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Michael Stars Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Michael Stars Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$153k
Granted FY2024still arriving
13
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Youth Development$244kCivil Rights$156kInternational$118kHuman Services$103kFood & Nutrition$50kPhilanthropy$45kHousing & Shelter$40kPublic Benefit$39kOther$0
02FY2024 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k6 grants · $28k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $75k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$451k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
EDWARD CHARLES FDN$50,000
STEP UP WOMEN'S NETWORK$25,000
BABY 2 BABY$10,000
PLAN C C O NATL WOMENS HEALTH$10,000
SOCIAL GOOD$10,000
ERA COALITION FUND FOR WOMENS$10,000
CHILDREN MENDING HEARTS$10,000
WIN SUMMIT LLC CO DANIELLA KAH$5,000
BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN$5,000
BELOVED ASHEVILLE$5,000
CULTURE CLUB OF S BAY$5,000
CULTURE CLUB SOUTH BAY$5,000
PS I LOVE YOU FOUNDATION$2,500
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 (FY17–24, $153k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, 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 PULSE VOICES: $2k → 12%DRESSEMBER: $10k → 13%WORLD PULSE VOICES: $500 → 12%FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN WARRIORS: $1k → 11%CHOOSE LOVE INC: $10k → 17%TENDER FOUNDATION INC: $50k → 13%JOYFUL HEART FOUNDATION: $9k → 17%TENDER FOUNDATION INC: $10k → 13%JOYFUL HEART FOUNDATION: $888 → 17%JOYFUL HEART FOUNDATION: $525 → 17%FREEFORM: $10k → 14%EDWARD CHARLES FDN: $50k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
NY
OR
CA
UT
CO
VA
MD
TN
NC
DC
GA
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.

46%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$430k · 13 repeat orgs$496k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue -2% since the first grant, against -18% for those funded once.

13 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 10 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
56

Total granted

$430k
$391k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-2%
-18%

Still filing today

69%
77%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 26% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $105k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesCivil RightsInternationalEnvironmentArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • CM
    CHILDREN MENDING HEARTS INC
    6× · 2017–2024 · $59k · revenue +367%
  • TT
    TAKE THE LEAD INC
    4× · 2019–2022 · $50k · revenue +64%
  • PI
    PS I Love You Foundation
    2× · 2021–2024 · $4k · revenue +21%

Funded once

  • G
    GIVELOVE
    one grant, 2019 · $35k · revenue -55%
  • AF
    ACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue -18%
  • BV
    BLACK VOTERS MATTER
    one grant, 2020 · $17k
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
Womens Funding Network

Our mission as a global alliance is to provide strategies, research, and resources that support the critical agency and influence of women's foundations and gender justice funders in the movement for equality, justice, and power for all.

Education
2
UltraViolet Education Fund

Ultraviolet education fund (uvef) is a 501c3 organization. ultraviolet is the premier national organization advocating for gender justice issues using creative, strategic campaigning and digital-first organizing. ultraviolet drives…

Civil Rights
3
Women Deliver Inc

Women deliver is a global feminist advocacy organization with a clear mission: to ensure that every self-identifying girl and woman has control over her body and life. see organization's full mission statement in schedule o.

Education
4
Women Donors Network

Women donors network advances a just, equitable, and sustainable world through the power of philanthropy, women's leadership, and collective and individual action.

Philanthropy
5
Foundation for Women's Cancer

To support and empower all affected by gynecologic cancers through education, research, and public awareness.

Health
6
Girls for Gender Equity Inc

Girls for gender equity (gge) works intergenerationally, through a black feminist lens, to achieve gender and racial justice by centering the leadership of black girls and gender-expansive young people of color to reshape culture and…

Crime & Legal
7
The Conversationalist
—
8
Breaking Through the Lens

Advocate for gender equality in the film industry.

Arts & Culture
9
Actionaid Usa

Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…

Social Science
10
Strategic Advocacy for Human Rights Inc

Fueling a worldwide network of women human rights defenders (whrds) to strengthen laws, policies and practices to end sexual and gender-based violence (sgbv).

Civil Rights
11
Global Girls Global Women Inc

A 503C3 Organization design to equip suffering girls and women around the world by helping them gain access to quality healthcare, education and economic empowerment initiatives aimed to foster self-este

Recreation & Sports
12
Weave Inc

To promote safe and healthy relationships and support survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and sex trafficking. weave's vision is: when everyone acts, violence ends.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ms Foundation for Women Inc; the most unlike its peers is Women Thrive Worldwide (Ch 7 Bkrptcy). 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

60 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. 60 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
59/60
Grantees still filing
26/60
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

STEP UP WOMEN'S NETWORK: $161,747 · Arts & CultureSTEP UP WOMEN'S NET…UTAH FILM CENTER: $10,000 · Arts & CultureUTAH FILM CENTER+1 more: $2,500 · Arts & CultureIndividual grant recipient: $20,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientBLACK VOTERS MATTER: $16,700 · OtherMARCH ON: $16,700 · OtherENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATION: $25,000 · OtherENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATIONGIVELOVE: $35,000 · OtherGIVELOVEMADRE INC: $12,500 · Other+47 more: $224,580 · Other+47 moreTENDER FOUNDATION INC: $60,000 · Human ServicesTENDER FOUNDATION …EDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Human ServicesEDWARD CHARLES FOU…JOYFUL HEART FOUNDATION: $10,713 · Human ServicesJOYFUL HEART FOUND…CHOOSE LOVE INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesCHOOSE LOVE INCFreefrom: $10,000 · Human ServicesFreefromDressember Foundation: $9,500 · Human ServicesDressember Foundat…+3 more: $8,000 · Human ServicesFUND FOR WOMEN'S EQUALITY INC: $53,000 · Civil RightsFUND FOR WOMEN'…ACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $25,000 · Civil RightsACLU FOUNDATION…VOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC: $16,700 · Civil RightsVOTO LATINO FOU…LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND INC: $10,639 · Civil RightsLAMBDA LEGAL DE…ONE FAIR WAGE INC: $10,000 · Civil RightsONE FAIR WAGE I…MS FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN INC: $10,000 · Civil RightsMS FOUNDATION F…THE LOVELAND FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · Civil RightsThe Representation Project: $5,000 · Civil Rights+1 more: $912 · Civil RightsCHILDREN MENDING HEARTS INC: $59,100 · Youth DevelopmentGIRL EFFECT INC: $12,500 · Youth DevelopmentCULTURE CLUB OF SOUTH BAY: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentTAKE THE LEAD INC: $50,000 · Food & NutritionSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $30,000 · EducationGlobal Outreach and Love of Soccer Inc: $10,000 · EducationFriends of GALA: $5,000 · Education
Arts & Culture$174,247Other$350,480Human Services$158,213Civil Rights$136,251Youth Development$76,600Food & Nutrition$50,000Education$45,000

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 budgetSTEP UP WOMEN'S NETWORK: $161,747 over 7y, 1.1% of budgetTENDER FOUNDATION INC: $60,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetCHILDREN MENDING HEARTS INC: $59,100 over 6y, 6.3% of budgetFUND FOR WOMEN'S EQUALITY INC: $53,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetTAKE THE LEAD INC: $50,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetEDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGIVELOVE: $35,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVOTO LATINO FOUNDATION INC: $16,700 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMARCH ON: $16,700 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMADRE INC: $12,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGIRL EFFECT INC: $12,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJOYFUL HEART FOUNDATION: $10,713 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetLAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND INC: $10,639 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGlobal Outreach and Love of Soccer Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetOutward Bound Adventures: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetHISPANICS IN PHILANTHROPY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetONE FAIR WAGE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHOOSE LOVE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL NETWORK OF ABORTION FUNDS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBABY2BABY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARTS AND BUSINESS COUNCIL OF GREATER NASHVILLE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetRepairers of the Breach: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFreefrom: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetUTAH FILM CENTER: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBLACK WOMEN LEAD: $10,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetMS FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDressember Foundation: $9,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBELOVEORG: $7,500 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetUnited Help Ukraine Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWomen for Afghan Women Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCORE COMMUNITY ORGANIZED RELIEF EFFORT: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LOVELAND FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBELOVED ASHEVILLE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFriends of GALA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCALIFORNIA FIRE FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFONKOZE USA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCULTURE CLUB OF SOUTH BAY: $5,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetThe Representation Project: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE ST LUKE FOUNDATION FOR HAITI: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSUSTAINABLE SURF: $4,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPS I Love You Foundation: $4,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetPRODEV USA FOUNDATION INC: $3,200 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWOMEN THRIVE WORLDWIDE (CH 7 BKRPTCY): $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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.

California Community …Silicon Valley Commun…ImpactassetsincEdward Charles Founda…The Annenberg Foundat…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Novo FoundationWeingart FoundationPledgeling FoundationJewish Community Foun…Jewish Community Fede…The Chicago Community…
California Community FoundationCA16.5× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Community Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Edward Charles Foundation · The Annenberg Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Novo Foundation · Weingart Foundation · Pledgeling Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · The Chicago Community Trust

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    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.

    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 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 Stars’ 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