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· Public charity

Meisel & Pesses Family Foundation

Further the charitable, educational and religious purposes of the jewish federation of cleveland ("federation").

$535k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$200k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$1.1MEducation$792kFood & Nutrition$590kArts & Culture$468kHealth$461kHuman Services$108kEmployment$90kCommunity Improvement$75kOther$0
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 10 grants below total $511,000 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $534,500 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $23,500 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k7 grants · $186k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $325k
$35,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$21M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS HEALTH SYSTEMS INC$200,000
PLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND$75,000
JEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND$50,000
CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART$36,000
UNITED WAY OF GREATER CLEVELAND$35,000
JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE ASSOCIATION OF CLEVELAND OHIO$35,000
BEREA COLLEGE$35,000
MANUFACTURING ADVOCACY & GROWTH NETWORK INC$25,000
MALTZ MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE$10,000
YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES UNLIMITED$10,000
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.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY23–23, $9k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%MENORAH PARK CENTER FOR SENIOR LIVING: $9k → 17%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.

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.

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.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$2.5M · 9 repeat orgs$653k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +27% since the first grant, against +1% for the ones you funded once.

9 repeat relationships — 6 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
14

Total granted

$2.5M
$643k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+1%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureHealthFood & NutritionPhilanthropyReligionOther

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

  • TC
    THE CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART
    4× · 2019–2025 · $383k · revenue +32%
  • GC
    GREATER CLEVELAND FOOD BANK INC
    2× · 2019–2022 · $280k · revenue +27%
  • JF
    JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE ASSOCIATION OF CLEVELAND OHIO
    5× · 2018–2025 · $263k · revenue +30%

Funded once

  • TM
    The Musical Arts Associationgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $300k · revenue +27%
  • FH
    FACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC
    one grant, 2024 · $130k · revenue +3%
  • UH
    UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS HEALTH SYSTEM INC
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue +9%

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
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
2
Capital University

Capital university transforms lives by empowering an inclusive community of learners through engaging academic, co-curricular, and professional experiences.

Education
3
Point Park University

Provides innovative education in a dynamic urban setting. dedicated to academic excellence and community engagement,we prepare students of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skill,and experience to lead meaningful lives as informed…

—
4
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
5
Oberlin College

Oberlin College and Conservatory educate students for lives of intellectual, musical and artistic rigor and breadth, sustained inquiry, creativity and innovation, and leadership. Oberlin aims to prepare graduates with the knowledge,…

Education
6
Cleveland Hillel Foundation Inc

Center of jewish life for undergraduate, graduate and professional students who attend 11 colleges and universities in greater cleveland. provides the means for students to celebrate their judaism through enriching cultural, educational,…

Philanthropy
7
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
8
Colgate University

Colgate university's mission is to provide a demanding, expansive educational experience to a select group of diverse, talented, intellectually sophisticated students who are capable of challenging themselves, their peers and their…

Education
9
Cincinnati Museum Center

Cincinnati museum center inspires people of all ages to learn more about our world through science, regional history, and educational, engaging and meaningful experiences.

Arts & Culture
10
Manhattan University

Manhattan university is an independent catholic instituion of higher learning that embraces qualified men and women of all faiths, cultures, and traditions. the mission of manhattan university is to provide a contemporary, person-centered…

Education
11
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & Art

See schedule ovision: the cooper union for the advancement of science and art is dedicated to peter cooper's radical commitment to diversity and his founding vision that fair access to an inspiring free education and forums for courageous…

Education
12
Otterbein University

Otterbein University is an inclusive community dedicated to educating the whole person in the context of humane values. Our mission is to prepare graduates to think deeply and broadly, to engage locally and globally, and to advance their…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Way of Greater Cleveland and the most unlike its peers is The Musical Arts Association. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 46 years old; the field is 19. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number19%0%<5yr13%0%5–10yr19%7%10–20yr19%26%20–35yr15%30%35–55yr15%37%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value19%0%<5yr13%0%5–10yr19%2%10–20yr19%6%20–35yr15%23%35–55yr15%69%55yr+

The field is 19% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/27
the rest of the field
12%
4,198/35,600

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

27 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 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
27/27
Grantees still filing
16/27
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

UNITED WAY OF GREATER CLEVELAND — $688,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF GREATER CLEVELANDJEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND — $569,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELANDPLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND INC — $75,000 · PhilanthropyPLAYERS PHILANTHROPY FUND INCTHE CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART — $383,000 · EducationTHE CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ARTCUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $325,000 · EducationCUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDA…CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY — $225,000 · EducationCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITYBEREA COLLEGE — $162,500 · EducationBEREA COLLEGE+2 more — $17,500 · EducationThe Musical Arts Association — $300,000 · Arts & CultureThe Musical A…FACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC — $130,000 · Arts & CultureFACING HISTOR…THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS THEATRE COMPANY — $20,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more — $10,000 · Arts & CultureGREATER CLEVELAND FOOD BANK INC — $280,000 · Food & Nutrition+1 more — $7,500 · Food & NutritionJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE ASSOCIATION OF CLEVELAND OHIO — $263,209 · ReligionMANUFACTURING ADVOCACY & GROWTH NETWORK INC — $100,000 · Community ImprovementUNIVERSITY HOSPITALS HEALTH SYSTEM INC — $50,000 · HealthMENORAH PARK FOUNDATION — $30,000 · HealthHANNA PERKINS SCHOOL — $10,000 · HealthYOUTH OPPORTUNITIES UNLIMITED — $50,000 · OtherORT AMERICA INC — $20,000 · OtherCU BOULDER HILLEL FOUNDATION — $9,000 · OtherCHN HOUSING PARTNERS — $30,000 · OtherBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF NORTHEAST OHIO — $10,000 · OtherMENORAH PARK CENTER FOR SENIOR LIVING — $9,000 · Other
Philanthropy$1,332,000Education$1,113,000Arts & Culture$460,000Food & Nutrition$287,500Religion$263,209Community Improvement$100,000Health$90,000Other$128,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetUNITED WAY OF GREATER CLEVELAND — $688,000 over 7y, 1.7% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND — $569,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART — $383,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetCUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION — $325,000 over 3y, 3.6% of budgetThe Musical Arts Association — $300,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGREATER CLEVELAND FOOD BANK INC — $280,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE ASSOCIATION OF CLEVELAND OHIO — $263,209 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY — $225,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBEREA COLLEGE — $162,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetFACING HISTORY & OURSELVES INC — $130,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMANUFACTURING ADVOCACY & GROWTH NETWORK INC — $100,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY HOSPITALS HEALTH SYSTEM INC — $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYOUTH OPPORTUNITIES UNLIMITED — $50,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCHN HOUSING PARTNERS — $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMENORAH PARK FOUNDATION — $30,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetORT AMERICA INC — $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS THEATRE COMPANY — $20,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetHANNA PERKINS SCHOOL — $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTeach for America Inc — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage — $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF NORTHEAST OHIO — $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMENORAH PARK CENTER FOR SENIOR LIVING — $9,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCU BOULDER HILLEL FOUNDATION — $9,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetCLEVELAND CHESED CENTER — $7,500 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetCENTER FOR ARTS-INSPIRED LEARNING — $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

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.

Jewish Federation of …The Cleveland Foundat…The Reinberger Founda…The George Gund Found…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Jewish Federation of ClevelandOH15.6× affinity5 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Cleveland · The Cleveland Foundation · The Reinberger Foundation · The George Gund Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Meisel & Pesses Family 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 or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get 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

    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 26 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 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

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines