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Ruth & Ezra Chesky Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Ruth & Ezra Chesky Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$14k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Food & Nutrition$25kArts & Culture$8kInternational$8kHousing & Shelter$5kHealth$4kCivil Rights$4kHuman Services$2kYouth Development$2kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$2,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$304k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CITY MEALS ON WHEELS$3,000
FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS & EXPRESSION$2,500
GOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER$2,000
CITY HARVEST INC$2,000
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS$1,500
THE GREENWOOD HISTORIC FUND$1,000
PMC JIMMY FUND$1,000
FOOD BANK OF NY$1,000
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 (FY21–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 92% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%PMC JIMMY FUND: $1k → 7%DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE: $500 → 16%FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS & EXPRESSION: $1k → 22%CITY HARVEST INC: $2k → 17%CAMBA: $500 → 20%THE FRIENDS OF MOLDAOVA: $1k → 16%TRANSIT INITIATIVES: $1k → 7%PMC JIMMY FUND: $1k → 7%CITY HARVEST INC: $2k → 17%CAMBA: $500 → 20%PMC JIMMY FUND: $500 → 7%CITY HARVEST INC: $1k → 17%CAMBA: $500 → 20%PMC JIMMY FUND: $500 → 7%CITY HARVEST INC: $1k → 17%CAMBA: $500 → 20%PMC JIMMY FUND: $500 → 7%CITY HARVEST INC: $1k → 17%THE GREENWOOD HISTORIC FUND: $1k → 20%NY TIMES COMMUNTIES FUND: $3k → 17%ONE YEAR LEASE THEATRE CO: $1k → 20%THE GREENWOOD HISTORIC FUND: $1k → 20%THE GREENWOOD HISTORIC FUND: $500 → 20%COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS: $2k → 17%COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS: $1k → 17%COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS: $1k → 17%COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS: $1k → 17%DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: $2k → 17%FOOD BANK OF NY: $1k → 17%FOOD BANK OF NY: $1k → 17%FOOD BANK OF NY: $1k → 17%FOOD BANK OF NY: $1k → 17%DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: $500 → 17%TENEMENT MUSEUM: $1k → 17%CITY MEALS ON WHEELS: $3k → 17%CITY MEALS ON WHEELS: $2k → 17%UNICEF: $1k → 17%CITY MEALS ON WHEELS: $1k → 17%CITY MEALS ON WHEELS: $1k → 17%GOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER: $2k → 17%UNICEF: $1k → 17%GOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER: $1k → 17%UNICEF: $1k → 17%GOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER: $1k → 17%CITY MEALS ON WHEELS: $1k → 17%GOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER: $1k → 17%UNICEF: $1k → 17%GOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER: $1k → 17%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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$49k · 14 repeat orgs$9k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +20% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
8

Total granted

$49k
$9k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+20%
+16%

Still filing today

71%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24’25
Food & NutritionInternationalArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementEmploymentCivil RightsOther
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

  • GL
    GOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $6k · revenue +62%
  • COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $5k · revenue +3%
  • UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF
    4× · 2021–2024 · $4k · revenue +64%

Funded once

  • NT
    NY TIMES COMMUNTIES FUND
    one grant, 2024 · $3k
  • LE
    LOWER EAST SIDE TENEMENT MUSEUM
    one grant, 2022 · $1k · revenue +21%
  • TI
    Transit Initiatives Corporation
    one grant, 2022 · $1k
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
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
2
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Sanford burnham prebys medical discovery institute's mission is to advance the biomedical sciences by cultivating the next generation of scientific leaders, providing meaningful opportunities for researchers of all backgrounds to learn,…

Health
3
National September 11 Memorial and Museum At the World Trade Center

The national september 11 memorial & museum at the world trade center bears solemn witness to the terrorist attacks of september 11, 2001, and february 26, 1993. located at a site made sacred through loss, the memorial & museum remembers…

Arts & Culture
4
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition

The mission of the global alliance for improved nutrition (gain) is to improve the consumption of healthier diets for all, especially the most vulnerable, by improving the availability, affordability, desirability, and sustainability of…

Food & Nutrition
5
Municipal Art Society of New York

The municipal art society of new york (mas) lifts up the voices of the people in the debates that shape new york's built environment and leads the way to a more livable city from sidewalk to skyline. mas envisions a future in which all new…

Arts & Culture
6
New York Genome Center Inc

Operate a state-of-the-art, world-class genomic research center that creates and uses advanced genomics to understand the genetic basis of disease. for more information, see schedule o.

Health
7
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Chartered by a unanimous act of congress, the museum is america's national institution for the documentation, study, interpretation, and education of holocaust history and serves as our country's memorial to the victims of the holocaust.…

Arts & Culture
8
Food Allergy Science Initiative Inc

To accelerate the development of breakthrough discoveries that will transform the lives of people living with food allergies.

—
9
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
10
Washington Office On Latin America

To advance human rights and social justice in the americas.

International
11
International Vaccine Institute

To discover, develop and deliver safe, effective and affordable vaccines for global public health. its vision is developing countries free of suffering from infectious disease.

International
12
Refugees International Inc

Refugees international advocates for lifesaving assistance, human rights, and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crisis.

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Coalition for the Homeless Inc; the most unlike its peers is Transit Initiatives Corporation. 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

17 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. 17 of the 23 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/17
Grantees still filing
12/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CITYMEALS-ON-WHEELS: $7,500 · Food & NutritionCITYMEALS-ON-WHEELSCITY HARVEST INC: $6,500 · Food & NutritionCITY HARVEST INCGOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER INC: $6,000 · Food & NutritionGOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER INCFOOD BANK OF NY: $4,500 · OtherFOOD BANK OF NYCOALITION FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $4,500 · OtherCOALITION FOR THE HOMELESS INCPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $3,500 · OtherPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INCNY TIMES COMMUNTIES FUND: $3,000 · OtherNY TIMES COMMUNTIES FUNDTransit Initiatives Corporation: $1,000 · OtherONE YEAR LEASE THEATRE CO: $1,000 · OtherTHIRTEEN: $850 · Other+5 more: $1,850 · Other+5 moreUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $4,000 · InternationalUNITED STATES …MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $2,500 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS …THE FRIENDS OF MOLDOVA: $1,000 · InternationalTHE FRIENDS OF…THE GREEN-WOOD HISTORIC FUND INC: $2,800 · Arts & CultureLOWER EAST SIDE TENEMENT MUSEUM: $1,000 · Arts & CultureFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $3,500 · Civil RightsCAMBA INC: $2,000 · Community ImprovementSTUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER: $1,000 · Crime & Legal
Food & Nutrition$20,000Other$20,200International$7,500Arts & Culture$3,800Civil Rights$3,500Community Improvement$2,000Crime & Legal$1,000

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 budgetCITYMEALS-ON-WHEELS: $7,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCITY HARVEST INC: $6,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER INC: $6,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCOALITION FOR THE HOMELESS INC: $4,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $3,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GREEN-WOOD HISTORIC FUND INC: $2,800 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $2,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCAMBA INC: $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLOWER EAST SIDE TENEMENT MUSEUM: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTransit Initiatives Corporation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE FRIENDS OF MOLDOVA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSTUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMDRC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $250 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Ruth & Ezra Chesky Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ruth & Ezra Chesky 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 7%
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
5report 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 23 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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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