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McDowell Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

McDowell 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.

$212k
Granted FY2024still arriving
18
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$105k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02Its granteesRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0181% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$1.1MEducation$733kFood & Nutrition$165kHealth$147kArts & Culture$80kAnimals$24kRecreation & Sports$21kReligion$3kOther$0
02FY2024 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 18 grants below total $185,500, the rows itemized in this filing. The $211,900 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $26,400 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k16 grants · $44k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $37k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $105k
$2,500
Median grant
6
States reached
$3.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Taft School$105,000
Duke University$36,950
World Monument Fund$5,000
The Sato Project$5,000
Jewish Museum$5,000
Daniel W. Offit Fund to Fight Glioblastoma$5,000
National Breast Cancer Coalition$5,000
Community Foundation of Western North Carolina$5,000
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Society$2,500
BGCNW$2,000
St. Theresa's Roman Catholic Church$1,800
North American Gamebird Foundation$1,500
Samuel Waxman Cancer Research$1,000
Bedford Playhouse$1,000
Friends of the IDF$1,000
02Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.0M · 12 repeat orgs$155k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +50% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
18

Total granted

$1.0M
$135k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+50%
+6%

Still filing today

50%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’22’23’24
EducationHealthArts & CulturePhilanthropyAnimalsEnvironmentOther
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

  • DUKE UNIVERSITY
    3× · 2019–2024 · $394k · revenue +44%
  • TT
    THE TAFT SCHOOL CORPORATION
    4× · 2019–2024 · $309k · revenue +107%
  • SHELBURNE FARMS
    3× · 2019–2023 · $165k · revenue +50%

Funded once

  • WM
    Winifred Masterson Burke Medical Researchgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue +28%
  • NH
    Northwell Health Fdtn
    one grant, 2019 · $20k
  • CA
    CHALLENGED ATHLETES INC
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue -15%
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.

03Its 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
The Baruch College Fund

The baruch college fund is an organization engaged in generating, encouraging and promoting the educational welfare of the students of the bernard m. baruch college of the city university of new york.

Education
2
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
3
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
4
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
5
North Shore University Hospital

North shore university hospital is part of northwell health ("northwell"), which strives to improve the health of the communities it serves and is committed to providing the highest quality clinical care; educating the current and future…

Health
6
Neurology Associates of Stony Brook University Faculty Practice Corp

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
7
The Rockefeller University

The rockefeller university (the university) is a world renowned center for research and graduate education in the biomedical sciences, chemistry, bioinformatics, and physics. the university's 73 laboratories conduct both clinical and basic…

Education
8
Northwell Healthcare Inc

Northwell healthcare inc. coordinates policy making and strategic planning by providing advisory and administrative support services to affiliated health care organizations within northwell health; whose mission is to improve the health of…

Health
9
Glen Cove Hospital

Glen cove hospital is part of northwell health, inc. ("northwell"), which strives to improve the health of the communities it serves and is committed to providing the highest quality geriatric care; educating the current and future…

Health
10
Stony Brook Childrens Services University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
11
Northwell Health Inc

Northwell health is the parent company of a fully integrated health system that is committed to promote clinical care, health education, conduct biomedical research, and caring for the community regardless of ability to pay.

Community Improvement
12
Boston Architectural College

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

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Taft School Corporation; the most unlike its peers is Walt Ronan Educational Fund Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
03the grantee network

25 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. 25 of the 43 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
25/25
Grantees still filing
13/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

RAYMOND JAMES CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT FUND: $1,134,425 · PhilanthropyRAYMOND JAMES CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT FUND+4 more: $11,750 · PhilanthropyDUKE UNIVERSITY: $394,450 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITYTHE TAFT SCHOOL CORPORATION: $308,500 · EducationTHE TAFT SCHOOL CORPORATION+2 more: $30,000 · EducationSHELBURNE FARMS: $165,000 · EnvironmentWorld Monument Fund: $60,000 · OtherNorthwell Health Fdtn: $20,000 · OtherMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Society: $12,500 · OtherPediatric Urology Research Foundation: $11,250 · OtherPhysicians for Human Rigts: $10,000 · OtherNorthern Country Camp Fdtn: $10,000 · OtherCHALLENGED ATHLETES INC: $10,000 · Other+16 more: $33,800 · OtherWinifred Masterson Burke Medical Research: $50,000 · HealthNORTHWELL HEALTH FOUNDATION: $5,000 · HealthDANIEL W OFFIT FUND TO FIGHT GLIOBLASTOMA INC: $5,000 · HealthBLYTHEDALE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $5,000 · HealthCHILDREN'S INSTITUTE INC: $5,000 · HealthTHE SATO PROJECT: $17,000 · AnimalsWOLF CONSERVATION CENTER INC: $5,000 · AnimalsTHE JEWISH MUSEUM: $15,000 · Arts & CultureARTSCONNECTION INC: $1,000 · Arts & CultureBEDFORD PLAYHOUSE INC: $1,000 · Arts & Culture
Philanthropy$1,146,175Education$732,950Environment$165,000Other$167,550Health$70,000Animals$22,000Arts & Culture$17,000

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 budgetRAYMOND JAMES CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT FUND: $1,134,425 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $394,450 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TAFT SCHOOL CORPORATION: $308,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSHELBURNE FARMS: $165,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetWinifred Masterson Burke Medical Research: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Childrens Academy: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE SATO PROJECT: $17,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE JEWISH MUSEUM: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHALLENGED ATHLETES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTeachers College Columbia University: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TOM COUGHLIN JAY FUND FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHWELL HEALTH FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDANIEL W OFFIT FUND TO FIGHT GLIOBLASTOMA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetBLYTHEDALE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL BREAST CANCER COALITION: $5,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetWOLF CONSERVATION CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCHILDREN'S INSTITUTE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHEAD COUNT INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGUCKER CAMPERSHIP FUND INC % RICHARD DEITCHMAN: $1,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetARTSCONNECTION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetONE TREE PLANTED INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBEDFORD PLAYHOUSE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWALT RONAN EDUCATIONAL FUND INC: $750 over 1y, 1.2% 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.

Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust IncIN8.8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · 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.
04Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to McDowell Foundation?

Find your warmest path to McDowell 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 43 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.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $384k of grant expense with no grantee named in the published copy. A private foundation itemizes every grant it makes, so a return carrying none has filed its list as an attachment that the public copy does not include. The figures above are therefore from FY2024, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on McDowell’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