· Private foundation
Bertelsmann Foundation (Na) Inc
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, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k2 grants · $12k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $25k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Individual grant recipient | $100,000 |
| GERMAN AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM | $15,000 |
| HARVARD UNIVERSITY | $10,000 |
| HARVARD UNIVERSITY | $7,500 |
| WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL | $4,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
US giving: 85% of grant dollars ($366k). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 15% that went abroad ($64k) is mapped below.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 84% 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
Beyond the US: 15% of all-years giving ($64k)
4 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 29% of Bertelsmann Foundation (Na) Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 57% of the giving stays in DC; by stated purpose, 33%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
4 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 13% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $104k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC2× · 2017–2022 · $65k · revenue +243%- GAGerman American Partnership Program CO Goethe-Institut2× · 2024–2025 · $25k · revenue 0%
- TGTHE GERMAN MARSHALL FUND OF THE UNITED STATES2× · 2023–2024 · $20k · revenue +22%
Funded once
NATIONAL CENTER FOR CIVIC INNOVATION INgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $40k · revenue +590%
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIONgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $38k · revenue +30%- TDTHE DEMOCRACY & CULTURE FOUNDATIONone grant, 2021 · $12k
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 American-German Institute is a center for policy research and scholarship dedicated to the most important political, economic, and security issues confronting Germany and the United States in the global arena. AGI anticipates…
The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…
The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…
To provide accurate, objective information and analysis on international strategic issues for legislators, diplomats, foreign affairs analysts, international business leaders, economists, the military, defense commentators, journalists,…
The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…
NCEI's mission is to mobilize resources and capabilities on a national scale toward the goal of ensuring that 21st century entrepreneurial opportunity and innovative potential reach every community across the nation. Through its work NCEI…
The institute for energy research (ier) is a not-for-profit organization that conducts intensive research and analysis on the functions, operations, and government regulation of global energy markets. ier maintains that freely functioning…
Competitive enterprise institute (cei) is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. we believe that consumers are best helped not by government regulation but by being…
Iri advances freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political parties, civic institutions, open elections, democratic governance and the rule of law.
How this is measured
8 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. 8 of the 20 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 THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL CENTER FOR CIVIC INNOVATION IN ↗
- Who funds SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ↗
- Who funds German American Partnership Program CO Goethe-Institut ↗
- Who funds THE GERMAN MARSHALL FUND OF THE UNITED STATES ↗
- Who funds Information Technology and Innovation Foundation ↗
- Who funds The Center for Election Innovation & Research ↗
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: National Philanthropic Trust · 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 Bertelsmann Foundation (Na) Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bertelsmann Foundation (Na) Inc. Bigger dots raise more.
- President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
How this is measured
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