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Lessing Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Lessing 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.

$10k
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$6k
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 2025.

Arts & Culture$120kEducation$38kInternational$18kHuman Services$1kPhilanthropy$1kReligion$720Health$300Public Safety & Disaster$100
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$500
Median grant
1
States reached
$179k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY$6,000
LEO BAECK INSTITUTE$2,100
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL MUSEUM$1,100
ARTIS$500
PARK AVENUE SYNAGOGUE$180
THE BLUE CARD INC$100
DOROT$100
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 (FY23–25, $605) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%THE BLUE CARD INC: $100 → 17%THE BLUE CARD INC: $100 → 17%THE BLUE CARD INC: $100 → 17%DOROT: $115 → 17%DOROT: $100 → 17%DOROT: $90 → 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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$160k · 10 repeat orgs$800 to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against +20% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
5

Total granted

$160k
$800

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
+20%

Still filing today

70%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesInternationalPhilanthropyOther
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

  • AF
    American Friends of Tel Aviv Univ
    6× · 2017–2025 · $37k · revenue +50%
  • LB
    LEO BAECK INSTITUTE INC
    6× · 2017–2025 · $36k · revenue +198%
  • I2
    Israel 21c
    5× · 2017–2024 · $1k · revenue +15%

Funded once

  • NU
    NLI USA INC
    one grant, 2019 · $500 · revenue +17%
  • UE
    Upper East Side Hatzolah Inc
    one grant, 2024 · $100 · revenue +20%
  • SS
    SHARE SELF-HELP FOR WOMEN WITH BREAST OR OVARIAN CANCER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $100 · revenue +108%
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
Sherit Isroel
—
2
American Friends of Ish El Rayahu

To promote, benefit, and support Jewish religious, charitable & educational activities in Israel and the USA.

Religion
3
American Friends of Even Yisroel Charitable Foundation
Philanthropy
4
Weizmann Institute of Science

The weizmann institute of science, located in rehovot, israel, is one of the worlds top-ranking, multidisciplinary research institutions. at any one time, several thousand scientists, staff and students are involved in hundreds of research…

Science & Tech
5
The Israel Innovation Fund Inc

Our vision is to reignite the zionist spirit and meet the needs of jewish civilization in the twenty-first century by connecting people around the world through the vibrancy and creativity of contemporary israeli culture.

Arts & Culture
6
The Shalem Foundation

To promote and foster the creation of a zionist intellectual infrastructure for the state of israel, the development of a jewish national culture, and the establishment and promotion of intellectual and economic liberty.

Crime & Legal
7
American Friends of Ariel University Inc

To provide financial support to the university, its professors to further research, and in some cases its students in the form of scholarships. additionally, some funding is dedicated to furthering the public profile of the university in…

—
8
American Friends of Beit Hatfutsot D/B/a American Friends of Anu-Museum

The american friends of beit hatfutsot represents the interests ofbeit hatfutsot, the museum of the jewish people in tel aviv, israel inall aspects of its educational and cultural activities. as such theorganization supports exhibitions,…

Arts & Culture
9
American Friends Tomchai Shabat Foundation
—
10
American Friends of Israel Emergency Aid Fund

To provide funding for medical and humanitarian projects throughout israel. the organization might make grants to other organizations providing such services, including, but not limited to, evp israel and israel emergency aid fund, israeli…

Public Safety & Disaster
11
American Friends of Torah and Tefilah Ramat Eshkol Inc

To promote and support jewish religious charitable and educational activities in israel & usa.

Religion
12
Ohr Meir Ubracha

The organization provides financial assistance to victims of acts of terrorism in the state of israel.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is American Friends of the Israel Museum; the most unlike its peers is Dorot 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

12 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. 12 of the 16 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/12
Grantees still filing
10/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL MUSEUM: $68,400 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL MUSEUM+1 more: $50 · Arts & CultureLEO BAECK INSTITUTE INC: $35,600 · OtherLEO BAECK INSTITUTE INCMETROPOLITAN OPERA: $14,000 · OtherMETROPOLITAN OPERAARTIS: $2,200 · Other+2 more: $770 · OtherAmerican Friends of Tel Aviv Univ: $36,500 · InternationalAmerican Friends of Tel…PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $18,000 · PhilanthropyPEF ISRAEL E…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF KISHORIT INC: $1,000 · PhilanthropyIsrael 21c: $1,250 · EducationNLI USA INC: $500 · EducationDOROT INC: $305 · Human ServicesTHE BLUE CARD INC: $300 · Human ServicesUpper East Side Hatzolah Inc: $100 · HealthSHARE SELF-HELP FOR WOMEN WITH BREAST OR OVARIAN CANCER INC: $100 · Health
Arts & Culture$68,450Other$52,570International$36,500Philanthropy$19,000Education$1,750Human Services$605Health$200

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 budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL MUSEUM: $68,400 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican Friends of Tel Aviv Univ: $36,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetLEO BAECK INSTITUTE INC: $35,600 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $18,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetIsrael 21c: $1,250 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNLI USA INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDOROT INC: $305 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BLUE CARD INC: $300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUpper East Side Hatzolah Inc: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHARE SELF-HELP FOR WOMEN WITH BREAST OR OVARIAN CANCER INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF MUSEUMS: $50 over 1y, 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.

Jewish Communal FundNash Family FoundationMorgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Jewish Communal FundNY16× affinity6 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Communal Fund · Nash Family Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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 Lessing Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lessing Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 16 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

    Play a game based on Lessing’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