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Frances Lear Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Frances Lear 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.

$673k
Granted FY2025still arriving
38
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$214k
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 2025.

Arts & Culture$1.6MCrime & Legal$1.0MPhilanthropy$608kEnvironment$545kHealth$457kHuman Services$260kPublic Benefit$85kYouth Development$84kOther$0
02FY2025 · 38 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k21 grants · $79k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $255k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $339k
$5,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$9.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BALLET HISPANICO OF NEW YORK INC$214,000
RAINFOREST ALLIANCE$75,000
NYU LANGONE HEALTH$50,000
YOUTH REPRESENT$48,500
PANORAMA GLOBAL$25,000
THE 92ND STREET Y$25,000
FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF LOUISIANA'S INCARCERATED CHILDREN$24,000
PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC$20,000
THE OMOWALE PROJECT$15,000
CAMPAIGN FOR THE FAIR SENTENCING OF YOUTH$15,000
A LITTLE PIECE OF LIGHT$15,000
GOOD CALL$15,000
DAUGHTERS BEYOND INCARCERATION$12,000
ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES FOR JUSTICE$10,000
EARTHSHARE$10,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY19–25, $307k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 54% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%FREEDOM READS: $5k → 12%JULIAN: $10k → 14%FREEDOM READS: $5k → 12%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%WOMEN'S REFUGEE COMMISSION: $10k → 17%WOMEN'S REFUGEE COMMISSION: $5k → 17%NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $20k → 17%NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $20k → 17%NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $20k → 17%NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $20k → 17%NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $20k → 17%NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $20k → 17%BOTTOMLESS CLOSET: $7k → 17%BOTTOMLESS CLOSET: $4k → 17%BOTTOMLESS CLOSET: $2k → 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

ME
WA
MI
NY
MA
PA
CT
CA
DC
LA
GA
FL
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.0M · 39 repeat orgs$464k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +23% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

39 repeat relationships: 21 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

39
35

Total granted

$4.0M
$314k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
+8%

Still filing today

92%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $150k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureCrime & LegalHuman ServicesHealthPhilanthropyEducationOther
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

  • BH
    BALLET HISPANICO OF NEW YORK INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $1.4M · revenue +46%
  • RA
    RAINFOREST ALLIANCE INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $528k · revenue +115%
  • YOUTH REPRESENT INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $323k · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • PF
    PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $40k
  • V
    VAYLA
    one grant, 2020 · $25k
  • IY
    IDENTIFY YOUR DREAM CORPORATION
    one grant, 2024 · $25k · revenue -60%
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
City Report Inc

CITY REPORT, INC. serves the people of New York through independent journalism that answers their information needs and holds the powerful to account.

Arts & Culture
2
New York Foundation for the Arts Inc

Established in 1971, the mission of the new york foundation for the arts (nyfa) is to empower artists in all disciplines, as well as cultural workers, to achieve success on their own terms by providing critical support, resources, and…

Arts & Culture
3
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
4
Institute for Americas Future Inc

Iaf's purpose is to conduct research and publicize findings concerning citizen's attitudes about economic options confronting america. iaf is devoted to fostering a robust and democratic debate about ideas that will shape our country's…

Education
5
Women Donors Network

Women donors network advances a just, equitable, and sustainable world through the power of philanthropy, women's leadership, and collective and individual action.

Philanthropy
6
Theatre of the Oppressed Nyc Inc

Tonyc works through partnerships with social service organizations and city agencies to create theatre troupes with community members who face pressing social, economic, health, and human rights injustices.

Arts & Culture
7
Pro Publica Inc

Pro publica is an independent, non-profit, pulitzer prize-winning newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. our work focuses exclusively on truly important stories. [see continuation on schedule o] we produce…

Arts & Culture
8
Colorofchangeorg

Colorofchange.org works to strengthen the voice of black americans and increase the level of accountability and responsiveness of elected officials to underrepresented black constituencies using the internet as a lobbying and…

—
9
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
10
World Trade Center Performing Arts Center Inc

The perelman performing arts center creates connections by cultivating bonds between extraordinary artists and communities with exemplary performances in active dialogue across the arts in our flexible intimate spaces, inviting…

Arts & Culture
11
New York Lawyers for the Public Interest Inc

Nylpi's mission is to advance equality and civil rights, with a focus on health justice, disability rights and environmental justice, through the power of community lawyering and partnerships with the private bar.

—
12
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Center for Family Philanthropy Inc; the most unlike its peers is Rainforest Alliance 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

67 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. 67 of the 89 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
66/67
Grantees still filing
37/67
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BALLET HISPANICO OF NEW YORK INC: $1,411,500 · Arts & CultureBALLET HISPANICO OF NEW YORK INC+15 more: $161,500 · Arts & Culture+15 moreRAINFOREST ALLIANCE INC: $527,500 · OtherRAINFOREST ALLIANCE INCNYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: $317,000 · OtherNYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINENYU LANGONE HEALTH: $60,000 · Other+47 more: $612,645 · Other+47 moreYOUTH REPRESENT INC: $322,530 · Crime & LegalYOUTH REPRESEN…Good Call NYC: $87,500 · Crime & LegalGood Call NYCTHE CAMPAIGN FOR THE FAIR SENTENCING OF YOUTH: $85,000 · Crime & LegalTHE CAMPAIGN F…Alliance of Families for Justice Inc: $60,500 · Crime & LegalAlliance of Fa…FAMILIES AND FRIENDS OF LOUISIANAS INCARCERATED CHILDREN: $37,000 · Crime & LegalFAMILIES AND F…+3 more: $35,000 · Crime & Legal+3 moreTIDES FOUNDATION: $455,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDAT…Goodnation Foundation Inc: $85,000 · PhilanthropyGoodnation Fo…OPENCOLLECTIVE FOUNDATION: $30,000 · Philanthropy+3 more: $27,000 · PhilanthropyPAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $140,000 · Human ServicesNEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION INC: $120,000 · Human ServicesWOMEN'S REFUGEE COMMISSION INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesBOTTOMLESS CLOSET: $11,500 · Human Services+2 more: $20,000 · Human ServicesDAUGHTERS BEYOND INCARCERATION: $152,500 · Youth DevelopmentTHE COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY FELLOWSHIP INC: $36,000 · Youth DevelopmentA LITTLE PIECE OF LIGHT INC: $115,000 · Housing & Shelter
Arts & Culture$1,573,000Other$1,517,145Crime & Legal$627,530Philanthropy$597,000Human Services$306,500Youth Development$188,500Housing & Shelter$115,000

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 budgetBALLET HISPANICO OF NEW YORK INC: $1,411,500 over 7y, 3.6% of budgetRAINFOREST ALLIANCE INC: $527,500 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION: $455,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetYOUTH REPRESENT INC: $322,530 over 7y, 3.1% of budgetDAUGHTERS BEYOND INCARCERATION: $152,500 over 6y, 7.1% of budgetPAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $140,000 over 7y, 1.6% of budgetNEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION INC: $120,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetA LITTLE PIECE OF LIGHT INC: $115,000 over 7y, 2.8% of budgetGood Call NYC: $87,500 over 7y, 3.4% of budgetGoodnation Foundation Inc: $85,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTHE CAMPAIGN FOR THE FAIR SENTENCING OF YOUTH: $85,000 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetAlliance of Families for Justice Inc: $60,500 over 7y, 2.2% of budgetFORWARD IMPACT: $44,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetCOMMON JUSTICE INC: $40,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFAMILIES AND FRIENDS OF LOUISIANAS INCARCERATED CHILDREN: $37,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTHE COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY FELLOWSHIP INC: $36,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetHEALTHCORPS INC: $35,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetThe Omowale Project Inc: $35,000 over 3y, 5.9% of budgetOPENCOLLECTIVE FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetIDENTIFY YOUR DREAM CORPORATION: $25,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetTHE YOUNG MEN'S AND YOUNG WOMEN'S HEBREW ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK CITY CENTER INC: $20,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetPLAN A HEALTH INC: $20,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetBROOKLYN COMMUNITY BAIL FUND INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetNEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $17,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PHILANTHROPY WORKSHOP INC DBA FORWARD GLOBAL: $17,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetThe New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations: $17,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWOMEN'S REFUGEE COMMISSION INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NEW PRESS INC: $15,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetGEORGIA ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND INC: $15,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetNEW YORK STAGE AND FILM INC: $12,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE ACTORS' FUND OF AMERICA: $12,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PRAXIS PROJECT INC: $12,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAMBER WAVES FARM INC: $12,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBOTTOMLESS CLOSET: $11,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetAHA ATTITUDE HARMONY ACHIEVEMENT: $10,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetEARTHSHARE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFREEDOM READS INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJULIAN: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetWNET: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB INC: $10,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARSHALL PROJECT INC: $7,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOLUMBIA GRAMMAR AND PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHAPEL & YORK US FOUNDATION INC: $7,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDOCUMENTARY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetLA Public Theatre Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% 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.

Rockefeller Philanthr…The Tow Foundation IncThe Ford FoundationAmalgamated Charitabl…New York Women's Foun…Public Welfare Founda…Tides FoundationRockefeller Brothers …The New York Communit…Jewish Communal FundNew Venture FundThe Overbrook Foundat…
Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors IncNY29.3× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Inc · The Tow Foundation Inc · The Ford Foundation · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · New York Women's Foundation Inc · Public Welfare Foundation Inc · Tides Foundation · Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc · The New York Community Trust · Jewish Communal Fund · New Venture Fund · The Overbrook 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 Frances Lear Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Frances Lear Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Freedom Reads Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Documentary Educational Resources Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
15report 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 Frances Lear Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Frances Lear 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 89 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 Frances Lear’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