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Hope for Depression Research Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Hope for Depression Research Foundation

Our mission is two-fold: first and foremost hdrf funds the most innovative neuroscience research into the origins, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of depression and its related mood disorders bipolar disorder, postpartum depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder and suicide.

$4.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2025.

Health$37M
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 5 grants below total $3,660,611, the rows itemized in this filing. The $4,469,123 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $808,512 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$885,217
Median grant
3
States reached
$39M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC$1,014,832
ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI$959,012
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN$885,217
JOAN & SANFORD I WEIL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL$413,323
DUKE UNIVERSITY$388,227
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $167k → 11%RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC: $2.1M → 14%JOAN & SANFORD I WEIL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL: $368k → 16%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: $556k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $885k → 14%THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: $195k → 10%DUKE UNIVERSITY: $388k → 11%EMORY UNIVERSITY: $250k → 14%JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $168k → 19%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $165k → 11%RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC: $580k → 14%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: $556k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $885k → 14%DUKE UNIVERSITY: $384k → 11%JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $167k → 19%RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC: $579k → 14%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: $493k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $876k → 14%DUKE UNIVERSITY: $382k → 11%RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC: $561k → 14%ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $627k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $775k → 14%DUKE UNIVERSITY: $368k → 11%ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $494k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $768k → 14%DUKE UNIVERSITY: $368k → 11%ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $494k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $746k → 14%DUKE UNIVERSITY: $368k → 11%JOAN & SANFORD I WEIL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL: $413k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $700k → 14%DUKE UNIVERSITY: $364k → 11%JOAN & SANFORD I WEIL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL: $413k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $700k → 14%JOAN & SANFORD I WEIL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL: $413k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $685k → 14%JOAN & SANFORD I WEIL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL: $370k → 17%JOAN & SANFORD I WEIL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL: $370k → 17%JOAN & SANFORD I WEIL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL: $370k → 17%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $1.2M → 17%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $1.2M → 17%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $1.1M → 17%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $1.0M → 17%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $1.0M → 17%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $959k → 17%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $836k → 17%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $825k → 17%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $574k → 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.

Grants abroad, by region: $809k on the FY2025 return

Schedule F, as filed: 2 regions. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

North America (Canada and Mexico)$417k · 52% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: DEPRESSION RESEARCH

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$392k · 48% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: DEPRESSION RESEARCH

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$35M · 9 repeat orgs$250k to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
1

Total granted

$35M
$250k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
+80%

Still filing today

56%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHealthOther
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

  • RF
    RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $11M · revenue +70%
  • ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
    9× · 2017–2025 · $8.6M · revenue +58%
  • DUKE UNIVERSITY
    7× · 2019–2025 · $2.6M · revenue +44%

Funded once

  • EU
    Emory Universitygraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $250k · revenue +80%
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
04the grantee network

7 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. 7 of the 11 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)
7/7
Grantees still filing
7/7
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $8,618,178 · EducationICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAIDUKE UNIVERSITY: $2,619,609 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITYTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $1,764,358 · EducationTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITYTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $1,603,868 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CIT…+2 more: $749,755 · EducationRESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC: $11,114,289 · HealthRESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYG…REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $7,019,877 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MIC…Weill Medical College of Cornell Univers: $2,717,754 · OtherWeill Medical College of Cornell…BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM: $500,044 · Other+1 more: $332,079 · Other
Education$15,355,768Health$11,114,289Other$10,569,754

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

25%50%75%100%grantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetRESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC: $11,114,289 over 9y, 1.0% of budgetICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $8,618,178 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $2,619,609 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $1,764,358 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $1,603,868 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $500,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetEmory University: $249,755 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.

  • Who funds RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC ↗
  • Who funds ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI ↗
  • Who funds DUKE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Emory University ↗

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Hope for Depression Research Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Hope for Depression Research Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
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 Hope for Depression Research Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Hope for Depression Research 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 11 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 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

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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