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Mercedes T Bass Charitable Corporation at a glance

· Private foundation

Mercedes T Bass Charitable Corporation

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.

$2.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$2.1M
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.

Arts & Culture$24MSocial Science$1.5MInternational$321kEducation$104kPhilanthropy$63kHealth$63kFood & Nutrition$52kPublic Benefit$38kOther$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k5 grants · $21k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $215k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
  • $250k+1 grant · $2.1M
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$1.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$2,051,500
THE TEXAS CULTURAL TRUST$50,000
DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$40,000
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE$35,000
CAMINOS DEL INKA$35,000
LINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC$35,000
ROBERT B SILVERS FOUNDATION$15,000
TARRANT AREA FOOD BANK$15,000
MODERN ART MUSEUM OF FORT WORTH$10,000
THE ANIMAL MEDICAL CENTER$10,000
THE METROPOLITAN OPERA$10,000
FORT WORTH YOUTH ORCHESTRA$10,000
ASCPA$5,000
HALTOM AREA BAND FRIENDS$5,000
PASLAY FOUNDATION$5,000
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 (FY17–25, $31k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WORLD CHILDHOOD FOUNDATION: $500 → 17%THE NEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $2k → 17%SAFEHAVEN OF TARRANT COUNTY: $5k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $5k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $4k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $3k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $3k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $3k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $3k → 11%LENA POPE HOME INC: $3k → 11%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

NH
NY
NJ
CT
CO
NM
DC
TX
FL
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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$26M · 36 repeat orgs$624k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +51% since the first grant, against +27% for those funded once.

36 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 24 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
40

Total granted

$26M
$509k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+51%
+27%

Still filing today

78%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $115k 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 & CultureHealthEducationHuman ServicesInternationalPhilanthropyOther
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

  • FW
    FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $10.0M · revenue +5%
  • MA
    MUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $3.1M · revenue +141%
  • THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.5M · revenue +243%

Funded once

  • KA
    KIMBELL ART MUSEUM
    one grant, 2023 · $90k
  • YU
    YALE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2019 · $50k
  • HG
    Houston Grand Opera Association Inc
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue +14%
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
San Francisco Opera Association

We believe opera is a uniquely compelling, entertaining and emotionally thrilling art form. our mission is to bring together growing audiences to experience opera's transformative power.

Arts & Culture
2
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
3
Foundation for Modern Opera
—
4
Chicago Opera Theater

Chicago opera theater expands the tradition of opera as a living art form by engaging lovers of music and storytelling through innovative experiences, predominantly of new and rarely performed works.

Arts & Culture
5
Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is a private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of New York Department of Education in 1929 to foster public awareness of modern and contemporary art. (Continued in Schedule O)

Arts & Culture
6
Berggruen Institute
Education
7
Lyric Opera of Chicago

We believe in the life-changing, transformational, revelatory power of great art and opera. Lyric Opera of Chicago exists to provide a broad, deep, and relevant cultural service to the Chicago region and the nation, and to advance the…

Arts & Culture
8
Los Angeles Opera Company

To serve the public by producing world-class opera that preserves, promotes and advances the art form while embodying the diversity, spirit and artistic sensibility unique to los angeles. we envision an engaged and enlightened community in…

Arts & Culture
9
Florida Grand Opera Inc

The mission of florida grand opera is to enrich people's lives through an awareness and deeper appreciation of opera while supporting the operations of the greater miami opera and the opera guild, inc. by expanding its reach to diverse…

Arts & Culture
10
New York City Opera

New york city opera was famously dubbed "the people's opera" by mayor fiorello laguardia at its founding in 1943. more than 80 years later, city opera continues its historic mission to inspire audiences with innovative and theatrically…

Arts & Culture
11
Cleveland Institute of Music

The cleveland institute of music's mission is to empower the world's most talented classical music students to fulfill their dreams and potential.

Education
12
New York City Center Inc

The mission of new york city center is to be new york city's leading center for dance and musical theater. dedicated to making the arts accessible to the broadest possible audience, city center seeks to create a welcoming environment and…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Santa Fe Opera; the most unlike its peers is Kimbell Art 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

65 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. 65 of the 81 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
61/65
Grantees still filing
47/65
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $9,968,192 · Arts & CultureFORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATIONMUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC: $3,118,800 · Arts & CultureMUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INCMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $1,030,000 · Arts & CultureMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ARTTHE CARNEGIE HALL CORPORATION: $870,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CARNEGIE HALL CORPORATION+28 more: $1,001,400 · Arts & Culture+28 moreTHE METROPOLITAN OPERA: $6,974,000 · OtherTHE METROPOLITAN OPERAThe Carnegie Hall Society Inc: $1,125,000 · OtherThe Carnegie Hall Society Inc+29 more: $599,183 · Other+29 moreTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $1,518,640 · Social Science+1 more: $4,000 · Social ScienceAMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME: $295,000 · InternationalInternational Rescue Committee INC: $25,000 · International+1 more: $7,500 · InternationalTexas Cultural Trust Council: $50,000 · PhilanthropyUNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 · PhilanthropyAMERICAN FRIENDS OF KESHET EILON INC: $21,000 · PhilanthropyLENA POPE HOME INC: $24,000 · Human ServicesSAFEHAVEN OF TARRANT COUNTY: $5,000 · Human ServicesNEW YORK WOMEN'S FOUNDATION INC: $1,500 · Human Services+1 more: $500 · Human ServicesFOUNTAIN HOUSE INC: $15,000 · HealthPASLAY FOUNDATION: $5,000 · HealthTexas Health Resources Foundation: $5,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $2,500 · HealthHELP ME SEE INC: $1,500 · HealthJordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation: $1,000 · Health
Arts & Culture$15,988,392Other$8,698,183Social Science$1,522,640International$327,500Philanthropy$101,000Human Services$31,000Health$30,000

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 budgetFORT WORTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $9,968,192 over 9y, 17% of budgetMUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC: $3,118,800 over 8y, 6.3% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $1,518,640 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetThe Carnegie Hall Society Inc: $1,125,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $1,030,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CARNEGIE HALL CORPORATION: $870,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetLINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $326,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME: $295,000 over 6y, 2.0% of budgetTHE PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC: $75,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCaminos Del Inka Inc: $70,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetTHE PRINCE OF WALES FOUNDATION: $63,447 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetTarrant Area Food Bank: $52,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTexas Cultural Trust Council: $50,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSarasota Ballet of Florida Inc: $42,650 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE HIGH LINE INC: $40,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF COVENT GARDEN THE ROYAL BALLET INC: $40,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF LES ARTS FLORISSANTS INC: $35,000 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ANIMAL MEDICAL CENTER: $29,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetYOUTH ORCHESTRA OF GREATER FORT WORTH: $27,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPERFORMING ARTS FORT WORTH INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE SANTA FE OPERA: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLENA POPE HOME INC: $24,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetThe Metropolitan Opera Guild Inc: $21,250 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF KESHET EILON INC: $21,000 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetTEXAS BALLET THEATER INC: $18,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFOUNTAIN HOUSE INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJUILLIARD SCHOOL: $14,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Frick Collection: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE UPPER EAST SIDE HISTORIC DISTRICTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetTHE AMERICAN HOSPITAL OF PARIS FOUNDATION: $7,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF MANHATTAN: $7,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHistoric Fort Worth Inc: $6,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetFUND FOR PARK AVENUE NEW YORK INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetVENEZUELAN AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetKimbell Art Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetYOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSAFEHAVEN OF TARRANT COUNTY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPASLAY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetEDGE AND CENTER INC THE CHURCH: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNATIONAL COWGIRL MUSEUM AND HALL OF FAME INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTexas Health Resources Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFort Worth Opera Association Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

Community Foundation …Sid W Richardson Foun…The Bessemer Giving F…Communities Foundatio…Wm & Catherine Bryce …California Community …The New York Communit…Jewish Communal FundNational Philanthropi…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Vanguard Charitable E…Morgan Stanley Global…
Community Foundation of North Texas (TaxTX16.4× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of North Texas (Tax · Sid W Richardson Foundation · The Bessemer Giving Fund · Communities Foundation of Texas Inc · Wm & Catherine Bryce Memorial Fund Xxxxx3001 · California Community Foundation · The New York Community Trust · Jewish Communal Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust 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 Mercedes T Bass Charitable Corporation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Mercedes T Bass Charitable Corporation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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 Mercedes T Bass Charitable Corporation?

    Find your warmest path to Mercedes T Bass Charitable Corporation 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 81 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 Mercedes T Bass’ 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