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Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation

NREF supports basic science and clinical research, as well as life-long education, to foster improved outcomes for our patients with neurosurgical diseases.

$1.8M
Granted FY2025still arriving
24
Grants FY2025still arriving
14
States reached
$144k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Health$12MEducation$1.2MScience & Tech$200kReligion$87k
02FY2025 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $27k
  • $50k–250k23 grants · $1.8M
$60,000
Median grant
14
States reached
$24M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
University of Miami - Miller School of Medicine$143,500
Rush University Medical Center$130,000
Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis$130,000
University of California San Francisco$130,000
University of Washington$120,000
Thomas Jefferson University$82,500
Duke University$80,000
University of Cincinnati$70,000
North Shore University Hospital$60,000
University of Miami - Jackson Health System$60,000
The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia$60,000
Cleveland Clinic Florida$60,000
Cleveland Clinic Foundation$60,000
University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center$60,000
University of Pittsburgh Physicians$60,000
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 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 75% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%University of Pittsburgh Physicians: $62k → 11%University of Miami: $115k → 15%Washington University: $123k → 21%The Board of Regents of the UW System: $75k → 10%Medical College of Wisconsin: $75k → 17%Duke University: $80k → 11%The Neurosurgery Foundation at Goodman Campbell: $75k → 16%University of Washington: $120k → 9%Dept of Neurosurgery Memorial Sloan Kettering: $65k → 18%Rush University Medical Center: $150k → 14%The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia: $85k → 8%Tulane University: $75k → 23%University of Louisville: $105k → 15%Washington University - St Louis: $110k → 21%The Board of Regents of the UW System: $75k → 10%Medical College of Wisconsin: $65k → 17%Rush University Medical Center: $143k → 14%Rector & Visitor - University of Virginia: $75k → 8%University of Louisville: $75k → 15%University of Pittsburgh: $75k → 11%Thomas Jefferson University: $83k → 22%Washington University: $100k → 21%Medical College of Wisconsin: $65k → 17%Duke University: $203k → 10%Rush University Medical Center: $140k → 14%University of Louisville: $65k → 15%University of Pittsburgh Physicians: $68k → 11%Washington University - St Louis: $65k → 21%Duke University: $203k → 10%Northwestern University: $110k → 14%Rector & Visitor - University of Virginia: $75k → 8%Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System: $75k → 10%Duke University: $138k → 10%Rush University Medical Center: $135k → 14%Duke University: $138k → 10%Cedar Sinai Medical Center: $140k → 14%Duke University: $63k → 10%Rush University Medical Center: $135k → 14%Cedars-Sinai Medical Center: $140k → 14%Cedars-Sinai Medical Center: $135k → 14%Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis: $130k → 21%Rush University Medical Center: $135k → 14%Cedars-Sinai Medical Center: $135k → 14%Cedar Sinai Medical Center: $75k → 14%Rush University Medical Center: $130k → 14%Cedar Sinai Medical Center: $75k → 14%Rush University Medical Center: $75k → 14%Rush University Medical Center: $75k → 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

NH
WA
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
IN
OH
PA
CT
RI
CA
UT
MO
KY
VA
AZ
KS
TN
NC
SC
OK
LA
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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$11M · 37 repeat orgs$1.6M to everyone else

37 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 31 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

37
18

Total granted

$11M
$679k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+80%

Still filing today

54%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 46% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $970k 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
HealthEducationRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • UO
    University of Miami
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.3M · revenue +96%
  • RU
    Rush University Medical Center
    9× · 2017–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +51%
  • DUKE UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2020–2025 · $823k · revenue +49%

Funded once

  • TA
    THE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $75k · revenue +57%
  • UO
    University of Utah
    one grant, 2018 · $75k
  • TN
    THE NEUROSURGERY FOUNDATION AT GOODMAN CAMPBELL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $75k · revenue +277%
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 Minnesota Physicians

University of minnesota physicians serves as the integrated group practice for the university of minnesota medical school full-time faculty to provide the highest quality healthcare to patients and their families.university of minnesota…

Health
2
Drexel University

Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…

Education
3
The Johns Hopkins Hospital

For more than 125 years, the mission of the johns hopkins hospital has been to lead the world in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and to train tomorrow's great physicians, nurses and scientists. above all, we aim to provide the…

Health
4
Truman Medical Center Incorporated

University health is an academic health center providing accessible, state-of-the-art quality healthcare to our community regardless of the ability to pay.

Health
5
Mass General Brigham Incorporated & Affiliates Group Return

Mass general brigham incorporated is developing an integrated health care delivery system throughout the region that offers patients a continuum of coordinated, high-quality care.

Health
6
University of Chicago Medical Center

Our mission at the university of chicago medicine is to provide superior health care through rigorous research, innovative education, and comprehensive care and healing. in partnership with our colleagues, we pursue life-changing…

Health
7
Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary

THE MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY ("THE INFIRMARY") IS A NOT-FOR-PROFIT TEACHING HOSPITAL CONDUCTING PATIENT CARE AND RESEARCH. THE INFIRMARY IS A TEACHING HOSPITAL OF HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL AND AN INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RESEARCH.…

Health
8
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Fred hutch cancer center ("fred hutch") unites innovative research and compassionate care to prevent and eliminate cancer and infectious disease. continued on schedule o

Health
9
Southern California University of Health Sciences

The mission of southern california university of health sciences (scu) is to educate students as competent, caring and successful practitioners of integrative healthcare. the university is committed to providing excellence in academics,…

Education
10
Cornell University

Education, research, medical services and other public services.

Education
11
Northwestern Memorial HealthCare Group

Northwestern memorial healthcare is an integrated healthcare system, consisting of multiple hospitals (including northwestern memorial hospital, an academic medical center) and networks of physicians and healthcare professionals, where the…

Health
12
Philadelphia University

The organization is an affiliate within thomas jefferson university/jefferson health; a comprehensive professional university and tax-exempt integrated healthcare delivery system ("system"), with a tripartite mission of education, research…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Johns Hopkins University; the most unlike its peers is Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Education and Research 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

39 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. 39 of the 77 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
39/39
Grantees still filing
35/39
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

University of Miami: $1,313,500 · EducationUniversity of MiamiDUKE UNIVERSITY: $822,500 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITYWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $702,500 · EducationWASHINGTON UNIVERSITYJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $590,800 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITYUniversity of Louisville Research Foundation: $330,000 · EducationUniversity of Louisville Research Foundati…THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $195,000 · EducationTHE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN INC: $190,000 · Education+13 more: $952,500 · Education+13 moreUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO: $717,500 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCOMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED: $360,800 · OtherMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATEDUNIVERSITY OF UTAH: $285,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF UTAHRECTOR & VISITORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $275,000 · OtherRECTOR & VISITORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF V…University of Wisconsin Madison: $270,000 · OtherUniversity of Wisconsin MadisonUPMC: $266,000 · OtherUPMCUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $230,000 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $180,000 · OtherTHE CLEVELAND CLINIC EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $180,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI: $165,000 · Other+28 more: $1,875,300 · Other+28 moreRush University Medical Center: $1,117,500 · HealthRush University Medical Cen…CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER: $810,000 · HealthCEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTERTHE CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION: $240,000 · HealthTHE CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDA…MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $190,000 · HealthMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CA…Rhode Island Hospital: $180,000 · HealthRhode Island HospitalDIGNITY HEALTH: $172,500 · HealthMAYO CLINIC: $133,300 · Health+10 more: $480,300 · Health+10 moreNorthwestern University: $307,500 · Recreation & SportsBROWN UNIVERSITY: $60,000 · Community Improvement
Education$5,096,800Other$4,804,600Health$3,323,600Recreation & Sports$307,500Community Improvement$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 budgetUniversity of Miami: $1,313,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetRush University Medical Center: $1,117,500 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $822,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER: $810,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $702,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $590,800 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Louisville Research Foundation: $330,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $307,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION: $240,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $195,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN INC: $190,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $190,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRhode Island Hospital: $180,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDIGNITY HEALTH: $172,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY: $165,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $133,300 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEDICAL CENTER RESEARCH INSTITUTE: $100,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $92,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $87,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $82,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJUNIATA COLLEGE: $82,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $80,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: $80,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $80,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NEUROSURGERY FOUNDATION AT GOODMAN CAMPBELL INC: $75,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $60,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic: $60,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $60,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYale University: $47,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetIndiana University Health Care Associates Inc: $45,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWestchester Medical Center Foundation: $40,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetEmory University: $40,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAROLINA NEUROSURGERY & SPINE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $27,000 over 1y, 71% of budgetLOYOLA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $10,800 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $10,000 over 2y, 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 University of Miami ↗
  • Who funds Rush University Medical Center ↗
  • Who funds DUKE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds University of Louisville Research Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds THE CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds THE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF WISCONSIN INC ↗
  • Who funds MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Rhode Island Hospital ↗
  • Who funds DIGNITY HEALTH ↗
  • Who funds THOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MAYO CLINIC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MEDICAL CENTER RESEARCH INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ↗
  • Who funds New York University ↗
  • Who funds JUNIATA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Massachusetts Institute of Technology ↗

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.

American Cancer Socie…Cystic Fibrosis Found…Mayo ClinicJohns Hopkins Univers…American Heart Associ…Huntington's Disease …American Lung Associa…The Trustees of Colum…Public Health Institu…American Federation f…The Children's Oncolo…Muscular Dystrophy As…
American Cancer Society IncGA22.5× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Cancer Society Inc · Cystic Fibrosis Foundation · Mayo Clinic · Johns Hopkins University · American Heart Association Inc · Huntington's Disease Society of America Inc · American Lung Association · The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York · Public Health Institute · American Federation for Aging Research Inc · The Children's Oncology Group Foundation Inc · Muscular Dystrophy Association 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 Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Yale University: 12% of income from government
  • University of Miami: 5% 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)
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 Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Neurosurgery Research and Education 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 77 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 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 Neurosurgery Research and Education’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