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Blaire and Benno Dorer Foundation fka Second Mountain Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Blaire and Benno Dorer Foundation fka Second Mountain 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.

$112k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$75k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$158kEducation$105kEnvironment$100kInternational$100kArts & Culture$70kHuman Services$10kHealth$2k
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $7k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $30k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $75k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$3.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Charitable Gift Fund$75,000
The 1440 Foundation$20,000
Korean American Community Foundatio$10,000
The Athenian School$5,000
Aids Life Cycle$2,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY21–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 91% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%The 1440 Foundation: $20k → 8%The Athenian School: $5k → 9%Tuolumne River Trust: $10k → 10%Potential Energy Coalition Inc: $20k → 17%Johns Hopkins University: $100k → 19%Korean American Community Foundatio: $10k → 8%Alonzo King Lines Ballet: $40k → 10%Heroic Hearts Project Inc: $100k → 17%Alonzo King Lines Ballet: $30k → 10%Aids Life Cycle: $2k → 10%Tides Foundation: $13k → 10%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.
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.

34%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$180k · 3 repeat orgs$352k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
5

Total granted

$180k
$240k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+5%
+38%

Still filing today

67%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $112k 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
InternationalEducationPhilanthropyEnvironmentArts & CultureOther
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

  • CE
    COOL EARTH ACTION USA INC
    2× · 2022–2023 · $70k · revenue +5%
  • AK
    ALONZO KING LINES BALLET
    2× · 2022–2023 · $70k · revenue -44%
  • FC
    Fidelity Charitable Giving Acct B D
    2× · 2020–2021 · $40k

Funded once

  • HH
    HEROIC HEARTS PROJECT INC
    one grant, 2024 · $100k · revenue 0%
  • JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2024 · $100k · revenue +1%
  • Potential Energy Coalition Incgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $20k · revenue +38%
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
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
2
Breakthrough Energy Foundation

Working with our world-class network of innovators, business and industry leaders, and policy experts, we accelerate the innovation of climate technologies at every stage - from discovery to development to deployment.

Public Benefit
3
Terraset

Terraset uses philanthropic capital to purchase permanent, high-quality carbon removal. we pool donations from individuals, foundations, family offices, and donor advised funds, and make strategic purchases of high-quality carbon removal…

Environment
4
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
5
Heal the Planet Foundation
Philanthropy
6
One Earth Philanthropy

One Earth's mission is to empower everyone, everywhere, with the knowledge, inspiration, and opportunity to heal the Earth and reclaim our future.

Environment
7
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
8
Eden Peopleplanet

To offer the dignity of fair employment to people living in impoverished communities, who become transformational agents of global forest restoration.

International
9
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
10
Oikonos - Ecosystem Knowledge

Oikonos studies and protects imperiled ecosystems by engaging diverse communities through innovative scientific and artistic collaborations.

Science & Tech
11
Foundation for Climate Restoration Inc
Environment
12
Climate Catalyst Inc

Climate catalyst sparks collective action to tackle the biggest climate challenges we face today: cutting emissions in heavy industries.

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Tides Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The 1440 Foundation. 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

9 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. 9 of the 14 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
4/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Charitable Gift Fund: $75,000 · OtherCharitable Gift FundFidelity Charitable Giving Acct B D: $39,525 · OtherFidelity Charitable Giving Acct B DPotential Energy Coalition Inc: $20,000 · OtherPotential Energy Coalition IncIndividual grant recipient: $10,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientTuolumne River Preservation Trust dba Yosemite Rivers Alliance: $10,000 · OtherTuolumne River Preservation Trust d…Korean American Community Foundatio: $10,000 · OtherKorean American Community Foundatio+2 more: $7,000 · OtherHEROIC HEARTS PROJECT INC: $100,000 · InternationalHEROIC HEARTS PROJEC…JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $100,000 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVER…COOL EARTH ACTION USA INC: $70,000 · EnvironmentCOOL EARTH ACT…ALONZO KING LINES BALLET: $70,000 · Arts & CultureALONZO KING LI…THE 1440 FOUNDATION: $20,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDATION: $12,975 · Philanthropy
Other$171,525International$100,000Education$100,000Environment$70,000Arts & Culture$70,000Philanthropy$32,975

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetHEROIC HEARTS PROJECT INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOOL EARTH ACTION USA INC: $70,000 over 2y, 4.8% of budgetALONZO KING LINES BALLET: $70,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetPotential Energy Coalition Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $12,975 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTuolumne River Preservation Trust dba Yosemite Rivers Alliance: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE ATHENIAN SCHOOL: $5,000 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…Gs Donor Advised Phil…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA14× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Blaire and Benno Dorer Foundation fka Second Mountain Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Blaire and Benno Dorer Foundation fka Second Mountain Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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.

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 14 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 Blaire and Benno Dorer Foundation fka Second Mountain’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