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Knight Foundation Attn Lisa McKillips at a glance

· Private foundation

Knight Foundation Attn Lisa McKillips

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.

$227M
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$182M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Education$799MHealth$123MCommunity Improvement$8.5MHuman Services$7.1MSocial Science$6.0MPublic Benefit$5.0MRecreation & Sports$335kYouth Development$100kOther$0
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$7,500,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$4.5B
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOUNDATION$182,000,000
SEI INC$10,000,000
ALBINA HEAD START$10,000,000
1803 FUND$8,500,000
PROVIDENCE ST VINCENT MEDICAL FOUNDATION$7,500,000
BLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS$5,213,000
THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION$2,000,000
FANCONI ANEMIA RESEARCH FUND$1,000,000
PORTLAOISE GAA CLUB$335,000
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 (FY23–24, $7.2M) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%BLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS: $5.2M → 17%ST MARY'S HOME FOR BOYS: $100k → 8%BLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS: $1.9M → 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.
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 19% of Knight Foundation Attn Lisa McKillips’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 82% of the giving stays in OR; by stated purpose, 79%.

Knight Foundation Attn Lisa McKillipslessmore 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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$729M · 7 repeat orgs$84M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
4

Total granted

$729M
$75M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+23%

Still filing today

86%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 96% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $8.8M went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHealthHuman ServicesSocial ScienceCommunity ImprovementArts & CultureOther
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

  • UNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOUNDATION
    7× · 2018–2024 · $623M · revenue +156% · 60% of their budget
  • PROVIDENCE ST VINCENT MEDICAL FOUNDATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $50M · revenue +39% · 42% of their budget
  • BM
    BLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $7.1M · revenue +155%

Funded once

  • OF
    OHSU FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $70M
  • THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $5.0M · revenue +49%
  • TP
    THE PHOENIX CENTER INC
    one grant, 2022 · $250k · revenue +23%
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
Portland State University Foundation

Portland state university foundation is responsible for raising and managing private resources to advance psu's priorities and mission to be a leading urban university.

—
2
Boston Architectural College

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

—
3
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
4
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
5
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

—
6
University of Maryland Physicians Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

—
7
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
8
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
9
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
10
Fielding Graduate University

We provide exemplary interdisciplinary programs for a community of scholar-practitioners within a distributed learning model grounded in student-driven inquiry and leading to enhanced knowledge.

—
11
University of Maryland Pediatric Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
12
University of Maryland Oncology Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Oregon Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Brookings Institution. 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

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. 11 of the 14 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
9/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOUNDATION: $623,031,098 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOUNDATIONTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $155,583,333 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY+1 more: $250,000 · EducationOHSU FOUNDATION: $70,000,000 · OtherOHSU FOUNDAT…SEI INC: $20,000,000 · OtherSEI INCALBINA HEAD START INC: $20,000,000 · OtherALBINA HEAD …+1 more: $335,000 · OtherPROVIDENCE ST VINCENT MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $50,000,000 · HealthFANCONI CANCER FOUNDATION: $3,000,000 · Health1803 FUND: $8,500,000 · Community ImprovementBLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS INC: $7,134,000 · Human Services+1 more: $100,000 · Human ServicesTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $6,000,000 · Social ScienceTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $5,000,000 · Arts & Culture
Education$778,864,431Other$110,335,000Health$53,000,000Community Improvement$8,500,000Human Services$7,234,000Social Science$6,000,000Arts & Culture$5,000,000

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 budgetUNIVERSITY OF OREGON FOUNDATION: $623,031,098 over 7y, 60% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $155,583,333 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetPROVIDENCE ST VINCENT MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $50,000,000 over 4y, 42% of budgetALBINA HEAD START INC: $20,000,000 over 3y, 33% of budget1803 FUND: $8,500,000 over 1y, 38% of budgetBLUE MERIDIAN PARTNERS INC: $7,134,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $6,000,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $5,000,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetFANCONI CANCER FOUNDATION: $3,000,000 over 3y, 32% of budgetTHE PHOENIX CENTER INC: $250,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetST MARY'S HOME: $100,000 over 1y, 1.0% 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 Oregon Community …American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Oregon Community FoundationOR12.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Oregon Community Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Knight Foundation Attn Lisa McKillips funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Knight Foundation Attn Lisa McKillips. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 81%
  • Albina Head Start Inc: 81% of income from government
  • The Phoenix Center Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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.

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 14 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

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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