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Margo Simons Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Margo Simons Family 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.

$210k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Philanthropy$3.6MHealth$343kArts & Culture$159kReligion$140kEnvironment$125kEducation$60kRecreation & Sports$35kYouth Development$35kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k8 grants · $160k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$25,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$3.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
St Helena Community Church$50,000
The York Land Trust$25,000
St Helena Beautification Foundation$25,000
Mayo Clinic$25,000
St Helena Hospital Foundation$25,000
Goodwin Living Foundation$20,000
Insight on the Inside$15,000
Sustainable St Helena Enviiron Alli$15,000
Xerces Society$10,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY19–25, $35k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 57% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%HOMESTRETCH INC: $15k → 4%Goodwin Living Foundation: $20k → 9%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

ME
MN
NY
OR
OH
CA
VA
AZ
NC
DC
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.

60%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$558k · 9 repeat orgs$371k to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
21

Total granted

$558k
$321k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+41%

Still filing today

67%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $50k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHealthEducationAnimalsRecreation & SportsHuman ServicesOther
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

  • YL
    YORK LAND TRUST
    5× · 2018–2025 · $100k · revenue +22%
  • TH
    THE HEARD MUSEUM
    3× · 2018–2020 · $80k · revenue +191%
  • HI
    HOFFMAN INSTITUTE FOUNDATION
    2× · 2019–2020 · $30k · revenue +291%

Funded once

  • HI
    Hope Ignites Phoenix
    one grant, 2019 · $35k · revenue -61%
  • AI
    AMISTAD INTERNATIONAL
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue -4%
  • MO
    MONTESSORI ORIGINS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +248%
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
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
2
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
3
Versiti Inc

Versiti, inc. (versiti) supports charitable, scientific and educational purposes of its affiliates and other similar entities engaged in blood transfusion, services and research.

Health
4
Inova Health System Foundation

Inova health system foundation is the parent of inova health system (ihs). ihs provides healthcare and related services throughout northern virginia and the greater metropolitan washington, d.c. area, including certain contiguous counties…

Health
5
Silicon Schools Fund Inc

The mission of the silicon schools fund is to improve education through supporting the launch of excellent new schools, improving academic instruction in existing schools, and by funding some of the boldest innovations in education…

Education
6
Watsi Inc

Watsi, inc. is a san francisco-based non-profit organization that directly connects people through technology to fund life-changing healthcare for patients around the world. since launching in 2012, the organization has helped more than…

Health
7
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
8
The San Diego Foundation

The san diego foundation inspires enduring philanthropy and enables community solutions to improve the quality of life in our region.

Philanthropy
9
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
10
Virginia Tech Foundation Inc

Virginia tech foundation, inc. (vtf) is a virginia nonstock corporation established in 1948 for the sole purpose of managing virginia tech's endowment to advance virginia tech's mission and its strategic priorities.

Education
11
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
12
Robert a Toigo Foundation

Our mission is to shape the future of finance by developing leaders whose innovation, investment excellence, and human-centered leadership advance the industry and its adjacent sectors.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Goodwin House Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Neptune Swimming Foundation. 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

24 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. 24 of the 35 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/24
Grantees still filing
16/24
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $3,609,234 · PhilanthropyDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC+1 more: $25,000 · PhilanthropySAINT HELENA CHURCH: $75,000 · OtherSAINT HELE…ST HELENA BEAUTIFICATION FOUNDATION: $55,000 · OtherST HELENA …YOUNTVILLE COMMUNITY CHURCH: $50,000 · OtherYOUNTVILLE…Hope Ignites Phoenix: $35,000 · OtherHope Ignit…Sustainable St Helena Enviiron Alli: $15,000 · OtherThe Napa Comm Firewise Fdn: $15,000 · OtherMOUNT CLARET ROMAN CATHOLIC RETREAT CENTER PHOENIX: $15,000 · OtherLEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY INC - TRI-STATE SOUTHE: $15,000 · OtherInsight on the Inside: $15,000 · OtherMINNESOTANS' MILITARY APPRECIATION FUND: $15,000 · OtherPROJECT VERITAS: $15,000 · OtherXERCES SOCIETY INC: $16,000 · OtherAMISTAD INTERNATIONAL: $25,000 · OtherAMISTAD IN…Cincinnati Parks Foundation: $15,000 · Other+5 more: $41,000 · Other+5 moreMAYO CLINIC: $125,000 · HealthSt Helena Hospital Foundation: $122,600 · HealthGeorge Mark Childrens Fund: $15,000 · HealthTHE V FOUNDATION: $10,000 · HealthTHE HEARD MUSEUM: $80,000 · Arts & CultureFRENCH-AMERICAN CULTURAL FOUNDATION: $29,000 · Arts & CultureFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $24,900 · Arts & CultureCLARE BOOTHE LUCE CENTER FOR CONSERVATIVE WOMEN: $10,000 · Arts & CultureYORK LAND TRUST: $100,000 · EnvironmentHOFFMAN INSTITUTE FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EducationMONTESSORI ORIGINS FOUNDATION: $25,000 · EducationSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EducationGOODWIN HOUSE FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Human ServicesHomestretch Inc: $15,000 · Human Services
Philanthropy$3,634,234Other$417,000Health$272,600Arts & Culture$143,900Environment$100,000Education$60,000Human Services$35,000

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 budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $3,609,234 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $125,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSt Helena Hospital Foundation: $122,600 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetYORK LAND TRUST: $100,000 over 5y, 4.3% of budgetTHE HEARD MUSEUM: $80,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetHOFFMAN INSTITUTE FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFRENCH-AMERICAN CULTURAL FOUNDATION: $29,000 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetAMISTAD INTERNATIONAL: $25,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetTHE INVICTUS FUND NV: $25,000 over 1y, 38% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $24,900 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGOODWIN HOUSE FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetXERCES SOCIETY INC: $16,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGeorge Mark Childrens Fund: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCincinnati Parks Foundation: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHomestretch Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMINNESOTANS' MILITARY APPRECIATION FUND: $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetMUTTVILLE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE V FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCLARE BOOTHE LUCE CENTER FOR CONSERVATIVE WOMEN: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $5,000 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.

National Philanthropi…American Endowment Fo…The Blackbaud Giving …Vanguard Charitable E…Natl Christian Charit…Morgan Stanley Global…Donor Advised Charita…Network for GoodFidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
National Philanthropic TrustPA10.3× affinity9 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Network for Good · 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 Margo Simons Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Margo Simons Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 22%
  • Xerces Society Inc: 22% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get 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 · 0–50%
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 Margo Simons Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Margo Simons Family 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 35 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 Margo Simons Family’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