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Helgeson Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Helgeson Family 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.

$411k
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$125k
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.

Health$1.1MEducation$438kYouth Development$216kCrime & Legal$100kArts & Culture$27kPhilanthropy$25kFood & Nutrition$25kScience & Tech$20kOther$0
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $386k
$61,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$4.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NANTUCKET PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN$125,000
BLUEFORCE STRATEGIES INC$100,000
NANTUCKET BOYS & GIRLS CLUB$61,000
DEXTER SOUTHFIELD SCHOOL$50,000
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL$50,000
NANTUCKET RESOURCE PARTNERSHIP$25,000
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 (FY20–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 40% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 8%NANTUCKET BOYS & GIRLS CLUB: $70k → 6%BRIGHAM AND WOMENS HOSPITAL: $400k → 7%ST JUDE RESEARCH HOSPITAL: $350k → 8%CONCUSSION LEGACY FOUNDATION: $15k → 16%BIG SKY DISCOVERY ACADEMY: $28k → 10%AMERICAN RADIO RELAY LEAGUE INC: $27k → 11%ANNS MEMORIAL FUND: $10k → 7%SELFRELIANCE UKRANIA: $69k → 14%BLUEFORCE STRATEGIES INC: $100k → 10%NANTUCKET COTTAGE HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENT: $70k → 6%BRIGHAM AND WOMENS HOSPITAL: $100k → 7%KINGSLEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $85k → 16%NANTUCKET BOYS & GIRLS CLUB: $61k → 6%MEEST BOSTON: $41k → 7%MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: $50k → 16%NANTUCKET BOYS & GIRLS CLUB: $50k → 6%DEXTER SOUTHFIELD SCHOOL: $50k → 7%MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: $50k → 16%NANTUCKET BOYS & GIRLS CLUB: $35k → 6%DEXTER SOUTHFIELD SCHOOL: $50k → 7%MASS GENERAL HOSPITAL: $50k → 16%NANTUCKET MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION: $20k → 6%NANTUCKET COTTAGE HOSPITAL: $20k → 6%NANTUCKET PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN: $125k → 6%NANTUCKET PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN: $100k → 6%NANTUCKET RESOURCE PARTNERSHIP: $25k → 6%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.
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.

55%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 5 repeat orgs$935k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +25% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 1 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
13

Total granted

$1.1M
$810k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+23%

Still filing today

60%
46%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 70% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $125k 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
EducationArts & CultureHealthCrime & LegalCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • NP
    NANTUCKET PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $225k · revenue +42%
  • NB
    NANTUCKET BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB INC
    4× · 2020–2024 · $216k · revenue +7%
  • DS
    DEXTER SOUTHFIELD INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $100k · revenue +25%

Funded once

  • SJ
    ST JUDE RESEARCH HOSPITAL
    one grant, 2021 · $350k
  • TK
    THE KINGSLEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL INC
    one grant, 2021 · $85k · revenue +23%
  • NC
    NANTUCKET COTTAGE HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENT
    one grant, 2021 · $70k
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
The Nantucket Education Trust Inc

To generate private support for public education on nantucket, to foster private and public partnerships that benefit the children of nantucket public schools, and to honor excellence in teaching and learning.

—
2
Nantucket Lighthouse School Inc

Nantucket lighthouse school education calls forth inherent social, intellectual, and moral wisdom and prepares each child to lead a responsible and joyful life.

Education
3
Nantucket Conservation Foundation Inc

The nantucket conservation foundation owns, protects, and stewards over 9,000 acres of land and coastal shoreline, conserves nantucket's rare and significant natural resources, and engages in impactful ecological research to inform…

Environment
4
North Shore Nursery School Inc

To provide developmental and educational instruction for children ages 2-5 years of age.

Education
5
New England Science & Sailing Foundation Inc

To empower students with a love of learning through ocean-based experiential programs that serve schools, teachers, and families.

Recreation & Sports
6
Hampshire Country School

Hampshire country school is a place of possibilities for high-ability, neurodiverse students enrolling in later elementary or middle school who have not found success in traditional educational environments. hampshire country school offers…

—
7
Brunswick School Inc

Brunswick school, inc. is a day school for boys in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. the purpose of the school is to educate the "whole boy". it does so by helping boys and young men - without regard to culture, ethnicity or religion…

Education
8
Nansemond Suffolk Academy Association Inc

Nansemond-suffolk academy believes the goal of education is to cultivate honorable, well-informed, responsible, and compassionate persons who think and act constructively in a complex international environment. the academy provides an…

Education
9
Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound Inc

The alliance to protect nantucket sound is a 501(c)(3) non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the permanent preservation of nantucket sound, the historic body of water that lies between cape cod, martha's vineyard, and…

Environment
10
Northeast Kingdom Learning Services Inc

Nekls offers comprehensive educational programs and services to community members who would like to advance their education, workplace skills, or attain a high school diploma/equivalency. in addition, nekls provides early education and…

Education
11
Putney School Inc

The organization is committed to developing each student's full intellectual, artistic and physical potential. students are encouraged to challenge themselves intellectually, to pursue rigorous learning for its own sake, (see schedule…

—
12
Gulf Stream School Inc

Education of grades pre-school through eighth grade.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Dexter Southfield Inc; the most unlike its peers is Blue Force Strategies 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

11 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. 11 of the 20 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
8/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED: $500,000 · OtherMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATEDST JUDE RESEARCH HOSPITAL: $350,000 · OtherST JUDE RESEARCH HOSPITALNANTUCKET PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC: $225,000 · OtherNANTUCKET PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INCNANTUCKET BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB INC: $216,100 · OtherNANTUCKET BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB INCMASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: $100,000 · OtherMASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITALTHE KINGSLEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL INC: $85,000 · OtherNANTUCKET COTTAGE HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENT: $70,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $69,000 · Other+6 more: $166,000 · Other+6 moreDEXTER SOUTHFIELD INC: $100,000 · EducationBIG SKY DISCOVERY SCHOOL INC dba BIG SKY DISCOVERY ACADEMY: $27,600 · EducationBLUE FORCE STRATEGIES INC: $100,000 · Crime & LegalTHE AMERICAN RADIO RELAY LEAGUE INC: $27,000 · Arts & CultureNOURISH NANTUCKET INC: $25,000 · Community ImprovementCONCUSSION LEGACY FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · Health
Other$1,781,100Education$127,600Crime & Legal$100,000Arts & Culture$27,000Community Improvement$25,000Health$15,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNANTUCKET PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC: $225,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetNANTUCKET BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB INC: $216,100 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetBLUE FORCE STRATEGIES INC: $100,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetDEXTER SOUTHFIELD INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE KINGSLEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL INC: $85,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetBIG SKY DISCOVERY SCHOOL INC dba BIG SKY DISCOVERY ACADEMY: $27,600 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetTHE AMERICAN RADIO RELAY LEAGUE INC: $27,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNOURISH NANTUCKET INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetKINGSLEY FOUNDATION 009009-009: $25,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetNANTUCKET MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION IN: $20,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetCONCUSSION LEGACY FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

Bny Mellon Charitable…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Bny Mellon Charitable Gift FundMA13.2× affinity4 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Bny Mellon Charitable Gift Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Helgeson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Helgeson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 60%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association in: 9% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
6get 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 · 0–20%
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 20 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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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