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Centurion Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Centurion 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.

$10.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
11
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$2.5M
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, FY2022 to 2024.

Science & Tech$6.4MEducation$5.0MPhilanthropy$2.5MHealth$1.8MReligion$720k
02FY2024 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $50k–250k1 grant · $200k
  • $250k+10 grants · $9.8M
$1,000,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$158M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE$2,500,000
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA$1,016,666
Individual grant recipient$1,000,000
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY$1,000,000
FOUNDATION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY$1,000,000
MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY MOORHEAD FOUNDATION$1,000,000
SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC$900,000
3535 FOUNDATION$500,000
NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY$500,000
HARVARD COLLEGE$350,000
COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH$200,000
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 (FY22–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 44% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 12%WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE: $2.5M → 8%NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $500k → 16%MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY MOORHEAD FOUNDATION: $1.0M → 11%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $1.0M → 22%GOLDMAN SACHS PHILANTHROPY FUND: $2.5M → 17%SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC: $900k → 14%NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY: $1.0M → 12%WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE: $1.0M → 8%FOUNDATION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY: $1.0M → 16%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $683k → 22%NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY: $1.0M → 12%MIT - AI CURES: $1.0M → 8%THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $350k → 22%3535 FOUNDATION: $500k → 12%NATIONAL BRAIN TUMOR SOCIETY: $100k → 8%COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH: $200k → 12%HARVARD COLLEGE: $350k → 8%COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH: $20k → 12%HARVARD COLLEGE: $350k → 8%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.

54%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.4M · 4 repeat orgs$5.5M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +85% since the first grant, against +57% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
2

Total granted

$6.4M
$600k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+85%
+57%

Still filing today

25%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 45% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.9M went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24
HealthEducationScience & TechReligionOther
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

  • WI
    WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
    2× · 2023–2024 · $3.5M · revenue +85%
  • ND
    NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2023–2024 · $2.0M
  • HC
    HARVARD COLLEGE
    2× · 2023–2024 · $700k

Funded once

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $500k · revenue +57%
  • NB
    NATIONAL BRAIN TUMOR SOCIETY INC
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue -1%
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
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
2
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

—
3
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
4
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
5
National Science and Technology Medals Foundation Inc

The nstmf's mission is to build inclusive stem communities across the united states. fundamental to these communities are the significant, inspirational connections we foster between the individuals who have received national recognition…

—
6
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
7
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
8
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
9
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
10
University of Minnesota Physicians

University of minnesota physicians serves as the integrated group practice for the university of minnesota medical school full-time faculty to provide the highest quality healthcare to patients and their families.university of minnesota…

Health
11
University of Minnesota Foundation Investment Advisors

To provide the highest level of stewardship for university donors through professional management and oversight of the university of minnesota foundation's assets by creating a focused investment environment with clarity of purpose,…

Education
12
The Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research

The graduate school of the stowers institute for medical research ("gssimr") exempt purpose is to provide graduate education that will prepare scholars for scientific research in the biological sciences.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Minnesota Foundation; the most unlike its peers is 3535 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

10 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. 10 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/10
Grantees still filing
7/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY: $2,000,000 · OtherNORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITYIndividual grant recipient: $1,000,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientMINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY MOORHEAD FOUNDATION INC: $1,000,000 · OtherMINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY MOORHEA…HARVARD COLLEGE: $700,000 · OtherHARVARD COLLEGECOMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH: $220,000 · Other+1 more: $100,000 · OtherWHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: $3,500,000 · HealthWHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMED…FOUNDATION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY INC: $1,000,000 · HealthFOUNDATION OF THE MASSACHUSETT…TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $2,050,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIV…UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $500,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF MINNES…NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $500,000 · EducationNORTHEASTERN UNIVERS…GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC: $2,500,000 · PhilanthropyGS DONOR ADVISED …SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC: $900,000 · Science & Tech3535 FOUNDATION: $500,000 · Religion
Other$5,020,000Health$4,500,000Education$3,050,000Philanthropy$2,500,000Science & Tech$900,000Religion$500,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: $3,500,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetGS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC: $2,500,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $2,050,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY MOORHEAD FOUNDATION INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetSOCIETY FOR SCIENCE & THE PUBLIC: $900,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budget3535 FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 1y, 76% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY: $500,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL BRAIN TUMOR SOCIETY INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.8% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Centurion Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Centurion Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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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