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Peter & Julie Fisher Cummings Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Peter & Julie Fisher Cummings 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.

$1.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
5
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$3.0MArts & Culture$1.3MHealth$783kPhilanthropy$266kReligion$64kRecreation & Sports$20kCommunity Improvement$20kHousing & Shelter$10kOther$0
02FY2024 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $305k
  • $250k+2 grants · $750k
$200,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$5.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CRANBROOK SCHOOLS$500,000
HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM$250,000
PALM BEACH JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$200,000
DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$105,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 92% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS: $10k → 17%PALM BEACH JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $200k → 11%METRO SOLUTIONS: $3k → 8%GREAT LAKES CENTER FOR ARTS: $20k → 9%UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY: $40k → 14%TECHTOWN DETROIT: $10k → 21%LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS: $50k → 17%NORTON MUSEUM OF ART: $105k → 11%JEWISH FEDERATION OF METRO DETROIT: $56k → 8%GREAT LAKES CENTER FOR ARTS: $20k → 9%UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY: $20k → 14%GRAND CIRCUS GALA: $5k → 21%JASA: $10k → 17%NORTON MUSEUM OF ART: $50k → 11%HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER: $10k → 8%GREAT LAKES CENTER FOR ARTS: $20k → 9%ISAAC AGREE DOWNTOWN SYNAGOGUE: $5k → 21%PARK AVENUE ARMORY: $10k → 17%THE HARRY HAMILTON FOUNDATION: $10k → 11%HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER: $10k → 8%DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $257k → 21%COOPER HEWITT SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM: $10k → 17%PALM BEACH SYMPHONY: $10k → 11%YESHIVA BETH YEHUDAH: $25k → 8%DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $175k → 21%FRESH AIR FUND: $10k → 17%YESHIVA BETH YEHUDAH: $25k → 8%HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM: $500k → 21%YESHIVA BETH YEHUDAH: $10k → 8%DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $150k → 21%HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM: $250k → 21%DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $105k → 21%HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM: $30k → 21%DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $100k → 21%NEW DETROIT: $10k → 21%DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $100k → 21%CITY YEAR DETROIT: $5k → 21%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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.1M · 10 repeat orgs$298k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +64% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
11

Total granted

$5.1M
$93k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+64%
+30%

Still filing today

60%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $205k 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
Arts & CultureHealthCommunity ImprovementRecreation & 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

  • HF
    HENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM
    3× · 2020–2024 · $780k · revenue +48%
  • NORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $155k · revenue +88%
  • GL
    Great Lakes Center for the Arts
    3× · 2019–2021 · $60k · revenue +14%

Funded once

  • TP
    THE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +93%
  • JC
    JASA CORPORATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue ×11
  • PA
    PARK AVENUE ARMORY
    one grant, 2021 · $10k
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
Detroit Historical Society

The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit's stories and why they matter through its exhibits, programs, outreach, and the preservation and dissemination of its artifacts and collections.

Arts & Culture
2
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
3
North Carolina Symphony Society Inc

To be north carolina's state orchestra, an orchestra achieving the highest level of artistic quality and performance standards, and embracing its dual legacies of statewide service and music education.

Arts & Culture
4
Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra Inc

To nuture a life-long love of music through imaginative and inspiring experiences for the listeners of today and tomorrow.

—
5
Music and Dance Theater Chicago Inc
Arts & Culture
6
Music Institute of Chicago

The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.

Arts & Culture
7
New York City Center Inc

The mission of new york city center is to be new york city's leading center for dance and musical theater. dedicated to making the arts accessible to the broadest possible audience, city center seeks to create a welcoming environment and…

Arts & Culture
8
Heckscher Museum

Museum has a mission to create opportunties for everyone to experience art that broadens understanding of the past, fosters community connections to the present, and creates diverse possbilities for the future.

Arts & Culture
9
Hawaii Symphony Orchestra

To present the highest-quality performances of great music, bringing national and international distinction to the orchestra and its community; to delight and educate audiences of all ages and backgrounds, and enhance the cultural vitality…

Arts & Culture
10
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Inc

The baltimore symphony orchestra's (bso) mission is to promote, organize, manage and maintain a symphony orchestra for the city of baltimore and the state of maryland and to hold, sponsor, and present musical concerts by the baltimore…

Arts & Culture
11
Seattle Symphony Orchestra Inc

To present symphonic music of the highest quality in a distinctive way for the cultural enrichment, education, engagement and enjoyment of the people of our community.

Arts & Culture
12
Metropolitan Jewish Health System Inc

Mjhs health system is a charitable not-for-profit established to support the activities of affiliated organizations. mjhs is built on the core values of compassion, dignity and respect, first established by the four brooklyn ladies in…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Jewish Federation of Detroit; the most unlike its peers is Smithsonian Institution. 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

15 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. 15 of the 24 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/15
Grantees still filing
11/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CRANBROOK SCHOOLS: $3,000,000 · OtherCRANBROOK SCHOOLSPALM BEACH JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $200,000 · OtherPALM BEACH JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION+9 more: $214,000 · Other+9 moreDETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $887,250 · Arts & CultureDETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHEST…NORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC: $155,000 · Arts & CultureNORTON MUSEUM OF ART INCGreat Lakes Center for the Arts: $60,000 · Arts & CultureUNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY: $60,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $40,000 · Arts & CultureHENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM: $780,000 · HealthHENRY FORD HEALT…+1 more: $2,500 · HealthJEWISH FEDERATION OF DETROIT: $56,000 · PhilanthropyJASA CORPORATION: $10,000 · Community ImprovementWAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY PARK IN THE CITY OF DETROIT: $10,000 · Community ImprovementFRESH AIR FUND: $10,000 · Recreation & Sports
Other$3,414,000Arts & Culture$1,202,250Health$782,500Philanthropy$56,000Community Improvement$20,000Recreation & Sports$10,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC: $887,250 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetHENRY FORD HEALTH SYSTEM: $780,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC: $155,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetGreat Lakes Center for the Arts: $60,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetUNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY: $60,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF DETROIT: $56,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SOCIETY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW DETROIT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetFRESH AIR FUND: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY PARK IN THE CITY OF DETROIT: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCITY YEAR INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMETRO SOLUTIONS INC: $2,500 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.

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.

DTE Energy FoundationHudson-Webber Foundat…Ford PhilanthropyCommunity Foundation …William Davidson Foun…The Skillman Foundati…Charles Stewart Mott …The Kresge FoundationGs Donor Advised Phil…Charities Aid Foundat…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…
DTE Energy FoundationMI17.6× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: DTE Energy Foundation · Hudson-Webber Foundation · Ford Philanthropy · Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · William Davidson Foundation · The Skillman Foundation · Charles Stewart Mott Foundation · The Kresge Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Charities Aid Foundation America · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Peter & Julie Fisher Cummings Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Peter & Julie Fisher Cummings Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
  • The Palm Beach Symphony Society Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
8report 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 Peter & Julie Fisher Cummings Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Peter & Julie Fisher Cummings 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 24 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 Peter & Julie Fisher Cummings’ 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