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Diana Nelson and John Atwater Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Diana Nelson and John Atwater 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.

$210k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$200k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

95% of Diana Nelson and John Atwater Family Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to President And Fellows Of Harvard College, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 1 organization directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

5
’17
4
’18
4
’19
1
’20
2
’21
2
’22
3
’23
0
’24
1
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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.

Science & Tech$1.1MEducation$212kArts & Culture$115kHuman Services$20kRecreation & Sports$17k
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $200k
$200,313
Median grant
2
States reached
$656k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Harvard University$200,313
KIPP Minnesota$10,044
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 26% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Harvard University: $297k → 8%BLAKE SCHOOL: $2k → 11%Blake School: $3k → 11%10000 DEGREES: $3k → 8%READING PARTNERS: $25k → 10%Safe & Sound: $20k → 10%THE 19TH NEWS: $10k → 10%ZEST EDUCATION: $25k → 21%OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION: $10k → 13%KELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: $5k → 14%Harvard University: $200k → 8%BLAKE SCHOOL: $1k → 11%Blake School: $3k → 11%READING PARTNERS: $25k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $50k → 10%Northwestern University: $5k → 14%Harvard University: $200k → 8%BLAKE SCHOOL: $1k → 11%TEACH FOR AMERICA: $40k → 10%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $10k → 14%Harvard University: $148k → 8%WORLD SAVVY INC: $50k → 11%Common Sense Media: $25k → 10%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $1k → 14%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $60k → 8%KIPP MINNESOTA: $15k → 11%SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $20k → 10%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $1k → 14%Harvard University: $52k → 8%KIPP Minnesota: $10k → 11%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $31k → 8%KIPP MINNESOTA: $5k → 11%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $30k → 8%THE RETREAT: $10k → 11%Harvard University: $25k → 8%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $17k → 8%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $13k → 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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 67% of Diana Nelson and John Atwater Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Diana Nelson and John Atwater Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 23% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

47%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$176k · 5 repeat orgs$198k to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
10

Total granted

$176k
$198k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+8%
+54%

Still filing today

100%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’25
EducationArts & CultureRecreation & SportsInternationalOther
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

  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
    2× · 2017–2018 · $70k · revenue +37%
  • RP
    READING PARTNERS
    2× · 2019–2020 · $50k · revenue +2%
  • Northwestern University
    3× · 2017–2023 · $17k · revenue +41%

Funded once

  • WS
    World Savvy
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue -17%
  • Teach for America Inc
    one grant, 2018 · $40k · revenue +1%
  • TO
    THE OPPORTUNITY TRUST D/B/A ZEST EDUCATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +240%
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
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
2
South Shore Charter School

The mission of south shore charter school is to cultivate students the tenacity, integrity, and curiosity needed to become innovative and socially responsible leaders, ready to face and solve the ever-changing challenges facing our…

Education
3
Kqed Inc

See schedule okqed serves the people of northern california with a community-supported alternative to commercial media, providing the knowledge needed to make informed decisions; convening community dialogue; bringing the arts to everyone;…

Arts & Culture
4
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
5
Great Mn Schools

We believe that great schools are the cornerstone of a just and thriving community. ensuring that every child is able to attend a school that works is our moral and social imperative - our children deserve no less.

Education
6
The Seattle Academy of Arts & Sciences

Seattle academy is a dynamic community that challenges students to question, imagine, and create in order to contribute to a changing world.

Education
7
San Francisco Friends School

At san francisco friends school, students learn in a community grounded in the quaker values of reflection, integrity, peaceful problem-solving and stewardship. our teachers challenge students with a dynamic curriculum that inspires…

Education
8
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.

—
9
Boston Architectural College

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

—
10
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
11
Silicon Schools Fund Inc

The mission of the silicon schools fund is to improve education through supporting the launch of excellent new schools, improving academic instruction in existing schools, and by funding some of the boldest innovations in education…

Education
12
The Philadelphia School

The philadelphia school educates children for a future that is impossible to know but not impossible to shape. learn here. go anywhere.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Teach for America Inc; the most unlike its peers is San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

14 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. 14 of the 16 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
11/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

President and Fellows of Harvard College: $1,074,297 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard CollegeREADING PARTNERS: $50,024 · Education+5 more: $107,351 · Education+5 moreSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $69,942 · Arts & CultureCOMMON SENSE MEDIA: $24,984 · Arts & CultureOREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureTHE 19TH NEWS: $10,000 · Arts & CultureWorld Savvy: $49,985 · InternationalSAFE & SOUND: $20,048 · OtherTHE RETREAT: $10,034 · OtherKELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: $5,000 · OtherNorthwestern University: $17,016 · Recreation & Sports
Education$1,231,672Arts & Culture$114,926International$49,985Other$35,082Recreation & Sports$17,016

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 budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $1,074,297 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $69,942 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetREADING PARTNERS: $50,024 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWorld Savvy: $49,985 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $39,778 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKIPP Minnesota: $30,241 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMON SENSE MEDIA: $24,984 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAFE & SOUND: $20,048 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNorthwestern University: $17,016 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL ASSOCIATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE 19TH NEWS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE BLAKE SCHOOL: $9,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budget10000 DEGREES: $3,332 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.

Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCA7.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Diana Nelson and John Atwater Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Diana Nelson and John Atwater Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Oregon Shakespeare Festival Association Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
4report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Diana Nelson and John Atwater Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Diana Nelson and John Atwater Family 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 16 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 Diana Nelson and John Atwater 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