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Carlson Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Carlson Family 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.

$68k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$30k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$374kPhilanthropy$78kHuman Services$39kHealth$38kAnimals$31kArts & Culture$23kEnvironment$17kHousing & Shelter$13kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k5 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $51k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MITCHELL COLLEGE$30,000
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY$11,000
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLESEX$10,000
COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL$5,000
CONNECTICUT AUDUBON SOCIETY$5,000
THE CONN FDN FOR DENTAL OUTREACH$3,000
ESSEX LAND TRUST$3,000
IVORYTON PLAYHOUSE$754
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.

None of its grants could be placed against low income need for this view.

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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$528k · 11 repeat orgs$22k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +47% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
7

Total granted

$528k
$22k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
0%

Still filing today

82%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $754 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHuman ServicesEnvironmentArts & CultureHealthInternationalOther
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

  • Vanderbilt University
    8× · 2018–2025 · $49k · revenue +65%
  • CA
    CHILD AND FAMILY AGENCY OF SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT INC
    5× · 2017–2021 · $33k · revenue +50%
  • CA
    CONNECTICUT AUDUBON SOCIETY INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $31k · revenue +107%

Funded once

  • EH
    ESSEX HISTORICAL SOCIETY
    one grant, 2024 · $5k · revenue -17%
  • MH
    MIDDLESEX HEALTH
    one grant, 2021 · $5k
  • OP
    OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVES INC
    one grant, 2024 · $4k · revenue 0%
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
Connecticut Humane Society

The connecticut humane society is the leading resource in the state for companion animal welfare, enriching the lives of families and communities through adoption services, medical care, education, and prevention of cruelty.

Animals
2
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
3
Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities Inc

The association is the leader in providing services to and advocating for, the state's providers of long-term, subacute, rehabilitative, and assisted living care. additionally, the association serves as a clearing house for information…

—
4
Connecticut Housing Coalition Inc

The connecticut housing coalition works to expand housing opportunity and to increase the quantity and quality of affordable housing available to people with low and moderate incomes in connecticut through advocacy, education and…

—
5
Community Health Services Inc

To provide medical services for the residents of the greater hartford connecticut area. to provide quality health care services to low and moderate income individuals in the greater hartford connecticut area regardless of ability to pay.

Health
6
Connecticut Farmland Trust Inc

Protect Connecticuts farmland for agricultural use by purchasing and accepting donations of agricultural conservation easements

Food & Nutrition
7
Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc

Connecticut public broadcasting, inc. will inform, educate and inspire the people of connecticut, connecting and empowering the people of ct through outstanding journalism, storytelling, education and experiences, to make our state a more…

Arts & Culture
8
Eastern Connecticut Housing Opportunities Inc

Eastern connecticut housing opportunities, inc. is a non-profit organization organized to provide affordable housing to low-income families of southeastern connecticut.

Housing & Shelter
9
Connecticut Aeronautical Historical Association Inc

The new england air museum's mission is to preserve and present the story of aviation and aerospace, with an emphasis on new england's role, and the genius and inspiration that made it possible. the museum also seeks to inspire young…

Arts & Culture
10
Middlesex County Historical Society

To maintain middlesex county's historical integrity and to educate and provide programs to the public to increase their understanding of the area's past.

Arts & Culture
11
Central Maine Healthcare Corporation

To provide exceptional healthcare services in a safe and trustful environment through the expertise, committment, and compassion of our family of caregivers.

Health
12
Community Residences Inc

Housing and programs for persons with intellectual disabilities.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Middlesex Hospital; the most unlike its peers is Outside Perspectives Inc. 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

16 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. 16 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/16
Grantees still filing
12/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MITCHELL COLLEGE: $325,000 · EducationMITCHELL COLLEGEVanderbilt University: $48,750 · EducationVanderbilt University+1 more: $4,000 · EducationCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY INC: $78,220 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUN…CONNECTICUT AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $31,000 · EnvironmentESSEX LAND TRUST INC: $17,000 · EnvironmentCHILD AND FAMILY AGENCY OF SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT INC: $33,000 · Human ServicesNEW HORIZONS INC: $2,500 · Human Services+1 more: $1,000 · Human ServicesTHE CONN FDN FOR DENTAL OUTREACH: $8,000 · OtherMIDDLESEX HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF CONNECTICUT INC: $7,500 · OtherESSEX HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,000 · OtherMIDDLESEX HEALTH: $5,000 · OtherMIDDLESEX HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $5,000 · OtherJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: $2,000 · OtherCHILDREN IN PLACEMENT INC: $2,000 · OtherMIDDLESEX HOSPITAL: $25,000 · HealthTHE COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL INC: $17,500 · Arts & CultureIVORYTON PLAYHOUSE FOUNDATION INC: $754 · Arts & CultureSISTER CITIES ESSEX HAITI INC: $10,000 · International
Education$377,750Philanthropy$78,220Environment$48,000Human Services$36,500Other$34,500Health$25,000Arts & Culture$18,254International$10,000

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 budgetMITCHELL COLLEGE: $325,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY INC: $78,220 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetVanderbilt University: $48,750 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCHILD AND FAMILY AGENCY OF SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT INC: $33,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCONNECTICUT AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $31,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetMIDDLESEX HOSPITAL: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY MUSIC SCHOOL INC: $17,500 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetESSEX LAND TRUST INC: $17,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetSISTER CITIES ESSEX HAITI INC: $10,000 over 3y, 8.7% of budgetMIDDLESEX HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF CONNECTICUT INC: $7,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetESSEX HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetOUTSIDE PERSPECTIVES INC: $4,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetNEW HORIZONS INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN IN PLACEMENT INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSafe Futures Inc: $1,000 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.

Community Foundation …Parkinson Family Foun…The Joanne E Masin Fo…Kitchings Family Foun…The Pfizer Foundation…The Maximilian E and …William Caspar Graust…S & H Foundation IncThe Foxboro Foundatio…The Edward E Hood Jr …Peach Pit FoundationThe Bauman Family Fou…
Community Foundation of Middlesex County IncCT20× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Middlesex County Inc · Parkinson Family Foundation Inc · The Joanne E Masin Foundation · Kitchings Family Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · The Maximilian E and Marion O Hoffman Foundation Inc · William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund · S & H Foundation Inc · The Foxboro Foundation Inc · The Edward E Hood Jr Foundation · Peach Pit Foundation · The Bauman Family Foundation Inc

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 Carlson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Carlson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Child and Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut Inc: 55% of income from government
  • Children in Placement Inc: 47% of income from government
  • Safe Futures Inc: 15% of income from government
  • New Horizons Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Mitchell College: 2% of income from government
  • The Community Music School Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Connecticut Audubon Society Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Middlesex Hospital: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 20 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 Carlson Family’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