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White Flag Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

White Flag Foundation

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.

$107k
Granted FY2025still arriving
12
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$45k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$229kArts & Culture$44kCommunity Improvement$28kHealth$12kReligion$11kRecreation & Sports$9kYouth Development$3kHousing & Shelter$3kOther$0
02FY2025 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $24k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $83k
$1,026
Median grant
5
States reached
$184k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TED Foundation Inc$45,000
Denison University$37,500
RAVINIA FESTIVAL$7,500
Northwestern University$7,500
Lakeland Area Scholarship Fund Inc$5,000
Individual grant recipient$1,026
KENILWORTH UNION CHURCH$1,000
Indian Hill Scholarship Fund$500
Chequamegon Bay Renewables INC$500
Cristo Rey Jesuit Seattle High School$500
Individual grant recipient$398
Dillman's Creative Arts Foundation$100
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 48% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%Mayo Clinic: $3k → 9%NORTH HOUSE FOLK SCHOOL: $3k → 9%March to the Top: $1k → 14%VOCA: $5k → 20%Lakeland Area Scholarship Fund Inc: $5k → 12%WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY: $1k → 17%Wesleyan University: $2k → 7%Remote Area Medical: $2k → 10%University of North Carolina Chapel Hill: $11k → 13%Partners in Health Family Medicine: $2k → 10%Denison University: $51k → 10%Indian Hill Club Scholorship Foundation: $1k → 14%Epilepsy Foundation: $1k → 11%Mayo Clinic: $1k → 9%Zen Hospice Project: $1k → 10%SUNDANCE INSTITUTE: $22k → 14%Ukrainian Congress Committee of America: $1k → 17%VOCA: $5k → 20%Lakeland Area Scholarship Fund Inc: $5k → 12%WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $1k → 7%University of North Carolina Chapel Hill: $10k → 13%Denison University: $38k → 10%Fenix Family Health Center: $1k → 8%Lakeland Ski Touring Club Founding: $1k → 12%University of North Carolina Chapel Hill: $3k → 13%Denison University: $36k → 10%Posse Foundation: $3k → 17%Minocqua Winter Park: $1k → 12%Denison University: $25k → 10%RAVINIA FESTIVAL: $8k → 8%TED Foundation Inc: $45k → 17%Denison University: $25k → 10%TED Foundation Inc: $28k → 17%DENISON UNIVERSITY: $13k → 10%Denison University: $11k → 10%Denison University: $5k → 10%Northwestern University: $8k → 14%Girls Athletic Leadership Schools: $3k → 12%Northwestern University Giving: $8k → 14%Kellogg School of Management: $8k → 14%Northwestern University: $8k → 14%SMART MUSEUM OF ART: $8k → 14%BAKER DEMOSTRATION SCHOOL: $2k → 14%NORTHWESTERN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: $3k → 14%KENILWORTH UNION CHURCH: $3k → 14%KENILWORTH UNION CHURCH: $2k → 14%KENILWORTH UNION CHURCH: $1k → 14%KENILWORTH UNION CHURCH: $1k → 14%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

VT
WA
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OH
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
TN
NC
DC
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.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$365k · 15 repeat orgs$97k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +45% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

15 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
61

Total granted

$365k
$88k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+45%
+17%

Still filing today

53%
49%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $9k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureHealthEnvironmentRecreation & SportsInternationalOther
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

  • DU
    DENISON UNIVERSITY
    8× · 2017–2025 · $202k · revenue +39%
  • LA
    LAKELAND AREA SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $10k · revenue +18%
  • NL
    NORTH LAKELAND DISCOVERY CENTER INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $5k · revenue +100%

Funded once

  • Sundance Institute
    one grant, 2018 · $22k · revenue -18%
  • NU
    Northwestern University Giving
    one grant, 2022 · $8k
  • KS
    Kellogg School of Management
    one grant, 2020 · $8k
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
New York School of Interior Design

New york school of interior design provides the most innovative, immersive, and transformative interior design education in the world, demonstrating the impact of professionally designed interiors on the health, happiness, and well-being…

Education
2
Boston Architectural College

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

—
3
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
4
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
5
Rhode Island School of Design

The mission of rhode island school of design, through its college and museum,is to educate its students and the public in the creation and (see schedule o)appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to…

Education
6
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
7
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
8
Randolph College Inc

See detailed description of organization's primary mission provided on schedule o

Education
9
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
10
Williams College

Williams College strives to achieve educational excellence by fostering a community of learning in collaboration with students, faculty, staff, devoted alumni and parents.

Education
11
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
12
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Horticultural Society; the most unlike its peers is Ted Foundation 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

45 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. 45 of the 83 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)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
42/45
Grantees still filing
29/45
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DENISON UNIVERSITY: $202,322 · EducationDENISON UNIVERSITYLAKELAND AREA SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC: $10,000 · Education+9 more: $15,483 · Education+9 moreUniversity of North Carolina Chapel Hill: $23,500 · OtherUniversity of North Carol…KENILWORTH UNION CHURCH: $11,630 · OtherKENILWORTH UNION CHURCHVOCA: $10,000 · OtherVOCANorthwestern University Giving: $7,500 · OtherNorthwestern University G…Kellogg School of Management: $7,500 · OtherKellogg School of Managem…SMART MUSEUM OF ART: $7,500 · OtherSMART MUSEUM OF ART+45 more: $35,438 · Other+45 moreTED FOUNDATION INC: $72,500 · Community ImprovementTED FOUNDATION IN…+1 more: $773 · Community ImprovementSundance Institute: $22,200 · Arts & CultureRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $7,500 · Arts & CultureNORTH LAKELAND DISCOVERY CENTER INC: $4,500 · Arts & CultureWISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO ASSOCIATION INC: $1,500 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $1,250 · Arts & CultureNorthwestern University: $15,000 · Recreation & Sports+2 more: $600 · Recreation & SportsMAYO CLINIC: $3,500 · HealthEPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $1,020 · HealthFenix Family Health Center: $1,000 · HealthLIMB PRESERVATION FOUNDATION: $500 · HealthChildren's Hospital Colorado: $250 · HealthGOOD GRIEF INC: $250 · HealthREMOTE AREA MEDICAL: $2,000 · InternationalPROJECT HOPE - THE PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $100 · International
Education$227,805Other$103,068Community Improvement$73,273Arts & Culture$36,950Recreation & Sports$15,600Health$6,520International$2,100

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 budgetDENISON UNIVERSITY: $202,322 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTED FOUNDATION INC: $72,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSundance Institute: $22,200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLAKELAND AREA SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC: $10,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetRAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH LAKELAND DISCOVERY CENTER INC: $4,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetWESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $3,898 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH HOUSE FOLK SCHOOL: $3,188 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetIndian Hill Club Scholarship Foundation: $2,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetTHE POSSE FOUNDATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBAKER DEMONSTRATION SCHOOL INC: $2,432 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREMOTE AREA MEDICAL: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO ASSOCIATION INC: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUKRAINIAN CONGRESS COMMITTEE OF AMERICA: $1,069 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $1,020 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFenix Family Health Center: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetART STUDENTS LEAGUE OF DENVER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetZEN HOSPICE PROJECT DBA ZEN CAREGIVING PROJECT: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHonorable Order of Kentucky Colonels Inc: $773 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMETROSQUASH NFP: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINNOVATING HEALTH INTERNATIONAL INC: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART DENVER: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWINDOW TO THE WORLD COMMUNICATIONS INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLIMB PRESERVATION FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Chicago Community Trust: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCristo Rey Jesuit Seattle High School: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF NEW YORK CITY INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLAKELAND SKI TOURING FOUNDATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPELOTONIA: $259 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChildren's Hospital Colorado: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGOOD GRIEF INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHWOODS LAND TRUST INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE URBAN LAND INSTITUTE: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCLYFFORD STILL MUSEUM: $150 over 1y, 0.0% of budget826 BOSTON INC: $106 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBoulder Outdoor Survival School: $103 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGeorge Pocock Rowing Foundation: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTOP HONORS INCORPORATED: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT HOPE - THE PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $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.

  • Who funds DENISON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds TED FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Sundance Institute ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds LAKELAND AREA SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds RAVINIA FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds NORTH LAKELAND DISCOVERY CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MAYO CLINIC ↗
  • Who funds NORTH HOUSE FOLK SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds Indian Hill Club Scholarship Foundation ↗
  • Who funds THE POSSE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds BAKER DEMONSTRATION SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds REMOTE AREA MEDICAL ↗
  • Who funds WISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds UKRAINIAN CONGRESS COMMITTEE OF AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds EPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds WISCONSIN HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds Fenix Family Health Center ↗
  • Who funds ART STUDENTS LEAGUE OF DENVER ↗
  • Who funds ZEN HOSPICE PROJECT DBA ZEN CAREGIVING PROJECT ↗

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.

Xcel Energy FoundationColorado Gives Founda…Morgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…The Chicago Community…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Silicon Valley Commun…National Philanthropi…American Endowment Fo…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Pfizer Foundation…American Online Givin…
Xcel Energy FoundationMN15.4× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Xcel Energy Foundation · Colorado Gives Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Chicago Community Trust · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation 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 White Flag Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from White Flag Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Epilepsy Foundation of America: 22% of income from government
  • 826 Boston Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Wesleyan University: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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 White Flag Foundation?

Find your warmest path to White Flag 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 83 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 White Flag’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