Skip to content
Robert H Smith Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Robert H Smith Family Foundation

Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$7.4M
Granted FY2023
16
Grants FY2023
5
States reached
$6.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2023.

Education$24MArts & Culture$18MSocial Science$3.0MHealth$1.1MReligion$478kHuman Services$345kPhilanthropy$126kFood & Nutrition$100kOther$0
02FY2023 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k2 grants · $8k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $135k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $486k
  • $250k+3 grants · $6.8M
$50,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK FOUNDATION$6,007,000
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART$400,000
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY$391,000
CHARLES E SMITH JEWISH DAY SCHOOL$186,000
HEBREW HOME OF GREATER WASHINGTON$100,000
JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER WASHINGTON$100,000
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S COTTAGE$50,000
NATIONAL SPORTING LIBRARY & MUSEUM$50,000
CAPITAL JEWISH MUSEUM$30,000
JEWISH SOCIAL SERVICES AGENCY (JSSA)$25,000
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY$25,000
DC HISTORY CENTER$20,000
WA DRAMA SOCIETY INC (DBA ARENA STAGE)$20,000
WOODROW WILSON CENTER$15,000
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HOUSE FOUNDATION$7,500
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–20, $700k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia: $100k → 6%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA: $100k → 6%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA: $100k → 6%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA: $100k → 6%Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington: $100k → 8%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF GREATER WASHINGTON: $100k → 8%JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF GREATER WASHINGTON: $100k → 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

MN
IL
NY
MA
PA
CA
VA
MD
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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$44M · 38 repeat orgs$3.2M to everyone else

38 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2023, 28 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

38
16

Total granted

$44M
$3.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
+30%

Still filing today

76%
69%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $68k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
Arts & CultureEducationHealthSocial ScienceHuman ServicesInternationalOther
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

  • UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK FOUNDATION INC
    7× · 2017–2023 · $20M · revenue +72%
  • NG
    National Gallery of Art
    7× · 2017–2023 · $4.5M · revenue +57%
  • THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC
    6× · 2017–2022 · $3.0M · revenue +243%

Funded once

  • JF
    JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS
    one grant, 2022 · $2.3M
  • SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTIONgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $400k · revenue +30%
  • NM
    NATIONAL MUSEUM OF LANGUAGE INC
    one grant, 2019 · $100k
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
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
2
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
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 Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
5
Mint Museum of Art Inc

The mint museum welcomes all to be inspired and transformed through the power of art and creativity.

Arts & Culture
6
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

The weitzman national museum of american jewish history, on independence mall in philadelphia, presents educational programs and experiences that preserve, explore, and celebrate the history of jews in america. its purpose is to connect…

Arts & Culture
7
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston

The museum of fine arts, houston serves as a welcoming and inclusive place for all people, connecting the communities of houston with diverse histories of art spanning 6,000 years and six continents. through our permanent collections,…

Arts & Culture
8
Henry E Huntington Library and Art Gallery

The huntington library, art museum, and botanical gardens shares its world-renowned collections to support scholarship, foster learning, inspire creativity, and offer transformative experiences for diverse audiences.

Arts & Culture
9
The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences

The mission of the brooklyn institute of arts and sciences, d/b/a brooklyn museum (the "museum") is to bring people together through art and experiences that inspire celebration, compassion, courage, and the will to act. (see schedule o).

Arts & Culture
10
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

The gilder lehrman institute of american history was founded in 1994 by richard gilder and lewis e. lehrman, visionaries and lifelong supporters of american history. the institute is the leading nonprofit and nonpartisan organization…

Education
11
Baltimore Museum of Art

The baltimore museum of art connects art to baltimore and baltimore to the world, embodying a commitment to artistic excellence and social equity in every decision from art presentation, interpretation, and collecting, to the composition…

Arts & Culture
12
Berggruen Institute
Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Aspen Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is David Bruce Smith Foundation 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

44 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. 44 of the 61 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
44/44
Grantees still filing
33/44
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK FOUNDATION INC: $19,519,418 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK FOUNDATION INCThe George Washington University: $1,048,600 · EducationCHARLES E SMITH JEWISH DAY SCHOOL OF GREATER WASHINGTON INC: $813,000 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $800,000 · Education+4 more: $186,800 · EducationNational Gallery of Art: $4,510,000 · Arts & CultureNational Gallery of ArtNew York Historical Society: $1,695,000 · Arts & CultureNew York Historical Soc…THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION INC: $1,000,000 · Arts & CultureTHOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDA…MONTPELIER FOUNDATION: $600,000 · Arts & CultureMONTPELIER FOUNDATIONSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $400,000 · Arts & Culture+12 more: $1,654,500 · Arts & Culture+12 moreJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER OF PERFORMING ARTS: $3,610,095 · OtherJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER O…JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS: $2,297,590 · OtherJOHN F KENNEDY CENTER F…MOUNT VERNON LADIES ASSOCIATION: $1,510,000 · OtherMOUNT VERNON LADIES ASS…HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM: $850,000 · OtherHEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JE…The Frick Collection: $370,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HOUSE THRU NPT-UK: $350,000 · Other+19 more: $693,911 · Other+19 moreTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $2,964,709 · Social Science+1 more: $15,000 · Social ScienceMAYO CLINIC: $600,000 · HealthTHE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL: $281,000 · HealthHEBREW HOME OF GREATER WASHINGTON INC: $115,000 · HealthTHE MEDSTAR-GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER INC: $50,000 · Health+2 more: $30,000 · HealthAMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY INC: $956,000 · InternationalJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA INC: $400,000 · Human ServicesBENDER JCC OF GREATER WASHINGTON: $300,000 · Human Services
Education$22,367,818Arts & Culture$9,859,500Other$9,681,596Social Science$2,979,709Health$1,076,000International$956,000Human Services$700,000

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 budgetUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK FOUNDATION INC: $19,519,418 over 7y, 3.4% of budgetNational Gallery of Art: $4,510,000 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $2,964,709 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetNew York Historical Society: $1,695,000 over 6y, 1.2% of budgetThe George Washington University: $1,048,600 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION INC: $1,000,000 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF HEBREW UNIVERSITY INC: $956,000 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetCHARLES E SMITH JEWISH DAY SCHOOL OF GREATER WASHINGTON INC: $813,000 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $800,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $600,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMONTPELIER FOUNDATION: $600,000 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $400,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA INC: $400,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetThe Frick Collection: $370,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetPRESIDENT LINCOLN'S COTTAGE AT THE SOLDIERS HOME: $327,500 over 5y, 12% of budgetThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: $300,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetBENDER JCC OF GREATER WASHINGTON: $300,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetTHE JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL: $281,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $250,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetGETTYSBURG FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTHE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY INC: $140,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetTHE PHILLIPS COLLECTION: $125,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetTHE JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER WASHINGTON INC: $120,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetHEBREW HOME OF GREATER WASHINGTON INC: $115,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetWASHINGTON DRAMA SOCIETY INC: $106,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NATIONAL SPORTING LIBRARY AND MUSEUM: $100,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetICIVICS INC: $80,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL MUSEUM: $75,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetFoundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies: $60,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetLillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum: $50,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetTHE MEDSTAR-GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $40,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFOCUSED ULTRASOUND FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSIXTH & I SYNAGOGUE INC: $16,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetRESTLESS BOOKS INC: $16,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetWOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHIGHER ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR MIND-BODY MEDICINE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CORNING MUSEUM OF GLASS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHESAPEAKE ORCHESTRA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetTHE SEED FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR CREATIVE CHANGE: $1,800 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetDAVID BRUCE SMITH FOUNDATION INC: $548 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

The Robert P and Arle…Alan and Amy Meltzer …David Bruce Smith Fou…Sami & Annie Totah Fa…The Morningstar Phila…Abraham & Freida Hoch…The Bessie Family Fou…The Gary and Pennie A…Galena-Yorktown Found…Vanguard Charitable E…American Endowment Fo…Renaissance Charitabl…
The Robert P and Arlene R Kogod Family FoundationVA19.9× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Robert P and Arlene R Kogod Family Foundation · Alan and Amy Meltzer Family Foundation Inc · David Bruce Smith Foundation Inc · Sami & Annie Totah Family Foundation · The Morningstar Philanthropic Foundation D/B/A the Morningstar Foundation · Abraham & Freida Hochberg Foundation Inc · The Bessie Family Foundation · The Gary and Pennie Abramson Charitable Foundation · Galena-Yorktown Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Endowment Foundation · Renaissance Charitable 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 H Smith Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Robert H Smith Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Icivics Inc: 13% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Restless Books Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Bender Jcc of Greater Washington: 1% of income from government
  • Hebrew Home of Greater Washington Inc: 0% of income from government
  • The Johns Hopkins Hospital: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 H Smith Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Robert H Smith 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 61 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Robert H Smith 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