Skip to content
Lsst Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Lsst Inc

To enhance rubin lsst discovery through advanced data tools, training, and inclusive collaborations for lsst researchers so that any scientist with a good question for the lsst survey can engage with these advanced resources to reveal the mysteries of the universe.

$2.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
29
Grants FY2024still arriving
13
States reached
$270k
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 2023.

Science & Tech$1.6MEducation$158kArts & Culture$22kRecreation & Sports$18kSocial Science$18k
02FY2024 · 29 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 29 grants below total $1,766,610, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,078,064 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $311,454 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $16k
  • $10k–50k17 grants · $357k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $1.1M
  • $250k+1 grant · $270k
$24,000
Median grant
13
States reached
$4.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA$269,911
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$219,320
RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK$141,850
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY$136,334
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY$126,334
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH OF THE COMMONWEALTH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION$120,670
LAS CUMBRES OBSERVATORY$119,005
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON$104,352
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY$104,241
SMITHSONIAN ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY$52,126
NORTHEASTERN$39,495
STANFORD$35,883
CAL POLY CORPORATION DBA CAL POLY PARTNERS$35,111
HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES$24,000
ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$24,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 82% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $270k → 15%SMITHSONIAN ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY: $52k → 8%DREXEL UNIVERSITY N926980: $27k → 22%STANFORD: $36k → 7%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $81k → 8%SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $24k → 11%CAL POLY CORPORATION DBA CAL POLY PARTNERS: $35k → 12%LAS CUMBRES OBSERVATORY: $119k → 14%BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY: $22k → 7%HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES: $24k → 10%MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $20k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $41k → 9%FERMI RESEARCH ALLIANCE LLC N926940: $39k → 8%THE ADLER PLANETARIUM: $22k → 14%BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $23k → 19%RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: $32k → 8%PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: $35k → 11%JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $104k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $70k → 15%STANFORD UNIVERSITY N926950: $24k → 8%LAS CUMBRES OBSERVATORY: $81k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $18k → 9%FERMI RESEARCH ALLIANCE LLC: $39k → 8%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $219k → 14%PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: $28k → 11%AURA: $27k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH OF THE COMMONWEALTH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION: $121k → 11%DREXEL UNIVERSITY: $29k → 22%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $23k → 8%LAS CUMBRES OBSERVATORY: $30k → 14%RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: $142k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $104k → 9%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $180k → 14%RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: $126k → 8%JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $26k → 19%LAS CUMBRES OBSERVATORY: $29k → 14%RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: $36k → 17%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $63k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS- URBANA: $25k → 19%RUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY: $45k → 8%ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY: $25k → 15%LAS CUMBRES OBSERVATORY N926990: $25k → 14%NORTHEASTERN: $39k → 14%RIDER UNIVERSITY: $24k → 11%AURA - GEMINI OBSERVATORY N927050: $23k → 15%LAS CUMBRES OBSERVATORY N927060: $22k → 14%ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $24k → 14%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $270k → 14%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

WA
IL
MI
NY
PA
NJ
CA
MD
DE
AZ

Grants abroad, by region: $385k on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 5 regions, $355k to organizations and $30k to individuals. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Europe (including Iceland and Greenland)$314k · 82% · 6 grants · 10 people

Stated purpose: TEMPLETON FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIPS SUPPORTING POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH USING RUBIN LSST DATA · SCHMIDT SCIENCES - FUNDED PROGRAM ADVANCING SOFTWARE FRAMEWORKS FOR RUBIN LSST SCIENCE · SCIENCE CATALYST GRANTS SUPPORTING RUBIN LSST RESEARCH AND ENABLING SCIENCE PROJECTS

South America$27k · 7% · 2 grants · 2 people

Stated purpose: TEMPLETON FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIPS SUPPORTING POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH USING RUBIN LSST DATA · SCIENCE CATALYST GRANTS SUPPORTING RUBIN LSST RESEARCH AND ENABLING SCIENCE PROJECTS · SUMMER STUDENT PROGRAM

Sub-Saharan Africa$26k · 7% · 1 grant

Stated purpose: SUPPORT FOR AFRICAN ASTRONOMERS TO ATTEND THE INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION GENERAL ASSEMBLY

East Asia and the Pacific$15k · 4% · 1 grant · 1 person

Stated purpose: TEMPLETON FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIPS SUPPORTING POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH USING RUBIN LSST DATA · HEISING-SIMONS FOUNDATION CHILDCARE SUPPORT PILOT

North America (Canada and Mexico)$3k · 1% · 1 person

Stated purpose: HEISING-SIMONS FOUNDATION INCLUSIVE COLLABORATION

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 16 repeat orgs$512k to everyone else

16 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
7

Total granted

$2.9M
$117k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
+64%

Still filing today

69%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $396k 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
EducationScience & TechArts & CultureRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • Northwestern University
    7× · 2017–2024 · $831k · revenue +41%
  • RF
    Research Foundation of the City University of New York
    2× · 2023–2024 · $177k · revenue +11%
  • JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2023–2024 · $130k · revenue +4%

Funded once

  • CM
    Carnegie Mellon Universitygraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $25k · revenue +64%
  • BN
    BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
    one grant, 2017 · $22k
  • TA
    THE ADLER PLANETARIUMgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $22k · revenue +38%
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
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
2
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
3
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
4
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
5
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
6
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
7
Case Western Reserve University

Case Western Reserve University is an independent, research-oriented university with broadly based strengths in health, including medicine, nursing and dentistry; in engineering; in the arts and sciences; and in law, management and social…

Education
8
University of Miami

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

Education
9
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
10
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
11
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
12
The Rockefeller University

The rockefeller university (the university) is a world renowned center for research and graduate education in the biomedical sciences, chemistry, bioinformatics, and physics. the university's 73 laboratories conduct both clinical and basic…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Pittsburgh; the most unlike its peers is Las Cumbres Observatory Gtn 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

28 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. 28 of the 40 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)
28/28
Grantees still filing
23/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $366,676 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONAWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY: $182,349 · OtherWASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $171,887 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTONRUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY: $171,334 · OtherRUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITYTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $110,200 · OtherTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERS…UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: $48,276 · Other+8 more: $119,379 · Other+8 moreTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $204,925 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAN…Research Foundation of the City University of New York: $177,495 · EducationResearch Foundation of the City Un…JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $130,108 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $120,670 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGHThe Trustees of Princeton University: $81,831 · EducationThe Trustees of Princeton Universi…DREXEL UNIVERSITY: $75,870 · EducationDREXEL UNIVERSITYRUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $41,016 · Education+13 more: $251,724 · Education+13 moreNorthwestern University: $830,950 · Recreation & SportsNorthwestern UniversityLAS CUMBRES OBSERVATORY GTN INC: $306,338 · Science & TechLAS CUMBRES OB…Fermi Research Alliance LLC: $97,706 · Science & TechFermi Research…ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY INC: $48,250 · Science & TechASSOCIATION OF…SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $52,126 · Arts & CultureTHE ADLER PLANETARIUM: $21,500 · Arts & Culture
Other$1,170,101Education$1,083,639Recreation & Sports$830,950Science & Tech$452,294Arts & Culture$73,626

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNorthwestern University: $830,950 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetLAS CUMBRES OBSERVATORY GTN INC: $306,338 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $204,925 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetResearch Foundation of the City University of New York: $177,495 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $130,108 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $120,670 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFermi Research Alliance LLC: $97,706 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $81,831 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDREXEL UNIVERSITY: $75,870 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $52,126 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: $48,276 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY INC: $48,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $41,016 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCAL POLY CORPORATION: $35,111 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRIDER UNIVERSITY: $34,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCarnegie Mellon University: $24,880 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION SDSU RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $24,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIllinois Institute of Technology: $24,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES: $24,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ADLER PLANETARIUM: $21,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $19,111 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $16,667 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of California Merced Foundation: $16,667 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBenedictine University: $16,666 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRANKLIN W OLIN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING INC: $11,999 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLEHIGH UNIVERSITY: $11,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWilliam Jewell College: $11,003 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $7,000 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.

Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCA5.4× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Lsst Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lsst Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • University of Delaware: 30% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
  • Rider University: 1% of income from government
  • Rutgers University Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
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 40 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 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 Lsst’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