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· Public charity

Aats Foundation

Support cardiothoracic surgeons in research and education.

$1.9M
Granted FY2024still arriving
23
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$80k
Largest
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Health$3.1MEducation$180kScience & Tech$109kRecreation & Sports$100kReligion$10k
02FY2024 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 23 grants below total $807,709, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,909,266 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $1,101,557 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $34k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $179k
  • $50k–250k11 grants · $595k
$40,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$13M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$80,000
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THORACIC SURGERY$65,000
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY$50,000
CITY OF HOPE$50,000
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL - RESEARCH$50,000
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY$50,000
WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY$50,000
BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL$50,000
TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY$50,000
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY$50,000
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF WISCONSIN$50,000
DUKE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL$40,000
ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE$40,000
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA$40,000
BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL$18,500
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 62% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL: $220k → 8%AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THORACIC SURGERY: $170k → 10%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL CORPORATION: $100k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PHYSICIANS: $10k → 11%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $80k → 7%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: $50k → 17%ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: $50k → 28%BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: $50k → 16%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PHYSICIANS (MUSCP): $214k → 12%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $100k → 14%THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM: $50k → 10%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF WISCONSIN: $50k → 17%DUKE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: $40k → 11%EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: $50k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER: $40k → 12%WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY: $50k → 19%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $100k → 14%AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THORACIC SURGERY: $65k → 6%UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $40k → 8%JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $50k → 19%AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THORACIC SURGERY: $110k → 10%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL CORPORATION: $50k → 16%WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $50k → 17%MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER: $50k → 28%MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA: $50k → 12%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY FEINBERG SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: $50k → 14%INOVA HEALTH CARE SERVICES: $50k → 6%JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $50k → 19%AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THORACIC SURGERY: $100k → 10%BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $50k → 16%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: $40k → 22%CITY OF HOPE: $50k → 14%ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: $40k → 28%THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $50k → 14%AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THORACIC SURGERY: $25k → 10%BOSTON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $19k → 16%CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: $40k → 22%CITY OF HOPE: $50k → 14%MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $100k → 17%ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: $40k → 28%SLOAN KETTERING INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH: $50k → 17%MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL: $140k → 16%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $50k → 17%MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL - RESEARCH: $50k → 16%TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $50k → 22%TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $50k → 17%TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $40k → 22%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $50k → 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
MA
OH
PA
CA
CO
WV
VA
MD
NC
SC
GA
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $641k on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 7 regions, $59k to organizations and $582k to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Sub-Saharan Africa$176k · 27% · 11 people

Stated purpose: ATRICURE FELLOWSHIP · SIR MAGDI YACOUB PROGRAM · EDWARDS PROGRAM

East Asia and the Pacific$134k · 21% · 9 people

Stated purpose: MEETINGS AND EDUCATION · GRAHAM TRAVELING FELLOWSHIP · ATRICURE FELLOWSHIP

North America (Canada and Mexico)$102k · 16% · 2 grants · 11 people

Stated purpose: TETROLOGY OF FALLOT REGISTRY · 2025 SYMPOSIUM IN HONOR OF DR. TIRONE DAVID · HOM-CLEVELAND CLINIC

South America$84k · 13% · 33 people

Stated purpose: ALDO R. CASTANEDA PROGRAM · VALERIE W. RUSCH PROGRAM · EDWARDS PROGRAM

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$78k · 12% · 6 people

Stated purpose: ATRICURE FELLOWSHIP · GRAHAM TRAVELING FELLOWSHIP · JACK A. ROTH PROGRAM

South Asia$46k · 7% · 35 people

Stated purpose: EDWARDS PROGRAM · MARC. R. DE LEVAL FELLOWSHIP

Middle East and North Africa$21k · 3% · 4 people

Stated purpose: EDWARDS PROGRAM · VALERIE W. RUSCH PROGRAM

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 6% of Aats Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Aats Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 3.7% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.2M · 14 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +22% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
15

Total granted

$2.2M
$844k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
+21%

Still filing today

71%
53%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $276k 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
EducationHealthRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • AA
    AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THORACIC SURGERY
    6× · 2017–2024 · $479k · revenue +10%
  • CH
    Children's Hospital Corporation
    3× · 2022–2024 · $219k · revenue +44%
  • Northwestern University
    2× · 2021–2023 · $150k · revenue +14%

Funded once

  • PC
    PHI CHI MEDICAL FRATERNITY INC
    one grant, 2022 · $214k
  • MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue +9%
  • RO
    REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
    one grant, 2021 · $100k
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
Rush University Medical Center

The mission of Rush is to improve the health of the individuals and diverse communities we serve through the integration of outstanding patient care, education, research and community partnerships.

Health
2
Cornell University

Education, research, medical services and other public services.

Education
3
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
4
Thomas Jefferson University

Thomas jefferson university ("tju") is a comprehensive university with preeminence in transdisciplinary, experiential professional education, research and discovery, delivering exceptional value for the 21st century students with…

Education
5
University of Minnesota Physicians

University of minnesota physicians serves as the integrated group practice for the university of minnesota medical school full-time faculty to provide the highest quality healthcare to patients and their families.university of minnesota…

Health
6
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
7
The Johns Hopkins Hospital

For more than 125 years, the mission of the johns hopkins hospital has been to lead the world in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and to train tomorrow's great physicians, nurses and scientists. above all, we aim to provide the…

Health
8
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
9
University of Chicago Medical Center

Our mission at the university of chicago medicine is to provide superior health care through rigorous research, innovative education, and comprehensive care and healing. in partnership with our colleagues, we pursue life-changing…

Health
10
Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is an independent, research-oriented university with broadly based strengths in health, including medicine, nursing and dentistry; in engineering; in the arts and sciences; and in law, management and social…

Education
11
Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary

THE MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY ("THE INFIRMARY") IS A NOT-FOR-PROFIT TEACHING HOSPITAL CONDUCTING PATIENT CARE AND RESEARCH. THE INFIRMARY IS A TEACHING HOSPITAL OF HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL AND AN INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH.…

Health
12
Drexel University

Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Montefiore Medical Center; the most unlike its peers is Inova Health Care Services. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

25 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 25 of the 42 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
25/25
Grantees still filing
22/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THORACIC SURGERY: $479,133 · OtherAMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THORACIC SURGERYMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED: $410,000 · OtherMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATEDPHI CHI MEDICAL FRATERNITY INC: $213,578 · OtherPHI CHI MEDICAL FRATERNITY INCMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $150,000 · OtherMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTERREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $100,000 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGANUNIVERSITY MEDICAL ASSOCIATES OF THE MEDICAL UNIV OF SOUTH CAROLINA: $60,000 · Other+14 more: $367,000 · Other+14 moreAlbert Einstein College of Medicine: $130,000 · EducationAlbert Einstein College of M…JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $110,000 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITYICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $110,000 · EducationICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT …New York University: $100,000 · EducationNew York UniversityTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $90,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY O…THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $80,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE…THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $60,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNI…University of Chicago: $50,000 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoEmory University: $50,000 · EducationEmory UniversityBaylor College of Medicine: $50,000 · EducationBaylor College of MedicineDUKE UNIVERSITY: $40,000 · Education+1 more: $10,000 · EducationChildren's Hospital Corporation: $218,500 · HealthChildren's Hospital Co…MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $100,000 · HealthMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERI…CITY OF HOPE: $100,000 · HealthCITY OF HOPETHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: $98,500 · HealthTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITA…MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER: $50,000 · HealthMONTEFIORE MEDICAL CEN…INOVA HEALTH CARE SERVICES: $50,000 · HealthINOVA HEALTH CARE SERV…CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF WISCONSIN INC: $50,000 · HealthCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF…+2 more: $27,709 · HealthNorthwestern University: $150,000 · Recreation & Sports
Other$1,779,711Education$880,000Health$694,709Recreation & Sports$150,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetAMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THORACIC SURGERY: $479,133 over 6y, 1.5% of budgetChildren's Hospital Corporation: $218,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $150,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAlbert Einstein College of Medicine: $130,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $110,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $110,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCITY OF HOPE: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: $98,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $90,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $80,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $60,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEmory University: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINOVA HEALTH CARE SERVICES: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF WISCONSIN INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBaylor College of Medicine: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $40,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION: $19,209 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTemple University - Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WYNDCROFT SCHOOL: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetChildren's Hospital Los Angeles: $8,500 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

American Heart Association IncTX17.2× affinity6 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Heart Association Inc · Yale University · American Cancer Society Inc · Johns Hopkins University · Cystic Fibrosis Foundation · Vanderbilt University Medical Center · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Aats Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Aats Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Children's Hospital Corporation: 10% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
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.

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 42 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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