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Luo Pan Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Luo Pan 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.

$145k
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Education$532kHealth$168kReligion$50kCommunity Improvement$19kOther$0
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $4k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $141k
$15,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$2.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CORNELL UNIVERSITY$30,000
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN$25,000
BEYOND BASICS$25,000
AVE MARIA COMMUNICATIONS$25,000
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY$15,000
UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO$10,800
ST JUDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL$10,000
CRANBROOK EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY$3,000
WALSH COLLEGE FOUNDATION$1,000
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 (FY18–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 66% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $60k → 16%WALSH COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $1k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING: $28k → 14%MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $40k → 16%HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEMS: $3k → 21%ST JUDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $10k → 17%HOMIE'S HOPE: $500 → 15%UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO: $11k → 18%PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: $53k → 11%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $30k → 16%WALSH COLLEGE: $600 → 8%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $25k → 14%MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $40k → 16%UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO: $3k → 18%PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: $30k → 11%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $30k → 16%WALSH COLLEGE: $500 → 8%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $25k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO: $2k → 18%PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: $25k → 11%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $30k → 16%WALSH COLLEGE: $100 → 8%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $25k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO: $2k → 18%PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: $25k → 11%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $30k → 16%BEYOND BASICS: $25k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $25k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO: $2k → 18%PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: $15k → 11%CORNELL UNIVERSITY: $10k → 16%BEYOND BASICS: $25k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $25k → 14%PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: $10k → 11%BEYOND BASICS: $3k → 8%BEYOND BASICS: $2k → 8%DETROIT CHINESE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION: $8k → 8%DETROIT CHINESE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION: $5k → 8%DETROIT CHINESE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION: $3k → 8%DETROIT CHINESE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION: $3k → 8%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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$725k · 10 repeat orgs$45k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +50% since the first grant, against +48% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
4

Total granted

$725k
$34k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+50%
+48%

Still filing today

80%
25%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHealthCommunity ImprovementReligionOther
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

  • Cornell University
    6× · 2019–2024 · $190k · revenue +50%
  • The Trustees of Princeton University
    6× · 2019–2024 · $158k · revenue +5%
  • UO
    University of Michigan
    5× · 2020–2024 · $125k · revenue +139%

Funded once

  • RO
    REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
    one grant, 2021 · $28k
  • HF
    HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEMgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $3k · revenue +48%
  • AC
    AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY
    one grant, 2020 · $2k
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
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
2
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
3
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
4
Delaware Valley University

See schedule o.we are inspired by the ideals of our founder who, in 1896, emphasized respect for all people and ideas, who honored knowledge with practice, progress and the common good. our historical commitment to experiential learning…

—
5
Williams College

Williams College strives to achieve educational excellence by fostering a community of learning in collaboration with students, faculty, staff, devoted alumni and parents.

Education
6
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
7
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
8
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

—
9
Aacsb International - the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business

Aacsb international provides quality assurance of business school programs, the latest in business education intelligence, thought leadership, and learning and development services.

Education
10
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Wpi transforms lives, turns knowledge into action to confront global challenges, and revolutionizes stem through distinctive and inclusive education, projects and research. (http://www.wpi.edu/about/mission.html)

—
11
Mcphs University

Mcphs university prepares students for careers in health care through teaching, scholarship, research, professional service and community engagement.

Education
12
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Cranbrook Educational Community; the most unlike its peers is University of Michigan. 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 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. 11 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)
11/11
Grantees still filing
8/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Cornell University: $190,000 · EducationCornell UniversityThe Trustees of Princeton University: $158,000 · EducationThe Trustees of Princeton UniversityBEYOND BASICS: $55,000 · EducationBEYOND BASICSCRANBROOK EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY: $28,700 · EducationCRANBROOK EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY+2 more: $2,200 · EducationUniversity of Michigan: $125,000 · OtherUniversity of MichiganMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $80,000 · OtherMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $28,000 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGANUNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO: $18,300 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO+2 more: $2,500 · OtherAve Maria Communications: $50,000 · ReligionDETROIT CHINESE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION: $18,500 · Community ImprovementST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $10,000 · HealthHENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM: $3,000 · Health
Education$433,900Other$253,800Religion$50,000Community Improvement$18,500Health$13,000

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 budgetCornell University: $190,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $158,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Michigan: $125,000 over 5y, 9.4% of budgetBEYOND BASICS: $55,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetAve Maria Communications: $50,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetCRANBROOK EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY: $28,700 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetDETROIT CHINESE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION: $18,500 over 4y, 4.5% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWalsh College of Accountancy & Business Administration: $1,200 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WALSH COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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…Amazonsmile Foundation
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO6.5× 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 · 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 Luo Pan Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Luo Pan 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 →median 11%
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
1report 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 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Luo Pan’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