Skip to content

· Private foundation

Make Great Things Happen 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.

$35k
Granted FY2025still arriving
39
Grants FY2025still arriving
10
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$153kArts & Culture$21kHealth$13kReligion$8kFood & Nutrition$7kPublic Safety & Disaster$7kHuman Services$7kAnimals$6kOther$0
02FY2025 · 39 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$500
Median grant
10
States reached
$130k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Ithaca College$5,000
518 Elevated$4,000
Berkshire Woodworkers Guild$4,000
Donors Choose$2,568
St Marys Food Bank$1,500
PJ Library org$1,500
Captain Community Human Services$1,100
Hudson Valley Community College$1,000
World Central Kitchen$1,000
Saratoga Joinery$1,000
Philadelphia Furniture Workshop$1,000
St Jude Childrens Research Hospital$1,000
RPM Foundation$850
Vision to Learn$750
Shenendehowa Helping Hands Pantry$700
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 (FY20–25, $6k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 26% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Captain Community Human Services: $1k → 7%Captain Community Human Services: $700 → 7%Captain Youth and Family Services: $700 → 7%Captain Community Human Services: $700 → 7%Captain Community Human Services: $700 → 7%American Red Cross: $200 → 14%Captain Youth and Family Services: $550 → 7%American Red Cross: $200 → 14%American Red Cross: $200 → 14%American Red Cross: $200 → 14%American Red Cross: $200 → 14%Family Promise of the Capital Regio: $200 → 14%Family Promise of the Capital Regio: $150 → 14%Family Promise of the Capital Regio: $150 → 14%Family Promise of the Capital Regio: $100 → 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
NY
MA
PA
CT
CA
MO
MD
AZ
TN
NC
DC
GA
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$210k · 40 repeat orgs$11k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +33% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

40 repeat relationships: 33 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

40
8

Total granted

$210k
$7k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
0%

Still filing today

63%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHealthHuman ServicesFood & NutritionPublic BenefitOther
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

  • D
    DONORSCHOOSEORG
    6× · 2020–2025 · $19k · revenue +1%
  • NW
    NORTHEASTERN WOODWORKERS ASSOCIATION INC
    3× · 2020–2024 · $7k · revenue +40%
  • ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $6k · revenue +78%

Funded once

  • TS
    THE SHAKER HERITAGE SOCIETY
    one grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue -86%
  • RF
    REGIONAL FOOD BANK OF NORTHEASTERN NEW YORK INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $750 · revenue +242%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $250
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
New York Botanical Garden

The new york botanical garden is a museum of plants and a scientific research center devoted to the study of plants and their uses. it is the garden's mission to improve public understanding of the natural world, horticulture, and the…

Environment
2
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
3
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
4
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
5
Manhattanville University

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

Education
6
New York Hall of Science

Nysci's mission is to nurture generations of passionate learners, critical thinkers, and active citizens through design make play - an approach to learning and engagement that is deeply rooted in research on stem learning and guides the…

Arts & Culture
7
New York Genome Center Inc

Operate a state-of-the-art, world-class genomic research center that creates and uses advanced genomics to understand the genetic basis of disease. for more information, see schedule o.

Health
8
Museum of the City of New York

The museum of the city of new york fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the world's most influential metropolis. it engages visitors by celebrating, documenting, and interpreting the city's past, present, and…

Arts & Culture
9
The New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations

The mission of the new york public library is to inspire lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen our communities.

Education
10
Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is a private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of New York Department of Education in 1929 to foster public awareness of modern and contemporary art. (Continued in Schedule O)

Arts & Culture
11
New York School of Interior Design

New york school of interior design provides the most innovative, immersive, and transformative interior design education in the world, demonstrating the impact of professionally designed interiors on the health, happiness, and well-being…

Education
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New York Landmarks Conservancy Inc; the most unlike its peers is American Museum of Natural History. 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

36 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. 36 of the 54 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
35/36
Grantees still filing
22/36
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

518 ELEVATED INC: $46,200 · Education518 ELEVATED INCITHACA COLLEGE: $30,000 · EducationITHACA COLLEGEDONORSCHOOSEORG: $18,590 · EducationDONORSCHOOSEORGNORTHEASTERN WOODWORKERS ASSOCIATION INC: $7,000 · EducationNORTHEASTERN WOODWORKERS ASSOCIATION INC+4 more: $7,150 · Education+4 moreUniversity of Maryland: $25,000 · OtherUniversity of MarylandHudson Valley Community College: $7,025 · OtherHudson Valley Community CollegePJ Library org: $6,950 · OtherPJ Library orgTHE SHAKER HERITAGE SOCIETY: $5,000 · OtherTHE SHAKER HERITAGE SOCIETYBerkshire Woodworkers Guild: $5,000 · OtherBerkshire Woodworkers GuildShenendehowa Helping Hands Pantry: $4,000 · OtherCAPITAL CITY GOSPEL MISSION: $3,900 · OtherCITY MISSION OF SCHENECTADY: $3,900 · OtherRonald McDonalds House Charities: $3,150 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $2,800 · Other+17 more: $14,230 · Other+17 moreST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $6,000 · HealthVISION TO LEARN: $4,500 · HealthCLIFTON PARK HALFMOON EMERGENCY CORP: $1,100 · HealthRPM FOUNDATION: $5,100 · Arts & CultureTHE PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC: $2,000 · Arts & CultureNEW YORK CITY CENTER INC: $1,100 · Arts & CultureThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $850 · Arts & CultureMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $700 · Arts & CultureNEW YORK CITY BALLET INC: $450 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $649 · Arts & CultureCAPTAIN COMMUNITY HUMAN SERVICES INC: $4,450 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $1,000 · Human ServicesFamily Promise of the Capital Region Inc: $600 · Human ServicesWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $4,000 · InternationalST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE: $1,500 · Food & NutritionREGIONAL FOOD BANK OF NORTHEASTERN NEW YORK INC: $750 · Food & NutritionWaste Not Inc: $500 · Food & Nutrition
Education$108,940Other$80,955Health$11,600Arts & Culture$10,849Human Services$6,050International$4,000Food & Nutrition$2,750

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 budget518 ELEVATED INC: $46,200 over 6y, 3.1% of budgetITHACA COLLEGE: $30,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $18,590 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHEASTERN WOODWORKERS ASSOCIATION INC: $7,000 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $6,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetRPM FOUNDATION: $5,100 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetTHE SHAKER HERITAGE SOCIETY: $5,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetVISION TO LEARN: $4,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCAPTAIN COMMUNITY HUMAN SERVICES INC: $4,450 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCITY MISSION OF SCHENECTADY: $3,900 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetPACE UNIVERSITY: $2,800 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BROOKLYN COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $2,350 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC: $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPets for Vets Inc: $1,700 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ACTORS' FUND OF AMERICA: $1,700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK CITY CENTER INC: $1,100 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCLIFTON PARK HALFMOON EMERGENCY CORP: $1,100 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSociety for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals: $1,080 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $1,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSARATOGA JOINERY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $850 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetREGIONAL FOOD BANK OF NORTHEASTERN NEW YORK INC: $750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $700 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetDEER VALLEY EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $700 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFamily Promise of the Capital Region Inc: $600 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWaste Not Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK CITY BALLET INC: $450 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Museum of Natural History: $279 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOPENHOUSENEWYORK INC: $220 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNew York Historical Society: $150 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK LANDMARKS CONSERVANCY INC: $100 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.

  • Who funds 518 ELEVATED INC ↗
  • Who funds ITHACA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds DONORSCHOOSEORG ↗
  • Who funds NORTHEASTERN WOODWORKERS ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
  • Who funds RPM FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE SHAKER HERITAGE SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds VISION TO LEARN ↗
  • Who funds CAPTAIN COMMUNITY HUMAN SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC ↗
  • Who funds CITY MISSION OF SCHENECTADY ↗
  • Who funds PACE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE BROOKLYN COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC ↗
  • Who funds Pets for Vets Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE ACTORS' FUND OF AMERICA ↗
  • Who funds ST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds NEW YORK CITY CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds CLIFTON PARK HALFMOON EMERGENCY CORP ↗
  • Who funds Society for the Prevention of Cruelty To Animals ↗
  • Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
  • Who funds SARATOGA JOINERY INC ↗
  • Who funds PHILADELPHIA FURNITURE WORKSHOP ↗
  • Who funds The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ↗
  • Who funds REGIONAL FOOD BANK OF NORTHEASTERN NEW YORK INC ↗
  • Who funds METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART ↗

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 Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region IncNY17.5× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region Inc · Price Chopper's Golub Foundation · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Review Foundation · Pioneer Bank Charitable Foundation · American Express Foundation · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Charities Aid Foundation America · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc

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 Make Great Things Happen Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Make Great Things Happen Foundation. 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%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    8report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Make Great Things Happen Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Make Great Things Happen 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 54 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 Make Great Things Happen’s filings →

    More from the funding graph