Delaware · Private foundation
BESS Family Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- $1.3M
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 52
- Grants FY2024
- 34
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 53%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $25,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $100,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 21 to 34
- FY2021 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 14
- Total assets, FY2024
- $2.0M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 53% of the organizations BESS Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 40% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 60% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $495k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 41 | $1.3M | 39% |
| FY2023 | 34 | $1.2M | 53% |
| FY2022 | 32 | $1.1M | 47% |
| FY2021 | 21 | $646k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2021 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Wisconsin Foundation | $425,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Mind & Life Institute | $300,000 | 3 | 3% |
| Inquiring Systems Inc | $285,000 | 2 | 2% |
| Barre Center for Buddhist Studies Inc | $210,333 | 4 | 2% |
| Natural Dharma Fellowship | $185,000 | 4 | 8% |
| Inward Bound Mindfulness Education Inc | $185,000 | 4 | 5% |
| Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center | $133,333 | 3 | n/a |
| Cambridge Insight Meditation Center Inc | $115,000 | 4 | n/a |
| Upaya Zen Center Inc | $110,000 | 4 | n/a |
| Insight Meditation Community of Washington | $103,233 | 2 | n/a |
Show all 60 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Wisconsin Foundation | $425,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Mind & Life Institute | $300,000 | 3 | 3% |
| Inquiring Systems Inc | $285,000 | 2 | 2% |
| Barre Center for Buddhist Studies Inc | $210,333 | 4 | 2% |
| Natural Dharma Fellowship | $185,000 | 4 | 8% |
| Inward Bound Mindfulness Education Inc | $185,000 | 4 | 5% |
| Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center | $133,333 | 3 | n/a |
| Cambridge Insight Meditation Center Inc | $115,000 | 4 | n/a |
| Upaya Zen Center Inc | $110,000 | 4 | n/a |
| Insight Meditation Community of Washington | $103,233 | 2 | n/a |
| Shambhala USA | $100,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism Inc | $100,000 | 2 | n/a |
| The Garrison Institute | $100,000 | 2 | 1% |
| Mindful Living Revolution | $85,000 | 3 | 19% |
| The Lotus Institute Inc | $85,000 | 4 | 19% |
| Sati Center for Buddist Studies | $75,000 | 2 | 25% |
| Prison Dharma Network Inc | $75,000 | 3 | 4% |
| Sky Mind Retreats | $70,000 | 2 | 16% |
| Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute | $65,000 | 2 | 9% |
| Sacred Mountain Sangha | $60,400 | 3 | n/a |
| Saranaloka Foundation | $56,000 | 2 | 10% |
| Insight Meditation Society Inc | $50,320 | 2 | n/a |
| Zen Peacemakers Inc | $50,000 | 2 | n/a |
| University of California San Francisco Foundation | $50,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Multiplier | $50,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Mountain Cloud Zen Center Inc | $50,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Lineage Project Inc | $45,000 | 3 | 6% |
| Beloved Community Circles | $40,000 | 1 | 61% |
| Sounds True Foundation | $35,000 | 2 | 5% |
| Dharmadatta Community | $35,000 | 2 | 13% |
| Big Springs Garden Retreat Center Inc | $33,333 | 1 | n/a |
| Social Innovation Forum Inc | $26,000 | 1 | 1% |
| The Berkeley Alembic Foundation | $25,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Tricycle Foundation | $25,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Open Learning Exchange Inc | $25,000 | 1 | 30% |
| Boundless in Motion | $25,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Durango Sangha | $22,500 | 2 | 6% |
| Opencollective Foundation | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| New York Insight Meditation Center | $20,000 | 2 | n/a |
| Tergar International | $20,000 | 2 | 0% |
| The Interdepence Project a Not for Profit Organization | $20,000 | 2 | 39% |
| Dharma Gates Inc | $15,000 | 1 | 2% |
| Insight Meditation Center of the Mid-Peninsula | $15,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health | $10,000 | 1 | 0% |
| New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care Inc | $10,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Vallecitos Mountain Refuge | $10,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Buddhist Peace Fellowship | $10,000 | 1 | 9% |
| Jubilee Justice Inc | $10,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Tibetan Nuns Project | $10,000 | 1 | 1% |
| San Francisco Zen Center | $10,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Northwest Zen Sangha | $10,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Tsoknyi Humanitarian Foundation | $10,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Cambridge Health Alliance Foundation Inc | $10,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology | $10,000 | 1 | 3% |
| DRALA MOUNTAIN CENTER Formerly Shambhala Mountain Center | $10,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Spirit Rock Meditation Center | $10,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Braided Wisdom Inc | $10,000 | 1 | 4% |
| Fractured Atlas Inc | $10,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Genx Buddhist Teachers Sangha | $5,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Inc | $129 | 1 | 0% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 10 recipients with no EIN on record ($493k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
BESS Family Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 3 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 41 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: The Frederick P Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism · Impactassetsinc · Tan Teo Charitable Foundation · Dana Sila Foundation · Boston Foundation Inc · Rsf Social Finance Inc · The Himachal Foundation Inc · Unlikely Collaborators Inc · The Gusti Brandt Foundation · Sea Stone Foundation · Clermont Foundation · Jonathan & Kathleen Altman Fndtn
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to BESS Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to BESS 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.
About BESS Family Foundation
- How much does BESS Family Foundation give?
- BESS Family Foundation reported 52 grants totaling $1,348,832 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 21 and 34 organizations a year over FY2021 to FY2023.
- What does BESS Family Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2021 to FY2024, its largest causes are Religion (42%), Education (19%), Human Services (14%).
- Who are BESS Family Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2021 to FY2024: University of Wisconsin Foundation ($425k), Mind & Life Institute ($300k), Inquiring Systems Inc ($285k).
- Does BESS Family Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 53% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does BESS Family Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as BESS Family Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Frederick P Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism, Impactassetsinc, Tan Teo Charitable Foundation.
- Where is BESS Family Foundation based?
- BESS Family Foundation is based in DE.
Play a game based on BESS Family’s filings →