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Cornelia and Michael Bessie Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Cornelia and Michael Bessie 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.

$168k
Granted FY2025still arriving
20
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$407kAnimals$205kFood & Nutrition$153kHealth$135kInternational$120kEnvironment$94kYouth Development$89kHuman Services$75kOther$0
02FY2025 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k13 grants · $88k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $80k
$7,500
Median grant
9
States reached
$3.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CLASSICAL UPRISING$20,000
THE BLUE DOOR FOUNDATION$10,000
RED BULL THEATER$10,000
DROPLETS OF MERCY USA INC$10,000
CARE$10,000
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS USA INC$10,000
HEAL PALESTINE INC$10,000
PETERBOROUGH UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CONGREGATION (MUUSIC 4 UU)$9,000
PAT MACS PACK INC$8,000
FLYING GRAVITY CIRCUS$7,500
BROKEN SOULS RESCUE AND RECOVERY INC$7,500
COVENANT SOUP KITCHEN$7,500
HARRIS CENTER FOR CONSERVATION EDUCATION INC$7,500
PETERBOROUGH FOOD PANTRY (PETERBOROUGH AREA COMMUNITY AID)$7,500
LITERACY VOLUNTEERS OF GREATER HARTFORD$7,500
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $173k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 12% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CARING CUPBOARD INC (OPEN CUPBOARD): $10k → 11%ROCHESTER COMMUNITY CARE HOME INC: $15k → 9%CAMP HAZEN YMCA INC: $10k → 7%WORLD FOOD PROGRAM USA: $10k → 14%NEW LONDON HOMELESS HOSPITALITY CENTER: $10k → 9%THE FRONT DOOR AGENCY: $10k → 7%THE FRONT DOOR AGENCY: $10k → 7%A LITTLE COMPASSION INC: $15k → 7%PETERBOROUGH FOOD PANTRY (PETERBOROUGH AREA COMMUNITY AID): $15k → 7%RAY OF LIGHT FARM: $20k → 7%RAY OF LIGHT FARM: $10k → 7%RAY OF LIGHT FARM: $10k → 7%RAY OF LIGHT FARM INC: $10k → 7%PETERBOROUGH FOOD PANTRY (PETERBOROUGH AREA COMMUNITY AID): $8k → 7%RAY OF LIGHT FARM INC: $10k → 7%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

ME
VT
NH
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
VA
MD
NC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

56%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$867k · 25 repeat orgs$677k to everyone else

25 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 16 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
49

Total granted

$867k
$588k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
+34%

Still filing today

68%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $90k 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
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesInternationalAnimalsHealthFood & NutritionOther
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

  • FG
    Flying Gravity Circus Inc
    6× · 2020–2025 · $89k · revenue +211%
  • CU
    CLASSICAL UPRISING
    5× · 2020–2025 · $81k · revenue +300%
  • RO
    RAY OF LIGHT FARM INC
    5× · 2017–2022 · $60k · revenue +19%

Funded once

  • CS
    CITY SEED INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +349%
  • SV
    ST VINCENT DEPAUL MIDDLETOWNgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $20k · revenue +85%
  • BF
    BIKES FOR KIDS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $20k · revenue +70% · 28% of their budget
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 Foodshare Inc

The mission of the connecticut foodshare is to deliver an informed and equitable response to hunger by mobilizing community partners, volunteers, and supporters.

—
2
En Garde Arts Inc

To produce bold theatre experiences that reach across artistic, physical and social boundries. We aim to increase empathy and open-mindedness by illuminating nuanced perspectives and unspoken truths behind the salient issues of our time.…

Arts & Culture
3
Pangea World Theater

Pangea World Theater strives to build a just world by creating multi-disciplinary theater that embodies decolonizing practices of solidarity, sustainability and equity.

Arts & Culture
4
Willing Hands Enterprises Inc

Willing hands delivers fresh food to more than 80 social service organizations throughout the upper valley of new hampshire and vermont that serve as food access points to our community. fresh food is recovered from local farms, grocery…

Human Services
5
New York City Center Inc

The mission of new york city center is to be new york city's leading center for dance and musical theater. dedicated to making the arts accessible to the broadest possible audience, city center seeks to create a welcoming environment and…

Arts & Culture
6
New Museum of Contemporary Art

A center for exhibitions, information, and documentation about living artists since 1977, which continues to be a place of experimentation and a hub of new art and new ideas.

Arts & Culture
7
Theaterworks Inc

Theaterworks' mission is to share intimate stories that engage all audiences. it creates exceptional contemporary theater that entertains, celebrates new voices, and invites meaningful conversations. its vision is to inspire a more…

Arts & Culture
8
Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen Inc

To serve people experiencing homelessness or living in poverty by providing food assistance and services that promote health, community, and equity. the organization serves hot evening meals, packs free bag lunches, stocks food pantry…

—
9
Heartbeat Opera Ltd

Grounded in the belief that excellent opera making should build community and radiate beauty, Heartbeat Opera creates incisive adaptations, revelatory arrangements of classics, and interdisciplinary collaboration. We reckon with the…

Arts & Culture
10
Spoonfuls

Spoonfuls is an organization that facilitates the recovery and distribution of healthy, perishable food that would otherwise be discarded. spoonfuls works efficiently to deliver this food directly to the community organizations and…

Food & Nutrition
11
Wholesome Wave Inc

Wholesome wave, inc. inspires underserved consumers to make healthier food choices by increasing affordable access to fresh, local and regional food.

Environment
12
Vermont Public Co

Vermont public informs, educates, and entertains through public service journalism and enlightening content rooted in vermont. our storytelling enriches lives and fosters community connection and understanding.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Covenant Soup Kitchen Inc; the most unlike its peers is Pat Mac's Pack 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

64 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. 64 of the 86 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
23
Early backer (in before they grew)
64/64
Grantees still filing
37/64
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NUDAY: $40,000 · OtherNUDAYMONGOLIAN BANKHAR DOG PROJECT: $30,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $30,000 · OtherGRAMEAN FOUNDATION: $30,000 · OtherVALLEY SHORE ANIMAL WELFARE: $30,000 · OtherLYSB: $30,000 · OtherCITY SEED INC: $25,000 · Other+35 more: $415,000 · Other+35 moreFlying Gravity Circus Inc: $88,500 · Arts & CultureFlying Gravity Circus IncCLASSICAL UPRISING: $81,000 · Arts & CultureCLASSICAL UPRISINGGRAND MONADNOCK YOUTH CHOIRS: $55,000 · Arts & CultureGRAND MONADNOCK YOUTH CHOIRSNEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $45,000 · Arts & CultureNEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVALHartbeat Ensemble Inc: $20,000 · Arts & CultureARCHIPELAGO BOOKS INC: $15,000 · Arts & CulturePOETS HOUSE INC: $15,000 · Arts & Culture+9 more: $80,942 · Arts & Culture+9 moreRAY OF LIGHT FARM INC: $60,000 · Human ServicesRAY OF LIGHT…PETERBOROUGH AREA COMMUNITY AID INC: $22,500 · Human ServicesPETERBOROUGH…THE FRONT DOOR AGENCY INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesTHE FRONT DO…A LITTLE COMPASSION: $15,000 · Human ServicesA LITTLE COM…ROCHESTER COMMUNITY CARE HOME INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesROCHESTER CO…CAMP HAZEN YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesCAMP HAZEN Y…NEW LONDON HOMELESS HOSPITALITY CENTER: $10,000 · Human ServicesNEW LONDON H…THE CARING CUPBOARD INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE CARING C…FRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF T…THE RILEY FARM RESCUE INC: $35,000 · AnimalsKeeping Track Inc: $20,000 · AnimalsCATTAILS INC: $15,000 · AnimalsDefenders of Wildlife: $10,000 · AnimalsCONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY: $10,000 · AnimalsBROKEN SOULS RESCUE & RECOVERY INC: $7,500 · AnimalsCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $20,000 · InternationalWords Without Borders Inc: $15,000 · InternationalHEAL PALESTINE INC: $10,000 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $10,000 · InternationalUnited States Association for UNHCR: $10,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $10,000 · InternationalDROPLETS OF MERCY USA INC: $10,000 · InternationalTHE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR AID RELIEF AND ASSISTANCE INC: $10,000 · InternationalPat Mac's Pack Inc: $53,000 · HealthVISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT INC: $12,000 · HealthTHE BLUE DOOR FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · HealthLEEWAY INC: $10,000 · HealthHARRIS CENTER FOR CONSERVATION EDUCATION INC: $73,700 · Environment
Other$630,000Arts & Culture$400,442Human Services$172,500Animals$97,500International$95,000Health$85,000Environment$73,700

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 budgetFlying Gravity Circus Inc: $88,500 over 6y, 8.7% of budgetCLASSICAL UPRISING: $81,000 over 5y, 5.6% of budgetHARRIS CENTER FOR CONSERVATION EDUCATION INC: $73,700 over 6y, 1.2% of budgetRAY OF LIGHT FARM INC: $60,000 over 5y, 3.9% of budgetGRAND MONADNOCK YOUTH CHOIRS: $55,000 over 4y, 26% of budgetPat Mac's Pack Inc: $53,000 over 6y, 5.1% of budgetNEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $45,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNUDAY: $40,000 over 3y, 4.7% of budgetTHE RILEY FARM RESCUE INC: $35,000 over 4y, 2.7% of budgetCITY SEED INC: $25,000 over 1y, 8.1% of budgetPETERBOROUGH AREA COMMUNITY AID INC: $22,500 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetBIKES FOR KIDS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 28% of budgetHartbeat Ensemble Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDANCEWORKS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetGREEN MOUNTAIN HORSE ASSOCIATION INC: $20,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetTHE FRONT DOOR AGENCY INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetARCHIPELAGO BOOKS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetA LITTLE COMPASSION: $15,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetPOETS HOUSE INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetWords Without Borders Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetROCHESTER COMMUNITY CARE HOME INC: $15,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetCATTAILS INC: $15,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetVISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEASTERN CONNECTICUT INC: $12,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUnited States Association for UNHCR: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CORNUCOPIA PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetCAMP HAZEN YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNEW LONDON HOMELESS HOSPITALITY CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPENTACLE THEATRE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetTHE NEW LONDON COMMUNITY MEAL CENTER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetHARTFORD FOOD SYSTEM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetWORLD POETRY BOOKS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDefenders of Wildlife: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CARING CUPBOARD INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetREACH PREP INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetUnited Way of Southeastern Connecticut Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRECOVERY YOGA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 42% of budgetTHE CONNECTICUT RIVER FOUNDATION AT STEAMBOAT DOCK INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRED BULL THEATER INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetPETERBOROUGH FOLK MUSIC SOCIETY: $10,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetTHE BLUE DOOR FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 7.9% of budgetLEEWAY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDIGS WITH DIGNITY CORPORATION: $10,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetTHE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR AID RELIEF AND ASSISTANCE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetUGLY DUCKLING PRESSE LTD: $10,000 over 1y, 2.6% 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.

Cornelia Bessie Memor…Liberty Bank Foundati…Chelsea Groton Founda…Peoples United Commun…Hartford Foundation f…Dominion Energy Chari…Connecticut Foodshare…Kitchings Family Foun…The Community Foundat…Aetna Foundation IncBobs Discount Furnitu…New Hampshire Charita…
Cornelia Bessie Memorial FoundationCT47.4× affinity20 shared granteesties to 10 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Cornelia Bessie Memorial Foundation · Liberty Bank Foundation Inc · Chelsea Groton Foundation · Peoples United Community Foundation · Hartford Foundation for Public Giving · Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · Connecticut Foodshare Inc · Kitchings Family Foundation · The Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut Inc · Aetna Foundation Inc · Bobs Discount Furniture Charitable Foundation Inc · New Hampshire Charitable 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 Cornelia and Michael Bessie Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Cornelia and Michael Bessie Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 140%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • City Seed Inc: 87% of income from government
  • New London Homeless Hospitality Center: 47% of income from government
  • The New London Community Meal Center Inc: 44% of income from government
  • Leeway Inc: 9% of income from government
  • St Vincent Depaul Middletown: 6% of income from government
  • United Way of Southeastern Connecticut Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Pentacle Theatre Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
14get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Cornelia and Michael Bessie Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Cornelia and Michael Bessie Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

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 86 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 Cornelia and Michael Bessie’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