Skip to content
Frank and Barbara Axel Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Frank and Barbara Axel 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.

$50k
Granted FY2024still arriving
28
Grants FY2024still arriving
9
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

International$42kHealth$38kFood & Nutrition$22kEducation$20kEnvironment$13kAnimals$12kArts & Culture$8kReligion$4kOther$0
02FY2024 · 28 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$765k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE$5,000
AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMM$5,000
MAZON A JEWISH RESPONSE TO HUNGER$5,000
ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL$5,000
FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES$5,000
FEEDING AMERICA$2,000
Individual grant recipient$2,000
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND$2,000
DOROT$1,800
KEREN-OR CENTER$1,800
PLAN INTERNATIONAL$1,476
LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY$1,000
CT FOOD SHARE$1,000
ACLU FOUNDATION INC$1,000
THE FERGUSON LIBRARY$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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $2k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%DOROT: $2k → 17%DOROT: $180 → 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

IL
WI
NY
CT
RI
CA
VA
TN
DC
GA
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 6% of Frank and Barbara Axel Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Frank and Barbara Axel Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.1% 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.

73%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$128k · 24 repeat orgs$47k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against -9% for those funded once.

24 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
22

Total granted

$128k
$40k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
-9%

Still filing today

63%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $7k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
AnimalsInternationalArts & CultureHealthFood & NutritionEducationOther
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

  • The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc
    4× · 2020–2024 · $15k · revenue +4%
  • MA
    MAZON A Jewish Response to Hunger
    3× · 2022–2024 · $11k · revenue +30%
  • ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $10k · revenue +29%

Funded once

  • MS
    MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
  • AS
    AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM INC
    one grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue -79%
  • SC
    STAMFORD CT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
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
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
2
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
3
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Chartered by a unanimous act of congress, the museum is america's national institution for the documentation, study, interpretation, and education of holocaust history and serves as our country's memorial to the victims of the holocaust.…

Arts & Culture
4
World Animal Protection

World animal protection is a global organization working to end factory farming and wildlife exploitation. we expose cruel systems, promote animal-friendly alternatives, and influence policy change. for over 75 years, we've been rewriting…

Animals
5
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
6
American Humane Association

Founded in 1877, american humane association, dba american humane society (american humane) is committed to ensuring the safety, welfare and well-being of animals. our leadership programs are first to serve in promoting and nurturing the…

Animals
7
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
8
Us Middle East Project Inc

The organization's mission is to engage in non partisan analysis of u.s. foreign policy in the middle east, with special emphasis on the middle east peace process, and to present policymakers in the united states, in the region and in the…

International
9
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
10
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
11
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hope Community Services Inc; the most unlike its peers is Wildlife Conservation Society. 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

28 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. 28 of the 55 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/28
Grantees still filing
20/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $15,000 · OtherWESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGEMAZON A Jewish Response to Hunger: $11,000 · OtherMAZON A Jewish Response to HungerHOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY: $10,000 · OtherHOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERYPLAN INTERNATIONAL: $8,244 · OtherPLAN INTERNATIONALIndividual grant recipient: $7,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientSIERRA CLUB: $5,100 · OtherMEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $5,000 · OtherSTAMFORD CT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $5,000 · Other+29 more: $45,121 · Other+29 moreThe American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc: $15,180 · InternationalThe American Jewish …JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $10,000 · InternationalJEWISH NATIONAL FUND…FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $7,000 · InternationalFRIENDS OF THE ISRAE…HIAS INC: $1,500 · InternationalST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $10,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $2,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $2,000 · HealthCONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY: $3,550 · AnimalsWildlife Conservation Society: $2,000 · AnimalsNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $1,500 · AnimalsJANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION: $1,050 · AnimalsNORTH SHORE ANIMAL LEAGUE AMERICA INC: $500 · AnimalsFeeding America: $7,000 · Food & NutritionHOPE COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $1,000 · Food & NutritionAMERICAN SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE A LIVING MEMORIAL TO THE HOLOCAUST: $2,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $199 · Arts & CultureENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $5,000 · Environment
Other$111,465International$33,680Health$14,000Animals$8,600Food & Nutrition$8,000Arts & Culture$7,199Environment$5,000

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 budgetThe American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc: $15,180 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMAZON A Jewish Response to Hunger: $11,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America: $7,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $7,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $5,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FERGUSON LIBRARY: $3,600 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT HUMANE SOCIETY: $3,550 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $3,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFOOD BANK FOR NEW YORK CITY: $2,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE A LIVING MEMORIAL TO THE HOLOCAUST: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINSPIRICA INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDOROT INC: $1,980 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHIAS INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJANE GOODALL INSTITUTE FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CONSERVATION: $1,050 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH SHORE ANIMAL LEAGUE AMERICA INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRESH AIR FUND: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT FOODSHARE INC: $210 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY INC: $199 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 Frank and Barbara Axel Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Frank and Barbara Axel Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 30%
  • Hias Inc: 88% of income from government
  • Inspirica Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Connecticut Foodshare Inc: 5% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
7report 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.

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 55 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 Frank and Barbara Axel’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