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Joseph and Sherry Felson Family Foundation at a glance

· Public charity

Joseph and Sherry Felson Family Foundation

Supports the charitable, educational, & religious purposes of the jewish community foundation

$385k
Granted FY2018
15
Grants FY2018
5
States reached
$90k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

100% of Joseph and Sherry Felson Family Foundation’s FY2020 grant dollars went to Jewish Community Federation Of San Francisco The Peninsula Marin & Sonoma, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2020 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2018, the last year Joseph and Sherry Felson Family Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 15 organizations, $372k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

10
’17
15
’18
14
’19
0
’20

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

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 2020.

Philanthropy$819kArts & Culture$495kInternational$311kPublic Benefit$130kReligion$79kEducation$40kSocial Science$30kCivil Rights$10kOther$0
02FY2018 · 15 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 15 grants below total $371,900, the rows itemized in this filing. The $385,010 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $13,110 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 · FY2018

  • Under $10k4 grants · $28k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $140k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $204k
$11,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION$90,000
ASPEN ART MUSEUM$62,500
JEWISH FEDERATION OF THE EAST BAY$51,000
TULANE UNIVERSITY$40,000
ANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER$26,000
SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART$20,000
JEWISH PARTISAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$13,000
WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY$11,000
EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE$10,000
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE$10,000
JAZZ AT ASPEN-SNOWMASS$10,000
HILLEL INTERNATIONAL$9,000
HILLEL FOUNDATION OF NEW ORLEANS$9,000
URBAN ADAMAH$5,400
CHABAD JEWISH CENTER OF OAKLAND$5,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–20) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 24% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%URBAN ADAMAH: $5k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $20k → 10%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL MUSEUM: $6k → 14%AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE: $5k → 17%AMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $90k → 14%EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $10k → 18%ANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER: $39k → 6%TULANE UNIVERSITY: $40k → 23%CHABAD JEWISH CENTER OF OAKLAND: $5k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $20k → 10%AMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $90k → 14%ANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER: $26k → 6%TULANE UNIVERSITY: $30k → 23%THE JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $638k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $20k → 10%AMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $90k → 14%ANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER: $8k → 6%TULANE HILLEL: $25k → 23%JEWISH FEDERATION OF THE EAST BAY: $68k → 10%BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%HILLEL INTERNATIONAL: $9k → 14%ASPEN ART MUSEUM: $135k → 6%HILLEL FOUNDATION OF NEW ORLEANS: $9k → 23%JEWISH FEDERATION OF THE EAST BAY: $51k → 10%JEWISH PARTISAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $13k → 10%WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $11k → 14%ASPEN ART MUSEUM: $76k → 6%JEWISH FEDERATION OF THE EAST BAY: $31k → 10%JEWISH PARTISAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $10k → 14%ASPEN ART MUSEUM: $63k → 6%JEWISH PARTISAN EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $10k → 10%WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $10k → 14%JAZZ AT ASPEN-SNOWMASS: $21k → 6%JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION: $63k → 10%JAZZ AT ASPEN-SNOWMASS: $19k → 6%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE: $10k → 6%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE: $10k → 6%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE: $10k → 6%JAZZ AT ASPEN-SNOWMASS: $10k → 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.
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 29% of Joseph and Sherry Felson Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 50% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 48%.

Joseph and Sherry Felson Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 9.4% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 11 repeat orgs$55k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +24% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2018, 0 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2018 (too recent to call). Read against FY2018, 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

11
8

Total granted

$1.2M
$55k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+24%

Still filing today

82%
88%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2019, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $26k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19
Arts & CultureInternationalEducationCivil RightsReligionEnvironmentOther
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

  • TA
    THE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND
    3× · 2017–2019 · $170k · revenue +72%
  • AR
    ANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER
    3× · 2017–2019 · $73k · revenue +29%
  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
    3× · 2017–2019 · $60k · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVEgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue +77%
  • THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +192%
  • HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFEgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $9k · revenue +40%
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
The Israel Institute Inc

The israel institute, inc. (the institute) enhances knowledge about modern israel by ensuring that more students have access to courses about israel during their time on campus.

International
4
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…

—
5
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
6
Jewish Electorate Institute

The jewish electorate institute (jei) is an independent, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization that surveys, interprets, reports, and educates the public about the perspectives, voting behaviors, and motivations of the american jewish…

Civil Rights
7
American Jewish Committee

AJC's mission is to enhance the wellbeing of the Jewish people and Israel, and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world. In pursuit of this mission, AJC advances democratic principles, fights…

Civil Rights
8
Jewish Film Institute

The Jewish Film Institute champions bold films and filmmakers that expand and evolve the Jewish story for audiences everywhere. Through its exhibition and artist development programs, JFI celebrates the spirit of film, inquiry,…

Arts & Culture
9
University of Southern California Hillel Foundation

To create an informed, celebratory and satisfying jewish community for students at the university of southern california, to deepen jewish identity through social, intellectual and spiritual participation, to offer diversified…

—
10
The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America

The shalom hartman institute (shi) is a leading research and educational center serving israel and world jewry. we work to enrich the moral and spiritual life of israel and the jewish people, deepen the commitment to pluralism and israel's…

International
11
The Jewish Studio Project

Through thought leadership, community programs, leadership development, and organizational partnerships, jsp is building a movement to activate the creative power of the jewish community.

Religion
12
The Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies

The haberman institute for jewish studies provides adults with high quality in-depth encounters with jewish thought, history, and culture.

Religion
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma; the most unlike its peers is San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 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

19 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. 19 of the 21 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/19
Grantees still filing
11/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $637,548 · OtherTHE JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF THE GREATER EAST BAY: $150,300 · OtherJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF THE GREATER EAST BA…HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE: $34,000 · Other+4 more: $39,400 · OtherASPEN ART MUSEUM: $273,625 · Arts & CultureASPEN ART MUSEUMANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER: $72,640 · Arts & CultureANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTERSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $60,000 · Arts & CultureSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODER…JAZZ AT ASPEN-SNOWMASS: $50,470 · Arts & CultureJAZZ AT ASPEN-SNOWMASSJewish Partisan Education Foundation: $33,000 · Arts & CultureJewish Partisan Education Fou…+1 more: $5,500 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $270,000 · InternationalAMERICAN ISRAEL ED…WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $31,000 · InternationalWASHINGTON INSTITU…+2 more: $10,000 · InternationalTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $170,000 · EducationTHE ADMINI…JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SAN FRANCISCO THE PENINSULA MARIN & SONOMA: $62,726 · PhilanthropyEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $10,000 · Civil RightsTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $10,000 · Social Science
Other$861,248Arts & Culture$495,235International$311,000Education$170,000Philanthropy$62,726Civil Rights$10,000Social Science$10,000

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 budgetTHE JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $637,548 over 1y, 6.7% of budgetASPEN ART MUSEUM: $273,625 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $270,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $170,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF THE GREATER EAST BAY: $150,300 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER: $72,640 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SAN FRANCISCO THE PENINSULA MARIN & SONOMA: $62,726 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART: $60,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJAZZ AT ASPEN-SNOWMASS: $50,470 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetHILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE: $34,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetJewish Partisan Education Foundation: $33,000 over 3y, 3.9% of budgetWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $31,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE: $9,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL MUSEUM: $5,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUrban Adamah: $5,400 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc: $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.

Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO7.1× affinity6 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Joseph and Sherry Felson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Joseph and Sherry Felson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Joseph and Sherry Felson Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Joseph and Sherry Felson 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 21 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 2018, released 2018. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Joseph and Sherry Felson 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