Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

Lear Family Foundation

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.

$788k
Granted FY2024still arriving
29
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$402k
Largest
01What you fund
0191% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172024.

Arts & Culture$6.2MEducation$2.3MCivil Rights$543kEnvironment$421kPhilanthropy$376kHuman Services$339kHealth$221kCrime & Legal$197kOther$0
02FY2024 · 29 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k15 grants · $43k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $203k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $140k
  • $250k+1 grant · $402k
$5,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$6.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE$401,750
LACMA$140,000
BALLET HISPANICO$25,000
CEDAR SINAI MEDICAL CENTER$25,000
CREATIVE VISIONS$25,000
PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY$20,000
PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC$20,000
ADVANCE DEMOCRACY INC$20,000
YOUTH REPRESENT$15,500
THE CLIMATE REALITY PROJECT$12,500
BELLA VITA RESCUE FOUNDATION$10,000
RICE UNIVERSITY$10,000
THE POLLINATION PROJECT$10,000
STANFORD UNIVERSITY$10,000
PEN AMERICA$5,000
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:

Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $348k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 34% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $55k → 7%BOTTOMLESS CLOSET: $15k → 9%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $29k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $25k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $25k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC: $20k → 7%ADOPT-A-NATIVE-ELDER PROGRAM: $3k → 8%FREEDOM OF THE PRESS FOUNDATION: $3k → 10%DOWNTOWN WOMEN'S CENTER: $5k → 14%FREEDOM OF THE PRESS FOUNDATION: $3k → 20%HAPPY TRAILS FOR KIDS: $500 → 14%PARA LOS NINOS: $10k → 14%IAVA: $50k → 14%CHILDREN'S INSTITUTE: $3k → 14%A SENSE OF HOME: $25k → 14%COURAGE CAMPAIGN INSTITUTE: $4k → 14%AARP FOUNDATION: $10k → 14%CHILDREN'S INSTITUTE: $5k → 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.

Which US states your grants reach

AK
ME
NH
WA
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
OR
IA
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
MO
VA
MD
AZ
KS
TN
NC
DC
AL
GA
TX
FL

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.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$8.7M · 73 repeat orgs$2.3M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +46% since the first grant, against +30% for the ones you funded once.

73 repeat relationships — 13 still active in FY2024, 60 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

73
172

Total granted

$8.7M
$2.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+30%

Still filing today

63%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $82k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEnvironmentHealthEducationInternationalOther

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

  • Sundance Institute
    8× · 2017–2024 · $2.2M · revenue +1%
  • UF
    UTAH FILM CENTER
    6× · 2017–2022 · $1.2M · revenue +167%
  • PE
    PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $214k · revenue +48%

Funded once

  • UA
    USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL
    one grant, 2019 · $674k
  • P
    PBSWNET
    one grant, 2021 · $115k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2018 · $50k

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
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

The Television Academy is dedicated to celebrating excellence, innovation and the advancement of the telecommunications arts and sciences through recognition, education and leadership, while fostering a diverse, inclusive and accessible…

2
Siff

Siff is a seattle-based 501(c)(3) arts nonprofit dedicated to the creation of vibrant experiences and spaces that champion film discovery and arts education.

Youth Development
3
California Film Institute

The california film institute celebrates film and videos as art and education. its goal is to present and support emerging and established independent filmakers whose works address issues relevant to contemporary society. this is…

Arts & Culture
4
Los Angeles World Affairs Council and Town Hall

The organization is a non-partisan, membership based speakers' forum that connects business leaders, community members, and engaged individuals with shared interest in local, national, and global affairs. it provides an open and accessible…

International
5
Moving Picture Institute

The moving picture institute is a nonprofit production company and talent incubator that creates high-impact films designed to entertain, inspire, and educate audiences with captivating stories about human freedom.

Arts & Culture
6
City Report Inc

CITY REPORT, INC. serves the people of New York through independent journalism that answers their information needs and holds the powerful to account.

Arts & Culture
7
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
8
Kqed Inc

See schedule okqed serves the people of northern california with a community-supported alternative to commercial media, providing the knowledge needed to make informed decisions; convening community dialogue; bringing the arts to everyone;…

Arts & Culture
9
United States Artists Inc

To invest in america's finest artists and illuminate the value of artists to society.

Arts & Culture
10
The Paris Review Foundation Inc

The mission of the organization is to foster the development of creative individuals as writers and artists and to promote public appreciation of excellence in the literary and graphic arts by publishing a magazine containing fiction,…

Education
11
The California Channel

To distribute public affairs and other educational information in order to create an electronic bridge between californians and their public officials, and, in the process educate a new generation of voting citizens and civic leaders who…

12
Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Transforming global storytelling by using data-driven research, education, and advocacy to mitigate bias, inspiring authentic portrayals in entertainment, advertising, and gaming that reflect the true diversity of the population.

Civil Rights

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Climate Resolve and the most unlike its peers is Mandeville Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 30 years old; the field is 14. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number24%1%<5yr15%8%5–10yr20%21%10–20yr17%32%20–35yr11%22%35–55yr13%16%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value24%0%<5yr15%4%5–10yr20%7%10–20yr17%40%20–35yr11%19%35–55yr13%30%55yr+

The field is 24% startups (under 5 years old) — 1% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 1% lost their exemption, against 14% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
1%2/170
the rest of the field
14%
26,001/186,808

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

167 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. 167 of the 270 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
41
Early backer (in before they grew)
159/167
Grantees still filing
122/167
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

LACMA — $1,505,000 · OtherLACMAPFAW — $980,000 · OtherPFAWUSC ANNENBERG SCHOOL — $673,589 · OtherUSC ANNENBERG SCHOOLUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHER CALIFORNIA — $549,484 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHER CALIFORNIA+117 more — $2,161,550 · Other+117 moreSundance Institute — $2,172,700 · Arts & CultureSundance InstituteUTAH FILM CENTER — $1,150,975 · Arts & CultureUTAH FILM CENTERBALLET HISPANICO OF NEW YORK INC — $145,500 · Arts & Culture+34 more — $825,500 · Arts & Culture+34 moreUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — $539,481 · EducationUNIVERSIT…UCLA FOUNDATION — $417,500 · EducationUCLA FOUN…+6 more — $65,000 · Education+6 moreENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATION — $200,000 · PhilanthropySocial Impact Fund — $55,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDATION — $22,500 · PhilanthropyGoodnation Foundation Inc — $20,000 · PhilanthropyLIBERTY HILL FOUNDATION — $15,000 · PhilanthropyFOUNDATION FOR ETHNIC UNDERSTANDING — $15,000 · Philanthropy+4 more — $25,500 · PhilanthropyPAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC — $213,500 · Human ServicesIRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS OF AMERICA INC — $50,000 · Human ServicesA SENSE OF HOME — $25,000 · Human ServicesBOTTOMLESS CLOSET — $15,000 · Human Services+7 more — $44,000 · Human ServicesTHE ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE PROTECTION — $90,000 · EnvironmentCERES INC — $25,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC — $20,000 · EnvironmentGlobal Green USA — $20,000 · Environment350ORG — $10,000 · EnvironmentCLIMATE EMERGENCY FUND — $10,000 · Environment+2 more — $5,750 · EnvironmentYOUTH REPRESENT INC — $126,000 · Crime & LegalPUBLIC COUNSEL — $27,500 · Crime & LegalGood Call NYC — $10,000 · Crime & LegalINSIDEOUT WRITERS INC — $7,500 · Crime & Legal+1 more — $5,000 · Crime & Legal
Other$5,869,623Arts & Culture$4,294,675Education$1,021,981Philanthropy$353,000Human Services$347,500Environment$180,750Crime & Legal$176,000

Showing your 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetSundance Institute — $2,172,700 over 8y, 1.0% of budgetUTAH FILM CENTER — $1,150,975 over 6y, 4.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — $539,481 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUCLA FOUNDATION — $417,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetPAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC — $213,500 over 8y, 2.8% of budgetENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATION — $200,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBALLET HISPANICO OF NEW YORK INC — $145,500 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetRAINFOREST ALLIANCE INC — $145,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetSIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC — $140,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetYOUTH REPRESENT INC — $126,000 over 6y, 1.5% of budgetPEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY — $107,600 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetADVANCE DEMOCRACY INC — $95,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetTHE ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE PROTECTION — $90,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetMuseIque — $81,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetGEFFEN PLAYHOUSE INC — $75,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC — $60,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSocial Impact Fund — $55,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetOJAI PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE — $52,500 over 7y, 3.9% of budgetTHE IMAGEN FOUNDATION — $52,000 over 6y, 5.3% of budgetLIVING ARCHIVES INC — $50,000 over 1y, 38% of budgetFILM INDEPENDENT — $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSCHUMACHER CENTER FOR A NEW ECONOMICS INC — $50,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetIRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS OF AMERICA INC — $50,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetCENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING — $35,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetACADEMY FOUNDATION — $35,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetL A THEATRE WORKS — $30,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetThe Center for Investigative Reporting formrly Foundation for National Progress — $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPUBLIC COUNSEL — $27,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE RAPE FOUNDATION — $26,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetFILM FORUM INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND — $25,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetA SENSE OF HOME — $25,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMARCH ON MARYLAND — $25,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetEMERSON COLLEGE — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCERES INC — $25,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTIDES FOUNDATION — $22,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLOS ANGELES ALLIANCE FOR A NEW ECONOMY — $22,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetGoodnation Foundation Inc — $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetChildren's Hospital Los Angeles — $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANGELS AT RISK — $20,000 over 2y, 7.2% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC — $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGlobal Green USA — $20,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetPIONEER WORKS ART FOUNDATION — $18,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBig Green — $16,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetEquality Now Inc — $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCENTER THEATRE GROUP OF LOS ANGELES — $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLIBERTY HILL FOUNDATION — $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% 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 Sundance Institute
  • Who funds UTAH FILM CENTER
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
  • Who funds UCLA FOUNDATION
  • Who funds PAL-O-MINE EQUESTRIAN INC
  • Who funds ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATION
  • Who funds BALLET HISPANICO OF NEW YORK INC
  • Who funds RAINFOREST ALLIANCE INC
  • Who funds SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC
  • Who funds YOUTH REPRESENT INC
  • Who funds PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY
  • Who funds WOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC
  • Who funds ADVANCE DEMOCRACY INC
  • Who funds THE ALLIANCE FOR CLIMATE PROTECTION
  • Who funds MuseIque
  • Who funds GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE INC
  • Who funds INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds Social Impact Fund
  • Who funds OJAI PLAYWRIGHTS CONFERENCE
  • Who funds THE IMAGEN FOUNDATION
  • Who funds LIVING ARCHIVES INC
  • Who funds FILM INDEPENDENT
  • Who funds SCHUMACHER CENTER FOR A NEW ECONOMICS INC
  • Who funds IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS OF AMERICA INC
  • Who funds CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT LIVING
  • Who funds ACADEMY FOUNDATION

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

California Community FoundationCA35× affinity28 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Community Foundation · The Annenberg Foundation · The Ralph M Parsons Foundation · Weingart Foundation · Liberty Hill Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Adams Cowan Foundation · Tides Foundation · The Mark E Pollack Foundation · The J Paul Getty Trust · Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles · The California Endowment

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Lear Family Foundation 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 · 30%3%10%23%40%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 0%
  • Save the Children Federation Inc30% of income from government
  • Emerson College0% of income from government
  • Ceres Inc0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
35report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Lear Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Lear 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 270 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph