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Night Heron Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Night Heron Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$912k
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2024.

Education$2.0MArts & Culture$1.1MScience & Tech$754kFood & Nutrition$462kYouth Development$300kInternational$254kHuman Services$108kHealth$20k
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $18k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $394k
  • $250k+1 grant · $500k
$100,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$15M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GALLERY NORTH INC$500,000
UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC$150,000
CHILDREN AND SCREENS-INSTITUTE OF DIGITAL MEDIA AN$100,000
ISLAND HARVEST LTD$90,000
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES NEW YORK METRO INC$54,000
GALLERY NORTH INC$18,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $437k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%ISLAND HARVEST LTD: $90k → 7%ISLAND HARVEST LTD: $90k → 7%ISLAND HARVEST LTD: $63k → 7%ISLAND HARVEST LTD: $61k → 7%ISLAND HARVEST LTD: $36k → 7%LONG ISLAND CARES INC: $36k → 7%LONG ISLAND CARES INC: $36k → 7%LONG ISLAND CARES INC: $25k → 7%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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.8M · 9 repeat orgs$213k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against -1% for those funded once.

9 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
5

Total granted

$4.8M
$213k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
-1%

Still filing today

100%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationInternationalHuman ServicesArts & CultureFood & NutritionYouth 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

  • SB
    STONY BROOK FOUNDATION INC
    5× · 2017–2023 · $1.7M · revenue +224%
  • GN
    GALLERY NORTH INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +357% · 27% of their budget
  • THE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC
    6× · 2018–2024 · $754k · revenue +5%

Funded once

  • SF
    STUDENT FREEDOM INITIATIVE INC
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue -92%
  • XU
    XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue -10%
  • Feeding Americagraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +40%
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
Hunger Solutions New York Inc

We strive to maximize participation in, and support for, federally funded nutrition assistance programs including supplemental nutrition assistance program (snap), the school breakfast program and national school lunch program, the summer…

Food & Nutrition
2
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
3
Food Bank Association of New York State

The mission of feeding new york state is to lead a unified effort for a hunger-free state of new york. the mission of food banking is to obtain food and deliver it to emergency food programs. feeding new york state works to end hunger by…

Food & Nutrition
4
Stony Brook Surgical Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
5
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
6
Institute of Food Technologists

As an organization, the institute of food technologists is focusing its work in four main areas, or "roles and goals." each is wide-reaching and helps to advance our mission.steward for the profession and its community - provide learning,…

—
7
Stony Brook Ophthalmology University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
8
Long Island University

To provide excellence and access in private higher education to those who seek to expand their knowledge and prepare themselves for meaningful, educated lives and for service to their communities and the world.

—
9
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
10
Neurology Associates of Stony Brook University Faculty Practice Corp

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
11
Stony Brook Childrens Services University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
12
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Island Harvest Ltd; the most unlike its peers is Feeding America. 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

13 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. 13 of the 14 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
9/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

STONY BROOK FOUNDATION INC: $1,703,000 · EducationSTONY BROOK FOUNDATION INCOAK PARK & RIVER FOREST HS ALUMNI ASSOCI: $162,000 · EducationOAK PARK & RIVER FOREST HS ALUMNI ASSOCISTUDENT FREEDOM INITIATIVE INC: $100,000 · Education+1 more: $50,000 · EducationGALLERY NORTH INC: $1,066,000 · Arts & CultureGALLERY NORTH INCTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $754,000 · InternationalTHE UNION OF CONCERNED…PIVOT WORKS INC: $254,000 · InternationalPIVOT WORKS INCISLAND HARVEST LTD: $340,000 · Human ServicesISLAND HA…Long Island Cares Inc: $97,000 · Human ServicesLong Isla…CHILDREN AND SCREENS-INSTITUTE OF DIGITAL MEDIA AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT INC: $300,000 · Youth DevelopmentRonald McDonald House Charities New York Metro Inc: $108,000 · OtherARTS OGLETHORPE INC: $18,000 · OtherFeeding America: $25,000 · Food & NutritionPLANNED PARENTHOOD HUDSON PECONIC INC: $20,000 · Health
Education$2,015,000Arts & Culture$1,066,000International$1,008,000Human Services$437,000Youth Development$300,000Other$126,000Food & Nutrition$25,000Health$20,000

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 budgetSTONY BROOK FOUNDATION INC: $1,703,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetGALLERY NORTH INC: $1,066,000 over 7y, 27% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $754,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetISLAND HARVEST LTD: $340,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCHILDREN AND SCREENS-INSTITUTE OF DIGITAL MEDIA AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT INC: $300,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetPIVOT WORKS INC: $254,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetOAK PARK & RIVER FOREST HS ALUMNI ASSOCI: $162,000 over 2y, 86% of budgetRonald McDonald House Charities New York Metro Inc: $108,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetSTUDENT FREEDOM INITIATIVE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLong Island Cares Inc: $97,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetXAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD HUDSON PECONIC INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

The Allen & Eve Found…Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Allen & Eve Foundation IncMD13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Allen & Eve Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · 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 Night Heron Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Night Heron Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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 14 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 Night Heron’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