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Pivotal Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Pivotal 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.

$2.7M
Granted FY2024still arriving
53
Grants FY2024still arriving
8
States reached
$310k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$10MInternational$1.4MArts & Culture$1.4MHealth$1.2MSocial Science$1.2MCivil Rights$793kHuman Services$745kReligion$561kOther$0
02FY2024 · 53 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k11 grants · $40k
  • $10k–50k19 grants · $320k
  • $50k–250k22 grants · $2.0M
  • $250k+1 grant · $310k
$25,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$92M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE QUINCY INSTITUTE$310,000
KHAN ACADEMY INC$200,000
BARROW NEUROLOGICAL FOUNDATION$135,500
BALLET ARIZONA$130,000
FRESH START WOMEN'S FOUNDATION$100,000
PHOENIX ART MUSEUM$100,000
ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF JEWISH SECULARISM (JEWISH CURRENTS)$100,000
THE SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL$100,000
CATO INSTITUTE$100,000
THE HENRY L STIMSON CENTER$100,000
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP$100,000
CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INT'L PEACE$100,000
DEFENSE PRIORITIES FOUNDATION$100,000
CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA$100,000
JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY$100,000
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 (FY17–24, $916k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 45% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%DIGNITY GROWS: $2k → 11%DEFENSE PRIORITIES FOUNDATION: $100k → 7%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $100k → 14%DEFENSE PRIORITIES FOUNDATION: $100k → 7%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $30k → 14%DEFENSE PRIORITIES FOUNDATION: $100k → 7%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $30k → 14%DEFENSE PRIORITIES FOUNDATION: $100k → 7%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $26k → 14%DEFENSE PRIORITIES FOUNDATION: $100k → 7%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%FARHANG FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%THE MIDNIGHT MISSION: $5k → 14%VALLEY OF THE SUN YMCA: $250 → 11%RYAN HOUSE: $3k → 11%FRESH START WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $100k → 11%FRESH START WOMENS FOUNDATION: $55k → 11%MOTHER'S GRACE: $10k → 11%MOTHER'S GRACE: $500 → 11%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

ME
WA
ND
MN
IL
NY
MA
SD
IN
NJ
CT
CA
UT
VA
MD
DE
AZ
DC
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.
$18M · 65 repeat orgs$788k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +45% since the first grant, against +43% for those funded once.

65 repeat relationships: 36 still active in FY2024, 29 since wound down; 17 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

65
51

Total granted

$18M
$449k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+45%
+43%

Still filing today

71%
78%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $339k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureInternationalHealthEducationHuman ServicesPhilanthropyOther
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

  • ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
    7× · 2017–2024 · $8.4M · revenue +196%
  • BN
    BARROW NEUROLOGICAL FOUNDATION
    7× · 2017–2024 · $774k · revenue +100%
  • DP
    Defense Priorities Foundation
    5× · 2020–2024 · $500k · revenue +169%

Funded once

  • VP
    VOX POPULI FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · 48% of their budget
  • RELIEF INTERNATIONAL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $50k · revenue +48%
  • HU
    HARVARD UNIVERSITY (SOCIETY OF FELLOWS)
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
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
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.

—
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
Boston Architectural College

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

—
4
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…

Science & Tech
5
American Council of Engineering Companies of Arizona

To assist member firms in achieving higher professional, ethical business and economic standards, enabling member firms to provide quality consulting and engineering services for their clients and the public.

—
6
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
7
American Foreign Service Association

American foreign service association (afsa) is both the principal advocate for the long-term institutional wellbeing of the professional career foreign service and responsible for safeguarding the interest of afsa members. (continued on…

—
8
America's Health Insurance Plans Inc

Ahip is the national trade association representing the health insurance industry. ahip's members provide health care coverage, services and solutions to more than 200 million americans. we are committed to market-based solutions and…

Membership Benefit
9
American Law Institute

The institute's mission, as set out in its certificate of incorporation, is to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to…

Crime & Legal
10
Arc Research Institute

Our mission is to accelerate scientific progress, understand the root causes of disease, and narrow the gap between discoveries and impact on patients.

Health
11
Arizona Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics

Azaap is committed to improving the health of arizona children and supporting the pediatric professionals who care for them.

Health
12
The Rand Corporation

Help improve policy and decision making through research and analysis.

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of Arizona Inc; the most unlike its peers is Promontory 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

104 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. 104 of the 137 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)
21
Early backer (in before they grew)
100/104
Grantees still filing
77/104
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $8,375,788 · EducationARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN U…KHAN ACADEMY INC: $400,000 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $370,000 · Education+8 more: $333,053 · EducationTHE QUINCY INSTITUTE: $735,000 · OtherTHE QUINCY INSTITUTEALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL DAY SCHOOL: $540,800 · OtherALL SAINTS EPISCOPAL DAY …BROPHY COLLEGE PREP: $178,752 · OtherINSTITUTE FOR EASTWEST STUDIES INC: $169,250 · OtherPARS EQUALITY CENTER: $492,000 · OtherPARS EQUALITY CENTERJ STREET EDUCATION FUND INC: $425,000 · OtherJ STREET EDUCATION FUND I…THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $359,036 · OtherTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC+66 more: $1,372,194 · Other+66 moreNational Iranian American Council: $301,000 · InternationalNational …ATLANTIC COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES INC: $300,000 · InternationalATLANTIC …CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: $300,000 · InternationalCARNEGIE …INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: $300,000 · InternationalINTERNATI…THE HENRY L STIMSON CENTER: $200,000 · InternationalTHE HENRY…+9 more: $121,500 · International+9 moreBALLET ARIZONA: $385,000 · Arts & CulturePHOENIX ART MUSEUM: $215,250 · Arts & CulturePAAIA FUND: $171,000 · Arts & CultureASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF JEWISH SECULARISM INC: $150,000 · Arts & CultureTHE HEARD MUSEUM: $110,000 · Arts & CultureARIZONA SCIENCE CENTER: $60,900 · Arts & CultureTHE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE: $50,000 · Arts & Culture+7 more: $93,000 · Arts & CultureBARROW NEUROLOGICAL FOUNDATION: $774,000 · HealthHONORHEALTH FOUNDATION: $125,000 · HealthVALLEYWISE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $75,500 · Health+9 more: $75,850 · HealthDefense Priorities Foundation: $500,000 · Human ServicesFARHANG FOUNDATION: $241,000 · Human ServicesFRESH START WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $155,000 · Human Services+6 more: $20,750 · Human ServicesQUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: $225,000 · Community ImprovementGREATER PHOENIX ECONOMIC COUNCIL: $167,500 · Community ImprovementSANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: $150,000 · Community ImprovementCENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA: $110,000 · Community Improvement
Education$9,478,841Other$4,272,032International$1,522,500Arts & Culture$1,235,150Health$1,050,350Human Services$916,750Community Improvement$652,500

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 budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $8,375,788 over 7y, 3.3% of budgetBARROW NEUROLOGICAL FOUNDATION: $774,000 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetDefense Priorities Foundation: $500,000 over 5y, 8.0% of budgetPARS EQUALITY CENTER: $492,000 over 7y, 4.0% of budgetJ STREET EDUCATION FUND INC: $425,000 over 6y, 1.3% of budgetKHAN ACADEMY INC: $400,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetBALLET ARIZONA: $385,000 over 6y, 1.3% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $370,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $359,036 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNational Iranian American Council: $301,000 over 5y, 8.8% of budgetATLANTIC COUNCIL OF THE UNITED STATES INC: $300,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetCARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: $300,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: $300,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetFARHANG FOUNDATION: $241,000 over 7y, 5.2% of budgetQUINCY INSTITUTE FOR RESPONSIBLE STATECRAFT: $225,000 over 2y, 3.8% of budgetPHOENIX ART MUSEUM: $215,250 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetTHE HENRY L STIMSON CENTER: $200,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetPAAIA FUND: $171,000 over 5y, 7.8% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR EASTWEST STUDIES INC: $169,250 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetGREATER PHOENIX ECONOMIC COUNCIL: $167,500 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetFRESH START WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $155,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetSANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: $150,000 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF JEWISH SECULARISM INC: $150,000 over 3y, 4.4% of budgetHONORHEALTH FOUNDATION: $125,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF ARIZONA: $110,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetRAZI HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $110,000 over 2y, 9.2% of budgetTHE HEARD MUSEUM: $110,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetIRANIAN SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION: $108,853 over 5y, 4.6% of budgetDIOCESAN COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL DIOCESE PHOENIX: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSOCIAL GOOD FUND INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCODEORG: $100,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetPROMONTORY FOUNDATION: $94,400 over 5y, 7.8% of budgetVALLEYWISE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $75,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetARIZONA SCIENCE CENTER: $60,900 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetVOX POPULI FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 48% of budgetRELIEF INTERNATIONAL INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE: $50,000 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetSWIFT YOUTH FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 7.6% of budgetBlossom Hill Foundation Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 7.2% of budgetTHE PHOENIX THEATRE COMPANY AND SUBSIDIARY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCENTER FOR THE RIGHTS OF ABUSED CHILDREN: $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetUNITED STATES SOCCER FEDERATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NISKANEN CENTER INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE: $21,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetPHOENIX GOSPEL MISSION: $21,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetBanner Health Foundation: $20,000 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.

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.

Arizona Community Fou…Virginia G Piper Char…Thunderbirds CharitiesJohn F Long Foundatio…The Diane and Bruce H…Burton Family Foundat…Moreno Family Foundat…Valley of the Sun Uni…The Foundation for Co…American Express Foun…Otto & Edna Neely Fou…Tw Lewis Foundation
Arizona Community FoundationAZ44.7× affinity27 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Arizona Community Foundation · Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust · Thunderbirds Charities · John F Long Foundation Inc · The Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation · Burton Family Foundation · Moreno Family Foundation · Valley of the Sun United Way · The Foundation for Community and Health Advancement · American Express Foundation · Otto & Edna Neely Foundation · Tw Lewis 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 Pivotal Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Pivotal 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%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
30report 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.

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 137 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 Pivotal’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