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Berger Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Berger 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.

$184k
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Health$323kPhilanthropy$182kEducation$123kArts & Culture$123kInternational$42kPublic Safety & Disaster$16kHuman Services$16kReligion$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k13 grants · $36k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $48k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
$3,500
Median grant
5
States reached
$1.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
EISENHOWER HEALTH FOUNDATION$50,000
JEWISH FEDERATION OF THE DESERT$50,000
RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL$20,000
NORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION$15,000
EISENHOWER MEDICAL CENTER$12,500
PALM SPRINGS AIR MUSEUM$5,000
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF THE A$5,000
DESERT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$5,000
CHICAGO POLICE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION$3,500
TRUSTEES OF TUFTS COLLEGE$3,000
FRIENDS OF THE IDF$3,000
FOOD ON FOOT$2,500
WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC$2,500
JEWISH UNITED FUND$2,000
THE MAPLE COUNSELING CENTER$1,500
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $13k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%FOOD ON FOOT: $3k → 14%INVEST FOR KIDS INC: $3k → 14%INVEST FOR KIDS INC: $3k → 14%INVEST FOR KIDS INC: $3k → 14%INVEST FOR KIDS INC: $3k → 14%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
NY
MA
CT
CA
CO
MD
NC
DC
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.
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 Berger Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 68% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 65%.

Berger Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.9% 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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$662k · 23 repeat orgs$46k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +4% for those funded once.

23 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 14 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
15

Total granted

$662k
$30k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+4%

Still filing today

70%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $16k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthArts & CultureHuman ServicesInternationalPhilanthropyOther
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

  • EM
    Eisenhower Medical Center
    4× · 2020–2025 · $282k · revenue +66%
  • RM
    RANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL
    3× · 2022–2025 · $55k · revenue +888%
  • TL
    THE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO
    4× · 2021–2024 · $40k · revenue +22%

Funded once

  • RM
    RANCHO MIRAGE LIBRARY
    one grant, 2023 · $5k
  • PS
    PALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM
    one grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue +9%
  • C1
    CHP 11-99 FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $3k · revenue 0%
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
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
2
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
3
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
4
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
5
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
6
University of Miami

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

Education
7
Yeshiva University

The university is composed of several colleges and schools providing undergraduate, graduate, professional and post-doctoral education and training and research and clinical programs.

Education
8
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
9
The Central European University

Ceu is committed to promoting the values of open society and self-reflective critical thinking. it aims at excellence in the mastery of established knowledge, courage to pursue the creation of new knowledge in the humanities, the social…

International
10
Southern California University of Health Sciences

The mission of southern california university of health sciences (scu) is to educate students as competent, caring and successful practitioners of integrative healthcare. the university is committed to providing excellence in academics,…

Education
11
Trustees of Boston College

Mission strengthened by more than a century and a half of dedication to academic excellence, boston college commits itself to the highest standards of teaching and research in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs and to the…

Education
12
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania

The trustees of the university of pennsylvania (the "university") sees itself as having a public service mission. in such regard, the university aims to provide a rich and diverse educational environment for its students; to pioneer…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Birthright Israel Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Hatzalah Chicago. 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

34 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. 34 of the 46 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)
34/34
Grantees still filing
23/34
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

JEWISH FEDERATION OF PALM SPRINGS AND DESERT AREA: $125,500 · OtherJEWISH FEDERATION OF PALM SPRINGS AND DESER…FRIENDS OF THE IDF: $39,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE IDFMCCALLUM THEATRE: $30,000 · OtherMCCALLUM THEATRENORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $30,000 · OtherNORTHWESTERN MEMORIAL FOUNDATIONFRIENDS OF IDF: $24,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF IDFCOLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL: $14,000 · Other+17 more: $62,250 · Other+17 moreEisenhower Medical Center: $282,000 · HealthEisenhower Medical Center+4 more: $5,260 · HealthRANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL: $55,000 · EducationRANCHO MIRAGE WRITER…THE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO: $40,000 · EducationTHE LATIN SCHOOL OF …Trustees of Tufts College: $18,000 · EducationTrustees of Tufts Co…College of the Desert Foundation: $17,000 · EducationCollege of the Deser…BARD COLLEGE: $14,000 · EducationBARD COLLEGE+3 more: $8,000 · EducationThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $12,500 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO POLICE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $10,500 · Arts & CulturePALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM: $5,000 · Arts & CulturePALM SPRINGS AIR MUSEUM INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureDESERT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,500 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $12,000 · PhilanthropyInvest for Kids Inc: $10,000 · Human ServicesFOOD ON FOOT: $2,500 · Human ServicesBIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FOUNDATION: $6,000 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,000 · International
Other$324,750Health$287,260Education$152,000Arts & Culture$33,000Philanthropy$32,500Human Services$12,500International$11,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetEisenhower Medical Center: $282,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF PALM SPRINGS AND DESERT AREA: $125,500 over 4y, 2.0% of budgetRANCHO MIRAGE WRITERS FESTIVAL: $55,000 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetTHE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO: $40,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDESERT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTrustees of Tufts College: $18,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCollege of the Desert Foundation: $17,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBARD COLLEGE: $14,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $12,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $12,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO POLICE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $10,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetInvest for Kids Inc: $10,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetLOS ANGELES SHERIFFS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetBIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCHAPEL HILL-CHAUNCY HALL SCHOOL: $5,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPALM SPRINGS ART MUSEUM: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPALM SPRINGS AIR MUSEUM INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHILLCREST COUNTRY CLUB CHARITABLE FUND: $4,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetWESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHP 11-99 FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDIGESTIVE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetHATZALAH CHICAGO: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBELOVED ASHEVILLE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDESERT ARC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE OAKS SCHOOL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRIVERSIDE COUNTY DEPUTY SHERIFF RELIEF FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $260 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.

Jewish Federation of …The Galen Family Foun…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The Harriet K and How…Victor Family Foundat…The Hyman and Mintz F…David & Janet Polak F…The Auen FoundationKovler Family Foundat…Jarvis FoundationHN and Frances C Berg…Leichtag Foundation
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan ChicagoIL17.3× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · The Galen Family Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Harriet K and Howard N Bernstein Charitable Foundation · Victor Family Foundation co Jonathan Victor · The Hyman and Mintz Family Foundation · David & Janet Polak Foundation · The Auen Foundation · Kovler Family Foundation · Jarvis Foundation · HN and Frances C Berger Foundation · Leichtag 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 Berger Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Berger Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Trustees of Tufts College: 13% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Wesleyan University: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Berger Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Berger 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 46 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 Berger 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