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Bernard and Sandra Otterman Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bernard and Sandra Otterman 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.

$342k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$75k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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.

Education$462kInternational$445kArts & Culture$375kHealth$165kEnvironment$159kYouth Development$24kPhilanthropy$12kReligion$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $37k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $290k
$50,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$5.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC$75,000
NEW ISRAEL FUND$60,000
POLLINATE GROUP$54,848
CENTER FOR CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT$50,000
CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST INC$50,000
MJR LOVE INC$22,000
OLIGO NATION$15,000
HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY$9,891
NEO PHILANTHROPY INC$5,250
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 (FY19–25, $194k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%UMMEED CHILD DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $500 → 7%PARTNERSHIP WITH NATIVE AMERICANS: $1k → 14%CENTER FOR CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT: $50k → 14%WOMENS REFUGEE COMMISSION INC: $1k → 17%CENTER FOR CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT: $50k → 14%CENTER FOR CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT: $25k → 14%CENTER FOR CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT: $25k → 14%CENTER FOR CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT: $20k → 14%CENTER FOR CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT: $20k → 14%NEW YORK STATE YOUTH LEADERSHIP COUNCIL INC: $1k → 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

VT
IL
NY
MA
PA
CA
VA
MD
DC
OK
GA
TX
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.
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 12% of Bernard and Sandra Otterman Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Bernard and Sandra Otterman Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 15% 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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 14 repeat orgs$279k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
35

Total granted

$1.2M
$242k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
+8%

Still filing today

86%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $37k 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
InternationalHuman ServicesAnimalsYouth DevelopmentHealthPublic BenefitOther
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

  • FH
    FACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $275k · revenue +0%
  • CF
    CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $201k · revenue +13% · 67% of their budget
  • CF
    CENTER FOR CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT
    6× · 2019–2025 · $190k · revenue +0%

Funded once

  • UO
    University of the Middle East
    one grant, 2018 · $60k
  • AC
    AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC
    one grant, 2018 · $35k · revenue -82%
  • IE
    Israel Endownment Funds Inc
    one grant, 2018 · $24k
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
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
2
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
3
International Crisis Group

Crisis group works to prevent and resolve deadly conflict around the world by informing and influencing the perceptions and actions of policymakers and other key conflict actors. to this end, we endeavour to talk to all sides and provide…

International
4
The Population Council Inc

We generate ideas, produce evidence, and design solutions to improve the lives of underserved populations around the world. we take a multidisciplinary, intergenerational, life-cycle approach that contributes to (see schedule o)four global…

International
5
Rights and Resources Institute Inc

Rri's mission is to support local communities and indigenous peoples' struggles against poverty and marginalization by promoting greater global commitment and action towards policy, market, and legal reforms that secure their rights to…

Environment
6
The International Institute On Race Equality and Human Rights

The international institute on race, equality and human rights contributes to the promotion and defense of human rights, through training, technical assistance, advocacy, and strategic litigation conducted at the regional and international…

International
7
Us Middle East Project Inc

The organization's mission is to engage in non partisan analysis of u.s. foreign policy in the middle east, with special emphasis on the middle east peace process, and to present policymakers in the united states, in the region and in the…

International
8
Institute for Eastwest Studies Inc

Eastwest institute (ewi) works to reduce international conflict, addressing seemingly intractable problems that threaten world security and stability. (continued on schedule o)

—
9
Council On Foreign Relations Inc

The council on foreign relations (cfr) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and…

International
10
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
11
We Are Family Foundation

The we are family foundation celebrates the vision of a global family by creating and supporting programs that inspire and educate people about mutual respect, understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity.

Civil Rights
12
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Blacksmith Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is Kratt Brothers Creature Hero Society. 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

45 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. 45 of the 53 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/45
Grantees still filing
30/45
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST INC: $200,809 · InternationalCENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE MID…NEW ISRAEL FUND: $175,000 · InternationalNEW ISRAEL FUNDPOLLINATE GROUP: $158,048 · InternationalPOLLINATE GROUPPLOUGHSHARES FUND INC: $20,000 · International+11 more: $24,100 · InternationalAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $105,000 · OtherAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY IN…HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL & EDUCATIONAL CENTER OF NASSAU: $99,999 · OtherHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL & EDUCA…University of the Middle East: $60,000 · OtherUniversity of the Middle E…Israel Endownment Funds Inc: $24,000 · OtherIsrael Endownment Funds In…Holocaust Memorial Tolerance Center: $20,000 · OtherPhysicians For Social Response: $18,500 · OtherPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $24,000 · OtherPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS…+17 more: $48,414 · Other+17 moreFACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC: $275,000 · Arts & CultureFACING HISTORY & O…CENTER FOR CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT: $190,000 · Human ServicesCENTER FOR CI…+4 more: $3,500 · Human ServicesCOLLABORATIVE FOR ACADEMIC SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING: $83,000 · Youth DevelopmentMJR LOVE INC: $22,000 · Youth Development+1 more: $1,000 · Youth DevelopmentHOFSTRA UNIVERSITY: $57,801 · EducationTRANS FORMATIVE SCHOOLS INC: $21,000 · EducationAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $35,200 · HealthOLIGO NATION: $15,000 · Health+1 more: $600 · Health
International$577,957Other$399,913Arts & Culture$275,000Human Services$193,500Youth Development$106,000Education$78,801Health$50,800

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 budgetFACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC: $275,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST INC: $200,809 over 7y, 67% of budgetCENTER FOR CIVILIANS IN CONFLICT: $190,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetNEW ISRAEL FUND: $175,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPOLLINATE GROUP: $158,048 over 5y, 79% of budgetCOLLABORATIVE FOR ACADEMIC SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING: $83,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetHOFSTRA UNIVERSITY: $57,801 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $35,200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $24,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMJR LOVE INC: $22,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetPLOUGHSHARES FUND INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $11,770 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF AMAL-TIKVA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetTREVOR PROJECT INC: $8,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSUNNYSIDE COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSECOND CHANCE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDIRECT RELIEF: $3,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $3,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCITY HARVEST INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC: $2,244 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPALESTINE CHILDREN'S RELIEF FUND: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFUND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT: $2,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNADIA'S INITIATIVE INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKRATT BROTHERS CREATURE HERO SOCIETY: $1,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetHIAS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetASHOKA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBY ALL MEANS LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetKIND INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK STATE YOUTH LEADERSHIP COUNCIL INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWOMEN'S REFUGEE COMMISSION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPartnership With Native Americans: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH SHORE ANIMAL LEAGUE AMERICA INC: $600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC: $600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCRAFT EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLACKSMITH INSTITUTE INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWorld Savvy: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSoul Foundation Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetA WALK ON WATER INC: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFAIRCHILD TROPICAL BOTANIC GARDEN INC: $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHidden Harbor Marine Environmental Project Inc: $300 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.

Silicon Valley Commun…Rockefeller Philanthr…The Pfizer Foundation…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Vanguard Charitable E…Charities Aid Foundat…American Online Givin…American Endowment Fo…Paypal Charitable Giv…
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA12.5× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Paypal Charitable Giving 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 Bernard and Sandra Otterman Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bernard and Sandra Otterman Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 41%
  • Hias Inc: 88% of income from government
  • Peace and Justice Center: 41% of income from government
  • Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Inc: 4% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
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 Bernard and Sandra Otterman Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Bernard and Sandra Otterman 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 53 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 Bernard and Sandra Otterman’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