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Otto Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Otto Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$72k
Granted FY2025still arriving
11
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$25k
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, FY2024 to 2025.

Education$103kArts & Culture$21kHealth$8kHousing & Shelter$8kPhilanthropy$1k
02FY2025 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k7 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $55k
$5,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$2.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DAVIDSON COLLEGE$25,000
SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS$10,000
DUKE UNIVERSITY$10,000
BRUNSWICK SCHOOL$10,000
THE LORD'S PLACE INC$5,000
BATH & TENNIS HISTORIC BUILDING PRESERVATION FOUNDATION INC$5,000
TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION$2,500
WATERSIDE SCHOOL$2,500
STAR INC$1,000
WAVE STRONG FOUNATION INC$500
CHEROKEE HIGH SCHOOL PTSA$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 (FY24–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 3% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $3k → 11%SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: $10k → 11%MIAMI CITY BALLET: $1k → 15%SHATTERPROOF A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $1k → 9%DUKE UNIVERSITY: $10k → 11%CHEROKEE HIGH SCHOOL PTSA: $500 → 6%STAR INC: $1k → 22%BATH & TENNIS HISTORIC BUILDING PRESERVATION FOUNDATION INC: $5k → 11%COMMUNITY FUND OF DARIEN: $1k → 9%DUKE UNIVERSITY: $10k → 11%SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: $5k → 11%WAVE STRONG FOUNATION INC: $500 → 9%STJUDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $5k → 9%WATERSIDE SCHOOL: $5k → 9%WATERSIDE SCHOOL: $3k → 9%BRUNSWICK SCHOOL: $10k → 9%BRUNSWICK SCHOOL: $10k → 9%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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$122k · 6 repeat orgs$18k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +6% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

6 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
5

Total granted

$122k
$9k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+6%
0%

Still filing today

100%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’24’25
EducationArts & CultureHealthHousing & ShelterPhilanthropyEmploymentOther
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

  • Davidson College
    2× · 2024–2025 · $52k · revenue +10%
  • BS
    BRUNSWICK SCHOOL INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $20k · revenue +6%
  • DUKE UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2024–2025 · $20k · revenue +6%

Funded once

  • SC
    STJUDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
    one grant, 2024 · $5k
  • MC
    MIAMI CITY BALLET INC
    one grant, 2024 · $1k · revenue +11%
  • TC
    THE COMMUNITY FUND OF DARIEN
    one grant, 2024 · $1k · revenue -5%
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
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
2
Mitchell College

Mitchell college educates students through a highly individualized educational approach that brings forward each student's potential, reveals their strengths, and fosters personal growth.

Education
3
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
4
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
5
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
6
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
7
Bard College

Bard college seeks to provide a challenging academic program and a supportive environment that fosters a collaborative interchange of ideas in the classroom as well as ambition to achieve excellence.

Education
8
Wentworth Institute of Technology Inc

Wentworth institute of technology is a nationally recognized private coeducational and residential university of higher education with a mission to empower, inspire and innovate through experiential learning with a core purpose of career…

Education
9
Stony Brook Urology University Faculty Practice Corporation

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

Health
10
Dean College

Dean college is a private, residential new england college grounded in a culture and tradition that all students deserve the opportunity to discover and exceed their greatest aspirations. a personal and transformative community since 1865,…

Education
11
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
12
Masters School

The masters school celebrates active participation, deep understanding, and meaningful connection. a community of diverse individuals, we gather to learn, to strive, to dare, to do - to be a power for good in the world.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Shatterproof a Nonprofit Corporation; the most unlike its peers is Star Inc. 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 16 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
7/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Davidson College: $52,000 · EducationDavidson CollegeBRUNSWICK SCHOOL INC: $20,000 · EducationBRUNSWICK SCHOOL INCDUKE UNIVERSITY: $20,000 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITYWATERSIDE SCHOOL INC: $7,500 · EducationWATERSIDE SCHOOL INC+1 more: $2,500 · EducationThe Society of the Four Arts Inc: $15,000 · Arts & CultureThe Society of th…BATH & TENNIS HISTORIC BUILDING PRESERVATION FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · Arts & CultureBATH & TENNIS HIS…MIAMI CITY BALLET INC: $1,000 · Arts & CultureTHE LORD'S PLACE INC: $7,500 · Housing & ShelterSTJUDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $5,000 · OtherCHEROKEE HIGH SCHOOL PTSA: $500 · OtherSTAMFORD HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $500 · OtherSHATTERPROOF A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $1,000 · HealthWAVE STRONG FOUNDATION INC: $500 · HealthStar Inc: $1,000 · EmploymentTHE COMMUNITY FUND OF DARIEN: $1,000 · Philanthropy
Education$102,000Arts & Culture$21,000Housing & Shelter$7,500Other$6,000Health$1,500Employment$1,000Philanthropy$1,000

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 budgetDavidson College: $52,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBRUNSWICK SCHOOL INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe Society of the Four Arts Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWATERSIDE SCHOOL INC: $7,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE LORD'S PLACE INC: $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBATH & TENNIS HISTORIC BUILDING PRESERVATION FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMIAMI CITY BALLET INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COMMUNITY FUND OF DARIEN: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSHATTERPROOF A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWAVE STRONG FOUNDATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Otto Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Otto Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • The Lord's Place Inc: 12% of income from government
  • The Community Fund of Darien: 9% of income from government
  • Shatterproof a Nonprofit Corporation: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get 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 · 0–30%
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 16 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

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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