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Kotsen Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Kotsen Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$28k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$11k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$223kArts & Culture$25kPhilanthropy$19kRecreation & Sports$3kHealth$2kHuman Services$1kEnvironment$1kCivil Rights$500Other$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $7k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $21k
$2,500
Median grant
4
States reached
$621k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BOSTON COLLEGE$11,300
UNIVERSITY OF PA$10,000
CAMP JABBERWOCKY$2,500
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY$2,088
TUFTS UNIVERSITY$1,500
OCEANA$1,000
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 (FY19–19, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%FRIENDS OF SEAN LUGANO: $1k → 9%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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$254k · 10 repeat orgs$21k to everyone else

10 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
8

Total granted

$254k
$6k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+17%

Still filing today

80%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureInternationalCivil RightsHuman ServicesHealthOther
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

  • DS
    DWIGHT-ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL
    2× · 2020–2021 · $30k · revenue +31%
  • The Trustees of Princeton University
    7× · 2019–2025 · $29k · revenue +5%
  • MW
    MUSIC WILL INC
    5× · 2017–2021 · $24k · revenue +4%

Funded once

  • BS
    BURNT STORE-PPYC CHARITABLE BOATING FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $1k
  • TREVOR PROJECT INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $1k · revenue +318%
  • FO
    Friends of Sean Lugano Inc
    one grant, 2019 · $1k
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
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
2
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
3
Boston Architectural College

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

—
4
Fordham University

Fordham university, the jesuit university of new york, is committed to the discovery of wisdom and the transmission of learning, through research and through education of the highest quality. for more information, see schedule o.

Education
5
Manhattan University

Manhattan university is an independent catholic instituion of higher learning that embraces qualified men and women of all faiths, cultures, and traditions. the mission of manhattan university is to provide a contemporary, person-centered…

Education
6
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.…

—
7
Mitchell College

Mitchell college educates students through a highly individualized educational approach that brings forward each student's potential, reveals their strengths, and fosters personal growth.

Education
8
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
9
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
10
Sarah Lawrence College

At sarah lawrence college, our mission is to graduate citizens of the world who are diverse in every definition of the word, who take intellectual and creative risks, and who are able to focus exceptional intellectual discipline (continued…

Education
11
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
12
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Trustees of Princeton University; the most unlike its peers is Friends of Sean Lugano 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

15 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. 15 of the 22 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)
14/15
Grantees still filing
10/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

METROPOLITAN MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $92,000 · OtherMETROPOLITAN MONTESSORI SCHOOLUNIVERSITY OF PA: $30,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF PATHE WHARTON FUND: $17,500 · OtherTHE WHARTON FUND+6 more: $6,600 · OtherDWIGHT-ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL: $30,000 · EducationDWIGHT-ENGLEWOOD SCHOOLThe Trustees of Princeton University: $29,364 · EducationThe Trustees of Princeton Universi…TRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE: $11,300 · EducationTRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGETrustees of Tufts College: $6,500 · EducationTrustees of Tufts CollegeBARNARD COLLEGE: $6,100 · EducationBARNARD COLLEGEMUSIC WILL INC: $24,000 · Arts & CultureMUSIC WILL…+1 more: $600 · Arts & CultureAmerican School in London Foundation: $17,700 · International+1 more: $250 · InternationalTREVOR PROJECT INC: $1,000 · Civil RightsFriends of Sean Lugano Inc: $1,000 · Human ServicesMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $500 · HealthPAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND: $250 · Philanthropy
Other$146,100Education$83,264Arts & Culture$24,600International$17,950Civil Rights$1,000Human Services$1,000Health$500Philanthropy$250

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 budgetMETROPOLITAN MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $92,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetDWIGHT-ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $29,364 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetMUSIC WILL INC: $24,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican School in London Foundation: $17,700 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE: $11,300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTrustees of Tufts College: $6,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBARNARD COLLEGE: $6,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMARTHA'S VINEYARD CEREBRAL PALSY CAMP INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTREVOR PROJECT INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO: $600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTREKKING FOR KIDS INC: $250 over 1y, 0.1% 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 Goldman Sachs Cha…Charities Aid Foundat…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift FundNY13× affinity4 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · 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 Kotsen Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Kotsen Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • Trustees of Tufts College: 13% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston College: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get 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 · 0–20%
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 22 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 2025, released 2025. 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