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Emily L and Robert E Smith Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Emily L and Robert E Smith 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.

$17k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$7k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$47kSocial Science$30kArts & Culture$18kHealth$4kCrime & Legal$3kYouth Development$1kPhilanthropy$1kEnvironment$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$180k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE$7,000
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY$7,000
THE YORK THEATER$1,000
BROOKDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE$1,000
BRONX COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION$1,000
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 91% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: $500 → 8%SMITH COLLEGE: $500 → 12%CHESS FOUNDATION: $1k → 9%FORTUNE SOCIETY: $1k → 13%THE YORK THEATER: $1k → 17%BRONX COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $1k → 28%PHI BETA KAPPA: $1k → 14%GRASS ROOTS TENNIS: $500 → 9%DYSTONIA MEDICAL RESEARCH: $2k → 14%MORRISTOWN BEARD SCHOOL: $1k → 4%BROOKDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $1k → 6%NATURE CONSERVANCY: $500 → 7%DARTMOUTH COLLEGE: $7k → 10%HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: $500 → 8%FORTUNE SOCIETY: $500 → 13%FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: $5k → 28%PHI BETA KAPPA: $500 → 14%MORRISTOWN BEARD SCHOOL: $750 → 4%BROOKDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $1k → 6%NATURE CONSERVANCY: $500 → 7%DARTMOUTH COLLEGE: $5k → 10%HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: $500 → 8%FORTUNE SOCIETY: $500 → 13%EMILY & ROBT SMITH FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $8k → 17%FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: $5k → 28%MORRISTOWN BEARD SCHOOL: $500 → 4%DARTMOUTH COLLEGE: $500 → 10%HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: $500 → 8%FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: $7k → 17%FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: $500 → 28%THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: $10k → 14%MORRISTOWN BEARD SCHOOL: $500 → 4%DARTMOUTH COLLEGE: $500 → 10%KAUFMAN MUSIC CENTER: $1k → 17%BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: $10k → 14%NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC: $900 → 17%THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTE: $10k → 14%METROPOLITAN OPERA: $600 → 17%KAUFMAN MUSIC CENTER: $500 → 17%METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $1k → 17%MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $6k → 17%MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $3k → 17%MUSEUEM OF MODERN ART: $3k → 17%THIRTEEN: $500 → 17%THIRTEEN: $500 → 17%FORTUNE SOCIETY: $500 → 17%FORTUNE SOCIETY: $500 → 17%PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $1k → 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

NH
IL
NY
MA
SD
NJ
CT
VA
DC
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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$84k · 18 repeat orgs$12k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

18 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 16 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

18
8

Total granted

$84k
$10k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
+8%

Still filing today

61%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHealthPhilanthropySocial ScienceRecreation & SportsOther
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 BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
    3× · 2017–2020 · $30k · revenue +2%
  • FU
    Fordham University
    4× · 2022–2025 · $18k · revenue +15%
  • TF
    THE FORTUNE SOCIETY INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $3k · revenue +162%

Funded once

  • ER
    EMILY & ROBT SMITH FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND
    one grant, 2017 · $8k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $2k
  • CF
    CHESS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $1k · revenue ×12
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
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
2
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
3
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
4
Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan school of music is deeply committed to excellence in education, performance, and creative activity; to the humanity of the school's environment; and to the cultural enrichment of the larger community. a premiere international…

Arts & Culture
5
Fairleigh Dickinson University

Fairleigh dickinson university is a center of academic excellence dedicated to the preparation of world citizens through global education. the university strives to provide students with the multi-disciplinary, intercultural, and ethical…

Education
6
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
7
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
8
Bard College

Bard college seeks to provide a challenging academic program and a supportive environment that fosters a collaborative interchange of ideas in the classroom as well as ambition to achieve excellence.

Education
9
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
10
New York Hall of Science

Nysci's mission is to nurture generations of passionate learners, critical thinkers, and active citizens through design make play - an approach to learning and engagement that is deeply rooted in research on stem learning and guides the…

Arts & Culture
11
Teachers College Columbia University

Teachers College, Columbia Universitys (TC or the College) mission is to empower committed learners and leaders to build a smarter, healthier, more just and equitable world through multidisciplinary knowledge creation, policy engagement,…

Education
12
Masters School

The masters school celebrates active participation, deep understanding, and meaningful connection. a community of diverse individuals, we gather to learn, to strive, to dare, to do - to be a power for good in the world.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fordham University; the most unlike its peers is Chess 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

18 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. 18 of the 31 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)
18/18
Grantees still filing
13/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Fordham University: $17,500 · EducationFordham UniversityTrustees of Dartmouth College: $13,000 · EducationTrustees of Dartmouth CollegeMORRISTOWN-BEARD SCHOOL: $2,850 · EducationMORRISTOWN-BEARD SCHOOL+2 more: $1,300 · EducationTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $30,000 · Social ScienceTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTIONEMILY & ROBT SMITH FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $7,500 · OtherEMILY & ROBT SMITH FOR…HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: $2,000 · OtherHARVARD LAW SCHOOLBROOKDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $2,000 · OtherBROOKDALE COMMUNITY CO…PLANNED PARENTHOOD: $1,600 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOODIndividual grant recipient: $1,600 · OtherIndividual grant recip…Individual grant recipient: $1,500 · OtherIndividual grant recip…THIRTEEN: $1,350 · OtherTHIRTEENTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1,100 · OtherTHE YORK THEATER: $1,000 · OtherMETROPOLITAN OPERA: $900 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $750 · Other+4 more: $350 · OtherMuseum of Modern Art: $12,300 · Arts & CultureMuseum of Modern…ELAINE KAUFMAN CULTURAL CENTER LUCY MOSES SCHOOL FOR MUSIC AND DANCE: $1,500 · Arts & CultureELAINE KAUFMAN C…THE PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC: $1,350 · Arts & CultureTHE PHILHARMONIC…METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $1,300 · Arts & CultureMETROPOLITAN MUS…THE FORTUNE SOCIETY INC: $3,000 · HealthAmerican Diabetes Association: $2,205 · HealthCHESS FOUNDATION: $1,000 · PhilanthropyBRONX COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 · PhilanthropyCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $1,100 · Recreation & SportsTHE LOWER EAST SIDE GIRLS CLUB OF NEW YORK INC: $100 · Youth Development
Education$34,650Social Science$30,000Other$21,650Arts & Culture$16,450Health$5,205Philanthropy$2,000Recreation & Sports$1,100Youth Development$100

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 budgetTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFordham University: $17,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTrustees of Dartmouth College: $13,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $12,300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FORTUNE SOCIETY INC: $3,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMORRISTOWN-BEARD SCHOOL: $2,850 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Diabetes Association: $2,205 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetELAINE KAUFMAN CULTURAL CENTER LUCY MOSES SCHOOL FOR MUSIC AND DANCE: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC: $1,350 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $1,300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $1,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHESS FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBRONX COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $1,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LOWER EAST SIDE GIRLS CLUB OF NEW YORK INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Frick Collection: $100 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Emily L and Robert E Smith Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Emily L and Robert E Smith 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%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • The Trustees of the Smith College: 1% of income from government
  • Morristown-Beard School: 0% 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
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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 31 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 Emily L and Robert E Smith’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