Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

Matthew and Emmanuella Essieh Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$365k
Granted FY2025still arriving
24
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$110k
Largest
01What you fund
0195% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172025.

Education$905kArts & Culture$196kHealth$108kReligion$65kScience & Tech$50kInternational$31kPhilanthropy$30kHuman Services$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k11 grants · $31k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $173k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $160k
$10,500
Median grant
4
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MSEF Charitable Foundation$110,000
Palm University Foundation$50,000
Southern Oregon University$30,000
Portland Opera$20,200
Palm University Foundation$20,000
Juneteenth Oregon$15,898
Nottingham Trent University$14,940
University of Hertfordshire$14,157
Niagara College Canada$13,659
Algonquin College of Applied Arts$13,286
World Oregon$10,750
Georgia State University$10,500
Individual grant recipient$10,000
York St John University$8,156
Sheridan College$6,354
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.

Your US giving49% of grant dollars ($704k). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 51% that went abroad ($728k) is mapped below.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY21–22, $7k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%The Family Room: $6k → 12%The Family Room: $1k → 12%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

IL
NY
MA
OR
OH
PA
CA
SC
DC
GA

Beyond the US51% of all-years giving ($728k)

5 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore
Ghana$604k · 14 grants
Canada$55k · 10 grants
United Kingdom$48k · 4 grants
Australia$15k · 2 grants
Germany$6k · 1 grant

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. International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same 990filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain.

04

Where the work is directed

The same grants, placed two ways — where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose earmarks the money.

About 8% of Matthew and Emmanuella Essieh Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked, by their stated purpose, for a different county than the recipient’s own address — money that lands at a nonprofit in one place but is meant to do its work in another. Read by recipient address, 39% of the giving stays in OR; read by stated purpose it is 36% — less of the work is directed home than the recipients' locations suggest.

Matthew and Emmanuella Essieh Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 54% directed abroad (not shown)

Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the foundation’s own 990 grant descriptions.

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.

72%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$998k · 24 repeat orgs$388k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +53% since the first grant, against +12% for the ones you funded once.

24 repeat relationships — 8 still active in FY2025, 16 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
30

Total granted

$998k
$188k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+53%
+12%

Still filing today

29%
20%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 45% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $201k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CulturePhilanthropyEducationInternationalRecreation & SportsHuman ServicesOther

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

  • CA
    CHILDRENS AIDS ART PROGRAMME
    9× · 2017–2025 · $24k · revenue +53%
  • HC
    HARAMBEE CENTRE INC
    3× · 2020–2024 · $8k · revenue +7%
  • CI
    CANTORES IN ECCLESIA
    6× · 2018–2025 · $7k · revenue +300%

Funded once

  • NC
    Nafana Community Development Fund
    one grant, 2017 · $80k
  • BU
    Bangor University
    one grant, 2023 · $11k
  • PC
    Peace Corps Foundation
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue +17%

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
African Diasporic Arts and Education Inc
Arts & Culture
2
The University of British Columbia

Pursuing excellence in research learning and engagement to foster global citizenship and advance a sustainable and just society across British Columbia Canada and the world.

Education
3
Beauty of Afrikan Sisterhood
Health
4
Corrib Theatre

To bring Irish playwrights unique perspective on oppression and empowerment,and conflict and resolution,to Portland in order to change our world for the better.

Arts & Culture
5
Seattle University

Seattle University is dedicated to educating the whole person, to professional formation, and to empowering leaders for a just and humane world.

6
American Friends of Ono Academic College
Philanthropy
7
Council of American Overseas Research Centers

The Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) is a private non-profit federation of independent overseas research centers that promotes research to advance knowledge of the world outside The United States in an era of global…

International
8
French International School of Oregon

The school provides a robust and immersive multilingual curriculum, fostering an inclusive community that celebrates diverse perspectives and creates the foundation for reflective learners to thrive and effect change in an interconnected…

Arts & Culture
9
Oregon Consular Corps Scholarship Fund

The corporation's purpose is to raise funds for and award academic scholarships to students of international studies at oregon colleges and universities, and to educate local business leaders about international business opportunities and…

Education
10
Boston Architectural College

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

11
Pacific Northwest College of Art

The mission of pnca is to prepare students for a life of creative practice. the intent is to transform students into knowledgeable, articulate, practicing artists and designers with the ability to significantly contribute in original ways…

12
University of Portland

The university of portland, an independently governed catholic university guided by the congregation of holy cross, addresses significant questions of human concern through interdisciplinary studies of the arts, sciences, and humanities…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Portland Opera Association Inc and the most unlike its peers is The Family Room. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

05the grantee network

17 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. 17 of the 70 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/17
Grantees still filing
10/17
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

MSEF Charitable Foundation — $485,586 · OtherMSEF Charitable FoundationNape Foundation — $181,871 · OtherNape FoundationNafana Community Development Fund — $80,000 · OtherNafana Community Development Fund+52 more — $385,211 · Other+52 morePORTLAND OPERA ASSOCIATION INC — $105,300 · Arts & CulturePORTLAND OPE…CHILDRENS AIDS ART PROGRAMME — $24,000 · Arts & CultureCHILDRENS AI…Peace Corps Foundation — $10,000 · Arts & CulturePeace Corps …HARAMBEE CENTRE INC — $8,100 · Arts & CultureCANTORES IN ECCLESIA — $7,051 · Arts & Culture+2 more — $4,000 · Arts & CulturePALM UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $70,000 · PhilanthropyPORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $5,000 · PhilanthropyPresident and Fellows of Harvard College — $45,000 · EducationGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY — $5,000 · Education+1 more — $500 · EducationTHE FAMILY ROOM — $6,650 · Human ServicesFLY FISHING COLLABORATIVE — $5,950 · Recreation & SportsWorld Affairs Council of Oregon dba WorldOregon — $2,500 · International
Other$1,132,668Arts & Culture$158,451Philanthropy$75,000Education$50,500Human Services$6,650Recreation & Sports$5,950International$2,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetPORTLAND OPERA ASSOCIATION INC — $105,300 over 8y, 1.0% of budgetPALM UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $70,000 over 1y, 37% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College — $45,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDRENS AIDS ART PROGRAMME — $24,000 over 9y, 5.4% of budgetPeace Corps Foundation — $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetHARAMBEE CENTRE INC — $8,100 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetCANTORES IN ECCLESIA — $7,051 over 6y, 2.4% of budgetTHE FAMILY ROOM — $6,650 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetFLY FISHING COLLABORATIVE — $5,950 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetPORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKO-FALEN CULTURAL CENTER — $3,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetObo Addy Legacy Project — $3,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetTHE IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION — $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN OREGON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION — $500 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

  • Who funds PORTLAND OPERA ASSOCIATION INC
  • Who funds PALM UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College
  • Who funds CHILDRENS AIDS ART PROGRAMME
  • Who funds Peace Corps Foundation
  • Who funds HARAMBEE CENTRE INC
  • Who funds CANTORES IN ECCLESIA
  • Who funds THE FAMILY ROOM
  • Who funds FLY FISHING COLLABORATIVE
  • Who funds PORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

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 Oregon Community FoundationOR20.9× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Oregon Community Foundation · Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation Trust · Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund · Meyer Memorial Trust · The Autzen Foundation · Careoregon Inc · Juan Young Trust · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Endowment Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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 Matthew and Emmanuella Essieh 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, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 70%3%10%23%40%your share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 4%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College7% of income from government
  • Portland Community College Foundation Inc5% of income from government
  • The Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization4% of income from government
  • Portland Opera Association Inc2% of income from government
  • World Affairs Council of Oregon dba WorldOregon0% of income from government
  • Southern Oregon University Foundation0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
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.

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 70 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph