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Ace & Lillian Fessenden Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Ace & Lillian Fessenden Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$48k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Environment$142kHealth$96kArts & Culture$38kAnimals$33kScience & Tech$17kEducation$9kRecreation & Sports$1k
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k8 grants · $38k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WOODY FOUNDATION$10,000
MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER$7,500
FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN$7,500
MAURICE A FERRE FOUNDATION$5,000
SOUTH FL SPCA HORSE RESCUE$5,000
INTERNATIONAL PALM SOCIETY$4,000
MARIE SELBY BOTANICAL GARDEN$4,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
LEMUR CONSERVATION FOUNDATION$2,000
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 (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 88% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%INTERNATIONAL PALM SOCIETY: $5k → 10%CLASSICAL ACADEMY OF SARASOTA: $1k → 9%SANDY STABLES: $2k → 10%U CAN RIDE: $3k → 13%WOODY FOUNDATION: $35k → 15%BLUES FOUNDATION: $22k → 17%TOMMORROW FUND: $1k → 14%INTERNATIONAL PALM SOCIETY: $4k → 10%LEMUR CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER: $15k → 15%BLUES FOUNDATION: $8k → 17%SANDY STABLES: $2k → 10%FAIRCHILDTROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN: $15k → 15%BLUES FOUNDATION: $8k → 17%MARIE SELBY BOTANICAL GARDEN: $5k → 9%MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER: $10k → 15%MARIE SHELBY BOTANICAL GARDEN: $5k → 9%WOODY FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%MARIE SELBY BOTANICAL GARDEN: $4k → 9%WOODY FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%MARIE SELBY BOTANICAL GARDEN: $4k → 9%WOODY FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%MARIE SELBY BOTANICAL GARDEN: $3k → 9%FAIRFIELD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN: $10k → 15%WOODY FOUNDATION: $10k → 15%MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER: $8k → 15%FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN: $8k → 15%MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER: $8k → 15%FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN: $8k → 15%MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER: $7k → 15%MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER: $5k → 15%MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER: $5k → 15%MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER: $5k → 15%FAIRCHILDTROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN: $5k → 15%WOODY FOUNDATION: $4k → 15%FAIRCHILDTROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN: $4k → 15%FAIRCHILDTROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN: $4k → 15%SOUTH FLORIDA SPCA HORSE RESCUE: $10k → 15%AIRIE: $4k → 15%SOUTH FLORIDA SPCA HORSE RESCUE: $2k → 15%AIRIE: $2k → 15%SOUTH FLORIDA SPCA HORSE RESCUE: $2k → 15%MARJORIE STONEMAN DOUGLAS BISCAYNE: $5k → 15%MAURICE A FERRE FOUNDATION: $5k → 15%MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS: $3k → 15%MARJORY STONEMAN DOUGLAS: $3k → 15%EVERGLADES OUTPOST: $3k → 15%GIVE MIAMI DAY-THE MIAMI FOUNDATION: $12k → 15%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.
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$301k · 13 repeat orgs$35k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
7

Total granted

$301k
$28k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+71%
+646%

Still filing today

54%
29%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $7k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentEducationPhilanthropyArts & CultureAnimalsScience & TechOther
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

  • TW
    The Woody Foundation Inc dba The Way Forward Foundation
    6× · 2019–2025 · $79k · revenue +43%
  • MB
    MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER
    8× · 2018–2025 · $62k · revenue +73%
  • FT
    FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN INC
    7× · 2018–2025 · $52k · revenue +71%

Funded once

  • GM
    GIVE MIAMI DAY-THE MIAMI FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $12k
  • MS
    MARJORIE STONEMAN DOUGLAS BISCAYNE
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
  • UC
    U CAN RIDE
    one grant, 2018 · $3k
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
The Henry Foundation for Botanical Research
—
2
Moore Farms Botanical Garden Foundation
Philanthropy
3
The Crosby Arboretum Foundation
—
4
Sonoma Botanical Garden
—
5
Seaworld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund
Environment
6
Heritage Plantation Foundation
—
7
Warren Wildlife Gallery
Arts & Culture
8
Martha Lafite Thompson Nature Sanctuary
—
9
The Fauna Foundation
—
10
Frabel Art Foundation Inc

Exhibits to educate the public on glass art

—
11
Born Free Foundation
—
12
San Francisco Plantation Foundation
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Inc; the most unlike its peers is Montgomery Botanical Center. 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 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. 11 of the 22 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
9/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER: $61,500 · OtherMONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTERSOUTH FLORIDA SPCA HORSE RESCUE: $14,000 · OtherSOUTH FLORIDA SPCA HORSE RESCUEGIVE MIAMI DAY-THE MIAMI FOUNDATION: $11,635 · OtherGIVE MIAMI DAY-THE MIAMI FOUNDATIONSOUTH FL SPCA HORSE RESCUE: $8,000 · OtherSOUTH FL SPCA HORSE RESCUEAIRIE: $6,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $6,000 · OtherMARJORIE STONEMAN DOUGLAS BISCAYNE: $5,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $5,000 · Other+5 more: $10,000 · Other+5 moreFAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN INC: $51,500 · EnvironmentFAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC …The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Inc: $20,000 · EnvironmentThe Marie Selby Botanical G…International Palm Society Inc: $9,000 · EnvironmentInternational Palm Society …The Woody Foundation Inc dba The Way Forward Foundation: $79,000 · PhilanthropyThe Woody Foundation Inc d…The Blues Foundation Inc: $38,000 · Arts & CultureThe Blues Fo…FERRE FAMILY FOUNDATION DBA MAURICE A FERRE FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EducationTHE CLASSICAL ACADEMY OF SARASOTA: $1,000 · EducationEVERGLADES OUTPOST INC: $3,000 · AnimalsLemur Conservation Foundation Inc: $2,000 · Science & Tech
Other$127,135Environment$80,500Philanthropy$79,000Arts & Culture$38,000Education$6,000Animals$3,000Science & Tech$2,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe Woody Foundation Inc dba The Way Forward Foundation: $79,000 over 6y, 16% of budgetMONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER: $61,500 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetFAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN INC: $51,500 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetThe Blues Foundation Inc: $38,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetThe Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Inc: $20,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetInternational Palm Society Inc: $9,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetEVERGLADES OUTPOST INC: $3,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetTHE TOMORROW FUND: $2,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CLASSICAL ACADEMY OF SARASOTA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

  • Who funds The Woody Foundation Inc dba The Way Forward Foundation ↗
  • Who funds MONTGOMERY BOTANICAL CENTER ↗
  • Who funds FAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN INC ↗
  • Who funds The Blues Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Inc ↗
  • Who funds International Palm Society Inc ↗
  • Who funds FERRE FAMILY FOUNDATION DBA MAURICE A FERRE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds EVERGLADES OUTPOST INC ↗
  • Who funds THE TOMORROW FUND ↗
  • Who funds Lemur Conservation Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE CLASSICAL ACADEMY OF SARASOTA ↗

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.

Paypal Charitable Giv…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Paypal Charitable Giving FundDC8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Ace & Lillian Fessenden Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ace & Lillian Fessenden Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Inc: 4% of income from government
  • The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Montgomery Botanical Center: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get 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 · 0–20%
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.

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 22 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 Ace & Lillian Fessenden Family’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