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· Private foundation

Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$4.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
85
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$500k
Largest
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.

Arts & Culture$19MEducation$12MScience & Tech$4.8MEnvironment$918kPhilanthropy$338kAnimals$275kCivil Rights$264kReligion$184kOther$0
02FY2025 · 85 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k34 grants · $111k
  • $10k–50k29 grants · $612k
  • $50k–250k17 grants · $1.8M
  • $250k+5 grants · $1.7M
$10,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$123M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY$500,000
NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESV$333,333
PBS FOUNDATION$333,333
EAST END SEAPORT MUSEUM AND$295,440
LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY$250,000
CELEBRATE ST JAMES PAST PRESENT$211,300
SAG HARBOR HISTORICAL MUSEUM$200,876
COOPER UNION FOR THE ADV OF SCIENCE$200,000
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY$200,000
NORTHPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY$177,610
RESEARCH FOUNDATION SUNY GENESEO$112,080
HISPANIC SOCIETY MUSEUM AND LIBRARY$100,000
MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM INC$98,767
LONG ISLAND MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT$87,400
GREATER HUDSON HERITAGE NETWORK$66,000
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 49% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 9%LAGUARDIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUND: $340k → 13%PBS FOUNDATION: $667k → 7%NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC: $333k → 14%PBS FOUNDATION: $333k → 7%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $820k → 17%NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESV: $333k → 14%PBS FOUNDATION: $333k → 7%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $753k → 17%NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESV: $333k → 14%PBS FOUNDATION: $333k → 7%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $319k → 17%PBS FOUNDATION: $333k → 7%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $304k → 17%PBS FOUNDATION: $333k → 7%BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $448k → 20%PBS FOUNDATION: $333k → 7%BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $376k → 20%COOPER UNION FOR THE ADV OF SCIENCE: $392k → 17%COOPER UNION FOR THE ADV OF SCIENCE: $392k → 17%BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $376k → 20%COOPER UNION FOR THE ADV OF SCIENCE: $392k → 17%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: $320k → 17%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: $315k → 17%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: $315k → 17%WEBB INSTITUTE: $383k → 6%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $330k → 17%NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $1.5M → 17%GILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICA: $350k → 17%FRIENDS OF RAYNHAM HALL: $405k → 6%RAYNHAM HALL MUSEUM: $300k → 6%MOLLOY COLLEGE: $398k → 6%MOLLOY COLLEGE: $394k → 6%MOLLOY COLLEGE: $356k → 6%MOLLOY COLLEGE: $352k → 6%ROSLYN LANDMARK SOCIETY: $422k → 6%COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $500k → 7%LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY: $539k → 6%COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $500k → 7%LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY: $536k → 6%LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY: $482k → 6%LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY: $350k → 6%LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY: $311k → 6%LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY: $302k → 6%MONTAUK HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $392k → 7%YAPHANK HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $300k → 7%THREE VILLAGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $350k → 7%LT MICHAEL MURPHY NAVAL SEAL MUSEU: $300k → 7%FIREBOAT FIRE FIGHTER MUSEUM: $452k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
NH
IL
MI
NY
MA
PA
CT
CA
VA
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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$33M · 118 repeat orgs$6.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +25% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

118 repeat relationships: 56 still active in FY2025, 62 since wound down; 24 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

118
81

Total granted

$33M
$5.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+16%

Still filing today

67%
38%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $747k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationEnvironmentCommunity ImprovementScience & TechPhilanthropyOther
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

  • LI
    LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $3.3M · revenue +0%
  • PBS FOUNDATION
    7× · 2017–2025 · $2.7M · revenue ×12
  • NY
    New York University
    8× · 2017–2025 · $1.7M · revenue +76%

Funded once

  • NT
    NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC
    one grant, 2023 · $333k
  • LM
    LT MICHAEL MURPHY NAVAL SEAL MUSEU
    one grant, 2018 · $300k
  • CU
    COOPER UNION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
    one grant, 2020 · $254k
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
Cuttyhunk Historical Society Inc
Arts & Culture
2
Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences dba the Staten Island Museum

Founded in 1881 the Staten Island Museum engages visitors with interdisciplinary exhibitions, public programs, and educational activities for all ages. It is the mission of the Staten Island Museum to spark curiosity and generate…

Arts & Culture
3
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
4
The Long Island Museum of American Art History & Carriages

The long island museum is dedicated to inspiring people of all ages with an understanding and enjoyment of american art, history and carriages as expressed through the heritage of long island and its diverse communities.

Arts & Culture
5
Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and T

Educate the community on the history of newburgh bay and the highlands

Arts & Culture
6
Sharon Historical Society-Sharon Springs New York Inc

The mission of the Sharon Historical Society is to make all people aware of our history by linking the past with the present in order to inform them of our future. The Sharon Historical Society exists to inspire people's understanding that…

Arts & Culture
7
Maritime Industry Museum At Fort Schulyer

To operate and maintain suny maritime museum

Arts & Culture
8
Newcomb Historical Museum

The organization was formed to safeguard and share existing and future collections related to the social, cultural, and economic history of the high peaks adirondack region in and around the township of newcomb in essex county, new york.

Arts & Culture
9
Isle of Wight County Museum Foundation Inc
Arts & Culture
10
Historical Society of Saratoga Springs

Preservation & maintenance collection

—
11
Alexandria Township Historical Society

Education about and promotion of the alexandria bay and surronding ny areas.

—
12
Salem Historical Society
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum; the most unlike its peers is Thomas Moran Trust. 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

119 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. 119 of the 226 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.

12
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
30
Early backer (in before they grew)
117/119
Grantees still filing
78/119
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY: $3,269,894 · OtherLONG ISLAND UNIVERSITYCOOPER UNION FOR THE ADV OF SCIENCE: $1,626,000 · OtherCOOPER UNION FOR THE ADV OF SCIENCETHE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $1,200,001 · OtherTHE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETYGILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICA: $1,000,000 · OtherGILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICALAGUARDIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUND: $840,000 · OtherNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESV: $666,666 · OtherTHE ROSLYN LANDMARK SOCIETY INC: $609,575 · Other+102 more: $8,448,981 · Other+102 morePBS FOUNDATION: $2,666,667 · Arts & CulturePBS FOUNDATIONNew York Historical Society: $2,654,057 · Arts & CultureNew York Historical SocietyTHE GREEN-WOOD HISTORIC FUND INC: $630,000 · Arts & CultureMONTAUK HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $623,067 · Arts & CultureFIREBOAT FIRE FIGHTER MUSEUM: $571,453 · Arts & CultureTHE HISTORYMAKERS: $500,000 · Arts & CultureThree Village Historical Society: $481,100 · Arts & Culture+51 more: $4,934,126 · Arts & Culture+51 moreTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $2,824,473 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA…New York University: $1,658,769 · EducationNew York UniversityMOLLOY UNIVERSITY: $1,500,000 · EducationMOLLOY UNIVERSITYIONA UNIVERSITY: $750,000 · EducationIONA UNIVERSITYWEBB INSTITUTE: $629,249 · EducationWEBB INSTITUTE+16 more: $1,586,645 · Education+16 moreCOLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $1,259,346 · Science & TechTHE NORTH SHORE LAND ALLIANCE INC: $250,000 · EnvironmentPLANTING FIELDS FOUNDATION: $210,455 · EnvironmentNATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $150,000 · EnvironmentCAUMSETT FOUNDATION INC: $88,424 · EnvironmentBABYLON BEAUTIFICATION SOCIETY INC: $50,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF CONNETQUOT INC: $34,944 · Environment+1 more: $20,000 · EnvironmentEAST END SEAPORT MUSEUM AND MARINE FOUNDATION: $352,040 · Community ImprovementCutchogue Civic Association: $67,660 · Community ImprovementRENEE & CHAIM GROSS FOUNDATION INC: $10,500 · PhilanthropyWading River Cemetery Assoc Inc: $10,000 · Membership Benefit
Other$17,661,117Arts & Culture$13,060,470Education$8,949,136Science & Tech$1,259,346Environment$803,823Community Improvement$419,700Philanthropy$10,500Membership Benefit$10,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY: $3,269,894 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $2,824,473 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetPBS FOUNDATION: $2,666,667 over 7y, 7.6% of budgetNew York Historical Society: $2,654,057 over 7y, 2.6% of budgetNew York University: $1,658,769 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetMOLLOY UNIVERSITY: $1,500,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCOLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $1,259,346 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTHE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $1,200,001 over 3y, 7.8% of budgetIONA UNIVERSITY: $750,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE GREEN-WOOD HISTORIC FUND INC: $630,000 over 3y, 7.0% of budgetWEBB INSTITUTE: $629,249 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetMONTAUK HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $623,067 over 5y, 13% of budgetTHE ROSLYN LANDMARK SOCIETY INC: $609,575 over 7y, 25% of budgetFIREBOAT FIRE FIGHTER MUSEUM: $571,453 over 4y, 72% of budgetTHE HISTORYMAKERS: $500,000 over 2y, 7.0% of budgetThree Village Historical Society: $481,100 over 5y, 56% of budgetTHE FRIENDS OF RAYNHAM HALL INC: $429,628 over 3y, 3.8% of budgetGREATER HUDSON HERITAGE NETWORK: $407,000 over 6y, 15% of budgetOld Westbury Gardens Inc: $383,545 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetYAPHANK HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $363,629 over 7y, 91% of budgetEAST END SEAPORT MUSEUM AND MARINE FOUNDATION: $352,040 over 4y, 12% of budgetMYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM INC: $296,301 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $289,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPRESERVATION LEAGUE OF NEW YORK STATE: $285,000 over 6y, 3.6% of budgetTHE GILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN HISTORY: $250,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetTHE NORTH SHORE LAND ALLIANCE INC: $250,000 over 1y, 5.5% of budgetOYSTER BAY RAILROAD MUSEUM: $243,623 over 4y, 97% of budgetMUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $233,333 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetST THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE: $229,624 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSUFFOLK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $222,000 over 4y, 17% of budgetTHE NORTHPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM: $218,381 over 4y, 16% of budgetTHE SAG HARBOR HISTORICAL MUSEUM INC: $213,876 over 4y, 3.0% of budgetPLANTING FIELDS FOUNDATION: $210,455 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetHUNTINGTON LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $207,725 over 2y, 34% of budgetThomas Moran Trust: $200,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetNEW YORK LANDMARKS CONSERVANCY INC: $200,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetEAST HAMPTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $188,385 over 4y, 11% of budgetFRIENDS OF SCIENCE EAST INC: $186,689 over 2y, 22% of budgetTHE FRIENDS OF CEDARMERE INC: $175,381 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetNEW YORK STATE ARCHIVES PARTNERSHIP TR: $165,000 over 4y, 6.3% of budgetMUSEUM ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK: $160,000 over 4y, 9.8% of budgetCow Neck Peninsula Historical Society: $150,645 over 4y, 43% of budgetNATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $150,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSMITHTOWN HISTORICAL MUSEUMS: $149,518 over 4y, 21% of budgetGUILD HALL OF EAST HAMPTON INC: $145,419 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetNEW AMSTERDAM HISTORY CENTER: $142,238 over 2y, 48% of budgetKETCHAM INN FOUNDATION INC: $136,809 over 6y, 82% of budgetOYSTERPONDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $134,700 over 6y, 19% 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.

  • Who funds LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds PBS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds New York Historical Society ↗
  • Who funds New York University ↗
  • Who funds MOLLOY UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY ↗
  • Who funds THE BROOKLYN HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds IONA UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE GREEN-WOOD HISTORIC FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds WEBB INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds MONTAUK HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds THE ROSLYN LANDMARK SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds FIREBOAT FIRE FIGHTER MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds THE HISTORYMAKERS ↗
  • Who funds Three Village Historical Society ↗
  • Who funds THE FRIENDS OF RAYNHAM HALL INC ↗
  • Who funds GREATER HUDSON HERITAGE NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds Old Westbury Gardens Inc ↗
  • Who funds YAPHANK HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds EAST END SEAPORT MUSEUM AND MARINE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER ↗
  • Who funds PRESERVATION LEAGUE OF NEW YORK STATE ↗
  • Who funds THE GILDER LEHRMAN INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN HISTORY ↗
  • Who funds THE NORTH SHORE LAND ALLIANCE INC ↗
  • Who funds OYSTER BAY RAILROAD MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗

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.

Greater Hudson Heritage NetworkNY45.9× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Hudson Heritage Network · The William G Pomeroy Foundation · Preservation League of New York State · The New York Community Trust · The Claire Friedlander Family Foundation · New York Community Bank Foundation · New York Council for the Humanities · Peggy N & Roger G Gerry Charitable · Charles and Helen Reichert Family Foundation Inc · The McGrath Family Charitable Foundation · Frederic R Coudert Foundation · John C Dunphy Private Foundation 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 Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Sea Education Association Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Mystic Seaport Museum Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston College: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
49report 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 Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation Inc 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 226 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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