· Private foundation
Dorothy Lemelson 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k2 grants · $6k
- $10k–50k18 grants · $406k
- $50k–250k11 grants · $1.0M
- $250k+2 grants · $1.1M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE NATIONAL MUSUEM OF AMERICAN HISTORY SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION | $600,000 |
| GEORGIA RESLIENCE AND OPPORTUNITY FUND | $500,000 |
| WASHOE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT | $186,616 |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD CASCADE WILLAMETTE | $125,000 |
| HOLLA SCHOOL | $112,000 |
| BRIDGE MEADOWS | $105,000 |
| WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY | $100,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA RENO | $100,000 |
| TEACHING FOR CHANGE | $75,000 |
| TERRY LEE WELLS NEVADA DISCOVERY MUSEUM | $62,000 |
| PEAR | $60,000 |
| THE CHILDREN'S CABINET | $50,000 |
| CHILDREN'S INSTITUTE | $50,000 |
| KNBP CHANNEL 5 | $41,000 |
| SHARE OUR STRENGTH | $40,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY19–24, $432k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 44% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
40 repeat relationships: 25 still active in FY2024, 15 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 45% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.4M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
SMILE TRAIN INC5× · 2017–2023 · $1.2M · revenue +19%- UOUniversity of Nevada Reno Foundation7× · 2017–2024 · $960k · revenue +35%
- NANEW AVENUES FOR YOUTH INC3× · 2018–2020 · $600k · revenue +10%
Funded once
- VSVARIOUS - SEE PDF ATTACHMENTone grant, 2021 · $1.0M
- PPORTLANDone grant, 2017 · $250k
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2022 · $200k
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.
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.
The oregon shakespeare festival creates world-class theater, revealing our collective humanity through illuminating interpretations of new and classic plays, and inspiring a love of our art form for current and future generations.
We take a joyful, community-oriented approach to raising engaged citizens, deep learners, and brave adventurers with the skills, creativity, and heart needed to better the world.
To present symphonic music of the highest quality in a distinctive way for the cultural enrichment, education, engagement and enjoyment of the people of our community.
Portland state university foundation is responsible for raising and managing private resources to advance psu's priorities and mission to be a leading urban university.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
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;…
New york school of interior design provides the most innovative, immersive, and transformative interior design education in the world, demonstrating the impact of professionally designed interiors on the health, happiness, and well-being…
Seattle academy is a dynamic community that challenges students to question, imagine, and create in order to contribute to a changing world.
Siff is a seattle-based 501(c)(3) arts nonprofit dedicated to the creation of vibrant experiences and spaces that champion film discovery and arts education.
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…
The philadelphia school educates children for a future that is impossible to know but not impossible to shape. learn here. go anywhere.
Washington performing arts champions the arts as a unifying force. through collaborations with artists, educators, community leaders, and institutional partners, we bring wide-ranging artistic programs to stages, schools, and neighborhoods…
How this is measured
59 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. 59 of the 95 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 BRIDGE MEADOWS ↗
- Who funds SMILE TRAIN INC ↗
- Who funds University of Nevada Reno Foundation ↗
- Who funds NEW AVENUES FOR YOUTH INC ↗
- Who funds GEORGIA RESILIENCE AND OPPORTUNITY FUND DBA THE GRO FUND ↗
- Who funds PEAR ↗
- Who funds THE CHILDREN'S CABINET INC ↗
- Who funds TEACHING FOR CHANGE ↗
- Who funds PACIFIC NORTHWEST COLLEGE OF ART ↗
- Who funds SHARE OUR STRENGTH ↗
- Who funds HOLLA SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds WILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds Achilles International Inc ↗
- Who funds WASHOE K-12 EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF CALIFORNIA ↗
- Who funds Food Bank of Northern Nevada Inc ↗
- Who funds CHILDREN'S INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds HOLLA ↗
- Who funds PEACE 4 KIDS ↗
- Who funds KAIROSPDX ↗
- Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC ↗
- Who funds SAFE TALK FOR TEENS ↗
- Who funds Massachusetts Institute of Technology ↗
- Who funds WOMEN DONORS NETWORK ↗
- Who funds NEVADA WOMEN'S FUND ↗
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.
Open a dossier: The Oregon Community Foundation · The Collins Foundation · The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer Care Foundation · James F & Marion L Miller Foundation · Meyer Memorial Trust · Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Trust · Juan Young Trust · Rose E Tucker Charitable Trust · The Jackson Foundation · Regional Arts & Culture Council · Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund · The Autzen Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Dorothy Lemelson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Dorothy Lemelson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Artists Repertory Theatre: 48% of income from government
- Bridge Meadows: 36% of income from government
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
- Holla: 29% of income from government
- New Avenues for Youth Inc: 20% of income from government
- Kairospdx: 19% of income from government
- Holla School: 15% of income from government
- Oregon Museum of Science and Industry: 4% of income from government
- Silk Road Project Inc: 4% of income from government
- Chamber Music Northwest: 3% of income from government
- White Bird: 2% of income from government
- Portland Opera Association Inc: 2% of income from government
- Willamette University: 1% of income from government
- Pear: 1% of income from government
- Portland Art Museum: 1% of income from government
- Friends of Chamber Music: 1% of income from government
- Portland Center Stage: 1% of income from government
- Portland Taiko: 1% of income from government
- Oregon Public Broadcasting: 1% of income from government
- Oregon Symphony Association: 0% of income from government
- Catlin Gabel School: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Dorothy Lemelson Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Dorothy Lemelson 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.
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