Skip to content
Horner Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Horner 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.

$112k
Granted FY2023
78
Grants FY2023
11
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

85% of Horner Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Schwab Charitable Fund, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 39 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2023, the last year Horner Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 39 organizations, $112k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

36
’21
38
’22
39
’23
39
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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.

Philanthropy$636kEducation$96kCrime & Legal$37kEnvironment$34kArts & Culture$31kHuman Services$26kPublic Benefit$25kCivil Rights$22kOther$0
02FY2023 · 78 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN RIVERS$5,000
LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION$5,000
HIGH-JUMP$3,500
OBAMA FOUNDATION$2,500
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL$2,500
FAMILY FOCUS$2,500
CAMP NEBAGAMON FOUNDATION$2,500
MAGEN DAVID ADOM (RED CROSS OF ISRA$2,500
FAMILY FOCUS$2,500
FAMILY FOCUS$2,500
UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MU$2,500
HUNGER COALITION$2,500
OBAMA FOUNDATION$2,500
ART INSTITUTE SUSTAINING FELLOWS$2,500
FRANCIS W PARKER SCHOOL$2,500
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 (FY21–24, $28k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 62% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%HUCKLEBERRY YOUTH PROGRAMS: $250 → 10%COMMUNITY ACTION MARIN: $500 → 8%RAC FUND FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $2k → 8%RAC FUND FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $2k → 8%LARKIN STREET YOUTH SERVICES: $1k → 10%RAC FUND FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $2k → 8%BOWERY RESIDENTS COMMITTEE: $1k → 17%RAC FUND FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $2k → 8%MIRACLE MESSAGES: $500 → 10%BOWERY RESIDENTS COMMITTEE: $1k → 17%RAC FUND FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $2k → 8%MIRACLE MESSAGES: $250 → 10%BOWERY RESIDENTS COMMITTEE: $1k → 17%MIRACLE MESSAGES: $250 → 10%BOWERY RESIDENTS COMMITTEE: $750 → 17%BOWERY RESIDENTS COMMITTEE: $1k → 17%RITTER CENTER: $175 → 8%JEWISH CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES: $500 → 14%FAMILY FOCUS: $3k → 14%FAMILY FOCUS: $3k → 14%FAMILY FOCUS: $3k → 14%FAMILY FOCUS: $3k → 14%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

WA
ID
MT
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
CT
RI
CA
CO
WV
MD
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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$346k · 69 repeat orgs$61k to everyone else

69 repeat relationships: 59 still active in FY2023, 10 since wound down; 22 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call). Read against FY2023, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

69
33

Total granted

$346k
$33k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
+25%

Still filing today

61%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $23k 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
EducationHuman ServicesArts & CultureInternationalCrime & LegalEnvironmentOther
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

  • HJ
    HIGH JUMP
    4× · 2021–2024 · $23k · revenue +34%
  • LS
    LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $22k · revenue +22%
  • University of Chicago
    3× · 2021–2023 · $20k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • RA
    REBECCA A COPELAND FUND FOR SOCIAL
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
  • GF
    GLOBAL FUND FOR WOMAN
    one grant, 2021 · $4k
  • JU
    JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGOgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $3k · revenue +33%
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
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
3
Chicago Public Education Fund

The chicago public education fund (the fund) is a nonprofit organization that improves public schools in chicago by investing in the talented educators who lead them.

Education
4
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
5
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
6
Food Forward Inc

Food forward fights hunger and prevents food waste by rescuing fresh surplus produce, connecting this abundance with people experiencing food insecurity, and inspiring others to do the same.

Food & Nutrition
7
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
8
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
9
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
10
Public Health Institute

Public health institute generates and promotes research, leadership and partnerships to build capacity for strong public health policy, programs, systems and practices.

Health
11
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
12
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Action Against Hunger - Usa; the most unlike its peers is California Reentry Program. 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

71 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. 71 of the 126 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
71/71
Grantees still filing
53/71
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $620,161 · PhilanthropyDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC+3 more: $10,000 · PhilanthropyART INSTITUTE SUSTAINING FELLOWS: $7,550 · OtherHARVARD LAW SCHOOL: $7,000 · OtherSMART MUSEUM: $7,000 · OtherFAMILY FOCUS: $6,500 · OtherWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $9,600 · OtherBLAINE COUNTY HUNGER COALITION INC: $11,500 · OtherBLAINE COUNTY HUNGER…CAMP NEBAGAMON: $8,000 · Other+78 more: $131,340 · Other+78 moreHIGH JUMP: $22,500 · EducationHIGH JUMPUniversity of Chicago: $20,000 · EducationUniversit…Francis W Parker School: $13,500 · EducationFrancis W…MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION: $7,500 · EducationMIKVA CHA…CONNECTICUT COLLEGE: $7,500 · EducationCONNECTIC…UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $5,000 · EducationUNIVERSIT…+6 more: $8,250 · Education+6 moreTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $17,500 · Arts & CultureKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry: $8,500 · Arts & CultureThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $5,000 · Arts & CultureOLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC: $4,500 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $1,800 · Arts & CultureLEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION: $22,000 · Crime & LegalElyssas Mission NFP: $8,000 · Crime & LegalCALIFORNIA REENTRY PROGRAM: $2,000 · Crime & LegalLEGAL AID CHICAGO: $2,000 · Crime & LegalFamily Focus: $10,000 · Human ServicesREBECCA A COPELAND FUND FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $10,000 · Human ServicesBOWERY RESIDENTS COMMITTEE INC: $4,750 · Human ServicesEverstrong Prevention: $2,000 · Human Services+7 more: $4,425 · Human ServicesAMERICAN RIVERS INC: $20,000 · EnvironmentWESTERN RIVERS CONSERVANCY: $2,250 · EnvironmentCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $2,000 · EnvironmentPlanting Justice: $1,000 · Environment
Philanthropy$630,161Other$188,490Education$84,250Arts & Culture$37,300Crime & Legal$34,000Human Services$31,175Environment$25,250

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 budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $620,161 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHIGH JUMP: $22,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetLEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION: $22,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $20,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN RIVERS INC: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $17,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFrancis W Parker School: $13,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBLAINE COUNTY HUNGER COALITION INC: $11,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFamily Focus: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetREBECCA A COPELAND FUND FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE: $10,000 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $9,600 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry: $8,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetElyssas Mission NFP: $8,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetCAMP NEBAGAMON: $8,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION: $7,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT COLLEGE: $7,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $5,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBOWERY RESIDENTS COMMITTEE INC: $4,750 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetOLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC: $4,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHighland Park Community Foundation: $4,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHIGHER GROUND USA INC: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWE CARE SOLAR: $3,850 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CHATHAM INITIATIVE: $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK: $2,750 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $2,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH PARK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION: $2,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSUN VALLEY CULINARY INSTITUTE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWESTERN RIVERS CONSERVANCY: $2,250 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe Cara Program: $2,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAIDS Foundation of Chicago: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEverstrong Prevention: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA REENTRY PROGRAM: $2,000 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetMUNSON HEALTHCARE: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA FIRE FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTENDERLOIN NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLEGAL AID CHICAGO: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT HOPE - THE PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LATIN SCHOOL OF CHICAGO: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $1,200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEnriching Lives Through Music: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPlanting Justice: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE: $1,000 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.

  • Who funds DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ↗
  • Who funds HIGH JUMP ↗
  • Who funds LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds University of Chicago ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN RIVERS INC ↗
  • Who funds THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Francis W Parker School ↗
  • Who funds BLAINE COUNTY HUNGER COALITION INC ↗
  • Who funds Family Focus ↗
  • Who funds REBECCA A COPELAND FUND FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE ↗
  • Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC ↗
  • Who funds Kenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry ↗
  • Who funds Elyssas Mission NFP ↗
  • Who funds CAMP NEBAGAMON ↗
  • Who funds MIKVA CHALLENGE GRANT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CONNECTICUT COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER ↗
  • Who funds The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ↗
  • Who funds BOWERY RESIDENTS COMMITTEE INC ↗
  • Who funds OLD TOWN SCHOOL OF FOLK MUSIC ↗
  • Who funds Highland Park Community Foundation ↗
  • Who funds HIGHER GROUND USA INC ↗
  • Who funds WE CARE SOLAR ↗
  • Who funds GREATER CHATHAM INITIATIVE ↗

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.

Gs Donor Advised Phil…Silicon Valley Commun…Jewish Federation of …Marin Community Found…The Chicago Community…Jewish Community Fede…John D and Catherine …Leonard & Beryl Buck …Bothin FoundationPolk Bros Foundation …The San Francisco Fou…Sacks Family Foundati…
Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncNY19× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Marin Community Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Leonard & Beryl Buck Foundation · Bothin Foundation · Polk Bros Foundation Inc · The San Francisco Foundation · Sacks Family 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 Horner Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Horner Foundation. 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%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Connecticut College: 0% of income from government
  • Western Rivers Conservancy: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
20report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Horner Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Horner 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 126 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Horner’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