· Private foundation
Alice Rowan Swanson 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k16 grants · $58k
- $10k–50k5 grants · $55k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC | $15,000 |
| UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF | $10,000 |
| MIDDLE EAST CHILDRENS ALLIANCE | $10,000 |
| OXFAM-AMERICA INC | $10,000 |
| AMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID INC | $10,000 |
| THE LILIES FOUNDATION | $8,000 |
| AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS | $5,000 |
| ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS USA INC | $5,000 |
| NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND INC | $5,000 |
| FRIENDS OF OROKO VILLAGE | $5,000 |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC | $5,000 |
| JOY OF MUSIC PROGRAM INC | $5,000 |
| WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE | $2,500 |
| MUSIC WORCESTER INC | $2,500 |
| SEEDS OF PEACE INC | $2,500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 90% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
30 repeat relationships: 21 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF8× · 2018–2025 · $85k · revenue +47%
AMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID8× · 2018–2025 · $80k · revenue +153%- MEMIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE8× · 2018–2025 · $55k · revenue +687%
Funded once
- OBOUTWARD BOUND INTERNATIONAL INCone grant, 2022 · $2k
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.
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.
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.
Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…
Water.org's goal is to bring safe water and sanitation to the world through access to small, affordable loans.
Organization mission the observer research foundation america orf america is an independent, non-partisan, and nonprofit organization in washington dc dedicated to addressing policy challenges facing the united states, india, and their…
(msh) saves lives and improves the health of the world's poorest (see schedule o) and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.
Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…
The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.
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,…
To advance human rights and social justice in the americas.
The middle east media research institute (memri) explores the middle east through its media, providing timely translations from arabic, farsi, urdu, pashtu, and turkish media and publishing original analysis of political, ideological,…
Education and Research
Our mission is to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.
How this is measured
26 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. 26 of the 31 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID ↗
- Who funds MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE ↗
- Who funds OXFAM-AMERICA INC ↗
- Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
- Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC ↗
- Who funds JOY OF MUSIC PROGRAM INC ↗
- Who funds SEEDS OF PEACE INC ↗
- Who funds NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC ↗
- Who funds The Lilies Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS-USAINC ↗
- Who funds Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Inc ↗
- Who funds THE VIRGINIA THURSTON HEALING GARDEN INC ↗
- Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
- Who funds METAVIVOR RESEARCH AND SUPPORT INC ↗
- Who funds MUSIC WORCESTER INC ↗
- Who funds WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds BIKES NOT BOMBS INC ↗
- Who funds Washington Area Bicyclist Association ↗
- Who funds THE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH ↗
- Who funds Unitarian Universalist Massachusetts Action Network Inc ↗
- Who funds MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds CENTER FOR NONVIOLENT SOLUTIONS INC ↗
- Who funds SISTER COMMUNITIES OF SAN RAMON NICARAGUA ↗
- Who funds POLUS CENTER FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INC ↗
- Who funds CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY INC ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Greater Worcester Community Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Alice Rowan Swanson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Alice Rowan Swanson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute: 8% of income from government
- Music Worcester Inc: 7% of income from government
- Bikes Not Bombs Inc: 2% of income from government
- Joy of Music Program Inc: 1% of income from government
- Oxfam-America Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Alice Rowan Swanson’s filings →