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· Private foundation

Maclean 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.

$4.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$1.7M
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Education$17MScience & Tech$1.5MHealth$800kPhilanthropy$757kArts & Culture$639kRecreation & Sports$571kAnimals$341kHuman Services$30k
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
  • $250k+3 grants · $4.0M
$1,500,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$19M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
University of Chicago$1,748,263
Dartmouth College$1,500,000
Museum of Science and Industry$750,000
Ruffed Grouse Society$50,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 47% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%Leventhal Map Education Center: $35k → 16%Ruffed Grouse Society: $100k → 11%Union College: $746k → 12%African Wildlife Foundation: $160k → 14%Loomis Chaffee School: $1.2M → 11%Shangri-La Therapeutic Academy: $31k → 10%Zoo Knoxville: $1k → 12%US Ski Snowboard Foundation: $40k → 5%Various Public Charities: $250 → 8%The Art Institute of Chicago: $500k → 14%Samaritan Ministries: $30k → 14%Dartmouth College: $6.6M → 10%Leventhal Map Education Center: $30k → 16%Ruffed Grouse Society: $50k → 11%Union College: $10k → 12%African Wildlife Foundation: $30k → 14%Lake Forest Country Day School: $60k → 8%Rush Road Home: $10k → 14%Samaritan Ministries: $30k → 14%Dartmouth College: $2.0M → 10%Samaritan Ministries: $20k → 14%Lake Forest Country Day School: $30k → 8%The Art Institute of Chicago: $50k → 14%Samaritan Ministries: $30k → 14%Dartmouth College: $1.5M → 10%Shirley Ryan Ability Lab: $675k → 14%Samaritan Ministries: $20k → 14%University of Chicago: $2.1M → 14%University of Chicago: $1.7M → 14%University of Chicago: $1.5M → 14%Museum of Science and Industry: $750k → 14%Museum of Science and Industry: $750k → 14%University of Chicago: $193k → 14%Millenium Park Foundation: $500k → 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

NH
IL
NY
MA
PA
CT
UT
TN
DC
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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$19M · 11 repeat orgs$2.5M to everyone else

11 repeat relationships — 4 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
12

Total granted

$19M
$2.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
+56%

Still filing today

64%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
EducationArts & CultureHealthRecreation & SportsAnimalsOther

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

  • University of Chicago
    4× · 2018–2024 · $5.5M · revenue +52%
  • KC
    Kenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
    2× · 2023–2024 · $1.5M · revenue +14%
  • TA
    THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
    2× · 2018–2022 · $550k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • TL
    THE LOOMIS INSTITUTE D/B/A THE LOOMIS CHAFFEE SCHOOL
    one grant, 2022 · $1.2M · revenue +14%
  • RI
    Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
    one grant, 2023 · $675k · revenue +5%
  • MP
    MILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $500k · revenue +56%

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
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
2
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
3
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
4
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
5
Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a world-renowned center for biological discovery and training that is notably affiliated with more than 60 Nobel Prize winners. Research is conducted by full-time faculty as well as hundreds of the…

Science & Tech
6
University of Miami

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

Education
7
Saint Xavier University

Saint xavier university, a catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the sisters of mercy, educates persons to search for truth, think critically, communicate effectively and serve wisely and compassionately in support of human…

Education
8
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
9
Stanley Manne Childrens Research Institute

Stanley manne children's research institute strives to generate new knowledge and advance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of pediatric diseases.

Health
10
Lowell Observatory

The mission of lowell observatory is to pursue the study of astronomy, especially the study of our solar system and its evolution; to conduct pure research in astronomical phenomena; and to maintain quality public education and outreach…

Science & Tech
11
Science Museum of Minnesota

The museum's mission statement is "turn on the science: inspire learning. inform policy. improve lives."

Arts & Culture
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

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Art Institute of Chicago and the most unlike its peers is African Wildlife Foundation 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

11 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. 11 of the 23 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
11/11
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

Dartmouth College — $10,100,000 · OtherDartmouth CollegeUnion College — $756,430 · OtherUnion College+11 more — $422,250 · OtherUniversity of Chicago — $5,489,026 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoTHE LOOMIS INSTITUTE D/B/A THE LOOMIS CHAFFEE SCHOOL — $1,200,000 · EducationTHE LOOMIS INSTITUTE D/B/A THE LOOMIS …THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO — $550,000 · EducationTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGOKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry — $1,500,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more — $24,050 · Arts & CultureRehabilitation Institute of Chicago — $675,000 · HealthSAMARITAN MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL — $110,000 · HealthMILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATION — $500,000 · Recreation & SportsAFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION INC — $190,000 · Animals
Other$11,278,680Education$7,239,026Arts & Culture$1,524,050Health$785,000Recreation & Sports$500,000Animals$190,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetUniversity of Chicago — $5,489,026 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetKenneth C Griffin Museum of Science and Industry — $1,500,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetTHE LOOMIS INSTITUTE D/B/A THE LOOMIS CHAFFEE SCHOOL — $1,200,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetRehabilitation Institute of Chicago — $675,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO — $550,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMILLENNIUM PARK FOUNDATION — $500,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetAFRICAN WILDLIFE FOUNDATION INC — $190,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetSAMARITAN MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL — $110,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetLAKE FOREST COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL — $90,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetKNOXVILLE SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCORPORATED — $14,050 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE MUSEE DORSAY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% 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.

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.

The Bank of America Charitable Foundation IncNC9.4× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Maclean 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 · 10%1%5%11%20%your share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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 Maclean Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Maclean 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 23 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

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