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Michael E Gellert Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Michael E Gellert Trust

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.

$510k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$325k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Science & Tech$3.8MEducation$2.1MSocial Science$943kArts & Culture$767kInternational$406kRecreation & Sports$52kEnvironment$17kCivil Rights$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $68k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $112k
  • $250k+1 grant · $325k
$50,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$6.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE WATERFORD SCHOOL$325,000
CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER$62,000
HARVARD UNIVERSITY$50,000
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE$35,000
BALLET WEST$33,000
RADCLIFFE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 23% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL: $200k → 20%THE WATERFORD SCHOOL: $325k → 8%ST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $200k → 7%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $1.1M → 8%SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL: $181k → 20%THE WATERFORD SCHOOL: $250k → 8%ST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $178k → 7%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $650k → 8%SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL: $181k → 20%THE WATERFORD SCHOOL: $250k → 8%ST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $50k → 7%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $600k → 8%SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL: $181k → 20%BALLET WEST: $33k → 8%ST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $50k → 7%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $600k → 8%THE WATERFORD SCHOOL: $225k → 8%ST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $50k → 7%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $550k → 8%ST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $50k → 7%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $250k → 8%THE WATERFORD SCHOOL: $185k → 8%AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER: $55k → 8%AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCES: $53k → 8%AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER: $50k → 8%AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER: $50k → 8%AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER: $50k → 8%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $50k → 8%AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCES: $50k → 8%LINCOLN CENTER: $84k → 17%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $50k → 8%LINCOLN CENTER: $72k → 17%AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER: $40k → 8%CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER: $62k → 17%AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER: $39k → 8%LINCOLN CENTER: $58k → 17%AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATER: $35k → 8%LINCOLN CENTER: $35k → 17%THE NEW SCHOOL: $87k → 17%INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S HEALTH COALITION: $85k → 17%CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER: $25k → 17%THE NEW SCHOOL: $75k → 17%INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S HEALTH COALITION: $65k → 17%THE NEW SCHOOL: $35k → 17%INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S HEALTH COALITION: $45k → 17%THE NEW SCHOOL: $25k → 17%SUNDANCE INSTITUTE: $35k → 17%SUNDANCE INSTITUTE: $35k → 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.
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.
$4.2M · 19 repeat orgs$89k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +23% since the first grant, against +5% for those funded once.

19 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
13

Total granted

$4.2M
$84k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
+5%

Still filing today

79%
85%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k 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 & CultureEducationInternationalSocial ScienceRecreation & SportsEnvironmentOther
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

  • SP
    ST PAUL'S SCHOOL
    7× · 2017–2024 · $588k · revenue +127%
  • AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC
    7× · 2017–2023 · $318k · revenue +43%
  • TN
    The New School
    7× · 2017–2023 · $258k · revenue +24%

Funded once

  • TH
    THE HUNTER COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2018 · $18k · revenue +22%
  • TC
    THE CHAPIN SCHOOL LTD
    one grant, 2017 · $17k · revenue +19%
  • BR
    BLACK ROCK FOREST CONSORTIUM INC
    one grant, 2017 · $17k · revenue -64%
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
Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan school of music is deeply committed to excellence in education, performance, and creative activity; to the humanity of the school's environment; and to the cultural enrichment of the larger community. a premiere international…

Arts & Culture
2
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
3
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
4
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
5
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
6
Manhattanville University

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

Education
7
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
8
Boston Architectural College

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

—
9
Manhattan University

Manhattan university is an independent catholic instituion of higher learning that embraces qualified men and women of all faiths, cultures, and traditions. the mission of manhattan university is to provide a contemporary, person-centered…

Education
10
Bard College

Bard college seeks to provide a challenging academic program and a supportive environment that fosters a collaborative interchange of ideas in the classroom as well as ambition to achieve excellence.

Education
11
Sarah Lawrence College

At sarah lawrence college, our mission is to graduate citizens of the world who are diverse in every definition of the word, who take intellectual and creative risks, and who are able to focus exceptional intellectual discipline (continued…

Education
12
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Philharmonic Symphony Society of Ny Inc; the most unlike its peers is Ballet West. 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

29 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 29 of the 35 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/29
Grantees still filing
21/29
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

President and Fellows of Harvard College: $3,825,640 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard CollegeST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $587,500 · EducationST PAUL'S SCHOOLThe New School: $258,154 · EducationThe New School+4 more: $40,790 · EducationTHE WATERFORD SCHOOL: $1,235,000 · OtherTHE WATERFORD SCHOOLINTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S HEALTH COALITION: $220,000 · OtherINTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S…SUNDANCE INSTITUTE: $95,000 · OtherSUNDANCE INSTITUTE+7 more: $26,000 · OtherSOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL: $743,000 · Social ScienceSOCIAL SCIE…AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCES: $105,000 · Social ScienceAMERICAN AC…AMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC: $318,000 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN R…LINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $249,410 · Arts & CultureLINCOLN CE…The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Inc: $87,000 · Arts & CultureThe Chambe…BALLET WEST: $53,000 · Arts & CultureBALLET WES…ST LUKES CHAMBER ENSEMBLE INC: $35,030 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $17,025 · Arts & CultureHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $175,250 · InternationalINTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION WESTERN HEMISPHERE REGION: $10,000 · International+2 more: $10,510 · InternationalCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $48,500 · Recreation & Sports21ST CENTURY PARKS INC: $3,000 · Recreation & SportsBLACK ROCK FOREST CONSORTIUM INC: $16,600 · Environment
Education$4,712,084Other$1,576,000Social Science$848,000Arts & Culture$759,465International$195,760Recreation & Sports$51,500Environment$16,600

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 budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $3,825,640 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetSOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL: $743,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $587,500 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICAN REPERTORY THEATRE CO INC: $318,000 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetThe New School: $258,154 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetLINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $249,410 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S HEALTH COALITION: $220,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $175,250 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCES: $105,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetThe Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Inc: $87,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetBALLET WEST: $53,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $48,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetST LUKES CHAMBER ENSEMBLE INC: $35,030 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHE HUNTER COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $18,124 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHAPIN SCHOOL LTD: $16,666 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCaramoor Center for Music & the Arts Inc: $14,150 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION WESTERN HEMISPHERE REGION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budget21ST CENTURY PARKS INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARY BYRON PROJECT INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE CARNEGIE HALL CORPORATION: $1,375 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKIDS IN CRISIS INC: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMASTERVOICES INC: $500 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.

Jpmorgan Chase Founda…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Jpmorgan Chase FoundationNY11.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · 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 E Gellert Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Michael E Gellert Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Kids in Crisis Inc: 49% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 3% of income from government
  • The Trustees of the Smith College: 1% of income from government
  • American Repertory Theatre Co Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 E Gellert Trust?

Find your warmest path to Michael E Gellert Trust 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 35 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 Michael E Gellert’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