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Michael Asher Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Michael Asher 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.

$14k
Granted FY2024still arriving
2
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$365kEnvironment$8kYouth Development$5kEmployment$3kOther$0
02FY2024 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $4k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$9.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
KRANNERT ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN$10,000
FRACTURED ATLAS$3,840
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 97% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%CCA WATTIS INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS: $10k → 10%CENTER FOR LAND USE INTERPRETATION: $5k → 14%WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $5k → 17%FRANKLIN FURNACE ARCHIVE INC: $5k → 20%RENAISSANCE SOCIETY: $3k → 14%KRANNERT ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN: $10k → 19%THE UNDERGROUND MUSEUM: $5k → 14%TOPICAL CREAM: $5k → 17%PRATT INSITUTE: $3k → 20%UNITED STATES ARTISTS: $40k → 14%CENTER FOR LAND USE INTERPRETATION: $3k → 14%FRACTURED ATLAS: $4k → 17%PRIMARY INFORMATION: $10k → 20%THE UNDERGROUND MUSEUM INC: $5k → 14%ART RESOURCES TRANSFER: $3k → 17%PRIMARY INFORMATION: $10k → 20%CONTEMPORARY ART GROUP: $15k → 14%PARTICIPANT INC: $3k → 17%PRIMARY INFORMATION: $3k → 20%MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $10k → 14%ARTISTS SPACE: $3k → 17%THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $10k → 14%THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $5k → 14%LOS ANGELES CONTEMPORARY ARCHIVE: $5k → 14%CALIFORNIA AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM (VIA COMMUNITY PARTNERS): $5k → 14%LAXART: $5k → 14%LOS ANGELES CONTEMPORARY ARCHIVE: $5k → 14%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $50k → 14%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $15k → 14%MACHINE PROJECT: $3k → 14%INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $10k → 14%INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $10k → 14%PROJECT X FOUNDATION: $8k → 14%INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $5k → 14%PROJECT X FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $5k → 14%EQUITABLE VITRINES: $5k → 14%EQUITABLE VITRINES: $5k → 14%MAK CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHITECTURE: $5k → 14%EQUITABLE VITRINES: $3k → 14%ARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $10k → 14%FULCRUM ARTS: $8k → 14%LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART: $10k → 14%LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART: $5k → 14%LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART: $5k → 14%LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART: $5k → 14%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.
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.

62%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$241k · 11 repeat orgs$146k to everyone else

11 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 11 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
18

Total granted

$241k
$133k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+47%
+112%

Still filing today

82%
72%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $14k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’24
Arts & CultureEducationOther
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

  • CI
    CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS
    2× · 2018–2019 · $65k · revenue +20%
  • IL
    ICA LA
    4× · 2017–2022 · $30k · revenue +236%
  • TM
    THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES
    3× · 2017–2020 · $25k · revenue +47%

Funded once

  • United States Artists Incgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $40k · revenue +67%
  • CA
    Contemporary Art Groupgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $15k · revenue +47%
  • AC
    ARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTSgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +213%
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
California Institute of Contemporary Art
—
2
Kadist Collection Manager Inc
Arts & Culture
3
Art Explorium
—
4
Art Foundation
Arts & Culture
5
International Contemporary Art Foundatio
Arts & Culture
6
The Florence Center for Contemporary Music
Arts & Culture
7
Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles

Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (Carla) is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization and publishing platform that is dedicated to providing inclusive perspectives on contemporary art. Publishing in both print and online, Carla is an…

Arts & Culture
8
Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art Inc

To promote armenian contemporary experimental art

Arts & Culture
9
New Art Association
Arts & Culture
10
Berggruen Institute
Education
11
Art Ambassador
—
12
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

See schedule osfmoma believes the art of our time is vital and shares it with passion and purpose, and that art and the creative process can open minds and help build a better world. for that reason, we assemble unparalleled collections,…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Artists Space Inc; the most unlike its peers is Art Resources Transfer 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

25 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. 25 of the 31 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/25
Grantees still filing
18/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $65,000 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTSUnited States Artists Inc: $40,000 · Arts & CultureUnited States Artists IncICA LA: $30,000 · Arts & CultureICA LATHE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $25,000 · Arts & CultureTHE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELESMUSEUM ASSOCIATES: $25,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM ASSOCIATESPRIMARY INFORMATION INC: $22,500 · Arts & CulturePRIMARY INFORMATION INCSOCIETY FOR THE ACTIVATION OF SOCIAL SPACE THROUGH ART AND SOUND: $21,000 · Arts & CultureSOCIETY FOR THE ACTIVATION OF SOCIAL SPACE THROUGH ART AND SOUNDContemporary Art Group: $15,000 · Arts & CultureEQUITABLE VITRINES: $12,500 · Arts & Culture+12 more: $68,840 · Arts & Culture+12 morePROJECT X FOUNDATION: $12,500 · OtherPROJECT X FOUNDAT…KRANNERT ART MUSEUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN: $10,000 · OtherKRANNERT ART MUSE…CCA WATTIS INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS: $10,000 · OtherCCA WATTIS INSTIT…FULCRUM ARTS: $7,500 · OtherFULCRUM ARTSFRANKLIN FURNACE ARCHIVE INC: $5,000 · OtherFRANKLIN FURNACE …PROSPECT NEW ORLEANS: $5,000 · OtherPROSPECT NEW ORLE…CALIFORNIA AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM (VIA COMMUNITY PARTNERS): $5,000 · OtherCALIFORNIA AFRICA…ART RESOURCES TRANSFER INC: $2,500 · OtherRENAISSANCE SOCIETY: $2,500 · OtherPRATT INSTITUTE: $2,500 · Education
Arts & Culture$324,840Other$60,000Education$2,500

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 budgetCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $65,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUnited States Artists Inc: $40,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetICA LA: $30,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetTHE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $25,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMUSEUM ASSOCIATES: $25,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPRIMARY INFORMATION INC: $22,500 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetSOCIETY FOR THE ACTIVATION OF SOCIAL SPACE THROUGH ART AND SOUND: $21,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetContemporary Art Group: $15,000 over 1y, 8.4% of budgetTHE UNDERGROUND MUSEUM INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetLOS ANGELES CONTEMPORARY ARCHIVE: $10,000 over 2y, 8.0% of budgetFULCRUM ARTS: $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCENTER FOR LAND USE INTERPRETATION: $7,500 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTOPICAL CREAM INC: $5,000 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetFRANKLIN FURNACE ARCHIVE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetMAK CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHITECTURE LA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE BRICK: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $3,840 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARTISTS SPACE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPRATT INSTITUTE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetART RESOURCES TRANSFER INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPARTICIPANT INC: $2,500 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetMachine Project: $2,500 over 1y, 0.8% 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 Andy Warhol Found…The Wilhelm Family Fo…The J Paul Getty TrustThe Mike Kelley Found…Via Art Fund IncPasadena Art AllianceGraham Foundation for…Robert Rauschenberg F…California Community …The Andrew W Mellon F…Jerry & Terri Kohl Fa…Vanguard Charitable E…
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts IncNY24× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc · The Wilhelm Family Foundation Co Cascade Wilhelm · The J Paul Getty Trust · The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts · Via Art Fund Inc · Pasadena Art Alliance · Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts · Robert Rauschenberg Foundation · California Community Foundation · The Andrew W Mellon Foundation · Jerry & Terri Kohl Family Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
    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 Asher Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Michael Asher 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 31 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 Asher’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
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    $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