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Children's Brain Disease Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Children's Brain Disease Foundation

RAISE FUNDS FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH INTO THE CAUSES AND TREATMENTS OF BATTEN DISEASE AND OTHER DISEASES AFFLICTING CHILDREN 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.

$548k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$283k
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 2024.

Education$2.5MHealth$947kScience & Tech$105kArts & Culture$50k
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $65k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $200k
  • $250k+1 grant · $283k
$50,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$8.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY$282,958
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LONDON$75,000
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY OF ST LOUIS$75,000
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA CENTER FOR ADVANCEMENT$50,000
YMCA OF METRO ATLANTA LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING CENTER$25,000
LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH$20,000
AUSTRALIAN CHAPTER OF BDSRA$10,000
DAN REEDS SOARING HEARTS FOUNDATION$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.

US giving: 88% of grant dollars ($3.1M). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 12% that went abroad ($428k) is mapped below.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 94% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%CAMINAR: $10k → 7%LUCILE PACKARD CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL STANFORD: $20k → 8%NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS: $20k → 8%ST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $68k → 10%TAHOE EXPEDITION ACADEMY: $10k → 11%GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $1k → 14%DAN REEDS SOARING HEARTS FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF IOWA CENTER FOR ADVANCEMENT: $50k → 15%JONATHAN D COOPER RESEARCH LAB: $105k → 21%WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY: $1k → 14%CONN COLLEGE: $1k → 9%TRINITY COLLEGE: $1k → 11%YMCA OF METRO ATLANTA LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING CENTER: $50k → 13%KENYON COLLEGE: $1k → 12%OBERLIN COLLEGE: $1k → 13%BATTEN DISEASE SUPPORT AND RESEARCH ASSOCIATION: $25k → 15%WHITMAN COLLEGE: $1k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $235k → 14%LUCILE PACKARD CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL STANFORD: $20k → 8%BOOK BANK USA: $10k → 8%ST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%INSTITUTE FOR VISION RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $50k → 15%WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY OF ST LOUIS: $75k → 21%YMCA OF METRO ATLANTA LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING CENTER: $50k → 13%THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $27k → 14%LUCILE PACKARD CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL STANFORD: $10k → 8%BOOK BANK USA: $10k → 8%ST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%INSTITUTE FOR VISION RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF IOWA CARVER COLLEGE: $25k → 15%WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY OF ST LOUIS: $65k → 21%YMCA OF METRO ATLANTA LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING CENTER: $25k → 13%THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $491k → 14%SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY: $1k → 8%BEST BUDDIES LOS ANGELES: $10k → 8%ST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $20k → 10%JONATHAN D COOPER RESEARCH LAB: $27k → 21%YMCA OF METRO ATLANTA LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING CENTER: $25k → 13%THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $484k → 14%LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: $20k → 8%ST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $5k → 14%ST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%THE MEXICAN MUSEUM: $20k → 10%THE MEXICAN MUSEUM: $10k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
IL
OR
IA
OH
CT
CA
MO
DC
GA
TX

Beyond the US: 12% of all-years giving ($428k)

3 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore
United Kingdom$328k · 5 grants
Germany$50k · 2 grants
Australia$50k · 1 grant
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. International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same 990 filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.9M · 13 repeat orgs$188k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
15

Total granted

$3.9M
$158k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
+34%

Still filing today

46%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k 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
EducationHealthArts & 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

  • Southern Methodist University
    5× · 2021–2025 · $1.4M · revenue +18%
  • University of Chicago
    4× · 2017–2020 · $1.2M · revenue +56%
  • SU
    STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FOUNDATION
    2× · 2023–2025 · $75k · revenue +21%

Funded once

  • IF
    INSTITUTE FOR VISION RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
  • BD
    BATTEN DISEASE SUPPORT & RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue -31%
  • IF
    INSTITUTE FOR VISION RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF IOWA CARVER COLLEGE
    one grant, 2022 · $25k
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
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
3
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
4
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
5
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
6
Manhattan University

Manhattan university is an independent catholic instituion of higher learning that embraces qualified men and women of all faiths, cultures, and traditions. the mission of manhattan university is to provide a contemporary, person-centered…

Education
7
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
8
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
9
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
10
Trinity University

Trinity university is an independent co-educational university whose mission is excellence in the interrelated areas of teaching, research and services.

Education
11
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Willamette University; the most unlike its peers is Book Bank Usa 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

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 30 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)
16/16
Grantees still filing
12/16
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Southern Methodist University: $1,359,562 · EducationSouthern Methodist UniversityUniversity of Chicago: $1,241,500 · EducationUniversity of Chicago+8 more: $91,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LONDON: $403,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF LONDONYMCA OF METRO ATLANTA LEADERSHIP AND LEARNING CENTER: $150,000 · OtherYMCA OF METRO ATLANTA LEADERSH…WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY OF ST LOUIS: $140,000 · OtherWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY OF ST LO…JONATHAN D COOPER RESEARCH LAB: $132,000 · OtherJONATHAN D COOPER RESEARCH LABAUSTRALIAN CHAPTER OF BDSRA: $60,000 · OtherAUSTRALIAN CHAPTER OF BDSRAIndividual grant recipient: $50,000 · OtherLUCILE PACKARD CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL STANFORD: $50,000 · OtherINSTITUTE FOR VISION RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $50,000 · Other+6 more: $67,000 · Other+6 moreST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $202,500 · HealthBATTEN DISEASE SUPPORT & RESEARCH ASSOCIATION: $25,000 · HealthLUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: $20,000 · HealthCAMINAR: $10,000 · HealthThe Mexican Museum: $30,000 · Arts & CultureBOOK BANK USA FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Arts & Culture
Education$2,692,062Other$1,102,000Health$257,500Arts & Culture$50,000

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 budgetSouthern Methodist University: $1,359,562 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $1,241,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $202,500 over 6y, 1.9% of budgetSTATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe Mexican Museum: $30,000 over 2y, 9.7% of budgetBATTEN DISEASE SUPPORT & RESEARCH ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetTAHOE EXPEDITION ACADEMY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCAMINAR: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKENYON COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOARD OF TRUSTEES OF WHITMAN COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOberlin College: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe George Washington University: $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.

  • Who funds Southern Methodist University ↗
  • Who funds University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds ST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds The Mexican Museum ↗
  • Who funds BATTEN DISEASE SUPPORT & RESEARCH ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH ↗
  • Who funds BOOK BANK USA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TAHOE EXPEDITION ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds CAMINAR ↗
  • Who funds PRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds KENYON COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF WHITMAN COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Oberlin College ↗
  • Who funds The George Washington University ↗

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.

American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
American Online Giving Foundation IncDE7.2× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Children's Brain Disease Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Children's Brain Disease Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Willamette University: 1% 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
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 30 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 Children's Brain Disease’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