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Plinth

· Private foundation

William & Karen Tell Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$96k
Granted FY2024still arriving
81
Grants FY2024still arriving
19
States reached
$10k
Largest
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 FY20202024.

Arts & Culture$356kReligion$228kEducation$83kAnimals$68kHealth$42kHuman Services$16kScience & Tech$16kRecreation & Sports$13kOther$0
02FY2024 · 81 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k79 grants · $76k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $20k
$500
Median grant
19
States reached
$3.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
INTERNATIONAL PRINTING MUSEUM FOUNDATION$10,000
HOUSTON SYMPHONY SOCIETY$10,000
ALL SAINTS CHURCH$7,500
HOUSTON GRAND OPERA ASSOCIATION INC$5,000
ST LUKE SCHOOL$4,000
COMMENTARY INC$4,000
ST MARYS FOUNDATION INC$2,500
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN$2,500
NEW DOMINION CHORALE INC$2,500
MONTGOMERY COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC$2,500
CENTER FOR ORANGUTAN AND CHIMPANZEE CONSERVATION I$2,500
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK LATINOS ISBL$2,000
YOUR DOGS FRIEND INC$2,000
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK LATINOS ISBL$2,000
TORRANCE ROSE FLOAT ASSOCIATION INC$2,000
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 (FY20–24, $17k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 50% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%CHILDHELP INC: $100 → 11%INTERNET ARCHIVE: $500 → 10%FREEDOM READS: $500 → 12%SOMALI BANTU COMMUNITY LEWISTON OF MAINE: $500 → 13%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%ARTISANS ASYLUM INC: $2k → 16%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%HOMEFRONT INC: $500 → 9%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%ARTISANS ASYLUM INC: $2k → 8%ADVENTIST COMMUNITY SERVICES OF GREATER WASHINGTON: $1k → 8%MIDNIGHT MISSION: $3k → 14%MIDNIGHT MISSION: $1k → 14%MIDNIGHT MISSION: $1k → 14%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

ME
NH
WA
MT
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
TN
NC
DC
OK
GA
TX
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 edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$796k · 75 repeat orgs$80k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +24% since the first grant, against +24% for the ones you funded once.

75 repeat relationships — 44 still active in FY2024, 31 since wound down; 35 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

75
54

Total granted

$796k
$61k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+24%
+24%

Still filing today

85%
70%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $19k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureAnimalsEducationReligionHuman ServicesEnvironmentOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • PB
    PALM BEACH OPERA INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $100k · revenue +69%
  • TP
    THE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SOCIETY INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $50k · revenue +90%
  • Metropolitan Opera Association Inc
    2× · 2020–2021 · $50k · revenue +3%

Funded once

  • CF
    CENTER FOR ORANGUTAN AND CHIMPANZEE CONSERVATION I
    one grant, 2023 · $5k
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION-DENVER CAMPUS
    one grant, 2020 · $5k
  • TC
    THE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +32%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your 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
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
2
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
3
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
4
American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Founded in 1780, the american academy of arts and sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together "to…

Social Science
5
Boston Architectural College

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

6
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.

7
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

The Television Academy is dedicated to celebrating excellence, innovation and the advancement of the telecommunications arts and sciences through recognition, education and leadership, while fostering a diverse, inclusive and accessible…

8
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Chartered by a unanimous act of congress, the museum is america's national institution for the documentation, study, interpretation, and education of holocaust history and serves as our country's memorial to the victims of the holocaust.…

Arts & Culture
9
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…

Science & Tech
10
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
11
National Academy of Design

The mission of the national academy of design is to promote the fine arts in america through exhibition and education.

Education
12
The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences

The mission of the brooklyn institute of arts and sciences, d/b/a brooklyn museum (the "museum") is to bring people together through art and experiences that inspire celebration, compassion, courage, and the will to act. (see schedule o).

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies and the most unlike its peers is Internet Archive. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyCommunity FoundationsPolicy Research and AdvocacyAnimal Rescue and ShelterEnvironmental Conservation …Local History MuseumsChristian Missionary Organi…Community Arts CentersCancer Support ServicesCommunity College Foundatio…Faith-Based Liberal Arts Co…Affordable Housing Construc…Local Food System Organizat…Faith-Based Social ServicesPublic Library OperationsFood Banks and PantriesVolunteer Fire & Ems Servic…Health Access Advocacy and …Independent K-12 SchoolsChristian Youth CampsOrchestra and Ensemble Perf…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 41 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%1%<5yr14%3%5–10yr19%16%10–20yr16%23%20–35yr13%26%35–55yr16%31%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%1%5–10yr19%20%10–20yr16%20%20–35yr13%23%35–55yr16%36%55yr+

The field is 22% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 0.0% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/157
the rest of the field
13%
240,396/1,819,408

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

140 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. 140 of the 167 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
138/140
Grantees still filing
93/140
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

PALM BEACH OPERA INC — $100,000 · Arts & CulturePALM BEACH OPERA INCTHE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SOCIETY INC — $50,250 · Arts & CultureTHE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCMetropolitan Opera Association Inc — $50,000 · Arts & CultureMetropolitan Opera Association IncNEW DOMINION CHORALE INC — $41,250 · Arts & CultureNEW DOMINION CHORALE INCThe Society of the Four Arts Inc — $20,000 · Arts & CultureThe Society of the Four Arts Inc+37 more — $88,275 · Arts & Culture+37 moreBODHIVASTU FOUNDATION FOR ENLIGHTENED ACTIVITY — $115,000 · ReligionBODHIVASTU FOUNDATIO…DRIKUNG MEDITATION CENTER INC — $26,000 · ReligionDRIKUNG MEDITATION C…COMMENTARY INC — $12,500 · ReligionCOMMENTARY INC+6 more — $6,300 · ReligionST LUKE SCHOOL — $33,500 · OtherST LUKE SCHOOLALL SAINTS CHURCH — $31,500 · OtherALL SAINTS CHURCHHOLY TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH — $17,250 · OtherHOLY TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCHSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN — $10,000 · OtherDisabled American Veterans (DAV) Charitable Service Trust — $10,500 · OtherTORRANCE ROSE FLOAT ASSOCIATION INC — $13,000 · OtherTORRANCE ROSE FLOAT ASSOCIATI…+70 more — $113,875 · Other+70 moreCenter for Orangutan & Chimpanzee Conservation Inc — $32,500 · AnimalsMONTGOMERY COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC — $14,500 · AnimalsLUCKY DOG ANIMAL RESCUE — $3,500 · AnimalsTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC — $3,000 · AnimalsYOUR DOG'S FRIEND — $2,500 · Animals+9 more — $6,200 · AnimalsSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION — $13,000 · EducationTHE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL INC — $5,000 · EducationHILLSDALE COLLEGE — $4,000 · EducationTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA — $4,000 · EducationINTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK LATINOS — $4,000 · EducationRHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN — $2,500 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION — $2,000 · Education+7 more — $3,050 · EducationKATIE JOHNSON FELLOWSHIP INC — $23,000 · Civil RightsINSTITUTE ON RELIGION & DEMOCRACY INC — $4,250 · Civil RightsFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC — $2,000 · Civil RightsTHE MIDNIGHT MISSION — $5,000 · Human ServicesSecond Chances Inc — $5,000 · Human ServicesARTISAN'S ASYLUM INC — $4,000 · Human ServicesADVENTIST COMMUNITY SERVICES OF GREATER WASHINGTON — $1,000 · Human Services+5 more — $2,100 · Human Services
Arts & Culture$349,775Religion$159,800Other$229,625Animals$62,200Education$37,550Civil Rights$29,250Human Services$17,100

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetBODHIVASTU FOUNDATION FOR ENLIGHTENED ACTIVITY — $115,000 over 2y, 34% of budgetPALM BEACH OPERA INC — $100,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetTHE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SOCIETY INC — $50,250 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetMetropolitan Opera Association Inc — $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNEW DOMINION CHORALE INC — $41,250 over 5y, 14% of budgetCenter for Orangutan & Chimpanzee Conservation Inc — $32,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetDRIKUNG MEDITATION CENTER INC — $26,000 over 3y, 8.8% of budgetKATIE JOHNSON FELLOWSHIP INC — $23,000 over 4y, 53% of budgetThe Society of the Four Arts Inc — $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMONTGOMERY COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC — $14,500 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION — $13,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTORRANCE ROSE FLOAT ASSOCIATION INC — $13,000 over 3y, 5.0% of budgetCOMMENTARY INC — $12,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE — $10,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL PRINTING MUSEUM FOUNDATION — $10,500 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetHouston Symphony Society — $10,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDisabled American Veterans (DAV) Charitable Service Trust — $10,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF SCIENCE — $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN — $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NORA SCHOOL — $6,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc — $6,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE THEATRE LAB INC — $5,790 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetST MARY'S FOUNDATION — $5,500 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetTHE MIDNIGHT MISSION — $5,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTIBETAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE — $5,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetCHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSecond Chances Inc — $5,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetALLIANCE TO PROTECT NANTUCKET SOUND INC — $5,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKCRW FOUNDATION INC — $5,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetINSTITUTE ON RELIGION & DEMOCRACY INC — $4,250 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION — $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE — $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA — $4,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetARTISAN'S ASYLUM INC — $4,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA — $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetChildren International — $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLUCKY DOG ANIMAL RESCUE — $3,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFine Arts Radio Inc — $3,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC — $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCROSSROADS JOBS INC — $3,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetMANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH INC — $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM ASSOCIATES — $2,600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHANOVER REVIEW INC — $2,500 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetANACOSTIA WATERSHED SOCIETY INC — $2,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE — $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetYOUR DOG'S FRIEND — $2,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetRHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz FoundationDC20× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation · Greater Washington Community Foundation · United Way of the National Capital Area · Nora Roberts Foundation · Sanford and Doris Slavin Foundation Inc · Crimsonbridge Foundation Inc · Clark-Winchcole Foundation · Analog Devices Foundation · Lilly Endowment Inc · Impactassetsinc · Global Impact · T Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving Inc

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 William & Karen Tell 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 210%4%15%34%60%your share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 2%
  • Epilepsy Foundation of America22% of income from government
  • Anacostia Watershed Society Inc15% of income from government
  • Freedom Reads Inc12% of income from government
  • Delaware Art Museum Inc8% of income from government
  • Round House Theatre Inc5% of income from government
  • Masonic Education & Charity Trust2% of income from government
  • Museum of Science0% of income from government
  • The Palm Beach Symphony Society Inc0% of income from government
  • Americares Foundation Inc0% of income from government
  • Shriners Hospitals for Children0% of income from government
  • South Florida Pbs Inc0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
21get no government money at all
24report 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, 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 167 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph