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Hess Philanthropic Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

Hess Philanthropic Fund

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.

$21M
Granted FY2024still arriving
69
Grants FY2024still arriving
9
States reached
$8.8M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$33MEducation$21MHealth$4.3MReligion$2.9MInternational$2.3MHuman Services$585kCommunity Improvement$332kRecreation & Sports$150kOther$0
02FY2024 · 69 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k18 grants · $39k
  • $10k–50k26 grants · $421k
  • $50k–250k15 grants · $1.7M
  • $250k+10 grants · $19M
$15,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$239M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY$8,850,000
METROPOLITAN OPERA$4,450,000
MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING$1,500,000
NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL$1,100,000
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART$1,003,625
CONGREGATION EMANU-EL$726,000
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY$630,000
TRINITY SCHOOL$335,000
COUNCIL OF FOREIGN RELATIONS$300,000
ASIA SOCIETY$250,000
LINCOLN CENTER THEATER$225,000
HARVARD COLLEGE$200,000
WNET$200,000
JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER$195,000
Individual grant recipient$186,000
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 (FY22–24, $45k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%ELEANOR WHITMORE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER: $25k → 7%ELEANOR WHITMORE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER: $10k → 7%ELEANOR WHITMORE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER: $10k → 7%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

NY
MA
NJ
RI
CA
WV
VA
MD
DC
LA
TX
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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$62M · 66 repeat orgs$4.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +14% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

66 repeat relationships: 56 still active in FY2024, 10 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

66
20

Total granted

$62M
$1.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
+1%

Still filing today

59%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.7M went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHealthInternationalHuman ServicesCommunity 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

  • MO
    Museum of Modern Art
    4× · 2021–2024 · $14M · revenue +44%
  • AM
    American Museum of Natural History
    4× · 2021–2024 · $5.4M · revenue +24%
  • NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES
    3× · 2021–2023 · $1.5M · revenue +40%

Funded once

  • NY
    NEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $1.0M · revenue +46%
  • TP
    THE PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC
    one grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue -6%
  • BG
    BANCROFT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue +0%
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
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
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
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
4
New York Public Radio

To make the mind more curious, the heart more open, and the spirit more joyful through excellent audio programming that is deeply rooted in new york.

Arts & Culture
5
The Neue Galerie New York
Arts & Culture
6
Museum of the City of New York

The museum of the city of new york fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the world's most influential metropolis. it engages visitors by celebrating, documenting, and interpreting the city's past, present, and…

Arts & Culture
7
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
8
Berggruen Institute
Education
9
The Paley Center for Media

Description of organization mission: the paley center for media is the premier institution dedicated to advancing the understanding of media-it's artistic value, social impact and historical importance-for the public and media…

Arts & Culture
10
New York Genome Center Inc

Operate a state-of-the-art, world-class genomic research center that creates and uses advanced genomics to understand the genetic basis of disease. for more information, see schedule o.

Health
11
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
12
The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences

The mission of the brooklyn institute of arts and sciences, d/b/a brooklyn museum (the "museum") is to bring people together through art and experiences that inspire celebration, compassion, courage, and the will to act. (see schedule o).

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations; the most unlike its peers is Rosenthal Center for Addictions Studies. 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

59 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. 59 of the 100 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
59/59
Grantees still filing
34/59
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Museum of Modern Art: $14,351,825 · Arts & CultureMuseum of Modern ArtAmerican Museum of Natural History: $5,380,000 · Arts & CultureAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES: $1,500,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION I…+25 more: $3,663,500 · Arts & Culture+25 moreTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $19,360,000 · EducationTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY+7 more: $140,000 · EducationMETROPOLITAN OPERA: $7,975,000 · OtherMETROPOLITAN OPERAMEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING: $1,500,000 · OtherMEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERINGCONGREGATION EMANUEL: $1,476,080 · OtherCONGREGATION EMANUELNEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN: $1,300,000 · OtherNEW YORK PRESBYTERIANNEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL: $1,100,000 · OtherNEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITA…TRINITY SCHOOL: $1,005,000 · OtherTRINITY SCHOOL+43 more: $2,738,471 · Other+43 moreCOUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC: $1,199,000 · InternationalTHE ASIA SOCIETY: $1,000,000 · InternationalBANCROFT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: $100,000 · InternationalNEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC: $1,000,000 · HealthNEW YORK STEM CELL FOUNDATION INC: $335,000 · Health+6 more: $175,000 · HealthCITIZENS COMMITTEE FOR NEW YORK CITY INC: $330,000 · Community ImprovementBROWN UNIVERSITY: $90,000 · Community ImprovementSANCTUARY FOR FAMILIES INC: $110,000 · Human ServicesELEANOR WHITMORE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER INC: $45,000 · Human Services
Arts & Culture$24,895,325Education$19,500,000Other$17,094,551International$2,299,000Health$1,510,000Community Improvement$420,000Human Services$155,000

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 budgetTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $19,360,000 over 4y, 1.8% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $14,351,825 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetAmerican Museum of Natural History: $5,380,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES: $1,500,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetCOUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC: $1,199,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetNEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE ASIA SOCIETY: $1,000,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetWNET: $800,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHE VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATERINC D/B/A LINCOLN CENTER THEATER: $720,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetSESAME WORKSHOP: $626,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetJAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER INC: $365,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetNEW YORK STEM CELL FOUNDATION INC: $335,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCITIZENS COMMITTEE FOR NEW YORK CITY INC: $330,000 over 4y, 4.3% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $245,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $185,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK CITY BALLET INC: $175,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $150,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSANCTUARY FOR FAMILIES INC: $110,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHE PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPLEDGELING FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBANCROFT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: $100,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $90,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $60,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL THEATRE IN AMERICA INC: $60,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetCHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEAST HAMPTON LIBRARY: $50,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTHE YOUNG MEN'S AND YOUNG WOMEN'S HEBREW ASSOCIATION: $45,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY INC: $45,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetELEANOR WHITMORE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER INC: $45,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetTATE AMERICAS FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHOMAS G LABRECQUE FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 4y, 8.5% of budgetGUILD HALL OF EAST HAMPTON INC: $40,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFoundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies: $40,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetMANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB INC: $40,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNEW YORK CITY CENTER INC: $35,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF GREATER NEW YORK INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN THEATRE WING INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetThe Civilians Inc: $30,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetNORTHSIDE CENTER FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BREARLEY SCHOOL: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSERPENTINE AMERICAS FOUNDATION FKA AMERICAS FOUNDATION OF THE SERPENTINE GA: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetFILM AT LINCOLN CENTER INC: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DRUG DISCOVERY FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD MONUMENTS FUND INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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 THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Museum of Modern Art ↗
  • Who funds American Museum of Natural History ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES ↗
  • Who funds COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds THE ASIA SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds WNET ↗
  • Who funds THE VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATERINC D/B/A LINCOLN CENTER THEATER ↗
  • Who funds SESAME WORKSHOP ↗
  • Who funds JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW YORK STEM CELL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CITIZENS COMMITTEE FOR NEW YORK CITY INC ↗
  • Who funds METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART ↗
  • Who funds LINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW YORK CITY BALLET INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC ↗
  • Who funds SANCTUARY FOR FAMILIES INC ↗
  • Who funds THE PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC ↗
  • Who funds PLEDGELING FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BANCROFT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT ↗
  • Who funds BROWN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds The Trustees of Princeton University ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL THEATRE IN AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds CHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC ↗

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.

Jewish Communal FundThe Ford FoundationThe Goldman Sachs Cha…National Philanthropi…The Shana Alexander C…J & Ar FoundationThe New York Communit…Morgan Stanley Global…American Endowment Fo…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…
Jewish Communal FundNY18.1× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Communal Fund · The Ford Foundation · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · The Shana Alexander Charitable Foundation · J & Ar Foundation · The New York Community Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Endowment Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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 Hess Philanthropic Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Hess Philanthropic Fund. 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%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 100 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 Hess Philanthropic’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