Loading…
· Private foundation
WILLIAM J & BONNIE L HEFNER
This foundation does not accept unsolicited requests — it funds preselected organizations.
$2.5M
Granted FY2024
28
Grants
1
Communities
$500k
Largest
01What you fund
01
What you funded, over time
By grantee IRS cause code (NTEE).
A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 86% of WILLIAM J & BONNIE L HEFNER’s grantee dollars go to organizations outside the IRS cause taxonomy (common for large international and research funders), so a chart would be mostly “unclassified” and misrepresent the portfolio.
02FY2024 · 28 grants
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k10 grants · $42k
- $10k–50k6 grants · $120k
- $50k–250k7 grants · $588k
- $250k+5 grants · $1.8M
$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$30M
Total assets
Largest grants
- HISTORIC FORT WAYNE$500,000
- FW YWCA$400,000
- CHARIS HOUSE$325,000
- JOSIAH WHITE'S$300,000
- COMMUNITY HARVEST FOOD BANK$250,000
- FORT WAYNE RESCUE MISSION$200,000
- FORT WAYNE ZOO$100,000
- GIRL SCOUTS OF FORT WAYNE$75,000
- PURDUE FORT WAYNE$62,900
- BOYS & GIRLS CLUB$50,000
- YMCA OF DEKALB COUNTY$50,000
- BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA$50,000
- DICKS ORGANICS$25,000
- DAVE HEFNER INTERNATIONAL STUDENT E$25,000
- LITTLE RIVER WETLANDS$25,000
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 (FY18–24, $43k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12% — the area typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars reach neighborhoods with above-average need. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
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 line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
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, United Way ALICE — 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.
71%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$5.5M · 30 repeat orgs$2.3M to everyone else
30 repeat relationships — 16 still active in FY2024, 14 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Re-uppedFunded once
Organizations
30
22
Total granted
$5.5M
$1.1M
Median revenue growth · since first grant
+48%
+57%
Still filing today
27%
9%
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 55% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.1M went to new ones.
RenewedFirst-time
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
Arts & CultureRecreation & SportsYouth DevelopmentEnvironmentHuman ServicesEducationOther
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
- HFHISTORIC FORT WAYNE3× · 2018–2024 · $538k · revenue +585% · 87% of their budget
- BSBOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA7× · 2018–2024 · $174k · revenue +34%
- BBBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS3× · 2019–2023 · $102k · revenue +36%
Funded once
- RMRESCUE MISSIONone grant, 2023 · $400k
- SSSUPER SHOTgraduatedone grant, 2023 · $169k · revenue +57%
- FRFW RESCUE MISSIONone grant, 2022 · $150k
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
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana Inc
The mission of the organization is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.
—
2
Little Thinkers Inc
Our mission is to prepare the children of our community for the road ahead. We take a whole-child approach that blends personalized care plans with physical play, social development, and academic readiness.
Human Services
3
Indian Waters Council
It is the mission of the boy scouts of america to prepare young people to make ethical choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the scout oath law.
Youth Development
4
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater
The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh mission is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.
Crime & Legal
5
Big Brothers Big Sisters of
Big brothers big sisters of westchester county is a youth mentoring organization serving children, ages 7 to 17, who live in new yorks westchester and putnam counties. the mission is to help all children achieve their full potential in…
Youth Development
6
Augustine Literacy Project - Charlotte
The mission of ALP is to improve the reading, writing, and spelling skills of young, aspiring readers in under-resourced communities by providing free, long-term, one-on-one instruction from highly trained tutors.
Education
7
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital
Big brothers big sisters (bbbs) is the oldest and largest youth mentoring organization in the united states. in new york's capital region (albany, rensselaer, saratoga and schenectady counties), we have been matching mentees ("littles")…
—
8
Big Brothers Big Sisters
The mission of big brothers big sisters of the central blue ridge, inc. bbbs is to help children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with an adult volunteer mentor with the vision that every…
—
9
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine (BBSMM) creates and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth in Eastern, Coastal, and Central Maine. The organization matches positive and caring role…
—
10
Youth Incorporated
Our mission is to advance the mental, moral, and physical development of boys and girls, as well as families and others, through a variety of camping, sports, and recreational activities with the goal of "building leaders for tomorrow".
Youth Development
11
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County Maryland Inc
To create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.
Youth Development
12
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central
To create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.
Youth Development
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Historic Fort Wayne Inc and the most unlike its peers is Little River Wetlands Project 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
11 grantees, every filing reconciled, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue.
1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
9/11
Grew since you first funded
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Other$6,647,848Arts & Culture$543,050Youth Development$174,000Health$169,000Recreation & Sports$65,000Education$50,000Environment$50,000Human Services$42,500
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
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 Waterfield Foundation IncIN20.3× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →
Open a dossier: The Waterfield Foundation Inc · Community Foundation of Greater · Zollner Foundation · M E Raker Foundation Inc · Edward D & Ione Auer Foundation · Edward M Wilson Foundation · Surack Family Foundation Inc · The James Foundation Inc · English-Bonter-Mitchell Fdn · Nisource Charitable Foundation · Lincoln Financial Foundation Inc · Florence M & Paul M Staehle Fdn
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 organisation WILLIAM J & BONNIE L HEFNER 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
’20’21’22’23’24
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
typical government reliance, FY20–24
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. 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.
05Through Plinth
Through Plinth
Your grantmaking, live and operational
This dossier was generated cold from public filings. In Plinth it’s a working system — every applicant assessed and every grant monitored. Here’s a taste, run on one of your grantees: HISTORIC FORT WAYNE.
Agentic due diligence · confidence × risk
Financial management
low risk
~181 months of operating runway; revenue grew over 8 filed years.
Track record & reputation
low risk
8 years of Form 990 filings, still active; revenue up 6.9× since.
Legal standing
low risk
US 501(c)(3); EIN 202547561 on file with current IRS Form 990 filings.
Governance
Live in Plinth
Board composition & governance documents — verified live in Plinth from the applicant.
Compliance & sanctions
Live in Plinth
OFAC / UN sanctions screening — run live in Plinth at assessment.
Program capacity
Live in Plinth
Staffing, M&E and activity alignment — assessed live in Plinth from submitted proposals.
Live · Plinth’s real DD engine
Run the actual assessment on HISTORIC FORT WAYNE, cold from public data.
Generated live from public IRS filings + open web sources by Plinth’s agentic engine. Shown as an illustration of the product, not a formal assessment.
Post-award monitoring · continuous checks
- On trackFinancial stability— Roughly 181 months of cash on hand.
- On trackSustained operations— Filing through 2024; revenue grew over the period.
- WatchReliance on your funding— Your grants peaked at 87% of their budget — load-bearing; a dependency Plinth would track.
- Awaiting reportEvidence of delivery— Plinth collects the grantee's own monitoring reports post-award.
What you see here is static and public. In Plinth it’s operational — the full six-pillar framework on every applicant (with their own documents + live registry and sanctions checks), monitoring dashboards on every award, custom board reports, and eligibility routing for intake.
Agentic due diligenceMonitoring dashboardsCustom board reportsEligibility routing
Preview generated from this grantee’s public IRS filings and independent reporting. Pillars marked “live in Plinth” require the applicant’s submitted documents. Shown as illustration, not a formal assessment.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPro
How do I get to William J & Bonnie L Hefner?
Find your warmest path to William J & Bonnie L Hefner through people who sit on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the introduction across shared trustees and officers.
Every link is a documented governance overlap in public IRS 990 filings — not a personal network — and each hop carries its own confidence tier. Low-confidence or distant paths are held back rather than guessed.
More from the funding graph
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars pass through an intermediary
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
Strange bedfellows
the named clusters of US funding
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home
State money flows
the interactive map of money crossing state lines