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· Private foundation

Bright Horizon 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.

$3.7M
Granted FY2018
11
Grants FY2018
7
States reached
$1.3M
Largest

Read this first · the figures below need context

99% of Bright Horizon Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 1 organization directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2018, the last year Bright Horizon Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 9 organizations, $4M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

10
’17
9
’18
10
’19
3
’20
2
’21
10
’22
5
’23
1
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Philanthropy$31MInternational$9.5MScience & Tech$4.1MEnvironment$3.6MAnimals$2.5MCivil Rights$1.4MSocial Science$530kEducation$300kOther$0
02FY2018 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2018

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $20k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $450k
  • $250k+5 grants · $3.2M
$200,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$112M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC$1,300,000
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP$500,000
PARTNERS IN HEALTH$500,000
CARTER CENTER ONE COPENHILL$500,000
ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION$400,000
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY$200,000
THE CONSERVATION FUND$100,000
THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION$100,000
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS$50,000
THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND$10,000
AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND$10,000
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 79% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%PARTNERS IN HEALTH: $2.0M → 16%PLOUGHSHARES FUND: $1.0M → 10%JAMES MARTIN CENTER FOR NONPROLIFERATION STUDIES-MIDDLEBURY: $50k → 12%COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: $200k → 13%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL FOR WILDLIFE AND LAND CONSERVATION: $1.0M → 17%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $500k → 20%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $500k → 28%PLOUGHSHARES FUND: $50k → 14%AMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $50k → 9%THE CARTER CENTER: $600k → 14%MEDICINES SANS FRONTIERES: $100k → 9%TRUSTEES OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY - SCIENCE AND GLOBAL SECURITY PROGRAM: $50k → 11%THE CONSERVATION FUND: $100k → 7%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $1.4M → 8%PARTNERS IN HEALTH: $500k → 16%COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: $200k → 13%NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $1.0M → 17%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $500k → 20%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $500k → 28%BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $200k → 14%CARTER CENTER ONE COPENHILL: $500k → 14%THE CONSERVATION FUND: $100k → 7%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $1.3M → 8%PARTNERS IN HEALTH: $500k → 16%COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: $200k → 13%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $500k → 20%CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE - FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT EFFORT: $150k → 14%CARTER CENTER ONE COPENHILL: $500k → 14%THE CONSERVATION FUND: $50k → 7%UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $1.3M → 8%PARTNERS IN HEALTH: $500k → 16%NATIONAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: $1.0M → 17%THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $100k → 14%CARTER CENTER ONE COPENHILL: $400k → 14%FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $2.3M → 16%THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $100k → 14%THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $100k → 14%NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE: $1.0M → 14%ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $600k → 17%NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE: $1.0M → 14%ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $500k → 17%INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: $500k → 14%ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $400k → 17%ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $400k → 17%INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: $500k → 17%INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: $500k → 17%WILLIAM J BRENNAN JR CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC: $250k → 17%INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: $500k → 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

WA
IL
NY
MA
OH
NJ
CT
CA
CO
VA
DC
GA
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 9% of Bright Horizon Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Bright Horizon Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$21M · 17 repeat orgs$3.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +49% since the first grant, against +35% for those funded once.

17 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2018, 7 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2018 (too recent to call). Read against FY2018, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
13

Total granted

$21M
$3.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+35%

Still filing today

82%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 23% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $50k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
InternationalEnvironmentEducationHealthPhilanthropySocial ScienceOther
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 UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $4.0M · revenue +12%
  • PARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION
    4× · 2017–2023 · $3.5M · revenue +120%
  • WC
    Wildlife Conservation Society
    5× · 2019–2023 · $2.5M · revenue +52%

Funded once

  • PLOUGHSHARES FUND INC
    one grant, 2022 · $1.0M · revenue -18%
  • NR
    NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL FOR WILDLIFE AND LAND CONSERVATION
    one grant, 2022 · $1.0M
  • TC
    THE CARTER CENTER INC
    one grant, 2022 · $600k · revenue +24%
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
Natural Resource Governance Institute

Nrgi envisions a world where natural resources enable fair, prosperous and sustainable societies, instead of undermining them. nrgi exists because decisions about how natural resources are governed determine the well-being of people in…

International
3
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
4
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
5
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
6
Third Way

To research and develop centrist policy ideas.

Civil Rights
7
Climate Institute

The climate institute is organized for the purpose of educating the general public and policy makers as to the gravity of potential climate change, exploring the policy implications of the latest scientific findings on climate modelling…

Environment
8
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
9
Observer Research Foundation America

Organization mission the observer research foundation america orf america is an independent, non-partisan, and nonprofit organization in washington dc dedicated to addressing policy challenges facing the united states, india, and their…

International
10
The Fund for Peace Inc

Building bridges across diverse sectors, and developing innovative technologies and tools for policy makers. a leader in the conflict assessment and early warning field, the fund for peace focuses on the problems of weak and failing…

International
11
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
12
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ploughshares Fund Inc; the most unlike its peers is Wildlife Conservation 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

21 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. 21 of the 32 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)
21/21
Grantees still filing
20/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $28,674,230 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUNDTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $3,950,000 · InternationalTHE UNION OF CONCERN…NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE INC: $2,000,000 · InternationalNUCLEAR THREAT INITI…INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: $2,000,000 · InternationalINTERNATIONAL CRISIS…PLOUGHSHARES FUND INC: $1,000,000 · InternationalPLOUGHSHARES FUND IN…THE CARTER CENTER INC: $600,000 · InternationalTHE CARTER CENTER IN…+2 more: $200,000 · InternationalPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $3,500,000 · HealthCARTER CENTER ONE COPENHILL: $1,400,000 · OtherNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL FOR WILDLIFE AND LAND CONSERVATION: $1,000,000 · OtherCARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE - FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT EFFORT: $150,000 · OtherTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $500,000 · OtherWILLIAM J BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC: $250,000 · Other+12 more: $580,000 · OtherNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $2,000,000 · EnvironmentTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $300,000 · EnvironmentTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $295,000 · EnvironmentWildlife Conservation Society: $2,500,000 · AnimalsROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $1,900,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: $600,000 · Philanthropy
Community Improvement$28,674,230International$9,750,000Health$3,500,000Other$3,880,000Environment$2,595,000Animals$2,500,000Philanthropy$2,500,000

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 budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $28,674,230 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $3,950,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $3,500,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $2,500,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetNUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE INC: $2,000,000 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $2,000,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: $2,000,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $1,900,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetPLOUGHSHARES FUND INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY: $600,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetTHE CARTER CENTER INC: $600,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $500,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $300,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $295,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWILLIAM J BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC: $250,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $150,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBulletin of the Atomic Scientists: $25,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND: $20,000 over 2y, 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.

  • Who funds FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ↗
  • Who funds THE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC ↗
  • Who funds PARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds Wildlife Conservation Society ↗
  • Who funds NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE INC ↗
  • Who funds NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP ↗
  • Who funds ROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PLOUGHSHARES FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds THE CARTER CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION ↗
  • Who funds THE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND ↗
  • Who funds WILLIAM J BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE INC ↗
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICARES FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICANS FOR OXFORD INC ↗
  • Who funds NEO Philanthropy Inc ↗
  • Who funds Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND ↗

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.

Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust IncIN11× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation 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 Bright Horizon Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bright Horizon Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Americares Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
4report 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 32 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 2018, released 2018. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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