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Michael a Peterson Foundation at a glance

· 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 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, FY2020 to 2024.

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

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

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
DWIGHT ENGLEWOOD SCHOOL$50,000
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$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

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 (FY20–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 71% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its 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%WNET: $10k → 17%WNET: $10k → 17%WNET: $10k → 17%AMERICAN FUND FOR LSE: $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
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

IL
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
DC
GA
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.
$1.6M · 10 repeat orgs$178k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +21% for those 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%
+21%

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
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

  • 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 INC
    one grant, 2020 · $33k · revenue +13%
  • AH
    American Heart Association Incgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +33%
  • CO
    COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +21%
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
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Dwight-Englewood School; 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.
04the grantee network

24 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. 24 of the 26 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/24
Grantees still filing
17/24
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and 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 grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's 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 budgetROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLUNG CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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
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.

The Goldman Sachs Cha…David B Peterson Foun…James S Peterson Foun…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…Charities Aid Foundat…Vanguard Charitable E…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
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

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 Michael a Peterson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Michael a Peterson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Shatterproof a Nonprofit Corporation: 2% 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, 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 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 from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 26 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Michael a Peterson’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