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Melvin S Cohen Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Melvin S Cohen Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.9M
Granted FY2025still arriving
45
Grants FY2025still arriving
14
States reached
$575k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Philanthropy$4.8MHealth$2.1MArts & Culture$1.7MSocial Science$1.3MCivil Rights$1.1MEducation$897kYouth Development$325kReligion$261kOther$0
02FY2025 · 45 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k21 grants · $33k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $270k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $400k
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.2M
$10,000
Median grant
14
States reached
$35M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$575,000
MAYO CLINIC$400,000
CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT THOUGHT$250,000
PRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$100,000
FRIENDS OF UNITED HATZALAH$50,000
TORAH ACADEMY OF MINNEAPOLIS$50,000
ZAKA TEL AVIV$50,000
WISC INSTITUTE FOR LAW & LIBERTY$50,000
FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCE$50,000
FREE TO CHOOSE NETWORK INC$50,000
DONORS TRUST INC$45,000
PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION$25,000
STUDENT FREE PRESS ASSOC$25,000
NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES ALLIANCE$25,000
LIBERTY JUSTICE CENTER$25,000
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 (FY22–25, $4k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 95% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%PROVIDENCE HOSPICE OF SEATTLE: $200 → 9%YMCA OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY: $1k → 12%YMCA OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY: $1k → 12%YMCA OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY: $1k → 12%YMCA OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY: $1k → 12%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
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
IN
PA
NJ
RI
CA
VA
MD
AZ
DC
LA
GA
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.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.8M · 24 repeat orgs$1.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +70% since the first grant, against +24% for those funded once.

24 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 28 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
31

Total granted

$6.8M
$1.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+70%
+24%

Still filing today

71%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $326k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureCivil RightsCrime & LegalPhilanthropyPublic BenefitOther
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

  • CF
    CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT THOUGHT
    6× · 2020–2025 · $1.3M · revenue +77%
  • FT
    FREE TO CHOOSE NETWORK INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $975k · revenue +41%
  • PU
    PRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2025 · $420k · revenue +112%

Funded once

  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
    one grant, 2022 · $500k
  • BG
    BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE GREATER
    one grant, 2021 · $275k
  • LP
    LE PHILLIPS SENIOR CENTER INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $174k · revenue +121%
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
American Civil Liberties Union Fund of the District of Columbia

Preservation of civil liberties through litigation and public education.

—
2
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
3
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
4
The International Institute for Strategic Studies - Us

To provide accurate, objective information and analysis on international strategic issues for legislators, diplomats, foreign affairs analysts, international business leaders, economists, the military, defense commentators, journalists,…

International
5
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
6
American Law Institute

The institute's mission, as set out in its certificate of incorporation, is to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to…

Crime & Legal
7
American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa

The union works to advocate and advance a public policy agenda to support and protect the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of iowa. it works to maintain throughout the united states the rights of free…

—
8
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Iowa

The foundation works to defend and promote the constitution of the united states, focusing especially on the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and 14th amendments. the foundation also works to defend and promote the constitution of the…

Civil Rights
9
Center for Individual Freedom

To investigate, explore and focus public, legislative and judicial attention on all areas of individual freedom and individual rights as guaranteed by the u.s. and state constitutions and free market principles.

Public Benefit
10
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Inc

The manhattan institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in america and its great cities.

Public Benefit
11
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
12
International Republican Institute

Iri advances freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political parties, civic institutions, open elections, democratic governance and the rule of law.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies; the most unlike its peers is Eau Claire Babe Ruth League. 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

66 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. 66 of the 90 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)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
66/66
Grantees still filing
42/66
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Donors Trust Inc: $3,990,000 · PhilanthropyDonors Trust IncCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF CHIPPEWA CO: $500,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF CHIPPEWA COZaka Tel-Aviv Inc: $175,000 · Philanthropy+6 more: $296,000 · Philanthropy+6 moreIndividual grant recipient: $2,350,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientMIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH INSITUTE: $600,000 · OtherMIDDLE EAST MEDIA RESEARCH INSITUTEFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: $500,000 · OtherFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTSYoung America's Foundation: $367,000 · OtherYoung America's FoundationBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE GREATER: $275,000 · OtherBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE GREATERTORAH ACADEMY OF MINNEAPOLIS: $170,000 · Other+47 more: $658,500 · Other+47 moreMAYO CLINIC: $2,097,000 · HealthMAYO CLINIC+3 more: $300 · HealthCENTER FOR INDEPENDENT THOUGHT: $1,290,000 · Social ScienceCENTER FO…+1 more: $1,000 · Social ScienceFREE TO CHOOSE NETWORK INC: $975,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF UNITED HATZALAH INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureCHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF EAU CLAIRE INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureNew Civil Liberties Alliance: $50,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $11,500 · Arts & CulturePRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $420,000 · EducationHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $200,000 · EducationVERITAS CLASSICAL ACADEMY INC: $150,000 · Education+8 more: $60,600 · EducationLE PHILLIPS SENIOR CENTER INC: $174,000 · Crime & LegalLIBERTY JUSTICE CENTER: $25,000 · Crime & LegalPacific Legal Foundation: $25,000 · Crime & Legal+1 more: $1,000 · Crime & Legal
Philanthropy$4,961,000Other$4,920,500Health$2,097,300Social Science$1,291,000Arts & Culture$1,136,500Education$830,600Crime & Legal$225,000

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 budgetDonors Trust Inc: $3,990,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $2,097,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR INDEPENDENT THOUGHT: $1,290,000 over 6y, 12% of budgetFREE TO CHOOSE NETWORK INC: $975,000 over 6y, 6.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF CHIPPEWA CO: $500,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetPRAGER UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $420,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetYoung America's Foundation: $367,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $200,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetZaka Tel-Aviv Inc: $175,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetLE PHILLIPS SENIOR CENTER INC: $174,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetAMERICA GIVES INC: $150,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICA ISRAEL DEMOCRACY COALITION: $100,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetTHE FUND FOR AMERICAN STUDIES: $65,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMENTARY INC: $55,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetSTATE POLICY NETWORK: $50,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCAFE MOMENTUM: $50,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetCHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF EAU CLAIRE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetNew Civil Liberties Alliance: $50,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTUDENT FREE PRESS ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetPacific Legal Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLEGAL INSURRECTION FOUNDATION: $12,500 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSpeech First Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGLOBAL ACADEMY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED CHARITABLE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY FNDN: $6,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEau Claire Babe Ruth League: $5,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetYoung Voices: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLITERACY CHIPPEWA VALLEY: $2,200 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetPro Musica Hebraica: $1,500 over 3y, 9.0% of budgetTURNING POINT USA INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSpirit of America Worldwide: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDEFENDING EDUCATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLE PHILLIPS CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHELL LAKE ARTS CENTER INC: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - EAU CLAIRE FOUNDATION INC: $300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPROVIDENCE HOSPICE OF SEATTLE FOUNDATION: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBRIGHTFOCUS FOUNDATION: $100 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.

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.

Donors Trust IncL E Phillips Family F…Bradley Impact Fund I…The Searle Freedom Tr…Eau Claire Community …Adolph Coors Foundati…Thomas W Smith Founda…Atlas Economic Resear…Otto Bremer TrustJohn William Pope Fou…The Achelis & Bodman …Triad Foundation Inc
Donors Trust IncVA38.3× affinity17 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donors Trust Inc · L E Phillips Family Foundation Inc · Bradley Impact Fund Inc · The Searle Freedom Trust · Eau Claire Community Foundation · Adolph Coors Foundation · Thomas W Smith Foundation Inc · Atlas Economic Research Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust · John William Pope Foundation · The Achelis & Bodman Foundation Co Manice & Budd LLP · Triad Foundation Inc

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 Melvin S Cohen Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Melvin S Cohen Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get 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 · 0–10%
    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 Melvin S Cohen Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Melvin S Cohen Foundation Inc 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 90 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 Melvin S Cohen’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