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Karsan Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Karsan Family Foundation

Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$65k
Granted FY2023
4
Grants FY2023
2
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2023.

International$2.7MHealth$105kCommunity Improvement$69kEducation$68kAnimals$15kRecreation & Sports$15kScience & Tech$10kPhilanthropy$4k
02FY2023 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$15,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$3.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE WELCOMING CENTER$25,000
FRIENDS OF THE RAIL PARK$15,000
INSTITUTE FOR HUMANE EDUCATION$15,000
FRANKLIN INSTITUTE$10,000
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 (FY19–23, $169k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 41% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 12%RYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES: $100k → 6%THE WELCOMING CENTER: $25k → 22%THE WELCOMING CENTER: $25k → 22%WELCOMING CENTER FOR NEW PENNSLVANIANS: $19k → 22%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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.7M · 3 repeat orgs$212k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2023, 2 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
4

Total granted

$2.7M
$172k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+50%

Still filing today

67%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 38% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $40k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’21’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’21’23
InternationalEducationHuman ServicesScience & TechCrime & 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

  • AK
    AGA KHAN FOUNDATION USA
    3× · 2017–2021 · $2.7M · revenue -54%
  • WC
    WELCOMING CENTER FOR NEW PENNSYLVANIANS
    3× · 2019–2023 · $69k · revenue +51%
  • GB
    GLOBAL BIOETHICS INITIATIVE INC
    2× · 2019–2021 · $5k

Funded once

  • RC
    RYAN'S CASE FOR SMILESgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $100k · revenue +33%
  • GP
    GERMINATION PROJECTgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $63k · revenue +94% · 64% of their budget
  • YW
    YES WE CAN WORLD FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +50%
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
Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation

Visit philadelphia is our name and our mission. as the region's official tourism marketing agency, we build greater philadelphia's image, drive visitation and boost the economy.

Community Improvement
2
Activate Global Inc

Activate empowers scientists to reinvent the world by bringing their research to market. activate partners with u.s. based funders, research institutions, and other pillars of the hard technology community to help entrepreneurial…

Environment
3
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…

International
4
Pact Institute

Pact institute works to achieve strategic objectives that improve the lives of people around the world who are poor and marginalized through innovation, the exploration of new approaches and partnerships, and funding diversification. it is…

—
5
Competitive Enterprise Institute

Competitive enterprise institute (cei) is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. we believe that consumers are best helped not by government regulation but by being…

—
6
Global Impact Investing Network Inc

The global impact investing network, inc. is dedicated to increasing the scale and effectiveness of impact investing to solve systemic problems facing people and the planet. impact investments are investments made into companies,…

Philanthropy
7
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
8
Global Poverty Project Inc

Our mission is to build a movement of global citizens whose actions will help achieve our vision of a world without extreme poverty.

Social Science
9
Fuller Project for International Reporting Inc

The fuller project is the global newsroom dedicated to groundbreaking reporting that catalyzes positive change for women.

International
10
Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics

The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…

Social Science
11
Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future

The mission of pennfuture is to lead the transition to a clean energy economy in pennsylvania and beyond. pennfuture is protecting our air, water and land, and empowering citizens to build sustainable communities for future generations.

Environment
12
Global Knowledge Initiative
Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Philadelphia Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Ryan's Case for Smiles. 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

11 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/11
Grantees still filing
8/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AGA KHAN FOUNDATION USA: $2,655,749 · InternationalAGA KHAN FOUNDATION USA+1 more: $4,400 · InternationalRYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES: $100,000 · Human ServicesWELCOMING CENTER FOR NEW PENNSYLVANIANS: $69,250 · Human ServicesGERMINATION PROJECT: $62,500 · EducationYES WE CAN WORLD FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EducationINSTITUTE FOR HUMANE EDUCATION: $15,000 · Crime & LegalFRIENDS OF THE RAIL PARK: $15,000 · EnvironmentTHE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE: $10,000 · Arts & CultureGLOBAL BIOETHICS INITIATIVE INC: $4,500 · Science & TechTHE PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION: $3,500 · Philanthropy
International$2,660,149Human Services$169,250Education$67,500Crime & Legal$15,000Environment$15,000Arts & Culture$10,000Science & Tech$4,500Philanthropy$3,500

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 budgetAGA KHAN FOUNDATION USA: $2,655,749 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetRYAN'S CASE FOR SMILES: $100,000 over 1y, 7.3% of budgetWELCOMING CENTER FOR NEW PENNSYLVANIANS: $69,250 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetGERMINATION PROJECT: $62,500 over 1y, 64% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR HUMANE EDUCATION: $15,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE RAIL PARK: $15,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetTHE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCIEE Inc: $4,400 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION: $3,500 over 2y, 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.

Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Vanguard Charitable Endowment ProgramPA7.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Karsan Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Karsan 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%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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.

    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 11 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 Karsan 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