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Jonathan M Nelson Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Jonathan M Nelson Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$8.8M
Granted FY2024still arriving
14
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$3.5M
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, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$15MScience & Tech$3.9MPhilanthropy$2.6MHealth$2.2MCivil Rights$500kArts & Culture$350kEnvironment$114kAnimals$79kOther$0
02FY2024 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $5k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $60k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $300k
  • $250k+4 grants · $8.4M
$25,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$180M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY$3,550,000
THE GOLDMAN SACHS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND$2,300,000
THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY$2,100,000
FOUNDATION TO COMBAT ANTISEMINISM$500,000
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL$200,000
HARC FOUNDATION$100,000
MALARIA NO MORE$25,000
TRINITY REPERTORY COMPANY$15,000
BROWN UNIVERSITY$10,000
COMMUNITY WORD PROJECT$10,000
RHODE ISLAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY$2,500
WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC$1,000
ALTA COMMUNITY ENRICHMENT$1,000
THE JAMESTOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT$250
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 (FY20–20, $16k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM: $16k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
NY
MA
IN
NJ
RI
CA
UT
VA
DC
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$11M · 22 repeat orgs$1.3M to everyone else

22 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 14 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
25

Total granted

$11M
$629k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+47%

Still filing today

91%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $626k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationPhilanthropyHealthEnvironmentFood & NutritionOther
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

  • INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY - LOUIS BAMBERGER & MRS FELIX FULD FOUNDATION
    3× · 2020–2024 · $3.9M · revenue +98%
  • TR
    THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
    3× · 2020–2024 · $3.7M · revenue +1%
  • NY
    NEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC
    2× · 2020–2023 · $2.0M · revenue +8%

Funded once

  • RI
    RHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION - COVID 19 FUND
    one grant, 2020 · $258k
  • TM
    THE MILKEN INSTITUTEgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $63k · revenue +47%
  • NF
    NEWPORT FESTIVALS FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +175%
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
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
2
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.

—
3
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
4
Neurology Associates of Stony Brook University Faculty Practice Corp

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
5
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
6
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
7
Boston Architectural College

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

—
8
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
9
Stony Brook Ophthalmology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
10
Stony Brook Surgical Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
11
Stony Brook Urology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New England Aquarium Corporation; the most unlike its peers is Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism Inc. 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

48 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. 48 of the 55 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
47/48
Grantees still filing
39/48
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BROWN UNIVERSITY: $7,725,500 · Community ImprovementBROWN UNIVERSITY+1 more: $15,237 · Community ImprovementTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $3,652,949 · EducationTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITYTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $3,020,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVE…+5 more: $197,500 · EducationINSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY - LOUIS BAMBERGER & MRS FELIX FULD FOUNDATION: $3,850,000 · Science & TechINSTITUTE FOR ADV…THE GOLDMAN SACHS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $2,300,000 · PhilanthropyTHE GOLDMA…+4 more: $32,000 · PhilanthropyNEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC: $2,000,000 · HealthNEW YORK-…+2 more: $30,000 · HealthHARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL: $700,000 · OtherRHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION - COVID 19 FUND: $258,308 · OtherPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $193,600 · OtherHARC FOUNDATION: $100,000 · OtherSAVE THE BAY INC: $100,000 · Other+31 more: $627,565 · OtherFOUNDATION TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM INC: $500,000 · Civil Rights
Community Improvement$7,740,737Education$6,870,449Science & Tech$3,850,000Philanthropy$2,332,000Health$2,030,000Other$1,979,473Civil Rights$500,000

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 budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $7,725,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY - LOUIS BAMBERGER & MRS FELIX FULD FOUNDATION: $3,850,000 over 3y, 5.1% of budgetTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $3,652,949 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $3,020,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GOLDMAN SACHS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $2,300,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetNEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC: $2,000,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFOUNDATION TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM INC: $500,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $193,600 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHFIELD MOUNT HERMON SCHOOL: $120,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSAVE THE BAY INC: $100,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetTHE MILKEN INSTITUTE: $62,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Gordon School: $60,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetNARRAGANSETT COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA: $60,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetNEWPORT FESTIVALS FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetNEW ENGLAND AQUARIUM CORPORATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY-WORD PROJECT INC: $40,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetINNER CITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetRHODE ISLAND COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ASSOCIATION: $28,025 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAPOLLO THEATER FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE HARMONY PROGRAM INC: $25,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetTrinity Repertory Company: $25,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NEW YORK OPPORTUNITY NETWORK INC DBA THE OPPORTUNITY NETWORK: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFrom The Heart Productions: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMALARIA NO MORE FUND: $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetRHODE ISLAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $21,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FUND FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetENDEAVOR GLOBAL INC (F/K/A THE ENDEAVOR INITIATIVE INC): $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTOURETTE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM INC: $16,440 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOOD BANK FOR NEW YORK CITY: $15,237 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJamestown Community Farm Inc: $10,500 over 3y, 7.5% of budgetEDESIA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROPRIETORS OF THE BOSTON ATHENAEUM: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOPELINK: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHAWN THORNTON FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRISE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWILDLIFE REHABILITATORS ASSOCIATION OF RHODE ISLAND: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE WOLF SCHOOL INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY MUSICWORKS: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAlta Community Enrichment: $2,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetCONANICUT ISLAND LAND TRUST CORPORATION: $2,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF ALTA INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNEW YORK CARES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBUTLER HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetJAMESTOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT: $600 over 3y, 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.

The Gilbane Family Fo…The Champlin Foundati…The Rhode Island Comm…Citizens Charitable F…Amica Companies Found…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Frederick C Tanner Me…Ralph R Papitto & Bar…Boston Foundation IncUnited Way of Rhode I…The New York Communit…Textron Charitable Tr…
The Gilbane Family FoundationRI17.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Gilbane Family Foundation · The Champlin Foundation · The Rhode Island Community Foundation · Citizens Charitable Foundation · Amica Companies Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Frederick C Tanner Memorial Fund · Ralph R Papitto & Barbara a Papitto Private Family Foundation · Boston Foundation Inc · United Way of Rhode Island Inc · The New York Community Trust · Textron Charitable Trust Dtd 122353

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 Jonathan M Nelson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Jonathan M Nelson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • New England Aquarium Corporation: 12% of income from government
  • Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation: 7% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Proprietors of the Boston Athenaeum: 0% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
8report 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 Jonathan M Nelson Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Jonathan M Nelson 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 55 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 Jonathan M Nelson 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