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Penner Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Penner Family 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.

$17M
Granted FY2019
52
Grants FY2019
9
States reached
$3.6M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

56% of Penner Family Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Brown University, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 59 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2019, the last year Penner Family Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 48 organizations, $17M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

23
’18
48
’19
48
’20
56
’21
53
’22
54
’23
59
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Education$102MSocial Science$11MRecreation & Sports$8.1MEmployment$3.7MHealth$3.4MCommunity Improvement$2.5MArts & Culture$2.4MPhilanthropy$1.7MOther$0
02FY2019 · 52 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2019

  • Under $10k17 grants · $50k
  • $10k–50k19 grants · $295k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $330k
  • $250k+11 grants · $16M
$10,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$97M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE$3,598,600
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY$2,560,000
FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY$2,510,000
USA WATER POLO INC$2,050,000
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY$2,045,000
ROBERTS ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT FUND$1,000,000
ST PAUL'S SCHOOL$883,000
TEACH FOR ALL INC$500,000
BROWN UNIVERSITY$335,000
THE OPPORTUNITY TRUST$250,000
CALmatters$250,000
COMMITTEE FOR A RESPONSIBLE FEDERAL BUDGET$100,000
KIPP FOUNDATION$80,000
TRUSTEES OF DEERFIELD ACADEMY$50,000
SACRED HEART SCHOOL ATHERTON$50,000
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 (FY21–24, $180k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 17% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Denver Police Foundation: $20k → 12%Denver Police Foundation: $10k → 12%African American Community Service Agency: $50k → 8%African American Community Service Agency: $50k → 8%African American Community Service Agency: $50k → 8%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
MT
WI
NY
MA
PA
NJ
RI
CA
CO
MO
VA
DC
HI
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 43% of Penner Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Penner Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 7.2% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$66M · 69 repeat orgs$7.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

69 repeat relationships: 45 still active in FY2019, 24 since wound down; 19 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call). Read against FY2019, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

69
1

Total granted

$66M
$1.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+16%

Still filing today

87%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.2M went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CulturePhilanthropyHealthEnvironmentRecreation & 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

  • KF
    KIPP FOUNDATION
    5× · 2018–2024 · $11M · revenue +108%
  • THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC
    7× · 2018–2024 · $11M · revenue +231%
  • GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
    7× · 2018–2024 · $8.3M · revenue +44%

Funded once

  • PA
    PENINSULA ARTS GUILD
    one grant, 2018 · $1.0M · revenue +16%
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
Association of California School Administrators

The association serves its members by creating resources that enable california school administrators to develop and apply creative leadership and management skills and in turn, improve the educational process for all students.

—
2
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
3
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.

—
4
San Francisco Friends School

At san francisco friends school, students learn in a community grounded in the quaker values of reflection, integrity, peaceful problem-solving and stewardship. our teachers challenge students with a dynamic curriculum that inspires…

Education
5
Golden Gate University

Golden gate university prepares individuals to lead and serve by providing high quality, practice-based educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions - as a nonprofit institution - in an innovative and challenging…

Education
6
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
7
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
8
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
9
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
10
The San Francisco School

A private school that cultivates and celebrates the intellectual, imaginative, and humanitarian promise of each student in a community that practices mutual respect, embraces diversity, and inspires passion for learning.

—
11
The Peak School

The peak school seeks to ignite a passion for learning, to develop students of diverse talents and backgrounds who think critically and act with integrity, and to graduate compassionate, confident, capable students who will embrace their…

Education
12
Boston Architectural College

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

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kipp Foundation; the most unlike its peers is American Museum of Natural History. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

81 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. 81 of the 94 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)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
79/81
Grantees still filing
63/81
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $24,310,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNI…KIPP FOUNDATION: $10,775,200 · EducationKIPP FOUNDATIONGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $8,315,000 · EducationGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITYFULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $5,060,000 · EducationFULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARYTEACH FOR ALL INC: $4,500,000 · EducationTEACH FOR ALL INCTHE OPPORTUNITY TRUST D/B/A ZEST EDUCATION: $2,500,000 · Education+14 more: $5,325,000 · Education+14 moreBROWN UNIVERSITY: $39,725,000 · Community ImprovementBROWN UNIVERSITY+1 more: $600,000 · Community ImprovementTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $10,506,100 · Social ScienceUSA WATER POLO INC: $5,350,000 · Recreation & SportsTHE WESTERN STOCK SHOW ASSOCIATION: $1,010,000 · Recreation & SportsUSA CYCLING INC: $400,000 · Recreation & Sports+2 more: $100,000 · Recreation & SportsSACRED HEART SCHOOLS ATHERTON: $1,600,000 · OtherSACRED HE…The Kennedy Forum: $1,200,000 · OtherThe Kenne…WEST PALM GOLF COMMUNITY TRUST INC: $1,000,000 · OtherWEST PALM…The Asian American Foundation: $1,000,000 · OtherThe Asian…MEADOWS MENTAL HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTE FOR TEXAS: $1,000,000 · OtherMEADOWS M…THE JED FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · OtherTHE JED F…ASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: $1,125,000 · OtherASPEN CEN…CalMatters: $750,000 · OtherCalMatter…+40 more: $2,536,238 · Other+40 moreREDF: $3,700,000 · PhilanthropyMONTEREY PENINSULA FOUNDATION: $1,050,000 · PhilanthropyBORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION: $600,000 · PhilanthropyJUST KEEP LIVIN FOUNDATION: $500,000 · Philanthropy+5 more: $167,500 · PhilanthropyGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $1,350,000 · Arts & CulturePENINSULA ARTS GUILD: $1,000,000 · Arts & CultureCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $180,000 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $84,000 · Arts & Culture
Education$60,785,200Community Improvement$40,325,000Social Science$10,506,100Recreation & Sports$6,860,000Other$11,211,238Philanthropy$6,017,500Arts & Culture$2,614,000

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 budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $39,725,000 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $24,310,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetKIPP FOUNDATION: $10,775,200 over 5y, 6.4% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $10,506,100 over 7y, 2.4% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $8,315,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetUSA WATER POLO INC: $5,350,000 over 7y, 21% of budgetFULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $5,060,000 over 7y, 4.7% of budgetTEACH FOR ALL INC: $4,500,000 over 6y, 1.9% of budgetREDF: $3,700,000 over 6y, 8.6% of budgetTHE OPPORTUNITY TRUST D/B/A ZEST EDUCATION: $2,500,000 over 7y, 4.6% of budgetST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $2,016,000 over 7y, 1.4% of budgetTRUSTEES OF DEERFIELD ACADEMY: $1,350,000 over 7y, 1.2% of budgetGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $1,350,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetASPEN CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: $1,125,000 over 5y, 6.1% of budgetMONTEREY PENINSULA FOUNDATION: $1,050,000 over 5y, 2.1% of budgetTHE WESTERN STOCK SHOW ASSOCIATION: $1,010,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetMEADOWS MENTAL HEALTH POLICY INSTITUTE FOR TEXAS: $1,000,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTHE JED FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetWEST PALM GOLF COMMUNITY TRUST INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetPENINSULA ARTS GUILD: $1,000,000 over 1y, 22% of budgetCalMatters: $750,000 over 3y, 8.4% of budgetROCK HEALTH FOUNDATION: $600,000 over 1y, 49% of budgetBORN THIS WAY FOUNDATION: $600,000 over 1y, 10.0% of budgetENTITLEMENTS HOW INC: $500,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetJUST KEEP LIVIN FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 1y, 5.6% of budgetUSA CYCLING INC: $400,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $325,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPROTECT OUR WINTERS: $260,000 over 6y, 3.6% of budgetNATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION CENTER FOR BEST PRACTICES: $250,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $224,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: $180,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetGOVERNOR DUMMER ACADEMY THE GOVERNOR'S ACADEMY: $175,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ASPEN COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INC: $175,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetHonorED Foundation: $160,000 over 7y, 12% of budgetAFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY SERVICE AGENCY: $150,000 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetSTAR ROCK MINISTRIES: $140,000 over 7y, 3.8% of budgetEDVOICE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION: $115,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetNATIONAL CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 4y, 44% of budgetCOMMITTEE FOR A RESPONSIBLE FEDERAL BUDGET: $100,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetNEW YORK ROAD RUNNERS INC: $70,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetNUEVA SCHOOL: $70,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetMENLO SCHOOL: $70,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY GREATER SAN FRANCISCO: $60,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetMONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM FOUNDATION: $60,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetLUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: $60,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC: $60,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Mountain Bicycling Association: $50,000 over 2y, 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.

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.

Silicon Valley Commun…Jewish Community Fede…Marin Community Found…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The San Francisco Fou…The Roberts FoundationThe Rob Walton Founda…Morgan Stanley Global…The Goldman Sachs Cha…The David and Lucile …Bright Funds Foundati…The Bessemer Giving F…
Silicon Valley Community FoundationCA32.3× affinity26 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · Marin Community Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The San Francisco Foundation · The Roberts Foundation · The Rob Walton Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · The David and Lucile Packard Foundation · Bright Funds Foundation · The Bessemer Giving Fund

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Governor Dummer Academy the Governor's Academy: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
19report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 Penner Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Penner Family 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 94 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 2019, released 2019. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Penner Family’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