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Berlin Family Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

Berlin Family Fund

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.

$1.2M
Granted FY2025still arriving
15
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$1.9MHealth$1.3MRecreation & Sports$261kArts & Culture$244kEnvironment$86kReligion$77kHousing & Shelter$28kYouth Development$28kOther$0
02FY2025 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k7 grants · $16k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $90k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $340k
  • $250k+2 grants · $800k
$10,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$137k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY$500,000
NEW TRIER EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$300,000
WINNETKA PARKS FOUNDATION$220,000
WINNETKA COMMUNITY HOUSE$120,000
WINNETKA CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH$40,000
BELOIT COLLEGE$20,000
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY - WINNETKA-NORTHFIELD$20,000
INDIAN HILL SCHOLARSHIP FUND$10,000
VANDER COOK COLLEGE OF MUSIC$5,000
MOBILE CARE CHICAGO$5,000
INDIAN RIVER HABITAT FOR HUMANITY$2,000
HUMAN SOCIETY OF VERO BEACH & INDIAN RIVER COUNTY$2,000
YOUTH GUIDANCE MENTORING ACEDEMY INDIAN RIVER$1,000
THE SEA NOTES CHORAL SOCIETY$500
FEED THE LAMBS - VERO BEACH$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 (FY20–24, $57k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 56% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%ELPIS ENTERPRISES: $12k → 14%SILVER BAY ASSOCIATION: $9k → 10%COMMUNITY HOUSE: $10k → 7%WEAN INC: $5k → 6%ELPIS ENTERPRISES: $5k → 14%SILVER BAY YMCA: $2k → 10%COMMUNITY HOUSE: $10k → 7%ELPIS ENTERPRISE: $3k → 14%SILVER BAY ASSOCIATION: $1k → 10%ELPIS ENTERPRISE: $250 → 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

WA
MT
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
NJ
RI
CA
UT
VA
NC
DC
FL
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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.7M · 38 repeat orgs$1.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +66% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.

38 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 33 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

38
45

Total granted

$2.7M
$1.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+66%
+5%

Still filing today

61%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $66k 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
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesEnvironmentRecreation & SportsYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • The Trustees of Princeton University
    6× · 2020–2025 · $1.2M · revenue +51%
  • NT
    NEW TRIER EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION
    3× · 2023–2025 · $309k · revenue +827%
  • WC
    WINNETKA COMMUNITY HOUSE INC
    3× · 2020–2025 · $135k · revenue +80%

Funded once

  • NS
    NORTH SHORE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $1.0M
  • NS
    NORTH SHORE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2020 · $100k
  • EH
    Endeavor Health
    one grant, 2023 · $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
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
2
Williams College

Williams College strives to achieve educational excellence by fostering a community of learning in collaboration with students, faculty, staff, devoted alumni and parents.

Education
3
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
4
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
5
Wheaton College

Wheaton college provides a transformative liberal arts education, combining theory and practice, for intellectually curious students within a collaborative and vibrant extended community and network that values and strives to create an…

Education
6
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
7
Hampden-Sydney College

Since 1775, the mission of Hampden-Sydney College has been to form good men and good citizens in an atmosphere of sound learning.

Education
8
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
9
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
10
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
11
Harvey Mudd College

HMC seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities, social sciences and the arts so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the…

Education
12
Lake Forest College

Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Community House; the most unlike its peers is Cool Earth Action Usa Inc. 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

53 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. 53 of the 96 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
53/53
Grantees still filing
35/53
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NORTH SHORE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · OtherNORTH SHORE HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONNORTHSHORE UNIVERSITY HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION: $200,000 · OtherNORTHSHORE UNIVERSITY HEALTHCARE FOUNDATIONNORTH SHORE UNIVERSITY: $100,000 · OtherNORTH SHORE UNIVERSITYWINNETKA CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH: $73,000 · Other+59 more: $389,450 · Other+59 moreThe Trustees of Princeton University: $1,236,500 · EducationThe Trustees of Princeton UniversityNEW TRIER EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $309,000 · EducationNEW TRIER EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION+9 more: $80,000 · EducationWINNETKA PARKS FOUNDATION: $222,000 · Recreation & SportsPLEASANTON GIRLS SOCCER ASSOCIATION: $15,500 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $2,500 · Recreation & SportsWINNETKA COMMUNITY HOUSE INC: $135,000 · Arts & CultureChicago Symphony Orchestra: $70,000 · Arts & CultureMBIRA: $9,500 · Arts & Culture+7 more: $15,210 · Arts & CultureEndeavor Health: $100,000 · Health+1 more: $1,000 · HealthScenic Hudson Inc: $49,000 · EnvironmentWHIDBEY CAMANO LAND TRUST: $20,000 · Environment+1 more: $1,000 · EnvironmentElpis Enterprises: $20,150 · Human ServicesTHE COMMUNITY HOUSE: $20,000 · Human ServicesSILVER BAY ASSOCIATION FOR CHRISTIAN CONFERENCES AND TRAINING: $12,000 · Human ServicesWEAN INC WEAN INC: $5,000 · Human Services
Other$1,762,450Education$1,625,500Recreation & Sports$240,000Arts & Culture$229,710Health$101,000Environment$70,000Human Services$57,150

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $1,236,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNEW TRIER EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $309,000 over 3y, 7.4% of budgetWINNETKA PARKS FOUNDATION: $222,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetWINNETKA COMMUNITY HOUSE INC: $135,000 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetChicago Symphony Orchestra: $70,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetScenic Hudson Inc: $49,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCAMP DUDLEY INC: $26,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTrustees of Hamilton College: $25,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetElpis Enterprises: $20,150 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetBELOIT COLLEGE: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWHIDBEY CAMANO LAND TRUST: $20,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFriends of the Library- WinnetkaNorthfield: $20,000 over 1y, 53% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY HOUSE: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPLEASANTON GIRLS SOCCER ASSOCIATION: $15,500 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetSILVER BAY ASSOCIATION FOR CHRISTIAN CONFERENCES AND TRAINING: $12,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TVRC EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $11,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetEVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation): $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMBIRA: $9,500 over 4y, 6.6% of budgetWHIDBEY ISLAND WALDORF SCHOOL: $9,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetST DAVID'S CENTER: $6,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTH WHIDBEY HOMELESS COALITION: $6,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $5,710 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $5,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF DEERFIELD ACADEMY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTARIRO-HOPE AND HEALTH FOR ZIMBABWES ORPHANS: $5,000 over 1y, 8.5% of budgetVANDERCOOK COLLEGE OF MUSIC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPRINCETON PROSPECT FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetORGANIC FARM SCHOOL: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetWEAN INC WEAN INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetWHIDBEY ANIMALS IMPROVEMENT FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE HAMLINE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGIRLS SOCCER WORLDWIDE: $2,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetWHIDBEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKUOW PUGET SOUND PUBLIC RADIO: $2,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBeacon Historical Society: $2,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF VERO BEACH AND INDIAN RIVER COUNTY INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSALVE REGINA UNIVERSITY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIndian River County Habitat for Humanity Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of Cloud Mountain: $1,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNORTH SHORE ART LEAGUE: $1,300 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetFenix Family Health Center: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOOL EARTH ACTION USA INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMON GROUND FARM INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetKINHAVEN MUSIC SCHOOL INC: $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 Trustees of Princeton University ↗
  • Who funds NEW TRIER EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds WINNETKA PARKS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds WINNETKA COMMUNITY HOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds Endeavor Health ↗
  • Who funds Chicago Symphony Orchestra ↗
  • Who funds Scenic Hudson Inc ↗
  • Who funds CAMP DUDLEY INC ↗
  • Who funds Trustees of Hamilton College ↗
  • Who funds Elpis Enterprises ↗
  • Who funds BELOIT COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds WHIDBEY CAMANO LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds Friends of the Library- WinnetkaNorthfield ↗
  • Who funds THE COMMUNITY HOUSE ↗
  • Who funds PLEASANTON GIRLS SOCCER ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds SILVER BAY ASSOCIATION FOR CHRISTIAN CONFERENCES AND TRAINING ↗
  • Who funds THE TVRC EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds EVANS SCHOLARS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds The Hap Foundation Inc (F/K/A Journeycare Foundation) ↗
  • Who funds MBIRA ↗
  • Who funds WHIDBEY ISLAND WALDORF SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds ST DAVID'S CENTER ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH WHIDBEY HOMELESS COALITION ↗
  • Who funds METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗

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.

Kemper Educational an…The Chicago Community…Goosefoot Community F…John D and Alexandra …Frank Family Foundati…Charles H and Beverly…Seattle FoundationThe Winnetka ClubThe Sharon L King Fou…Madigan Family Founda…Whidbey Community Fou…Sheila Reynolds Berne…
Kemper Educational and Charitable FundIL19.9× affinity7 shared granteesties to 8 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Kemper Educational and Charitable Fund · The Chicago Community Trust · Goosefoot Community Fund · John D and Alexandra Nichols Family Foundation · Frank Family Foundation · Charles H and Beverly E Shaw Foundation · Seattle Foundation · The Winnetka Club · The Sharon L King Foundation · Madigan Family Foundation · Whidbey Community Foundation · Sheila Reynolds Berner 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 Berlin Family Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Berlin Family Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
  • Kinhaven Music School Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
12report 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 Berlin Family Fund?

Find your warmest path to Berlin Family Fund 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 96 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 Berlin 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