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· Private foundation

Zerbe Family 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.

$77k
Granted FY2024still arriving
22
Grants FY2024still arriving
12
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What you fund
0192% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172024.

Education$329kPhilanthropy$59kArts & Culture$39kHealth$6kPublic Benefit$2kCivil Rights$2kPublic Safety & Disaster$2kHuman Services$1kOther$0
02FY2024 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k20 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$250
Median grant
12
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$50,000
SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL$10,000
BETHESDA ACADEMY$6,837
UNITED WAY OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE$5,000
SIGMA CHI FOUNDATION$1,000
GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY$1,000
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS$500
ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL$500
BULLDOG ALUMNI ASSOCIATION$250
Individual grant recipient$250
YOUNG AMERICA'S FOUNDATION$250
PARKINSONS FOUNDATION$100
UNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS$100
PROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION$100
SHRINERS HOSPITAL$100
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 99% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $500 → 8%ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL: $500 → 8%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $650 → 14%LIVING ARTS: $1k → 21%SAMRITAN'S PURSE INTERNATIONAL: $750 → 21%FORD PLANTATION SCHOLARSHIPS FUND: $500 → 8%ELEVATE: $1k → 13%SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL: $10k → 16%ROUTT COUNTY UNITED WAY: $500 → 6%INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $51k → 16%INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $30k → 18%SIGMA CHI FOUNDATION: $3k → 14%YOUNG AMERICA'S FOUNDATION: $500 → 6%ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL: $500 → 8%HILLSDALE COLLEGE: $650 → 14%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $1k → 21%SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL: $5k → 16%INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $50k → 16%INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $30k → 18%SIGMA CHI FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%YOUNG AMERICA'S FOUNDATION: $500 → 6%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $500 → 21%SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL: $5k → 16%INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $50k → 16%SIGMA CHI FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL: $5k → 16%INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $35k → 16%SIGMA CHI FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL: $5k → 16%INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 16%SIGMA CHI FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL: $3k → 16%INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $25k → 16%SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL: $2k → 16%ESKENAZI HEALTH FOUNDATION: $1k → 16%SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL: $2k → 16%ESKENAZI HEALTH FOUNDATION: $1k → 16%DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: $500 → 17%BETHESDA ACADEMY: $500 → 16%UNITED WAY OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE: $20k → 16%HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $2k → 14%UNITED WAY OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE: $10k → 16%UNITED WAY OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE: $10k → 16%UNITED WAY OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE: $10k → 16%UNITED WAY OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE: $5k → 16%UNITED WAY OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE: $2k → 16%GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $1k → 16%SAVANNAH MUSIC FESTIVAL: $500 → 16%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

IL
MI
NY
MA
IN
CA
CO
VA
NC
SC
DC
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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$434k · 28 repeat orgs$8k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +43% since the first grant, against +37% for the ones you funded once.

28 repeat relationships — 18 still active in FY2024, 10 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
16

Total granted

$434k
$7k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+43%
+37%

Still filing today

71%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHealthPublic BenefitArts & CulturePhilanthropyEnvironmentOther

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

  • Indiana University Foundation
    8× · 2017–2024 · $296k · revenue +97%
  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE
    6× · 2017–2024 · $57k · revenue +10%
  • TS
    THE SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $36k · revenue +57%

Funded once

  • THE HERITAGE FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $2k · revenue +32%
  • Living Arts
    one grant, 2021 · $1k · revenue -16%
  • E
    ELEVATE
    one grant, 2023 · $1k

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
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
2
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.

3
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
4
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
5
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
6
University of Virginia Investment Management Company

The university of virginia investment management company (uvimco) is organized to invest funds on behalf of the rector and visitors of the university of virginia (the university or uva) and university-associated organizations (uaos).

Education
7
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
8
Society for Neuroscience

Sfn's mission is to: 1. advance the understanding of the brain and the nervous system by bringing together scientists of all segments of neuroscience, by facilitating the integration of research directed at all levels of biological…

Health
9
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
10
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
11
American Academy of Neurology

The Academy's mission is to enhance member career fulfillment and promote brain health for all.

Community Improvement
12
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Pockets Full of Sunshine. 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 backsteadyUnited Way AffiliatesLocal History MuseumsCommunity Arts CentersPolicy Research and AdvocacyAnimal Rescue and ShelterCancer Support ServicesEnvironmental Conservation …Orchestra and Ensemble Perf…Community Foundations
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 51 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number19%0%<5yr13%3%5–10yr18%9%10–20yr14%18%20–35yr13%24%35–55yr23%46%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value19%0%<5yr13%1%5–10yr18%31%10–20yr14%2%20–35yr13%6%35–55yr23%60%55yr+

The field is 19% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% 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 10% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/36
the rest of the field
10%
4,324/41,959

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

34 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. 34 of the 52 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
34/34
Grantees still filing
29/34
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Indiana University Foundation — $296,000 · EducationIndiana University FoundationTHE SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL INC — $35,900 · EducationTHE SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL INC+6 more — $9,950 · EducationUNITED WAY OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE — $57,400 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF …+2 more — $1,200 · PhilanthropyBETHESDA ACADEMY — $22,637 · OtherAMERICAN RED CROSS — $1,500 · OtherYoung America's Foundation — $1,500 · Other+25 more — $9,166 · OtherEskenazi Health Foundation Inc — $2,000 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH FOUNDATION — $700 · HealthPARKINSON'S FOUNDATION INC — $700 · HealthAmerican Heart Association Inc — $550 · HealthAmerican Diabetes Association — $350 · HealthSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN — $200 · HealthSAVANNAH MUSIC FESTIVALINC — $1,250 · Arts & CultureLiving Arts — $1,000 · Arts & CultureCOLORADO PUBLIC TELEVISION — $100 · Arts & CultureTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION — $1,500 · Public BenefitCATO INSTITUTE — $250 · Public BenefitUNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS INC — $200 · Public BenefitMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $1,250 · International
Education$341,850Philanthropy$58,600Other$34,803Health$4,500Arts & Culture$2,350Public Benefit$1,950International$1,250

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetIndiana University Foundation — $296,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE — $57,400 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetTHE SAVANNAH BOOK FESTIVAL INC — $35,900 over 8y, 2.1% of budgetSigma Chi Foundation — $6,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetEskenazi Health Foundation Inc — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetYoung America's Foundation — $1,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION — $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE — $1,350 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC — $1,250 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSAVANNAH MUSIC FESTIVALINC — $1,250 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetYAMPA VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION — $1,100 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGeorgia Historical Society — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLiving Arts — $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FORD FIELD & RIVER CLUB SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC — $750 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetBULL DOG ALUMNI ASSOCIATION INC — $750 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE — $750 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH FOUNDATION — $700 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPARKINSON'S FOUNDATION INC — $700 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc — $550 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF THE YAMPA VALLEY — $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Diabetes Association — $350 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SAVANNAH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC — $350 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPOCKETS FULL OF SUNSHINE — $325 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBig Brothers Big Sisters Of America — $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE — $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN — $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS INC — $200 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLORADO PUBLIC TELEVISION — $100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHumane World for Animals Inc — $75 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC — $66 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION — $40 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 Savannah Community Foundation IncGA15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Savannah Community Foundation Inc · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Zerbe Family 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 or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 21%
  • Big Brothers Big Sisters of America21% of income from government
  • Shriners Hospitals for Children0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Zerbe Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Zerbe Family 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 52 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