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· Private foundation

Michael a Peterson Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$461k
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$150k
Largest
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 FY20202024.

Education$1.2MPhilanthropy$655kRecreation & Sports$278kHealth$256kInternational$133kArts & Culture$50kHousing & Shelter$50kYouth Development$25kOther$0
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $61k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $400k
$50,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$6.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PHILLIPS ACADEMY$150,000
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE CSRA$100,000
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$50,000
DWIGHT ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL$50,000
BROWN UNIVERSITY$50,000
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$25,000
INNER-CITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND$16,200
AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE$10,000
WNET$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:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY20–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 71% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%PHILLIPS ACADEMY: $150k → 10%PHILLIPS ACADEMY: $150k → 16%THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION: $25k → 22%The Cedars of Marin: $25k → 8%FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY: $15k → 14%The Wellness Foundation: $20k → 7%Nuclear Threat Initiative: $33k → 14%BROWN UNIVERSITY: $50k → 14%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $50k → 14%DWIGHT ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL: $50k → 7%PHILLIPS ACADEMY: $150k → 10%Phillips Academy: $100k → 16%THE CEDARS OF MARIN: $25k → 8%THE WELLNESS FOUNDATION: $10k → 7%THE CHILD MIND INSTITUTE: $50k → 17%BANCROFT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: $25k → 14%Brown University: $50k → 14%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $50k → 14%DWIGHT ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL: $50k → 7%PHILLIPS ACADEMY: $150k → 10%Fidelity Charitable: $550k → 16%THE CHILD MIND INSTITUTE: $50k → 17%BROWN UNIVERSITY: $50k → 14%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $25k → 14%DWIGHT ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL: $50k → 7%THE CHILD MIND INSTITUTE: $50k → 17%BROWN UNIVERSITY: $50k → 14%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $25k → 14%Dwight Englewood School: $50k → 7%THE CHILD MIND INSTITUTE: $25k → 17%BROWN UNIVERSITY: $50k → 14%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $25k → 14%INNER-CITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $16k → 17%Northwestern University: $25k → 14%INNER-CITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $16k → 17%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $50k → 14%INNER-CITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $11k → 17%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $25k → 14%AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE: $10k → 17%AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE: $10k → 17%AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: $10k → 17%WNET: $10k → 17%AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE: $10k → 17%WNET: $10k → 17%WNET: $10k → 17%WNET: $10k → 17%Council on Foreign Relations: $25k → 17%THE ALLEN-STEVENSON SCHOOL: $25k → 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.

Which US states your grants reach

IL
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
DC
GA

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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.6M · 10 repeat orgs$178k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +31% since the first grant, against +29% for the ones you funded once.

10 repeat relationships — 6 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
12

Total granted

$1.6M
$178k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+29%

Still filing today

90%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
HealthInternationalEducationRecreation & SportsArts & CulturePhilanthropyOther

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

  • Northwestern University
    5× · 2020–2024 · $275k · revenue +33%
  • DS
    DWIGHT-ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL
    4× · 2020–2024 · $205k · revenue +31%
  • CM
    CHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC
    3× · 2021–2023 · $175k · revenue +119%

Funded once

  • NT
    NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $33k · revenue +32%
  • AH
    American Heart Association Incgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +33%
  • CO
    COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +21%

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
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
2
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
3
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
4
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.

5
Boston Architectural College

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

6
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
7
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
8
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
9
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
10
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
11
Trustees of Boston University

Organization's mission: boston university is an international, comprehensive, private research university, committed to educating students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.…

12
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

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Dwight-Englewood School and the most unlike its peers is American Heart Association Inc. 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 35 years old; the field is 16. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number22%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr19%19%10–20yr16%29%20–35yr13%14%35–55yr16%38%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value22%0%<5yr14%0%5–10yr19%9%10–20yr16%13%20–35yr13%23%35–55yr16%56%55yr+

The field is 22% 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 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/24
the rest of the field
13%
240,396/1,819,541

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

24 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 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 24 of the 26 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/24
Grantees still filing
17/24
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

TRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY — $700,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMYDWIGHT-ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL — $205,000 · EducationDWIGHT-ENGLEWOOD SCHOOLFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND — $550,000 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE G…BROWN UNIVERSITY — $250,000 · Community ImprovementBROWN UNIVERSITYNorthwestern University — $275,000 · Recreation & SportsNorthwester…+1 more — $2,500 · Recreation & SportsCHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC — $175,000 · HealthCHILD MIN…American Heart Association Inc — $25,000 · HealthAmerican …SHATTERPROOF A NONPROFIT CORPORATION — $10,000 · Health+2 more — $6,000 · HealthINNER CITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC — $53,200 · OtherINNER CITY…The Cedars of Marin — $50,000 · OtherThe Cedars…Wellness Foundation — $30,000 · OtherWellness F…THE ALLEN-STEVENSON SCHOOL — $25,000 · OtherTHE ALLEN-…FIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY — $15,000 · OtherFIELDING G…AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY — $10,000 · OtherWNET — $50,000 · OtherWNET+2 more — $8,500 · OtherTHE AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE — $50,000 · InternationalNUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE INC — $33,000 · InternationalCOUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC — $25,000 · InternationalBANCROFT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT — $25,000 · InternationalTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA INC — $100,000 · PhilanthropyROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION — $5,000 · Philanthropy
Education$905,000Community Improvement$800,000Recreation & Sports$277,500Health$216,000Other$241,700International$133,000Philanthropy$105,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY — $700,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND — $550,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University — $275,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY — $250,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetDWIGHT-ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL — $205,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC — $175,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR THE CENTRAL SAVANNAH RIVER AREA INC — $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetINNER CITY SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC — $53,200 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetThe Cedars of Marin — $50,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE — $50,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetWNET — $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE INC — $33,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWellness Foundation — $30,000 over 2y, 5.1% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC — $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ALLEN-STEVENSON SCHOOL — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBANCROFT GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT — $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFIELDING GRADUATE UNIVERSITY — $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSHATTERPROOF A NONPROFIT CORPORATION — $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLUNG CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION — $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLIFT INC — $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTEE OFF FORE LIFE INC — $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAUTISM SPEAKS INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift FundNY14.8× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · David B Peterson Foundation · James S Peterson Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Charities Aid Foundation America · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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 Michael a Peterson 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
202122232425
no gov · 20%1%3%6%10%your share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from governmentmedian 2%
  • Shatterproof a Nonprofit Corporation2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
4report 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, FY2025

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.

05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Michael a Peterson Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Michael a Peterson 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 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-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

More from the funding graph