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Horatio Alger Assn of Distinguished Americans Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Horatio Alger Assn of Distinguished Americans Inc

The primary exempt purpose of the association is two fold: (1) to provide scholarship assistance to help promising high school students (who fit the horatio alger profile) attend college, and (2) to spread the message that america's free enterprise system provides the greatest opportunities in the world for personal achievement and…

$8.7M
Granted FY2023
2
Grants FY2023
2
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2023.

Arts & Culture$3.0MEducation$1.6MPublic Benefit$250k
02FY2023 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 2 grants below total $110,689, the rows itemized in this filing. The $8,683,754 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $8,573,065 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.

By grant size · FY2023

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $11k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$100,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$40M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HERBIE HANCOCK INSTITUTE OF JAZZ$100,000
RANDOLPH MACON ACADEMY$10,689
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 (FY17–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 19%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 91% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%BRISTOL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $5k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $45k → 11%THE MORTEL FAMILY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $50k → 12%MAKING WAVES FOUNDATION: $161k → 9%JOBREDI FOUNDATION: $585k → 12%JUILLIARD SCHOOL: $5k → 17%HERBIE HANCOCK INSTITUTE OF JAZZ: $100k → 14%THE SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF ST LOUIS: $125k → 21%COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $5k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA WILMINGTON: $31k → 12%RANDOLPH-MACON ACADEMY: $32k → 10%FOSTER'S OUTRIDERS FOUNDATION: $250k → 5%THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM: $2.4M → 23%UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $20k → 11%THE MORTEL FAMILY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $50k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA WILMINGTON: $16k → 12%RANDOLPH-MACON ACADEMY: $25k → 10%THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM: $500k → 23%THE MORTEL FAMILY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $50k → 12%RANDOLPH-MACON ACADEMY: $25k → 10%THE MORTEL FAMILY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $50k → 12%RANDOLPH MACON ACADEMY: $11k → 10%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

MN
NY
MA
WY
PA
CA
NE
MO
VA
NC
DC
LA
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.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.7M · 6 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +87% since the first grant, against +20% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2023, 5 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
7

Total granted

$3.7M
$1.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+87%
+20%

Still filing today

83%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 10% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $100k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23
EducationArts & CulturePhilanthropyCivil RightsOther
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

  • TN
    THE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $2.9M · revenue +26%
  • MC
    METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION
    3× · 2018–2022 · $349k · revenue +250%
  • MH
    MORTEL HIGH HOPES FOR HAITI FOUNDATION
    5× · 2017–2021 · $200k · revenue +215%

Funded once

  • JF
    JOBREDI FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $585k · revenue -100%
  • FO
    FOSTER'S OUTRIDERS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $250k · revenue +477% · 62% of their budget
  • MW
    MAKING WAVES FOUNDATION INC AKA MAKING WAVES EDUCATION FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $161k · revenue -45%
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
Collegiate Foundations
Philanthropy
2
Monticello College Foundation
—
3
Stanbridge University Foundation
Education
4
University Foundation
—
5
The Manitoba Foundation
—
6
Ruby Jolliffe Scholarship Foundation
International
7
Redlich Horwitz Foundation
—
8
George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts Inc
Arts & Culture
9
The Morris Stulsaft Foundation
—
10
Jerome Robbins Foundation
Arts & Culture
11
The Mayer - Rothschild Foundation
Health
12
Studenica Foundation
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Scholarship Foundation of St Louis; the most unlike its peers is Mortel High Hopes for Haiti Foundation. 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

13 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. 13 of the 14 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/13
Grantees still filing
10/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM INC: $2,920,000 · Arts & CultureTHE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM INC+1 more: $100,000 · Arts & CultureJOBREDI FOUNDATION: $585,000 · OtherJOBREDI FOUNDATIO…THE SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF ST LOUIS: $125,000 · OtherTHE SCHOLARSHIP F…University of North Carolina at Wilmington - College of Health & Human Serv: $46,628 · OtherUniversity of Nor…+1 more: $5,475 · OtherMETROPOLITAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $348,829 · EducationMETROPOLITAN CO…MAKING WAVES FOUNDATION INC AKA MAKING WAVES EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $161,000 · EducationMAKING WAVES FO…Randolph-Macon Academy: $92,242 · EducationRandolph-Macon …UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $65,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF M…+2 more: $10,000 · EducationFOSTER'S OUTRIDERS FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Civil RightsMORTEL HIGH HOPES FOR HAITI FOUNDATION: $200,000 · Philanthropy
Arts & Culture$3,020,000Other$762,103Education$677,071Civil Rights$250,000Philanthropy$200,000

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 NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM INC: $2,920,000 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetJOBREDI FOUNDATION: $585,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetMETROPOLITAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $348,829 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetFOSTER'S OUTRIDERS FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 62% of budgetMORTEL HIGH HOPES FOR HAITI FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 5y, 15% of budgetMAKING WAVES FOUNDATION INC AKA MAKING WAVES EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $161,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF ST LOUIS: $125,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetHERBIE HANCOCK INSTITUTE OF JAZZ: $100,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetRandolph-Macon Academy: $92,242 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $65,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $5,475 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBristol Community College Foundation Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJUILLIARD SCHOOL: $5,000 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.

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.

American Endowment Fo…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
American Endowment FoundationOH9.6× affinity5 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Horatio Alger Assn of Distinguished Americans Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Horatio Alger Assn of Distinguished Americans Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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 14 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports $12M of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2023, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Horatio Alger Assn of Distinguished Americans’ filings →

    More from the funding graph

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    The endowment market
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