700k · revenue +220%
  • MT
    Make The Road States Inc
    2× · 2023–2024 · $515k · revenue +16%
  • SM
    SUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION
    2× · 2023–2024 · $500k · revenue +22%

Funded once

  • P6
    PROJECT 68 EDUCATION FUND INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $375k · revenue +45% · 74% of their budget
  • PG
    PANORAMA GLOBALgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $300k · revenue +38%
  • FL
    First Look Institute Inc
    one grant, 2023 · $250k · revenue -83%
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
Bold Impact

Bold Impact is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting a democracy where all communities get to thrive.

Arts & Culture
2
Right to Democracy Project

Advance democracy, equity, and self-determination in U.S. territories through participatory advocacy, narrative and cultural change, and ecosystem building.

Civil Rights
3
Jolt Initiative

Jolt Initiative is a non-profit organization that increases the civic participation of Latinos in Texas to build a stronger democracy and ensure that everyone's voice is heard.

Civil Rights
4
Fund for Justice

Fund for Justice is a nationally connected social impact research and advocacy organization that works to achieve fundamental, systemic reform by addressing policies and practicies that prevent individuals from reaching their full…

Crime & Legal
5
Forward Justice Action Network

Forward Justice Action Network is a nonprofit with the purpose to engage in educational and advocacy activities to promote political and grassroots support for public policies that advance racial social and economic justice in North…

Human Services
6
Action Institute Nc

Action institute nc is a community organization and citizens action group that organizes residents of low-wealth communities and constituencies most of whom are people of color- to represent their own interests on issues of social and…

—
7
Power Coalition for Electoral Justice

We created the power coalition for electoral justice with our partners because this is a moment of opportunity; a time to dig in and become internationally strategic; in short, to use this movement to create a true paradigm shift. to plant…

Civil Rights
8
Alliance for Justice

Alliance for justice builds the strength of progressive movements by training and educating nonprofit organizations on advocacy, while harnessing their collective power to transform our state and federal courts.

Civil Rights
9
Southern Coalition for Social Justice

Southern coalition for social justice partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities across the south to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights. through an intersectional and…

Crime & Legal
10
Progress Texas Institute

The Progress Texas Institute provides research and strategic communications on issues with the ultimate goal of increasing civic engagement.

Civil Rights
11
Wepower

We activate community power to redesign social systems to be just and equitable for all through (1) developing and supporting leaders and organizations and (2) leading campaigns, coalitions, and innovative initiatives.

Community Improvement
12
Civic Tn

Civictn and its partners are working individually and collectively to create a more accessible, inclusive, and representative democracy by lifting up the voices of the disenfranchised, restoring the power and accessibility of the vote, and…

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Voices of Community Activists & Leaders (Vocal-Ny) Inc; the most unlike its peers is Coalition for Lousiana Progress Inc. 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

134 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. 134 of the 135 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.

12
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
31
Early backer (in before they grew)
134/134
Grantees still filing
70/134
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FLORIDA RISING TOGETHER INC: $950,000 · Civil RightsFLORIDA RISING TOGETHER INCRURAL ARIZONA ENGAGEMENT: $325,000 · Civil RightsARIZONA CENTER FOR EMPOWERMENT: $300,000 · Civil RightsNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $275,000 · Civil RightsPROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE OF NEVADA: $270,000 · Civil RightsFlorida Immigrant Coalition Inc: $250,000 · Civil Rights+39 more: $4,191,000 · Civil Rights+39 moreSTATE POWER FUND: $700,000 · Human ServicesSTATE POWER FUNDMake The Road States Inc: $515,000 · Human ServicesMake The Road Sta…PROJECT 68 EDUCATION FUND INC: $375,000 · Human ServicesPROJECT 68 EDUCAT…Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda: $315,000 · Human ServicesGeorgia Coalition…ACTIVATE 48 EDUCATION FUND: $300,000 · Human ServicesACTIVATE 48 EDUCA…Instituto Lab: $180,000 · Human ServicesInstituto LabASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE ATLANTA INC: $150,000 · Human Services+10 more: $785,000 · Human Services+10 moreHOPEWELL FUND: $765,000 · PhilanthropyHOPEWELL FUNDTIDES FOUNDATION: $705,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDAT…Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $550,000 · PhilanthropyAmalgamated C…Goodnation Foundation Inc: $350,000 · PhilanthropyGoodnation Fo…Social Impact Fund: $225,000 · PhilanthropySocial Impact…+1 more: $25,000 · PhilanthropyNEO Philanthropy Inc: $475,000 · Public BenefitSTATE DEMOCRACY PROJECT: $200,000 · Public BenefitSOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND: $200,000 · Public BenefitSOUTHERN VISION ALLIANCE: $150,000 · Public BenefitCenter for Public Policy Priorities: $100,000 · Public BenefitA BETTER WISCONSIN TOGETHER INSTITUTE INC: $100,000 · Public BenefitFAIR DEMOCRACY ENGAGEMENT FUND: $75,000 · Public BenefitOne Voice: $65,000 · Public BenefitCOALITION FOR LOUSIANA PROGRESS INC: $65,000 · Public Benefit+4 more: $108,000 · Public BenefitSUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION: $500,000 · EnvironmentNEW VENTURE FUND: $450,000 · EnvironmentCLIMATE EMERGENCY FUND: $400,000 · EnvironmentHIGHLANDER RESEARCH & EDUCATION CENTER INC: $100,000 · EnvironmentWISCONSIN CONSERVATION VOICES INC: $85,000 · EnvironmentTEAMSTER RANK AND FILE EDUCATION AND LEGAL DEFENSE FOUNDATION: $500,000 · OtherTEAMSTER RANK AND FILE ED…INDIGENOUS VOICES NEVADA: $200,000 · OtherFOR FACTS SAKE ACTION: $166,667 · OtherGEORGIA ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND INC: $175,000 · OtherFORWARD JUSTICE: $275,000 · OtherFORWARD JUSTICEFirst Look Institute Inc: $250,000 · OtherPANORAMA GLOBAL: $300,000 · OtherPANORAMA GLOBALHEALTH FORWARD FOUNDATION: $175,000 · OtherIMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST: $250,000 · Other+32 more: $2,482,000 · Other+32 moreCHARLESTON AREA JUSTICE MINISTRY: $325,000 · Community ImprovementASIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: $315,000 · Community ImprovementPROGRESS NORTH CAROLINA: $200,000 · Community ImprovementTEXAS ORGANIZING PROJECT EDUCATION FUND: $150,000 · Community ImprovementLA UNION DEL PUEBLO ENTERO: $150,000 · Community ImprovementPENNSYLVANIA STANDS UP INSTITUTE: $50,000 · Community ImprovementPittsburgh United: $50,000 · Community Improvement+1 more: $25,000 · Community Improvement
Civil Rights$6,561,000Human Services$3,320,000Philanthropy$2,620,000Public Benefit$1,538,000Environment$1,535,000Other$4,773,667Community Improvement$1,265,000

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 budgetFLORIDA RISING TOGETHER INC: $950,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetHOPEWELL FUND: $765,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $705,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSTATE POWER FUND: $700,000 over 2y, 9.8% of budgetAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $550,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMake The Road States Inc: $515,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetSUSTAINABLE MARKETS FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTEAMSTER RANK AND FILE EDUCATION AND LEGAL DEFENSE FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $475,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $450,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCLIMATE EMERGENCY FUND: $400,000 over 1y, 7.1% of budgetPROJECT 68 EDUCATION FUND INC: $375,000 over 1y, 74% of budgetGoodnation Foundation Inc: $350,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetCHARLESTON AREA JUSTICE MINISTRY: $325,000 over 2y, 64% of budgetRURAL ARIZONA ENGAGEMENT: $325,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetGeorgia Coalition for the People's Agenda: $315,000 over 1y, 7.3% of budgetASIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: $315,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetPANORAMA GLOBAL: $300,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetARIZONA CENTER FOR EMPOWERMENT: $300,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetACTIVATE 48 EDUCATION FUND: $300,000 over 2y, 9.4% of budgetNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $275,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetFORWARD JUSTICE: $275,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetPROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE OF NEVADA: $270,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetFirst Look Institute Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetIMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST: $250,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetFlorida Immigrant Coalition Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetSocial Impact Fund: $225,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR A PROGRESSIVE NEVADA: $210,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetSOMOS SIEMBRA: $200,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetSTATE DEMOCRACY PROJECT: $200,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPROGRESS NORTH CAROLINA: $200,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetSOCIAL SECURITY WORKS EDUCATION FUND: $200,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetINDIGENOUS VOICES NEVADA: $200,000 over 2y, 41% of budgetMORE PERFECT UNION FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetACCELERATE CHANGE INC: $200,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Action Fund Inc: $200,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetPOWER COALITION FOR EQUITY AND JUSTICE: $190,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetInstituto Lab: $180,000 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetGEORGIA ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND INC: $175,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetALL VOTING IS LOCAL: $175,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetHEALTH FORWARD FOUNDATION: $175,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFOR FACTS SAKE ACTION: $166,667 over 1y, 29% of budgetUltraViolet Education Fund: $166,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetTEXAS ORGANIZING PROJECT EDUCATION FUND: $150,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetTEXAS FREEDOM NETWORK EDUCATION FUND: $150,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetLA UNION DEL PUEBLO ENTERO: $150,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetPROGRESS ARIZONA: $150,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA BLACK ALLIANCE INC: $150,000 over 2y, 2.0% 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.

NEO Philanthropy IncNY102.6× affinity57 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: NEO Philanthropy Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · Windward Fund · Tides Foundation · New Venture Fund · Hopewell Fund · The Ford Foundation · Marguerite Casey Foundation · Telescope Fund · Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation Incorporated · Climate and Clean Energy Equity Fund · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov · 70%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Hope Community Center Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Alianza Center Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
17report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
typical government reliance, FY20–24
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 Way to Rise?

Find your warmest path to Way to Rise 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 135 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Way to Rise’s filings →

More from the funding graph