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John and Amy Phelan Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

John and Amy Phelan Family 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.

$4.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$1.5M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$4.1MSocial Science$3.2MEducation$2.6MPhilanthropy$2.1MInternational$1.9MScience & Tech$1.8MHealth$600kHuman Services$250kOther$0
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $183k
  • $250k+6 grants · $3.8M
$250,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$64M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LSE FOUNDATION$1,475,000
SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY$1,000,000
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL FORWARD FELLOWSHIP$550,000
NATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR MUSEUM FOUNDATION$250,000
THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION$250,000
PRESERVATION FOUNDATION OF PALM BEACH$250,000
PROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION$100,000
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF ART$83,333
FEDERAL ENFORCEMENT HOMELAND SECURITY FOUNDATION$25,000
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 (FY24–24, $250k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%THIRD OPTION FOUNDATION: $250k → 6%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
PA
RI
CA
CO
VA
TX
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 22% of John and Amy Phelan Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

John and Amy Phelan Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
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.
$11M · 14 repeat orgs$3.6M to everyone else

14 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
5

Total granted

$11M
$260k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+59%

Still filing today

71%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 16% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.3M went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationInternationalHealthScience & TechHuman ServicesOther
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

  • WM
    WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
    3× · 2017–2019 · $1.1M · revenue +161%
  • SO
    Spirit of America Worldwide
    4× · 2017–2022 · $1.1M · revenue +472%
  • TA
    THE AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE
    4× · 2018–2021 · $477k · revenue +84%

Funded once

  • TL
    THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
    one grant, 2017 · $100k
  • BG
    BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF PBCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +67%
  • NW
    NAVAL WAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +53%
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
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
2
Museum of American Finance

Finance impacts everyone. as a socially relevant organization, the museum of american finance seeks to improve understanding of the influence of financial institutions and capital markets on the u.s. and global economies, and on…

—
3
The Rand Corporation

Help improve policy and decision making through research and analysis.

Public Benefit
4
Boston Architectural College

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

—
5
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
6
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
7
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
8
American Foreign Service Association

American foreign service association (afsa) is both the principal advocate for the long-term institutional wellbeing of the professional career foreign service and responsible for safeguarding the interest of afsa members. (continued on…

—
9
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
10
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
11
New York School of Interior Design

New york school of interior design provides the most innovative, immersive, and transformative interior design education in the world, demonstrating the impact of professionally designed interiors on the health, happiness, and well-being…

Education
12
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Philanthropic Trust; the most unlike its peers is Federal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

21 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. 21 of the 29 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)
21/21
Grantees still filing
13/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PHELAN FAMILY FOUNDATION DAF: $1,650,977 · OtherPHELAN FAMILY FOUNDATION DAFHARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL FORWARD FELLOWSHIP: $1,600,000 · OtherHARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL FORWARD FELLOWSHIPLSE FOUNDATION: $1,475,000 · OtherLSE FOUNDATIONTHE AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE: $1,456,255 · OtherTHE AMERICAN FUND FOR LSENATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR MUSEUM: $500,000 · OtherNATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR MUSEUMTHE AMERICAN IRELAND FUND (DBA THE IRELAND FUNDS AMERICA/THE IRELAND FUNDS): $307,650 · Other+6 more: $568,333 · Other+6 moreASPEN ART MUSEUM: $1,750,000 · Arts & CultureASPEN ART MUSEUMWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $1,150,000 · Arts & CultureWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERIC…NATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR …The Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach Inc: $250,000 · Arts & CultureThe Preservation Foundat…+3 more: $155,000 · Arts & CulturePresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $1,600,000 · EducationPresident and Fell…Southern Methodist University: $1,000,000 · EducationSouthern Methodist…YEAR UP INC: $100,000 · Education+1 more: $25,000 · EducationSpirit of America Worldwide: $1,080,000 · InternationalSpirit of …THE AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE: $477,000 · InternationalTHE AMERIC…NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $425,000 · PhilanthropyPROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: $200,000 · PhilanthropyCHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC: $400,000 · HealthCOLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $300,000 · Science & Tech
Other$7,558,215Arts & Culture$3,555,000Education$2,725,000International$1,557,000Philanthropy$625,000Health$400,000Science & Tech$300,000

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 budgetASPEN ART MUSEUM: $1,750,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $1,600,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $1,150,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetSpirit of America Worldwide: $1,080,000 over 4y, 8.7% of budgetSouthern Methodist University: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE: $477,000 over 4y, 3.6% of budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $425,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC: $400,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetTHE AMERICAN IRELAND FUND (DBA THE IRELAND FUNDS AMERICA/THE IRELAND FUNDS): $307,650 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetCOLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $300,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetThe Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTHIRD OPTION FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetPROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF PBC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetYEAR UP INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTATE AMERICAS FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFederal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 5.2% of budgetNAVAL WAR COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMOVING PICTURE INSTITUTE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

National Philanthropi…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
National Philanthropic TrustPA11.3× affinity5 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 John and Amy Phelan Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from John and Amy Phelan Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Year Up Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get 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 · 0–50%
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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to John and Amy Phelan Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to John and Amy Phelan Family 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 29 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 John and Amy Phelan Family’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