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William S Knight Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

William S Knight Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
29
Grants FY2025still arriving
11
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$4.9MPublic Benefit$1.3MArts & Culture$494kCivil Rights$320kYouth Development$315kSocial Science$203kCrime & Legal$160kInternational$137kOther$0
02FY2025 · 29 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $8k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $296k
  • $50k–250k13 grants · $910k
  • $250k+2 grants · $1.0M
$50,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$43M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BENEDICTINE COLLEGE$500,000
LAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY$500,000
HILLSDALE COLLEGE$112,000
VERITAS CLASSICAL ACADEMY$110,000
BENEDICTINE COLLEGE$82,740
ROCK COUNTY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL$75,500
YOUNG AMERICA'S FOUNDATION$75,000
CINCINNATI CLASSICAL ACADEMY$75,000
PRAGER U$70,000
BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE$60,000
KELCH AVIATION MUSEUM$50,000
REAL CLEAR FOUNDATION$50,000
KELCH AVIATION MUSEUM$50,000
TURNING POINT USA$50,000
INSTITUE FOR REFORMING GOVERNMENT$50,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 73% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%PRAGERU: $100k → 14%Mason Classical Academy: $100k → 10%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $304k → 14%BENEDICTINE COLLEGE: $500k → 15%COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS: $500k → 14%NORTHSHORE CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $141k → 6%GREEN COUNTY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $90k → 7%VERITAS CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $110k → 10%TRINITAS CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $70k → 15%BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE: $60k → 12%CINCINNATI CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $75k → 16%YOUNG AMERICA'S FOUNDATION: $75k → 6%PRAGERU: $100k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $112k → 14%BENEDICTINE COLLEGE: $83k → 15%COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS: $500k → 14%BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE: $60k → 12%YOUNG AMERICA'S FOUNDATION: $75k → 6%PRAGERU: $100k → 14%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $104k → 14%BENEDICTINE COLLEGE: $83k → 15%COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS: $250k → 14%LAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $500k → 5%Beloit College: $160k → 10%YOUNG AMERICA'S FOUNDATION: $75k → 6%PRAGER U: $70k → 14%Hillsdale College: $100k → 14%LAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $250k → 5%ROCK COUNTY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $120k → 10%INSTITUTE FOR REFORMING GOVERNMENT: $75k → 10%LAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $140k → 5%ROCK COUNTY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $76k → 10%LAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $110k → 5%ROCK COUNTY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $65k → 10%BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF DANE COUNTY: $150k → 10%LAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $500k → 5%Rock County Christian School: $65k → 10%TURNING POINT USA: $150k → 14%LAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $200k → 5%ROCK COUNTY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $65k → 10%GREATER PRAISE COMNTY DEVEL CORP-JOS PROJECT: $80k → 17%TURNING POINT USA: $125k → 14%TURNING POINT USA: $125k → 14%BADGER INSTITUTE: $90k → 17%Brodhead Historical Society: $335k → 10%BADGER INSTITUTE: $90k → 17%KELCH AVIATION MUSEUM: $123k → 10%BADGER INSTITUTE: $90k → 17%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

IL
WI
MI
NY
OH
CA
UT
MO
VA
AZ
KS
NC
DC
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$8.3M · 32 repeat orgs$1.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +49% since the first grant, against +9% for those funded once.

32 repeat relationships: 17 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

32
24

Total granted

$8.3M
$1.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+9%

Still filing today

78%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $301k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationPublic BenefitYouth DevelopmentCommunity ImprovementSocial ScienceCivil 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

  • LC
    LAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY INC
    5× · 2020–2025 · $1.7M · revenue ×30
  • CO
    COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS
    3× · 2020–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +49%
  • BC
    Benedictine College
    4× · 2022–2025 · $777k · revenue +13%

Funded once

  • BELOIT COLLEGE
    one grant, 2017 · $160k · revenue +6%
  • BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF DANE COUNTY INC
    one grant, 2021 · $150k · revenue -28%
  • NORTHSHORE CLASSICAL ACADEMY
    one grant, 2024 · $141k
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
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
2
Liberty Classical Academy

Liberty classical academy is an independent private school offering college-preparatory academics and christian faith in the classical tradition for minneapolis-st. paul students in preschool and kindergarten through the 12th grade.

Education
3
Liberty Classical Schools Educational Services Inc

To form, organize, operate, and support k through 12 charter schools that develop students in mind and character through a classical, content-rich cirriculum that emphasizes the principles of virtuous living, traditional learning, and…

Education
4
Gettysburg College

Gettysburg college is a residential, undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences.

Education
5
Wilson College

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

Education
6
DePauw University

Depauw university develops leaders the world needs through an uncommon commitment to the liberal arts. depauw's diverse and inclusive learning and living experience, distinctive in its rigorous intellectual engagement and its global and…

Education
7
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Inc

The manhattan institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in america and its great cities.

Public Benefit
8
Boston Architectural College

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

—
9
Washington Leadership Academy Public Charter School

Wla combines best practices in teaching and learning, with the latest in educational technology to create an unparalleled high school experience. students will graduate from wla prepared for college, career, and lives of public leadership.

Education
10
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
11
Washington & Jefferson College

To graduate people of uncommon integrity, competence, and maturity, who are effective lifelong learners and responsible citizens, and who are prepared to contribute substantially to the world in which they live.

Education
12
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Freedomworks Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Benedictine College. 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

44 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 44 of the 64 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
44/44
Grantees still filing
33/44
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY INC: $1,700,000 · EducationLAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY INCCOLLEGE OF THE OZARKS: $1,250,000 · EducationCOLLEGE OF THE OZARKSBenedictine College: $777,480 · EducationBenedictine CollegeHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $620,000 · EducationHILLSDALE COLLEGEPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $400,000 · EducationPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIONREAL CLEAR FOUNDATION: $265,000 · Education+11 more: $1,045,225 · Education+11 moreTURNING POINT USA INC: $600,000 · OtherTURNING POINT USA INCROCK COUNTY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $440,500 · OtherROCK COUNTY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLBRODHEAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $340,358 · OtherBRODHEAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY INCYoung America's Foundation: $315,000 · OtherYoung America's FoundationKELCH AVIATION MUSEUM: $223,334 · OtherKELCH AVIATION MUSEUMSTATELINE BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS INC: $150,000 · OtherTHE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE: $135,000 · OtherInstitute for Humane Studies: $125,000 · OtherGREATER PRAISE COMNTY DEVEL CORP-JOS PROJECT: $100,000 · Other+24 more: $550,900 · Other+24 moreBADGER INSTITUTE INC: $440,000 · Public BenefitLeadership Institute: $95,000 · Public BenefitTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $95,000 · Public BenefitYOUNG AMERICANS FOR LIBERTY FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Public BenefitLibertas Network: $50,000 · Public BenefitCATO INSTITUTE: $30,000 · Public BenefitBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF DANE COUNTY INC: $150,000 · Youth DevelopmentFORGE LEADERSHIP NETWORK: $40,000 · Youth Development+2 more: $6,200 · Youth DevelopmentWISCONSIN INSTITUTE FOR LAW & LIBERTY: $145,000 · Crime & LegalJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF WISCONSIN INC: $137,000 · InternationalGreen County Development Corporation: $89,500 · Community Improvement+1 more: $2,500 · Community Improvement
Education$6,057,705Other$2,980,092Public Benefit$760,000Youth Development$196,200Crime & Legal$145,000International$137,000Community Improvement$92,000

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 budgetLAKE COUNTRY CLASSICAL ACADEMY INC: $1,700,000 over 5y, 6.1% of budgetCOLLEGE OF THE OZARKS: $1,250,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetBenedictine College: $777,480 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $620,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTURNING POINT USA INC: $600,000 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetBADGER INSTITUTE INC: $440,000 over 7y, 10% of budgetPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetYoung America's Foundation: $315,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetREAL CLEAR FOUNDATION: $265,000 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR REFORMING GOVERNMENT INC: $175,000 over 4y, 5.3% of budgetBELOIT COLLEGE: $160,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF DANE COUNTY INC: $150,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetSTATELINE BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS INC: $150,000 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetWISCONSIN INSTITUTE FOR LAW & LIBERTY: $145,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetNORTHSHORE CLASSICAL ACADEMY: $140,725 over 1y, 24% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF WISCONSIN INC: $137,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetTHE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE: $135,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetInstitute for Humane Studies: $125,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetBELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE INC: $120,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetVERITAS CLASSICAL ACADEMY INC: $110,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetMASON CLASSICAL ACADEMY INC: $105,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetLeadership Institute: $95,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $95,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGreen County Development Corporation: $89,500 over 1y, 17% of budgetTHE FUND FOR AMERICAN STUDIES: $75,400 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetNETWORK OF ENLIGHTENED WOMEN INC: $75,000 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetTRINITAS CLASSICAL ACADEMY INC: $70,000 over 1y, 83% of budgetYOUNG AMERICANS FOR LIBERTY FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetLibertas Network: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFORGE LEADERSHIP NETWORK: $40,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: $40,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFREEDOMWORKS FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE: $30,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDAVID HOROWITZ FREEDOM CENTER: $30,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetFoundation for Economic Education Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJUST FACTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetDISCOVERY WORLD LTD: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWISCONSIN 4-H FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMoms for Liberty Foundation Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetOZAUKEE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL INC: $4,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetWISCONSIN COUNCIL ON ECONOMIC EDUCATION INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetBADGER BOYS STATE INCORPORATED: $1,200 over 1y, 4.1% 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.

Bradley Impact Fund I…Donors Trust IncThe Lynde and Harry B…Adolph Coors Foundati…Neese Family Foundati…The Dunn FoundationCharles Koch InstituteHerbert H Kohl Charit…Carol and Richard Bay…Duane & Dorothy Bluem…Dwight and Linda Davi…The Roe Foundation
Bradley Impact Fund IncWI21.6× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Bradley Impact Fund Inc · Donors Trust Inc · The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc · Adolph Coors Foundation · Neese Family Foundation Inc · The Dunn Foundation · Charles Koch Institute · Herbert H Kohl Charities Inc · Carol and Richard Bayerlein Fdn Ltd · Duane & Dorothy Bluemke Foundation Ltd · Dwight and Linda Davis Foundation · The Roe 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 William S Knight Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from William S Knight Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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 William S Knight Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to William S Knight Foundation Inc 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 64 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 William S Knight’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