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Mt Cuba Astronomical Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Mt Cuba Astronomical Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$958k
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Science & Tech$3.4MEducation$1.7MEnvironment$60kRecreation & Sports$50kHealth$41kPhilanthropy$8kOther$0
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k8 grants · $16k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $18k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $674k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$17,956
Median grant
9
States reached
$6.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE$250,000
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOUNDATION$243,232
Individual grant recipient$118,650
THE RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR THE SUNY$102,000
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY$88,076
LOWELL OBSERVATORY$69,070
THE UNIVERSITY CORPORATION$53,441
MT CUBA ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY- VERNON LECTURE$17,956
Individual grant recipient$3,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
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 (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, 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%UARIZONA FOUNDATION: $8k → 15%LOWELL OBSERVATORY: $116k → 16%JAKE MOONEY: $1k → 10%WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY: $12k → 14%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $210k → 13%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $392k → 14%THE RESEARCH CORPORATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII: $41k → 9%WM KECK OBSERVATORY: $580k → 15%TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: $168k → 22%THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY: $88k → 27%NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY: $5k → 23%CARNEGIE SCIENCE: $119k → 14%EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY: $50k → 12%NORTH EAST KANSAS AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS: $29k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME: $50k → 13%RUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY: $212k → 8%GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $60k → 10%HENRY T SANFORD-CRANE: $3k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $41k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $121k → 15%LOWELL OBSERVATORY: $69k → 16%MT CUBA ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY - VERNON LECTURE: $31k → 10%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $108k → 13%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $316k → 14%WM KECK OBSERVATORY: $412k → 15%HENRY T SANDORD: $3k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $27k → 15%LOWELL OBSERVATORY: $25k → 16%MT CUBA ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY - VERNON LECTURE: $26k → 10%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $79k → 13%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $219k → 14%WM KECK OBSERVATORY: $330k → 15%LOWELL OBSERVATORY: $16k → 16%MT CUBA ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY- VERNON LECTURE: $18k → 10%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $32k → 13%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $194k → 14%WM KECK OBSERVATORY: $207k → 15%LOWELL OBSERVATORY: $10k → 16%KATHRYN HART: $1k → 10%THE UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $53k → 14%WM KECK OBSERVATORY: $180k → 15%LINDSEY TESTA: $1k → 10%OBSERVATORIES OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION FOR SCIENCE: $100k → 14%EASTON HONAKER: $3k → 10%KAYLEE ELIZABETH GRACE: $3k → 10%KAYLEE ELIZABETH GRACE: $3k → 10%STEVEN ZACHERY SAVERY: $3k → 10%STEVEN ZACHARY SAVERY: $3k → 10%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

MN
NY
MA
NV
IN
NJ
CT
CA
KY
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
DC
HI
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.

73%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.9M · 8 repeat orgs$1.4M to everyone else

8 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
17

Total granted

$3.9M
$786k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+29%

Still filing today

38%
18%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 13% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $618k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationScience & TechEnvironmentOther
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

  • CA
    CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.7M · revenue 0%
  • CI
    CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
    4× · 2020–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +0%
  • RO
    REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    4× · 2020–2024 · $428k

Funded once

  • RT
    RUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
    one grant, 2020 · $212k
  • TA
    TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2022 · $168k
  • OO
    OBSERVATORIES OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION FOR SCIENCE
    one grant, 2021 · $100k
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
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
2
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
3
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
4
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
5
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
6
The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

Stanford university is one of a select group of american universities that have achieved eminence in both undergraduate and graduate education and research - cont'd sch o.

Education
7
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
8
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
9
The Central European University

Ceu is committed to promoting the values of open society and self-reflective critical thinking. it aims at excellence in the mastery of established knowledge, courage to pursue the creation of new knowledge in the humanities, the social…

International
10
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
11
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corp

Operate 3.6 meter astronomical telescope to further the knowledge and understanding of the universe through scientific research, studies, education, and dissemination of such knowledge.

—
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 California Association for Research in Astronomy; the most unlike its peers is Great Basin National Park Foundation. 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 39 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
5/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY: $1,708,451 · Science & TechCALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH IN …LOWELL OBSERVATORY: $236,181 · Science & TechLOWELL OBSERVATORYREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $427,909 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOR…RUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY: $211,900 · OtherRUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW …TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: $168,325 · OtherTEXAS A&M UNIVERSITYIndividual grant recipient: $151,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: $148,516 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF ARIZONAIndividual grant recipient: $118,650 · OtherIndividual grant recipientTHE RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR THE SUNY: $102,000 · OtherTHE RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR THE SUNYOBSERVATORIES OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION FOR SCIENCE: $100,000 · OtherOBSERVATORIES OF THE CARNEGIE INSTIT…THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY: $88,076 · OtherMT CUBA ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY - VERNON LECTURE: $75,721 · Other+20 more: $226,823 · Other+20 moreCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $1,121,421 · EducationCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $250,000 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard Co…UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOUNDATION: $243,232 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOUNDATION+3 more: $141,137 · Education+3 moreGREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $60,000 · Environment
Science & Tech$1,944,632Other$1,819,420Education$1,755,790Environment$60,000

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 budgetCALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY: $1,708,451 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $1,121,421 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $250,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOUNDATION: $243,232 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOWELL OBSERVATORY: $236,181 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetGREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $60,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $53,441 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Louisville Research Foundation: $41,137 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.

  • Who funds CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds LOWELL OBSERVATORY ↗
  • Who funds GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE UNIVERSITY CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds University of Notre Dame du Lac ↗
  • Who funds EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY INC ↗
  • Who funds University of Louisville Research Foundation ↗

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.

Association of Univer…
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy IncDC13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Mt Cuba Astronomical Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Mt Cuba Astronomical 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 39 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 Mt Cuba Astronomical’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