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Jesselson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Jesselson Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$274k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

International$2.6MEducation$820kPhilanthropy$389kReligion$340kArts & Culture$256kHealth$135kScience & Tech$100kCrime & Legal$50kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $12k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $76k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $186k
$12,550
Median grant
2
States reached
$6.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE NETHERLAND AMERICAN FDTN$100,000
CTEEN UPPER WEST SIDE INC$86,300
PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FDS$37,975
CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY$25,000
CHABAD OF KEY BISCAYNE$12,550
AMERICN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC$5,000
JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL OF NY$3,600
THE TIKVAH FUND$2,000
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ISRAEL$1,620
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 (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $129k → 22%CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY: $25k → 17%SAR ACADEMY: $45k → 28%CHABAD OF KEY BISCANE: $57k → 15%JJ GREENBURG INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF JEWISH LIFE: $25k → 11%JEWISH BOOK TRUST: $10k → 14%CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY: $25k → 17%SAR ACADEMY: $10k → 28%CHABAD OF KEY BISCAYNE: $13k → 15%BAECK (LEO) INSTITUTE: $20k → 17%BAECK (LEO) INSTITUTE: $10k → 17%AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 17%KEREN HASHLUCHIM: $60k → 20%AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR SHAARE ZEDEK MEDICAL CTR: $125k → 17%THE NETHERLAND AMERICAN FDTN: $100k → 17%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF NISHMAT: $30k → 17%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF SHAARE ZEDEK HOSPITAL: $10k → 17%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY: $25k → 17%UNITED JEWISH APPEAL: $210k → 17%BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY: $166k → 17%UNITED JEWISH APPEAL: $136k → 17%UNITED JEWISH APPEAL: $36k → 17%BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY: $18k → 17%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $165k → 17%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $65k → 17%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $50k → 17%CTEEN UPPER WEST SIDE INC: $86k → 17%MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN: $35k → 17%MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN: $35k → 17%MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $15k → 17%FIFTH AVENUE SYNAGOGUE: $43k → 17%MOMA: $15k → 17%MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $15k → 17%YESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $100k → 17%KHAL ADATH JESHRUN INC: $15k → 17%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA INC: $10k → 17%PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $1.5M → 17%PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FDS: $453k → 17%PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $160k → 17%PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FDS: $130k → 17%PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FDS: $38k → 17%NLI USA INC: $35k → 17%CONFERENCE OF PRESIDENT'S FUND: $30k → 17%PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $25k → 17%CATALYST FOUNDATION FOR UNIVERSAL EDUCATION: $250k → 17%AMERICAN FDS OF THE ISRAEL MUSEUM: $57k → 17%NEW YORK LEGAL ASSISTANCE GROUP: $25k → 17%NEW YORK LEGAL ASSISTANCE GROUP: $25k → 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.
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.

51%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.0M · 12 repeat orgs$1000k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
30

Total granted

$1.0M
$801k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+12%

Still filing today

50%
37%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 16% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $199k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureInternationalEducationPhilanthropyOther
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

  • BI
    BAR ILAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL INC
    2× · 2019–2021 · $184k · revenue +17%
  • YU
    YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2019–2020 · $104k · revenue +31%
  • NY
    NEW YORK LEGAL ASSISTANCE GROUP INC
    2× · 2019–2021 · $50k · revenue +93%

Funded once

  • TC
    THE CATALYST FOUNDATION FOR UNIVERSAL EDUCATION INC
    one grant, 2021 · $250k · revenue 0%
  • AC
    AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR SHAARE ZEDEK HOSPITAL IN JERUSALEM INC
    one grant, 2021 · $125k · revenue -14%
  • MY
    M Y KEREN HASHLUCHIM INC
    one grant, 2020 · $60k
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 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
2
University of Judaism Foundation
—
3
Museum of Jewish Heritage a Living Memorial to the Holocaust

The museum of jewish heritage - a living memorial to the holocaust is new york's contribution to the global responsibility to never forget. see schedule o for additional information.

Arts & Culture
4
Yivo Institute for Jewish Research Inc

Yivo's mission is to study the thousand-year history of jewish life in eastern europe and russia in all its aspects: language, history, religion, folkways and material culture. yivo's archive and library preserves a significant collection…

Religion
5
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Committed to exceptional healthcare quality for all and actively engaged with our community, einstein drives scientific discovery and educates compassionate leaders in health and science.

Education
6
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Chartered by a unanimous act of congress, the museum is america's national institution for the documentation, study, interpretation, and education of holocaust history and serves as our country's memorial to the victims of the holocaust.…

Arts & Culture
7
The Jewish Agency for Israel

The jewish agency binds jews across ideologies and civilizations together in a worldwide jewish family with israel at its center. it provides the global framework for aliyah, ensures global jewish safety, strengthens jewish identity and…

—
8
Weizmann Institute of Science

The weizmann institute of science, located in rehovot, israel, is one of the worlds top-ranking, multidisciplinary research institutions. at any one time, several thousand scientists, staff and students are involved in hundreds of research…

Science & Tech
9
Hebrew University of Jerusalem

To promote, encourage, aid and advance higher and secondary education, research and training in all branches of knowledge. as the standard bearer of excellence, the university strives to ensure and foster outstanding achievements in all…

Education
10
Eastern European Jewish Heritage Foundation
Philanthropy
11
American Friends of Bar-Ilan University

We fundraise in the u.s. to support, and raise awareness of, bar-ilan university in israel.

Education
12
Sherit Isroel
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is American Friends of Hebrew University Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Tikvah Fund. 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

22 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. 22 of the 51 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)
21/22
Grantees still filing
14/22
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $2,299,237 · PhilanthropyPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC+1 more: $3,600 · PhilanthropyUNITED JEWISH APPEAL: $382,000 · OtherUNITED JEWISH APPEALTHE CATALYST FOUNDATION FOR UNIVERSAL EDUCATION INC: $250,000 · OtherTHE CATALYST FOUNDATION FOR UNIVERSA…BAR ILAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL INC: $184,000 · OtherBAR ILAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL INCTHE NETHERLAND AMERICAN FDTN: $100,000 · OtherTHE NETHERLAND AMERICAN FDTNCTEEN UPPER WEST SIDE INC: $86,300 · OtherCTEEN UPPER WEST SIDE INCCHABAD OF KEY BISCAYNE INC: $72,259 · OtherM Y KEREN HASHLUCHIM INC: $60,000 · OtherSALANTER AKIBA RIVERDALE ACADEMY: $57,160 · OtherAMERICAN FDS OF THE ISRAEL MUSEUM: $57,000 · Other+23 more: $277,520 · Other+23 moreTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $286,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES …TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $128,500 · EducationTRUSTEES OF T…YESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $104,250 · EducationYESHIVA UNIVE…NLI USA INC: $35,000 · EducationNLI USA INC+1 more: $2,000 · EducationMUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN: $70,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureMuseum of Modern Art: $30,000 · Arts & CultureAmerican Friends of Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: $10,000 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $9,900 · Arts & CultureSIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC: $8,334 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $7,750 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR SHAARE ZEDEK HOSPITAL IN JERUSALEM INC: $125,000 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF NISHMAT INC: $30,000 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY INC: $25,000 · International+1 more: $5,000 · International
Philanthropy$2,302,837Other$1,526,239Education$555,750Arts & Culture$185,984International$185,000

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 budgetPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $2,299,237 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $286,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBAR ILAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL INC: $184,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $128,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR SHAARE ZEDEK HOSPITAL IN JERUSALEM INC: $125,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetYESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $104,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN: $70,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR JEWISH HISTORY INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetNEW YORK LEGAL ASSISTANCE GROUP INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNLI USA INC: $35,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF NISHMAT INC: $30,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Friends of Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $9,900 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC: $8,334 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJERUSALEM FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $3,600 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMetropolitan Opera Association Inc: $2,750 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.

Jewish Communal FundFjcAnne and Natalio Frid…Combined Jewish Phila…Jay and Jean Schotten…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…Donor Advised Charita…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Jewish Communal FundNY20.1× affinity9 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Communal Fund · Fjc · Anne and Natalio Fridman Foundation · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Jay and Jean Schottenstein Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · 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 Jesselson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Jesselson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Jesselson Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Jesselson 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 51 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Jesselson’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