· Private foundation
S4 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.
Read this first · the figures below need context
63% of S4 Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Trustees Of The University Of Pennsylvania, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 5 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k7 grants · $15k
- $10k–50k1 grant · $25k
- $50k–250k2 grants · $200k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| University of Pennsylvania | $150,000 |
| Ananda Church of Self Realization | $50,000 |
| St Stephens School | $25,000 |
| Trinity Episcopal School | $6,250 |
| Cradles to Crayons | $6,000 |
| Wonders & Worries | $1,000 |
| Texas Book Festival | $650 |
| Abercrombie & Kent Charities | $550 |
| Nari Satya Foundation | $500 |
| American Foundation for Suicide Prevention | $104 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY22–24, $17k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 94% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +36% since the first grant, against +9% for those funded once.
6 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $28k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- ACAnanda Church of Self Realization3× · 2022–2024 · $300k
- TETrinity Episcopal School3× · 2022–2024 · $27k
- CTCRADLES TO CRAYONS INC3× · 2022–2024 · $16k · revenue +36%
Funded once
- PUPRATHAM USAone grant, 2023 · $9k · revenue +6%
- LPLAKE PARK PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION INCone grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue -25%
- ACAnanda Church of Self-Realizaton Nevada Countyone grant, 2021 · $950
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.
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.
The mission of the american academy of pediatrics is to obtain optimal physical, mental and social health for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. the academy seeks to promote this goal by encouraging and assisting its…
The american psychiatric association (apa) was incorporated in 2000 as a 501(c)(6) trade association. its 38,000 u.s. and international physician members specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health and disorders, including…
The children's hospital of philadelphia, the oldest hospital in the united states dedicated exclusively to pediatrics, strives to be the world leader in the advancement of health care for children by integrating excellent patient care,…
The principal objects of the University are the advancement of learning by teaching and research, and its dissemination by every means. We work as one Oxford bringing together our staff, students and alumni, our colleges, faculties,…
As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…
We are an intl. scientific & educational org. dedicated to advancing art, science & technology.
Teachers College, Columbia Universitys (TC or the College) mission is to empower committed learners and leaders to build a smarter, healthier, more just and equitable world through multidisciplinary knowledge creation, policy engagement,…
The mission of Texas Heart Institute (THI) is to reduce the devastating toll of cardiovascular disease through innovative and progressive programs in research, education, and improved patient care.
Advancing medicine through excellence in the science, education and professional practice of medical physics. the mission is carried out through driving scientific and clinical innovation in medical physics to improve human health,…
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,…
Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…
Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…
How this is measured
9 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. 9 of the 17 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
- Who funds CRADLES TO CRAYONS INC ↗
- Who funds PRATHAM USA ↗
- Who funds LAKE PARK PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION INC ↗
- Who funds Wonders & Worries Inc ↗
- Who funds Texas Book Festival ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION ↗
- Who funds CHINMAYA MISSION AUSTIN ↗
- Who funds American Heart Association Inc ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization S4 Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from S4 Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Cradles to Crayons Inc: 2% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to S4 Foundation?
Find your warmest path to S4 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.
Play a game based on S4’s filings →