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· Private foundation

Fred L Emerson Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.5M
Granted FY2024still arriving
87
Grants FY2024still arriving
8
States reached
$421k
Largest
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 2024.

Arts & Culture$11MEducation$9.4MHealth$1.7MHuman Services$1.5MPhilanthropy$1.2MEnvironment$856kRecreation & Sports$840kCommunity Improvement$600kOther$0
02FY2024 · 87 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k49 grants · $188k
  • $10k–50k25 grants · $528k
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $1.4M
  • $250k+1 grant · $421k
$6,500
Median grant
8
States reached
$97M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SCHWEINFURTH MEMORIAL ART CENTER$421,200
SEWARD HOUSE MUSEUM$224,868
CAYUGA CO EMERSON PARK$201,000
THE REV THEATRE COMPANY$150,000
BEREA COLLEGE$150,000
CAYUGA MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND ART$128,800
THE UPSTATE FOUNDATION$125,000
HAMILTON COLLEGE$100,000
FINGER LAKES SPCA OF CNY$80,000
NICK'S RIDE 4 FRIENDS INC$50,000
AUBURN YMCA-WEIU$50,000
UNITED WAY OF CAYUGA COUNTY$50,000
AUBURN PUBLIC THEATER$50,000
CAYUGA CO EMERSON PARK$45,000
E JOHN GAVRAS CENTER$44,000
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 (FY17–24, $720k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, 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%CORTLAND COUNTY FAMILY YMCA: $25k → 15%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $2k → 14%PRESBYTERIAN SENIORCARE: $8k → 11%RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE OF SYRACUSE: $100k → 14%PRESBYTERIAN SENIORCARE: $5k → 11%PATHWAY HOME OF THE FINGER LAKES: $17k → 14%RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE OF SYRACUSE: $60k → 14%RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE OF SYRACUSE: $9k → 14%RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE OF SYRACUSE: $8k → 14%FRANZISKA RACKER CENTERS INC: $3k → 16%RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE OF SYRACUSE: $3k → 14%ROCHESTER ROTARY CHARITABLE TRUSTS: $1k → 14%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ONONDAGA COUNTY: $2k → 14%CHAPEL HOUSE INC: $100k → 13%CHAPEL HOUSE INC: $67k → 13%THE UPSTATE FOUNDATION: $130k → 14%THE UPSTATE FOUNDATION: $125k → 14%THE UPSTATE FOUNDATION: $10k → 14%CHAPEL HOUSE INC: $25k → 13%CHAPEL HOUSE INC: $10k → 13%CHAPEL HOUSE INC: $7k → 13%MINISTRO MINISTRIES INC: $5k → 13%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
ID
MN
IL
NY
MA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
KY
VA
MD
NC
DC
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$26M · 156 repeat orgs$2.5M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against +24% for those funded once.

156 repeat relationships: 52 still active in FY2024, 104 since wound down; 19 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

156
147

Total granted

$26M
$2.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+24%

Still filing today

70%
56%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $144k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesPhilanthropyHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • SH
    Seward House Museum
    7× · 2018–2024 · $6.8M · revenue +261% · 49% of their budget
  • MP
    MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $1.1M · revenue +18%
  • KC
    KEUKA COLLEGE
    3× · 2018–2020 · $1.0M · revenue +1%

Funded once

  • MU
    MARIST UNIVERSITYgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $268k · revenue +31%
  • EJ
    E J G FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2017 · $150k · revenue +16% · 86% of their budget
  • EU
    EXCELSIOR UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2022 · $140k · revenue +21%
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
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
2
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
3
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
4
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
5
St Francis College

St. francis college is an independent, coeducational institution of higher education chartered by an act of the regents of the university of the state of new york on april 10, 1957.

Education
6
Stony Brook Surgical Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
7
Saint Anselm College

Saint anselm is a catholic, benedictine college providing all of its students a distinctive liberal arts education that incorporates opportunities for professional and career preparation. it does so in a learning community that encourages…

Education
8
Stony Brook Ophthalmology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
9
Rochester General College of Health Careers

The rochester general college of health careers is dedicated to preparing adult learners with the knowledge, skills, and competencies necessary to pursue health careers, advanced education, and lifelong learning.

Education
10
Stony Brook Urology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
11
University Associates in Obstetrics and Gynecology University Faculty Pract ice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
12
Niagara University

Niagara university educates its students and enriches their lives through programs in the liberal arts and through career preparation, informed by the catholic and vincentian traditions.

Education
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 Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center. 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

207 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 207 of the 329 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.

10
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
42
Early backer (in before they grew)
205/207
Grantees still filing
150/207
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Seward House Museum: $6,826,221 · Arts & CultureSeward House MuseumMERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC: $1,059,677 · Arts & CultureMERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC+23 more: $1,492,905 · Arts & Culture+23 moreKEUKA COLLEGE: $1,035,000 · EducationKEUKA COLLEGEWELLS COLLEGE: $858,000 · EducationWELLS COLLEGEUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $563,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTERST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY: $505,000 · EducationST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITYHOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES: $504,500 · EducationHOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGE…Trustees of Hamilton College: $464,500 · EducationTrustees of Hamilton CollegeSKIDMORE COLLEGE: $425,000 · EducationSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $415,000 · EducationST JOHN FISHER UNIVERSITY: $405,000 · EducationHartwick College: $395,000 · EducationUTICA UNIVERSITY: $365,000 · EducationALFRED UNIVERSITY: $325,000 · EducationNAZARETH UNIVERSITY: $325,000 · EducationBEREA COLLEGE: $300,000 · EducationCLARKSON UNIVERSITY: $300,000 · Education+24 more: $1,307,395 · Education+24 moreTHE REV THEATRE COMPANY: $819,000 · OtherTHE REV THEATRE COMPANYCAYUGA CO EMERSON PARK: $705,000 · OtherCAYUGA CO EMERSON PARKSCHWEINFURTH MEMORIAL ART CENTER: $689,000 · OtherSCHWEINFURTH MEMORIAL ART CENTERUNION COLLEGE: $525,000 · OtherUNION COLLEGEAL SIGL COMMUNITY OF AGENCIES: $453,000 · OtherUNITED CEREBRAL PALSY ASSOC CAYUGA CO: $399,693 · OtherBOOKER T WASHINGTON COMMUNITY CENTER OF AUBURN NY INC: $356,127 · OtherCITY OF AUBURN: $345,614 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $300,000 · Other+100 more: $4,279,957 · Other+100 moreCENTRAL NEW YORK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $502,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF CAYUGA COUNTY INC: $402,065 · PhilanthropyABC CAYUGA INC: $180,000 · PhilanthropyROSWELL PARK ALLIANCE FOUNDATION: $125,000 · Philanthropy+5 more: $139,100 · PhilanthropyTHE UPSTATE FOUNDATION INC: $265,000 · Human ServicesCHAPEL HOUSE INC: $208,026 · Human ServicesTHE RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE OF SYRACUSE: $179,165 · Human ServicesYOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF CORTLAND: $25,000 · Human Services+3 more: $39,624 · Human ServicesAUBURN COMMUNITY HOSPITAL: $136,500 · HealthMATTHEW HOUSE INC: $126,000 · HealthUNITY HOUSE OF CAYUGA COUNTY INC: $67,700 · HealthHOPE FOR HEATHER: $54,000 · HealthDAVID'S REFUGE INC: $41,990 · Health+2 more: $20,000 · HealthFRIENDS OF THE ROSAMOND GIFFORD ZOO AT BURNET PARK INC: $178,000 · AnimalsTHE SATO PROJECT: $77,500 · AnimalsHELPING HOUNDS DOG RESCUE INC: $17,500 · AnimalsFINGER LAKES SPCA OF CENTRAL NEW YORK: $12,000 · Animals
Arts & Culture$9,378,803Education$8,492,395Other$8,872,391Philanthropy$1,348,165Human Services$716,815Health$446,190Animals$285,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSeward House Museum: $6,826,221 over 7y, 49% of budgetMERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC: $1,059,677 over 3y, 13% of budgetKEUKA COLLEGE: $1,035,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetWELLS COLLEGE: $858,000 over 7y, 1.2% of budgetSCHWEINFURTH MEMORIAL ART CENTER: $689,000 over 6y, 18% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $563,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY: $505,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES: $504,500 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetCENTRAL NEW YORK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $502,000 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetTrustees of Hamilton College: $464,500 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetSKIDMORE COLLEGE: $425,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $415,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetST JOHN FISHER UNIVERSITY: $405,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CAYUGA COUNTY INC: $402,065 over 8y, 78% of budgetUNITED CEREBRAL PALSY ASSOC CAYUGA CO: $399,693 over 7y, 2.5% of budgetHartwick College: $395,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetUTICA UNIVERSITY: $365,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetBOOKER T WASHINGTON COMMUNITY CENTER OF AUBURN NY INC: $356,127 over 5y, 9.0% of budgetALFRED UNIVERSITY: $325,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNAZARETH UNIVERSITY: $325,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $300,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBEREA COLLEGE: $300,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCLARKSON UNIVERSITY: $300,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAUBURN PUBLIC THEATER INC: $269,500 over 6y, 9.1% of budgetMARIST UNIVERSITY: $268,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE UPSTATE FOUNDATION INC: $265,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE CAYUGA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $247,975 over 4y, 12% of budgetCAYUGA MUSEUM OF HISTORY & ART INC: $236,325 over 4y, 19% of budgetNICKS RIDE 4 FRIENDS INC: $211,000 over 4y, 74% of budgetCHAPEL HOUSE INC: $208,026 over 5y, 8.6% of budgetABC CAYUGA INC: $180,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetTHE RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE OF SYRACUSE: $179,165 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ROSAMOND GIFFORD ZOO AT BURNET PARK INC: $178,000 over 3y, 4.1% of budgetELMIRA COLLEGE: $170,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetINDIAN MOUND CEMETERY ASSOCIATION: $165,000 over 8y, 32% of budgetE J G FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 over 1y, 86% of budgetEXCELSIOR UNIVERSITY: $140,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAUBURN COMMUNITY HOSPITAL: $136,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSYRACUSE AREA LANDMARK THEATRE: $135,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetFayetteville-Manlius ABC Program Inc: $127,395 over 5y, 31% of budgetMATTHEW HOUSE INC: $126,000 over 8y, 22% of budgetSCIENCENTER DISCOVERY MUSEUM: $125,000 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetFOOD BANK OF CENTRAL NEW YORK: $105,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetThe Finger Lakes Land Trust Inc: $103,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHOMSITE FUND INC: $100,000 over 1y, 9.6% of budgetITHACA COLLEGE: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTRANSPORTATION PROJECT FOR CAYUGA COUNTY INC: $82,500 over 7y, 11% of budgetKIDS IN CRISIS INC: $81,030 over 8y, 0.4% 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.

  • Who funds Seward House Museum ↗
  • Who funds MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYHOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds KEUKA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds WELLS COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds SCHWEINFURTH MEMORIAL ART CENTER ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER ↗
  • Who funds ST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES ↗
  • Who funds CENTRAL NEW YORK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Trustees of Hamilton College ↗
  • Who funds SKIDMORE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds ST JOHN FISHER UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF CAYUGA COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds UNITED CEREBRAL PALSY ASSOC CAYUGA CO ↗
  • Who funds Hartwick College ↗
  • Who funds UTICA UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds BOOKER T WASHINGTON COMMUNITY CENTER OF AUBURN NY INC ↗
  • Who funds ALFRED UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds NAZARETH UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds BEREA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds CLARKSON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds AUBURN PUBLIC THEATER INC ↗
  • Who funds MARIST UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE UPSTATE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE CAYUGA COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CAYUGA MUSEUM OF HISTORY & ART INC ↗
  • Who funds NICKS RIDE 4 FRIENDS INC ↗
  • Who funds CHAPEL HOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds ABC CAYUGA INC ↗
  • Who funds THE RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE OF SYRACUSE ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF THE ROSAMOND GIFFORD ZOO AT BURNET PARK INC ↗
  • Who funds ELMIRA COLLEGE ↗

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.

Central New York Community Foundation IncNY113.1× affinity66 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Central New York Community Foundation Inc · The Stanley W Metcalf Foundation Inc · De French Foundation Inc · Allyn Family Foundation Inc · JM McDonald Foundation Inc · The John Ben Snow Foundation Inc · Columbian Foundation Inc · Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation Inc · Kinney Drugs Foundation Inc · Rochester Area Community Foundation · John Ben Snow Memorial Tr Uw #839158 · Max and Marian Farash Charitable 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 Fred L Emerson Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Fred L Emerson Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 8%
  • Abilis Inc: 74% of income from government
  • Kids in Crisis Inc: 49% of income from government
  • Special Olympics Connecticut Inc: 42% of income from government
  • Citizen Schools Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Greenwich Alliance for Education Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Bruce Museum Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
70report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Fred L Emerson Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Fred L Emerson Foundation Inc 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 329 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

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