Skip to content
Melva Bucksbaum Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Melva Bucksbaum 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.

$4.0M
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$1.0M
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$15MArts & Culture$6.0MEducation$4.0MEnvironment$1.3MHealth$1.3MCivil Rights$750kRecreation & Sports$335k
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $50k–250k1 grant · $200k
  • $250k+7 grants · $3.8M
$335,335
Median grant
7
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DRAKE UNIVERSITY$1,000,000
MAYO CLINIC$835,335
ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND$750,000
PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE$335,335
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$335,334
QUAHOG BAY CONSERVATION$300,000
OUR REGENERATIVE FUTURE DONOR ADVISED FUND$250,000
SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION$200,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 34% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $1.0M → 16%MAYO CLINIC: $835k → 9%PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $335k → 8%COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY: $500k → 9%DRAKE UNIVERSITY: $1.0M → 10%NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500k → 9%ASPEN ART MUSEUM: $1.0M → 6%ASPEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500k → 7%SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION: $300k → 9%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $335k → 14%NEVADA NORTHERN RAILWAY FOUNDATION: $250k → 11%MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $650k → 7%ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $750k → 16%MAYO CLINIC: $150k → 9%COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY: $250k → 9%NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $250k → 9%ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $1.0M → 6%ASPEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $250k → 7%SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION: $250k → 9%MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500k → 7%ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $750k → 16%COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY: $250k → 9%NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $250k → 9%ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $1.0M → 6%SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION: $200k → 9%MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500k → 7%ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $750k → 16%COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY: $250k → 9%NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $250k → 9%ASPEN ART MUSEUM: $1.0M → 6%MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500k → 7%ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $750k → 16%ASPEN ART MUSEUM: $1.0M → 6%MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500k → 7%ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $750k → 16%ASPEN ART MUSEUM: $1.0M → 6%MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500k → 7%ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $750k → 16%ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $1.0M → 6%ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $750k → 16%ASPEN ART MUSEUM: $1.0M → 6%QUAHOG BAY CONSERVATION: $300k → 7%OUR REGENERATIVE FUTURE DONOR ADVISED FUND: $250k → 16%OUR REGENERATIVE FUTURE DONOR ADVISED FUND: $250k → 16%OUR REGENERATIVE FUTURE DONOR ADVISED FUND: $250k → 16%OUR REGENERATIVE FUTURE DONOR ADVISED FUND: $250k → 16%OUR REGENERATIVE FUTURE DONOR ADVISED FUND: $250k → 16%OUR REGENERATIVE FUTURE DONOR ADVISED FUND: $250k → 16%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
WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
NV
IA
CT
CA
CO
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$19M · 8 repeat orgs$2.2M to everyone else

8 repeat relationships: 4 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

8
1

Total granted

$19M
$500k

Still filing today

63%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.7M 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 & CultureEnvironmentEducationHealthRecreation & SportsCivil RightsOther
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

  • AF
    ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND
    8× · 2018–2025 · $6.3M
  • AA
    ASPEN ART MUSEUM
    5× · 2020–2024 · $5.0M · revenue -39%
  • TA
    THE ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INC
    3× · 2017–2019 · $3.0M · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • BF
    BAUM FAMILY DONOR ADVISED FUND
    one grant, 2017 · $500k
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
The Northern Michigan University Foundation

The nmu foundation will establish and foster relationships to generate resources that benefit the strategic goals of northern michigan university.

Education
2
Colorado Museum of Natural History

Be a catalyst! Ignite our community's passion for nature and science.

Arts & Culture
3
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
4
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
5
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
6
Arbor Research Collaborative for Health

Arbor research collaborative for health is committed to improving patient care through research that shapes medical policies and practice. in particular, arbor research conducts health outcomes research on chronic disease and end-stage…

Health
7
MaineGeneral Health

To enhance, every day, the health of our patients, our families and our communities. We do that through a range of health care services for people of all ages, in a variety of care settings.

Health
8
North Dakota State University Foundation

Building enduring relationships that maximize advocacy and philanthropy to support North Dakota State University.

Education
9
Washburn University Foundation

The Foundation was created to assist in the promotion, development and enhancement of the financial resources for Washburn University of Topeka, as well as to receive and hold in trust any assets given in benefit of the University.

Education
10
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
11
Aspen Rhoads Research Foundation Inc

To support personal & professional development of nutrition researchers throughout their careers.

Health
12
Central Maine Healthcare Corporation

To provide exceptional healthcare services in a safe and trustful environment through the expertise, committment, and compassion of our family of caregivers.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley Inc; the most unlike its peers is Nevada Northern Railway 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

14 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. 14 of the 17 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/14
Grantees still filing
8/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $6,250,000 · OtherARGONAUTICA FIDELITY DONOR ADVISED FUNDTHE ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INC: $3,000,000 · OtherTHE ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INCOUR REGENERATIVE FUTURE DONOR ADVISED FUND: $1,500,000 · OtherOUR REGENERATIVE FUTURE DONOR ADVISED FUNDCOMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY INC: $1,500,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY INCThe Baum Foundation: $750,000 · OtherThe Baum FoundationBAUM FAMILY DONOR ADVISED FUND: $500,000 · Other+1 more: $300,000 · OtherMaine Community Foundation Inc: $3,275,000 · PhilanthropyMaine Community Found…NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $1,500,000 · PhilanthropyNORTHWEST CONNECTICUT…ASPEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $750,000 · PhilanthropyASPEN COMMUNITY FOUND…ASPEN ART MUSEUM: $5,000,000 · Arts & CultureASPEN ART MUSEUMQuahog Bay Conservation: $1,325,000 · EnvironmentMAYO CLINIC: $985,335 · HealthPREVENTIVE MEDICINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $335,335 · HealthDRAKE UNIVERSITY: $1,000,000 · EducationSECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION: $750,000 · Civil RightsNorthwestern University: $335,334 · Recreation & Sports
Other$13,800,000Philanthropy$5,525,000Arts & Culture$5,000,000Environment$1,325,000Health$1,320,670Education$1,000,000Civil Rights$750,000Recreation & Sports$335,334

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 budgetASPEN ART MUSEUM: $5,000,000 over 5y, 17% of budgetMaine Community Foundation Inc: $3,275,000 over 7y, 1.2% of budgetTHE ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INC: $3,000,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetNORTHWEST CONNECTICUT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $1,500,000 over 6y, 7.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY INC: $1,500,000 over 6y, 2.3% of budgetQuahog Bay Conservation: $1,325,000 over 8y, 58% of budgetDRAKE UNIVERSITY: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $985,335 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe Baum Foundation: $750,000 over 2y, 42% of budgetSECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION: $750,000 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetASPEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $750,000 over 2y, 6.5% of budgetPREVENTIVE MEDICINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $335,335 over 1y, 26% of budgetNEVADA NORTHERN RAILWAY FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 2y, 6.9% 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 ASPEN ART MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds Maine Community Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY INC ↗
  • Who funds Quahog Bay Conservation ↗
  • Who funds DRAKE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MAYO CLINIC ↗
  • Who funds The Baum Foundation ↗
  • Who funds SECOND AMENDMENT FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ASPEN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PREVENTIVE MEDICINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds NEVADA NORTHERN RAILWAY FOUNDATION ↗

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.

Scanlan Family Founda…Morgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Scanlan Family FoundationIL17.9× affinity6 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Scanlan Family Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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 Melva Bucksbaum Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Melva Bucksbaum Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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 Melva Bucksbaum Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Melva Bucksbaum 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 17 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 Melva Bucksbaum 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