Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

L Shafer Fb Var Charities Xxxxx8001

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.

$165k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20182025.

Arts & Culture$517kAnimals$194kEnvironment$129kSocial Science$73kEducation$65kHuman Services$65kPhilanthropy$65k
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$9,734
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SENECA PARK ZOO SOCIETY$9,734
ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY$9,734
THE SALVATION ARMY INC$9,734
LANDMARK SOCIETY OF WESTERN NY INC$9,734
BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN CORP$9,734
THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN$9,734
AMERICAN MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY$9,734
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY$9,734
UNITED WAY OF GREATER ROCHESTER INC$9,734
THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART$9,734
WESTERN MONROE HISTORICAL SOC$9,734
MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK$9,734
DAVID HOCHSTEIN SCHOOL OF MUSIC$9,734
AL SIGL CENTER FOR$9,734
CORNELL UNIVERSITY$9,734
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 16%. 41% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 16%SENECA PARK ZOO SOCIETY: $11k → 14%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $11k → 16%THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $11k → 17%BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN CORP: $11k → 20%THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN: $11k → 28%SENECA PARK ZOO SOCIETY: $10k → 14%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $10k → 16%THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $10k → 17%BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN CORP: $10k → 20%THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN: $10k → 28%SENECA PARK ZOO SOCIETY: $10k → 14%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $10k → 16%THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $10k → 17%BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN CORP: $10k → 20%THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN: $10k → 28%AMERICAN MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY: $11k → 17%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $11k → 28%WESTERN MONROE HISTORICAL SOC: $11k → 14%AMERICAN MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY: $10k → 17%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $10k → 28%WESTERN MONROE HISTORICAL SOC: $10k → 14%AMERICAN MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY: $10k → 17%WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: $10k → 28%WESTERN MONROE HISTORICAL SOC: $10k → 14%MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $11k → 17%AL SIGL CENTER FOR: $19k → 14%MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $10k → 17%LANDMARK SOCIETY OF WESTERN NY INC: $11k → 14%MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $10k → 17%LANDMARK SOCIETY OF WESTERN NY INC: $10k → 14%AL SIGL CENTER FOR: $10k → 14%AL SIGL CENTER FOR: $10k → 14%LANDMARK SOCIETY OF WESTERN NY INC: $10k → 14%DAVID HOCHSTEIN SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $11k → 14%DAVID HOCHSTEIN SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $10k → 14%DAVID HOCHSTEIN SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $10k → 14%HUMANE SOCIETY OF ROCHESTER: $11k → 14%HUMANE SOCIETY OF ROCHESTER: $10k → 14%HUMANE SOCIETY OF ROCHESTER: $10k → 14%UNITED WAY OF GREATER ROCHESTER INC: $11k → 14%ROCHESTER MUSEUMSCIENCE CENTER: $11k → 14%UNITED WAY OF GREATER ROCHESTER INC: $10k → 14%ROCHESTER MUSEUMSCIENCE CENTER: $10k → 14%UNITED WAY OF GREATER ROCHESTER INC: $10k → 14%ROCHESTER MUSEUMSCIENCE CENTER: $10k → 14%ROCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $11k → 14%THE SALVATION ARMY INC: $11k → 14%THE SALVATION ARMY INC: $10k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.1M · 17 repeat orgs$14k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +49% since the first grant, against +20% for the ones you funded once.

17 repeat relationships — 17 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
2

Total granted

$1.1M
$14k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+20%

Still filing today

53%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureAnimalsEnvironmentEducationOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • NY
    NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
    7× · 2018–2025 · $65k · revenue +14%
  • MH
    Morgan-Manning House
    7× · 2018–2025 · $65k · revenue +166%
  • Cornell University
    7× · 2018–2025 · $65k · revenue +49%

Funded once

  • RM
    ROCHESTER MUSEUM &
    one grant, 2018 · $7k
  • AM
    American Museum of Natural History
    one grant, 2018 · $7k · revenue +20%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
2
New York Historical Society

The founding mission of the new-york historical society ("the new york historical "tnyh") is to collect, preserve, and interpret, for the broadest possible public, material relevant to the history of the united states in general and of new…

Arts & Culture
3
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Inc

Organization's mission statement true to the ambitious vision of its founder and her spirit of creative risk-taking, the mission of the isabella stewart gardner museum is: - to bring to life and preserve the rich historic collection; - to…

Arts & Culture
4
The Neue Galerie New York
Arts & Culture
5
Baltimore Museum of Art

The baltimore museum of art connects art to baltimore and baltimore to the world, embodying a commitment to artistic excellence and social equity in every decision from art presentation, interpretation, and collecting, to the composition…

Arts & Culture
6
Cook Museum of Natural Science
Arts & Culture
7
Science Museum of Minnesota

The museum's mission statement is "turn on the science: inspire learning. inform policy. improve lives."

Arts & Culture
8
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia

The mission is "to understand the natural world and inspire everyone to care for it." the academy implements its mission through understanding the diversity of life; developing and applying science to protect the environment; and informing…

Science & Tech
9
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Inc

We harness the power of plants for humankind and share the joy and beauty of tropical gardening with everyone. fairchild tropical botanic garden is a museum of tropical plants within a world famous, 83-acre designed landscape. it was…

Environment
10
Henry E Huntington Library and Art Gallery

The huntington library, art museum, and botanical gardens shares its world-renowned collections to support scholarship, foster learning, inspire creativity, and offer transformative experiences for diverse audiences.

Arts & Culture
11
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
12
San Diego Museum of Art

To inspire, educate and cultivate curiosity through great works of art.

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New York Botanical Garden and the most unlike its peers is Morgan-Manning House. 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 one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 11 of the 19 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/11
Grantees still filing
10/11
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

AL SIGL CENTER FOR — $72,547 · OtherAL SIGL CENTER FORTHE SALVATION ARMY — $64,712 · OtherTHE SALVATION ARMYDAVID HOCHSTEIN SCHOOL OF MUSIC — $64,712 · OtherDAVID HOCHSTEIN SCHOOL OF MUSICMorgan-Manning House — $64,712 · OtherMorgan-Manning HouseHUMANE SOCIETY OF ROCHESTER — $64,712 · OtherHUMANE SOCIETY OF ROCHESTERUNITED WAY OF GREATER ROCHESTER INC — $64,712 · OtherUNITED WAY OF GREATER ROCHESTER INCRochester Historical Society — $64,097 · OtherRochester Historical SocietyROCHESTER MUSEUMSCIENCE CENTER — $57,873 · OtherROCHESTER MUSEUMSCIENCE CENTERAMERICAN MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY — $57,873 · OtherAMERICAN MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY+1 more — $6,839 · OtherTHE LANDMARK SOCIETY OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC — $64,712 · Arts & CultureTHE LANDMARK SOCIETY…MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK — $64,712 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF THE CITY O…METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART — $64,712 · Arts & CultureMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM …American Museum of Natural History — $6,839 · Arts & CultureSENECA PARK ZOO SOCIETY — $64,712 · AnimalsSENECA PARK Z…Wildlife Conservation Society — $64,712 · AnimalsWildlife Cons…NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN — $64,712 · EnvironmentNEW YORK BOTA…BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN CORPORATION — $64,712 · EnvironmentBROOKLYN BOTA…Cornell University — $64,712 · Education
Other$582,789Arts & Culture$200,975Animals$129,424Environment$129,424Education$64,712

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetSENECA PARK ZOO SOCIETY — $64,712 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetNEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN — $64,712 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetMorgan-Manning House — $64,712 over 7y, 16% of budgetCornell University — $64,712 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LANDMARK SOCIETY OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC — $64,712 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society — $64,712 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK — $64,712 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART — $64,712 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetBROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN CORPORATION — $64,712 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetRochester Historical Society — $64,097 over 7y, 11% of budgetAmerican Museum of Natural History — $6,839 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds SENECA PARK ZOO SOCIETY
  • Who funds NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN
  • Who funds Morgan-Manning House
  • Who funds Cornell University
  • Who funds THE LANDMARK SOCIETY OF WESTERN NEW YORK INC
  • Who funds Wildlife Conservation Society
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
  • Who funds METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
  • Who funds BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN CORPORATION
  • Who funds Rochester Historical Society
  • Who funds American Museum of Natural History

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization L Shafer Fb Var Charities Xxxxx8001 funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%your share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%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 · 0–15%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 19 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph