Skip to content
Deborah Buck Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Deborah Buck 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.

$285k
Granted FY2024still arriving
13
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.0MEducation$95kEnvironment$83kReligion$15kYouth Development$5kCommunity Improvement$1kOther$0
02FY2024 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $2k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $283k
$25,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$4.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PEN AND BRUSH$30,000
SKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING & SCULPTURE$30,000
OCEANA INC$30,000
THE BROOKLYN RAIL INC$25,000
SITE SANTE FE$25,000
HECKSCHER MUSEUM$25,000
THE SCULPTURE CENTER INC$25,000
ON THIS SPOT NYC INC$20,000
CLYFFORD STILL MUSEUM$20,000
NEW ART PUBLICATIONS$20,000
EVERY WOMAN BIENNIAL INC$17,500
MADISON SQUARE PARK CONSERVANCY$15,000
FRACTURED ATLAS INC$2,000
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 (FY19–24) 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%GUILD HALL: $10k → 7%THE SCULPTURE CENTER INC: $25k → 13%SKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING & SCULPTURE: $30k → 17%BROOKLYN MUSEUM: $10k → 20%SITE SANTE FE: $25k → 12%NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS: $30k → 14%ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM INC: $10k → 9%TRINITY COLLEGE: $20k → 11%RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $14k → 8%PROJECT FOR EMPTY SPACE: $10k → 16%BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART: $50k → 19%MOMA PS1: $24k → 13%SKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING & SCULPTURE: $30k → 17%NEW ART PUBLICATIONS: $20k → 20%NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS: $25k → 14%TRINITY COLLEGE: $20k → 11%CLYFFORD STILL MUSEUM: $20k → 12%BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART: $10k → 19%SCULPTURE CENTER: $20k → 13%SKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING & SCULPTURE: $30k → 17%NEW ART PUBLICATIONS: $15k → 20%OCEANA INC: $30k → 14%TRINITY COLLEGE: $20k → 11%MOMA PS1: $15k → 13%SKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING & SCULPTURE: $30k → 17%TRINITY COLLEGE: $20k → 11%THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK CITY: $15k → 13%SKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING & SCULPTURE: $20k → 17%THE BROOKLYN RAIL INC: $40k → 20%SKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING & SCULPTURE: $15k → 17%THE BROOKLYN RAIL INC: $25k → 20%PUBLIC ART FUND INC: $20k → 17%THE BROOKLYN RAIL INC: $25k → 20%THE BROOKLYN RAIL INC: $20k → 20%THE BROOKLYN RAIL INC: $15k → 20%EVERY WOMAN BIENNIAL INC: $18k → 17%HECKSCHER MUSEUM: $25k → 7%EVERY WOMAN BIENNIAL INC: $18k → 17%ON THIS SPOT NYC INC: $20k → 17%SCOA INC: $20k → 7%ON THIS SPOT NYC INC: $15k → 17%SCOA INC: $15k → 7%PEN AND BRUSH: $30k → 17%PEN AND BRUSH: $30k → 17%PEN AND BRUSH: $25k → 17%PEN AND BRUSH: $25k → 17%MADISON SQUARE PARK CONSERV: $20k → 17%MADISON SQUARE PARK CONSERVANCY: $15k → 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

NY
NJ
CT
CO
MD
NM
DC
LA
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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.0M · 18 repeat orgs$211k to everyone else

18 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

18
15

Total granted

$1.0M
$139k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+2%
+36%

Still filing today

83%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $72k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • TB
    THE BROOKLYN RAIL INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $125k · revenue +186%
  • TRINITY COLLEGE
    4× · 2019–2023 · $82k · revenue +49%
  • BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART
    2× · 2020–2021 · $60k · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • PA
    PUBLIC ART FUND INC
    one grant, 2023 · $20k · revenue -18%
  • MS
    MADISON SQUARE PARK CONSERV
    one grant, 2023 · $20k
  • TC
    THE CHURCH IN NEW YORK CITY
    one grant, 2021 · $15k
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
Kadist Collection Manager Inc
Arts & Culture
2
The Neue Galerie New York
Arts & Culture
3
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
4
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

See schedule osfmoma believes the art of our time is vital and shares it with passion and purpose, and that art and the creative process can open minds and help build a better world. for that reason, we assemble unparalleled collections,…

Arts & Culture
5
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The metropolitan museum of art collects, studies, conserves, and presents significant works of art across all times and cultures in order to connect people to creativity, knowledge, and ideas.

Arts & Culture
6
Berggruen Institute
Education
7
Museum of the City of New York

The museum of the city of new york fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the world's most influential metropolis. it engages visitors by celebrating, documenting, and interpreting the city's past, present, and…

Arts & Culture
8
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
9
Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences dba the Staten Island Museum

Founded in 1881 the Staten Island Museum engages visitors with interdisciplinary exhibitions, public programs, and educational activities for all ages. It is the mission of the Staten Island Museum to spark curiosity and generate…

Arts & Culture
10
Art Explorium
—
11
Amigos Del Museo Del Barrio Inc El Museo Del Barrio

El museo's mission is to preserve, interpret, and promote the artistic heritage of puerto ricans and all latin americans in the united states by means of exhibitions, public programs, publications, and educational activities.

Arts & Culture
12
Newport Art Museum and Art Association

The newport art museum's mission is to share a diversity of art and experiences that spark reflection, inspiration, and connection within our newport community and beyond. the museum was founded in 1912 on the belief that arts and culture…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Mid Atlantic Arts Inc; the most unlike its peers is Carnegie Hill Neighbors 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

30 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. 30 of the 37 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
30/30
Grantees still filing
17/30
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE INC: $155,000 · Arts & CultureSKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE INCTHE BROOKLYN RAIL INC: $125,000 · Arts & CultureTHE BROOKLYN RAIL INCBALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART: $60,000 · Arts & CultureBALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ARTCLYFFORD STILL MUSEUM: $47,500 · Arts & CultureCLYFFORD STILL MUSEUMON THIS SPOT NYC STORIES OF PIONEERING WOMEN ARTISTS INC: $45,000 · Arts & CultureON THIS SPOT NYC STORIES OF PIONEERING WOMEN ARTISTS INCTHE SCULPTURE CENTER INC: $45,000 · Arts & CultureTHE SCULPTURE CENTER INCSCOA INC: $40,052 · Arts & CultureSCOA INCTHE PARRISH ART MUSEUM INC: $40,000 · Arts & CultureTHE PARRISH ART MUSEUM INCHECKSCHER MUSEUM: $36,500 · Arts & CultureSITE SANTA FE: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+10 more: $75,087 · Arts & Culture+10 morePEN AND BRUSHINC: $124,500 · OtherPEN AND BRUSHINCTHE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS: $55,000 · OtherTHE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN TH…MOMA PS1: $39,000 · OtherMOMA PS1EVERY WOMAN BIENNIAL: $35,000 · OtherEVERY WOMAN BIENNIALNEW ART PUBLICATIONS INC: $35,000 · OtherNEW ART PUBLICATIONS INCPUBLIC ART FUND INC: $20,000 · OtherPUBLIC ART FUND INCMADISON SQUARE PARK CONSERV: $20,000 · OtherMADISON SQUARE PARK CONSERVIndividual grant recipient: $15,000 · OtherTHE CHURCH IN NEW YORK CITY: $15,000 · Other+2 more: $11,000 · OtherTRINITY COLLEGE: $81,600 · EducationRUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $13,800 · EducationOCEANA INC: $30,000 · EnvironmentMADOO CONSERVANCY INC: $17,500 · EnvironmentMADISON SQUARE PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $15,000 · EnvironmentCARNEGIE HILL NEIGHBORS INC: $1,000 · Community Improvement
Arts & Culture$694,139Other$369,500Education$95,400Environment$62,500Community Improvement$1,000

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 budgetSKOWHEGAN SCHOOL OF PAINTING AND SCULPTURE INC: $155,000 over 6y, 1.4% of budgetTHE BROOKLYN RAIL INC: $125,000 over 5y, 2.1% of budgetPEN AND BRUSHINC: $124,500 over 6y, 16% of budgetTRINITY COLLEGE: $81,600 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART: $60,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS: $55,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCLYFFORD STILL MUSEUM: $47,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetON THIS SPOT NYC STORIES OF PIONEERING WOMEN ARTISTS INC: $45,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetTHE SCULPTURE CENTER INC: $45,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSCOA INC: $40,052 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetTHE PARRISH ART MUSEUM INC: $40,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetHECKSCHER MUSEUM: $36,500 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetNEW ART PUBLICATIONS INC: $35,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetOCEANA INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSITE SANTA FE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPUBLIC ART FUND INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Bronx Museum of the Arts: $15,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMADISON SQUARE PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetRUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $13,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT FOR EMPTY SPACE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetTHE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMID ATLANTIC ARTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLA MAMA EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE CLUB INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LESLIE LOHMAN MUSEUM OF GAY AND LESBIAN ART: $3,087 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBRIC ARTS MEDIA BKLYN INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCARNEGIE HILL NEIGHBORS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

The Andy Warhol Found…The Goldman Sachs Cha…The Ford FoundationRockefeller Brothers …Jewish Communal FundArison Arts FoundationTerra Foundation for …The Henry Luce Founda…The Andrew W Mellon F…Helen Frankenthaler F…May and Samuel Rudin …Booth Ferris Foundati…
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts IncNY21.9× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · The Ford Foundation · Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc · Jewish Communal Fund · Arison Arts Foundation · Terra Foundation for American Art · The Henry Luce Foundation Inc · The Andrew W Mellon Foundation · Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Inc · May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation Inc · Booth Ferris Foundation Xxxxx4008

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Mid Atlantic Arts Inc: 66% of income from government
  • The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum Inc: 9% of income from government
  • Baltimore Museum of Art: 4% of income from government
  • Trinity College: 0% of income from government
  • Rutgers University Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
9report 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 Deborah Buck Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Deborah Buck 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 37 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

Play a game based on Deborah Buck’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