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Maximum Difference Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Maximum Difference 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.

$316k
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$144k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.3MEducation$604kCivil Rights$351kPhilanthropy$251kCrime & Legal$201kInternational$118kHuman Services$76kReligion$75kOther$0
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $9k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $63k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $244k
$23,312
Median grant
2
States reached
$304k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FARHANG FOUNDATION$143,927
THE VILLAGE SCHOOL$50,000
AMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID$50,000
SOCIARTS PRODUCTIONS LLC$23,312
MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE$20,000
IRANIAN MUSLIM ASSOCIATION OF NORTH$20,000
BUBBLES DOG RESCUE$7,500
NATIONAL MS SOCIETY$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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $1.0M) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%TIDES CENTER: $50k → 14%IRANIAN AMERICAN WOMEN FOUNDATION: $5k → 10%INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $30k → 17%THE INNOCENCE PROJECT: $10k → 17%THE INNOCENCE PROJECT: $10k → 17%COVENANT HOUSE OF CALIFORNIA: $5k → 14%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $261k → 14%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $160k → 14%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $150k → 14%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $144k → 14%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $66k → 14%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $56k → 14%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $48k → 14%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $38k → 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
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
NJ
CA
VA
MD
DC
TX
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.

65%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.0M · 20 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

20 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 16 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
58

Total granted

$2.0M
$941k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-1%
+38%

Still filing today

45%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 56% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $140k 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
InternationalHuman ServicesHealthCivil RightsEnvironmentAnimalsOther
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

  • FF
    FARHANG FOUNDATION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $922k · revenue +25%
  • AJ
    A JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE
    3× · 2017–2020 · $65k · revenue +215%
  • TI
    THE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC
    3× · 2018–2022 · $50k · revenue +178%

Funded once

  • E
    ENCORPSINC
    one grant, 2021 · $500k · revenue -70% · 45% of their budget
  • AF
    ASSOC FOR INVESTMENT IN POPULAR AC
    one grant, 2019 · $40k
  • PA
    PALESTINE ADVOCACY PROJECT
    one grant, 2017 · $40k
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
Coalition for Democracy and Human Rights in Iran
Civil Rights
2
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center Inc

The mission of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center is to: Establish a comprehensive and objective historical record of the human rights situation in Iran, and on the basis of this record, establish responsibility for patterns of…

International
3
Foundation for Middle East Peace
Philanthropy
4
Middle East Media and Research Institute Inc

The middle east media research institute (memri) explores the middle east through its media, providing timely translations from arabic, farsi, urdu, pashtu, and turkish media and publishing original analysis of political, ideological,…

International
5
Physicians for Palestine
Health
6
Mesoamerican Research Foundation
Social Science
7
Iran 1400 Inc

Facilitating dialogue among iranians

International
8
Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation Inc
Employment
9
Institute for Eastwest Studies Inc

Eastwest institute (ewi) works to reduce international conflict, addressing seemingly intractable problems that threaten world security and stability. (continued on schedule o)

—
10
U4I

Working to advance civil liberties in iran by advocating for human rights, supporting civil soceity, and engaging citizens through technology.

International
11
National Union for Democracy in Iran Inc

Organizations mission is to strive for a free democratic Iran that will honor and protect the human rights of all its citizens.

Unclassified
12
Amir Institute
Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kids in Need of Development Education and Relief Kinder Usa; the most unlike its peers is Quantum Gravity Research. 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

38 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 38 of the 83 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
35/38
Grantees still filing
20/38
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMIN ARASTEH FOUNDATION: $246,500 · OtherAMIN ARASTEH FOUNDATIONSOCIARTS PRODUCTIONS LLC: $238,312 · OtherSOCIARTS PRODUCTIONS LLCNIAC: $125,000 · OtherNIACTIDES CENTER-PALESTINE SOLID LEGAL: $85,000 · OtherTIDES CENTER-PALESTINE SOLID LEGALVILLAGE SCHOOL INC: $50,000 · Other+52 more: $458,400 · Other+52 moreFARHANG FOUNDATION: $921,867 · Human ServicesFARHANG FOUNDATIONTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesTIDES CENTER: $50,000 · Human Services+2 more: $10,000 · Human ServicesENCORPSINC: $500,000 · EducationENCORPSINC+1 more: $15,000 · EducationA JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE: $65,000 · InternationalAMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID: $50,000 · InternationalNational Iranian American Council: $25,000 · InternationalOMID FOUNDATION USA: $20,000 · InternationalMIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE: $20,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $10,000 · InternationalTwo Chairs Inc: $10,000 · International+3 more: $8,000 · InternationalVASHT: $68,250 · Arts & CultureInstitute for Social and Cultural Communications Inc: $5,000 · Arts & CultureCENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: $20,000 · Civil RightsASSOC FOR INVEST IN POP ACTION COMM: $15,000 · Civil RightsPARS EQUALITY CENTER: $7,000 · Civil RightsPERSIAN-AMERICAN CANCER INSTITUTE: $10,000 · HealthLUCKY DUCK FOUNDATION: $10,000 · HealthNURSES & ANGELS INTERNATIONAL: $7,500 · HealthNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $3,500 · Health
Other$1,203,212Human Services$1,031,867Education$515,000International$208,000Arts & Culture$73,250Civil Rights$42,000Health$31,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFARHANG FOUNDATION: $921,867 over 8y, 6.8% of budgetENCORPSINC: $500,000 over 1y, 45% of budgetAMIN ARASTEH FOUNDATION: $246,500 over 3y, 74% of budgetVASHT: $68,250 over 3y, 44% of budgetA JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE: $65,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetVILLAGE SCHOOL INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $50,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNational Iranian American Council: $25,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetCENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOMID FOUNDATION USA: $20,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetMIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIRANIAN AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: $15,000 over 1y, 8.2% of budgetBubbles Dog Rescue: $12,500 over 2y, 6.2% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOMA COMMUNICATIONS CORP: $10,000 over 1y, 77% of budgetTwo Chairs Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetTHE TOY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBABY2BABY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLUCKY DUCK FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNURSES & ANGELS INTERNATIONAL: $7,500 over 4y, 14% of budgetPARS EQUALITY CENTER: $7,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetIranian American Women Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPACIFIC COAST DOG RESCUE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $3,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetQUANTUM GRAVITY RESEARCH: $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetKEEP CHILDREN IN SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKIDS IN NEED OF DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION AND RELIEF KINDER USA: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE INSTITUTE FOR MIDDLE EAST UNDERSTANDING: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEAST SIDE HEART & HOME FAMILY CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetINSTITUTE OF NOETIC SCIENCES: $1,000 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.

  • Who funds FARHANG FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ENCORPSINC ↗
  • Who funds AMIN ARASTEH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds VASHT ↗
  • Who funds A JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE ↗
  • Who funds VILLAGE SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds THE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds TIDES CENTER ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN NEAR EAST REFUGEE AID ↗
  • Who funds National Iranian American Council ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS ↗
  • Who funds OMID FOUNDATION USA ↗
  • Who funds MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds ASSOC FOR INVEST IN POP ACTION COMM ↗
  • Who funds IRANIAN AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Bubbles Dog Rescue ↗
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
  • Who funds PERSIAN-AMERICAN CANCER INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds HOMA COMMUNICATIONS CORP ↗
  • Who funds Two Chairs Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE TOY FOUNDATION INC ↗

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.

Mozaik Philanthropy I…Gramian-Emrani Founda…Declaration of Trust …Iranian American Wome…Wjo FoundationThe Razi Family Found…Pivotal FoundationTides FoundationImpactassetsincCalifornia Community …Silicon Valley Commun…Charities Aid Foundat…
Mozaik Philanthropy IncDE20× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Mozaik Philanthropy Inc · Gramian-Emrani Foundation · Declaration of Trust of the Bijan Amin and Soraya Amin Foundation · Iranian American Women Foundation · Wjo Foundation · The Razi Family Foundation · Pivotal Foundation · Tides Foundation · Impactassetsinc · California Community Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America

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 Maximum Difference Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Maximum Difference Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    6report 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.

    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 83 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 Maximum Difference’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