Skip to content

· Private foundation

Mordell Family Foundation

Its FY2020 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$3k
Granted FY2020
5
Grants FY2020
3
States reached
$500
Largest
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2020.

Education$4kAnimals$2kRecreation & Sports$2kPublic Safety & Disaster$1kHealth$500Human Services$500Philanthropy$500Religion$400Other$0
02FY2020 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$500
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Oregon Hunters Association 2$500
Michigan State University$500
Spray Volunteer Ambulance$500
Oregon Hunters Association$500
Community Foundation of the North S$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–20) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 91% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%SAFARI CLUB FOUNDATION: $150 → 15%PALM SPRINGS PATHFINDER: $200 → 11%Community Foundation of the North S: $500 → 14%ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS: $100 → 22%SPECTRUM HEALTH DEVOS CHILDRENS: $500 → 11%MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $1k → 16%OREGON DREAM TEAMS - INSPIRE: $200 → 8%BLUE MOUNTAIN WILDLIFE: $500 → 12%OREGON HUNTERS ASSOCIATION: $100 → 13%HWB HEARWARMERS: $300 → 13%SPRAY RODEO ASSOCIATION: $1k → 16%CHRISTIAN CAMPUS FELLOWSHIP: $200 → 13%UGA FOUNDATION: $100 → 27%CHICAGO AREA ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION: $150 → 14%MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $1k → 16%Oregon Hunters Association: $500 → 13%SPRAY RODEO ASSOCIATION: $500 → 16%ALZHEIMNER'S ASSOCIATION: $200 → 14%Michigan State University: $500 → 16%Oregon Hunters Association 2: $500 → 13%Spray Volunteer Ambulance: $500 → 16%MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $500 → 16%SPRAY VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE INC: $500 → 16%MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $500 → 16%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.

65%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7k · 4 repeat orgs$4k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2020, 1 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
12

Total granted

$7k
$3k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
+47%

Still filing today

50%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $500 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20
EducationPhilanthropyAnimalsHealthOther
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

  • MS
    MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
    4× · 2017–2020 · $4k
  • SR
    Spray Rodeo Association Inc
    2× · 2018–2019 · $2k · revenue -45%
  • SV
    SPRAY VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $1k · revenue +18%

Funded once

  • BM
    Blue Mountain Wildlifegraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $500 · revenue +47%
  • SH
    SPECTRUM HEALTH DEVOS CHILDRENS
    one grant, 2017 · $500
  • GARY SINISE FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $500 · revenue +99%
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
Arizona Sportsmen for Wildlife Conservation

The mission of the organization is to educate the public and outdoorsmen about wildlife and wildlife conservation and to raise funds for conservation grants.

Animals
2
Wild Sheep Foundation

Wsf enhances wild sheep populations, promotes scientific wildlife management, and educates the public and youth on sustainable use and the conservation benefits of hunting while promoting the interests of the hunter.

Animals
3
Society for Range Management

The mission of the society for range management is to promote the professional development and continuing education of members and the public and the stewardship of rangeland resources.

Food & Nutrition
4
California State University Foundation

Established in 1962, the foundation is the central foundation for the california state university (csu) system and serves the office of the chancellor. the foundation exists to support excellence in teaching and learning, and to serve the…

Philanthropy
5
Agricultural Research Foundation

Our mission is to encourage facilitate support and engage in scientific investigation and research experimentation and to advance educational and training activities related to agriculture and natural resources throughout the state of…

—
6
Rocky Mountain Field Institute Inc

Rocky Mountain Field Institute conserves and protects public lands in Southern Colorado through volunteer-based trail and restoration projects, environmental education, and restoration research.

—
7
San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo Foundation

The foundation's purpose is to support the san angelo stock show and rodeo association in carrying out its exempt purpose. resources for the foundation's activities are primarily provided by the association, investment income, and…

Education
8
Air & Space Forces Association

The air & space forces association (afa) is a nonprofit, independent, professional military, and aerospace education association. the association's mission is to promote dominant u.s. air and space forces as the foundation of a strong…

Education
9
Society of American Foresters

The mission of the society of american foresters is to advance sustainable management of forest resources through science, education, and technology, promoting professional excellence while ensuring the continued health, integrity, and use…

Employment
10
Arizona Wildlife Federation

Arizona Wildlife Federation's purpose is to promote and encourage the conservation, propagation, development and management of fish, game and other wildlife; to promote and encourage the wise use, conservation and restoration of waters,…

Animals
11
Ussa Investment Fund

Operates exclusively to manage the investment of endowment gifts made for the benefit of supporting the development, training, and competition of elite national, international, and development athletes in skiing and snowboarding.

Recreation & Sports
12
Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation

In the organization and support of the federal and state sportsmen's caucuses, csf informs, advises and works to further policy and legislation for the benefit of hunting, angling, recreational shooting and trapping, and for the…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Safari Club International Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Blue Mountain Wildlife. 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

10 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. 10 of the 18 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)
10/10
Grantees still filing
9/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY: $3,500 · OtherMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYSpray Rodeo Association Inc: $1,500 · OtherSpray Rodeo Association IncOregon Hunters Association: $600 · OtherOregon Hunters AssociationBlue Mountain Wildlife: $500 · OtherBlue Mountain WildlifeOregon Hunters Association 2: $500 · OtherOregon Hunters Association 2SPECTRUM HEALTH DEVOS CHILDRENS: $500 · OtherSPECTRUM HEALTH DEVOS CHILDRENSIndividual grant recipient: $300 · Other+4 more: $750 · Other+4 moreGARY SINISE FOUNDATION: $500 · PhilanthropyGARY SINISE …COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE NORTH STATE: $500 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FO…PALM SPRINGS PATHFINDERS INC: $200 · PhilanthropyPALM SPRINGS…SPRAY VOLUNTEER AMBULANCE INC: $1,000 · HealthSPRAY VOLU…THE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: $100 · EducationTHE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATION: $100 · EducationSAFARI CLUB INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $150 · Animals
Other$8,150Philanthropy$1,200Health$1,000Education$200Animals$150

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSpray Rodeo Association Inc: $1,500 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetBlue Mountain Wildlife: $500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGARY SINISE FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE NORTH STATE: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO AREA ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION LEAGUE: $150 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAFARI CLUB INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION: $150 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ASSOCIATION OF FORMER STUDENTS OF TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATION: $100 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Amazonsmile FoundationWA2.4× affinity5 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Mordell Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Mordell Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 58%
  • Spray Rodeo Association Inc: 58% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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.

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 18 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 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Mordell Family’s filings →

More from the funding graph