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Florida · Nonprofit

FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC

FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC (Florida) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,108,581 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($429,500). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$1.3M
Funders on record
19
Grants received
$1.1M
Net assets
$126k
13/19 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 62%
01What it does

What First Things Foundation Inc does

Mission

First things foundation believes that relationships are the foundation of meaningful life and a better world and demonstrates this belief by living humbly, for three years, alongside locals in struggling communities to build strong networks that unite local visionaries with the people and resources they need most.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Program

  1. First things foundation believes that relationships are the foundation of meaningful life and a better world and demonstrates this belief by living humbly, for three years, alongside locals in struggling communities to build strong networks that unite local visionaries with the people and resources they need most.

    $1,009,499 spent$271,709 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $1,009,499.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.

100 = 20192019 Revenue 100 ($168k) Expenses 100 ($159k) Net assets 100 ($28k)2020 Revenue 202 ($339k) Expenses 152 ($243k) Net assets 442 ($125k)2021 Revenue 255 ($428k) Expenses 216 ($345k) Net assets 739 ($209k)2022 Revenue 430 ($721k) Expenses 560 ($891k) Net assets -137 ($-38696)2023 Revenue 648 ($1.1M) Expenses 651 ($1.0M) Net assets 43 ($12k)2024 Revenue 760 ($1.3M) Expenses 729 ($1.2M) Net assets 448 ($126k)
201920202021202220232024
Revenue (760)Expenses (729)Net assets (448)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $211k to $38k (−82%).

$28k
$127k
$211k
$38k
$85k
$208k
201920202021202220232024
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 28% · 2021 6%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

40% of FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (97% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 1,680 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

$9k
’19
$97k
’20
$84k
’21
−$170k
’22
$51k
’23
$114k
’24
2.1
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Chief executive

John Heers

Executive director

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

20202021202220232024
Listed771089
Joined·+0+3+0+3
No longer listed·0022
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $49k → $211k.

6 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

From the IRS filings of FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 39% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 2 funders.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left

50% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC.

39%
largest funder
80%
top three
~4
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 61% · 2018 66% · 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 62% · 2022 49% · 2023 36% — diversifying over time.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How long its funders stay

20% of FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 68% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y

Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.

Where its funders are

FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC draws 96% of its grant income from funders outside Florida, across 9 states in all.

WA
IL
MI
PA
CA
NE
KS
NC
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’21
’22
’23
Florida out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $529k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC has grown faster than three-quarters of the 1,608 international nonprofits its size.

Operating margin9% · above the median
Months of reserve2.1mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)50% · top quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,608 international nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024

Government funding FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $295 on record.

State$295
19
21
22
23
Top programs
  • REFUNDS - GENERAL $295

Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.

Organizations like FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Florida

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

87% of spending goes to programs.

Program 87%Management 8%Fundraising 5%

Governance

9
board members
89%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Public support

72%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

FL

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

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Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC?
FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC (Florida) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,108,581 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($429,500). 13 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC have?
IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $1,108,581 in grants to FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC, 13 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC?
GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $429,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like FIRST THINGS FOUNDATION INC find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Florida. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

Play a game about who funds First Things →

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 19 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing