Skip to content
Louis M and Laura K Alpern Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Louis M and Laura K Alpern 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.

$21k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$21k
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, FY2019 to 2024.

Education$108kInternational$16kHealth$12kArts & Culture$11kHuman Services$9kAnimals$9kCivil Rights$4kCrime & Legal$2kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$20,825
Median grant
1
States reached
$429k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
EL PASO COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL$20,825
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 (FY19–22, $11k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%ISRAEL GUIDE DOG CENTER: $2k → 6%PATRIOT PAWS: $2k → 5%WARRIOR EXPEDITIONS: $2k → 8%ISRAEL GUIDE DOG CENTER: $2k → 6%PATRIOT PAWS SERVICE DOGS: $2k → 5%ISRAEL GUIDE DOG CENTER: $2k → 6%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.

Which US states its grants reach

ID
NY
MA
PA
CA
MO
VA
GA
TX
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 13% of Louis M and Laura K Alpern Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Louis M and Laura K Alpern Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 12% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$139k · 7 repeat orgs$33k to everyone else

7 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
21

Total granted

$139k
$33k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
+41%

Still filing today

100%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesInternationalHealthCivil RightsOther
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

  • EP
    EL PASO COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
    5× · 2020–2024 · $101k · revenue +16%
  • The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc
    4× · 2019–2022 · $14k · revenue +24%
  • IG
    ISRAEL GUIDE DOG CENTER FOR THE BLIND
    3× · 2019–2022 · $5k · revenue +65%

Funded once

  • PM
    PITTSBURGH MERCY-OPERATION SAFETY NET
    one grant, 2019 · $4k
  • RK
    Ruthless Kindnessgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $3k · revenue +120%
  • SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $2k · revenue +36%
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
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
2
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
3
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Chartered by a unanimous act of congress, the museum is america's national institution for the documentation, study, interpretation, and education of holocaust history and serves as our country's memorial to the victims of the holocaust.…

Arts & Culture
4
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
5
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
6
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Committed to exceptional healthcare quality for all and actively engaged with our community, einstein drives scientific discovery and educates compassionate leaders in health and science.

Education
7
Yeshiva University

The university is composed of several colleges and schools providing undergraduate, graduate, professional and post-doctoral education and training and research and clinical programs.

Education
8
Webster University

Founded in 1915, webster is a private non-profit and global university that is committed to delivering high-quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence.

Education
9
The Central European University

Ceu is committed to promoting the values of open society and self-reflective critical thinking. it aims at excellence in the mastery of established knowledge, courage to pursue the creation of new knowledge in the humanities, the social…

International
10
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
11
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

To prepare students for the rabbinate and to issue the traditional certificate of ordination in connection therewith. the seminary is authorized to confer the degree of master of hebrew literature (m.h.l.), doctor of hebrew literature…

Education
12
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Simon Wiesenthal Center Inc; the most unlike its peers is Planned Parenthood. 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

21 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. 21 of the 28 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)
21/21
Grantees still filing
16/21
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

EL PASO COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $100,825 · EducationEL PASO COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL+5 more: $5,800 · Education+5 moreThe American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc: $14,400 · InternationalThe Americ…SURGICAL EYE EXPEDITIONS INTERNATIONAL INC: $1,800 · InternationalSURGICAL E…PITTSBURGH MERCY-OPERATION SAFETY NET: $3,600 · OtherPITTSBURGH …CENTER AGAINST SEXUAL AND FAMILY VIOLENCE INC: $1,800 · OtherCENTER AGAI…MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION: $1,800 · OtherMAKE-A-WISH…EMORY UNIVERSITY(JSCREEN): $1,800 · OtherEMORY UNIVE…HARVARD SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: $1,000 · OtherHARVARD SCH…Individual grant recipient: $1,000 · OtherIndividual …ALMOST HOME FOUNDATION: $1,000 · OtherALMOST HOME…LIGHTHOUSE GUILD: $1,000 · OtherLIGHTHOUSE …REFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES: $1,800 · OtherREFUGEE & I…WILDLAND FIREFIGHTER FOUNDATION: $1,800 · OtherWILDLAND FI…+1 more: $500 · OtherAMERICAN SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM INC: $7,200 · Arts & CultureEl Paso Holocaust Museum & Study Center: $3,600 · Arts & CultureSIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC: $1,800 · Arts & CultureISRAEL GUIDE DOG CENTER FOR THE BLIND: $5,400 · Human ServicesPATRIOT PAWS SERVICE DOGS: $3,600 · Human ServicesWARRIOR EXPEDITIONS: $1,800 · Human ServicesPLANNED PARENTHOOD: $3,600 · HealthEmilio Nares Foundation: $1,800 · HealthRuthless Kindness: $2,500 · Crime & Legal
Education$106,625International$16,200Other$17,100Arts & Culture$12,600Human Services$10,800Health$5,400Crime & Legal$2,500

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 budgetEL PASO COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $100,825 over 5y, 5.0% of budgetThe American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc: $14,400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN SOCIETY FOR YAD VASHEM INC: $7,200 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetISRAEL GUIDE DOG CENTER FOR THE BLIND: $5,400 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPATRIOT PAWS SERVICE DOGS: $3,600 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetEl Paso Holocaust Museum & Study Center: $3,600 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetRuthless Kindness: $2,500 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetSIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER INC: $1,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSURGICAL EYE EXPEDITIONS INTERNATIONAL INC: $1,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES: $1,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER AGAINST SEXUAL AND FAMILY VIOLENCE INC: $1,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWILDLAND FIREFIGHTER FOUNDATION: $1,800 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWARRIOR EXPEDITIONS: $1,800 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetEmory University: $1,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEmilio Nares Foundation: $1,800 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPitzer College: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARCADIA UNIVERSITY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSMILE TRAIN INC: $500 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.

The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation IncNC8.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · 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 Louis M and Laura K Alpern Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Louis M and Laura K Alpern Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report 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, 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 28 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

    Play a game based on Louis M and Laura K Alpern’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