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Sean N Parker Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Sean N Parker 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.

$11M
Granted FY2018
12
Grants FY2018
5
States reached
$6.3M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

75% of Sean N Parker Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to New Venture Fund, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 2 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2018, the last year Sean N Parker Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 8 organizations, $11M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

9
’17
8
’18
2
’19
4
’20
2
’21
0
’22
2
’23
2
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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.

Health$64MPublic Benefit$25MPhilanthropy$18MEducation$17MPublic Safety & Disaster$1.0MArts & Culture$714kHuman Services$50kScience & Tech$30kOther$0
02FY2018 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2018

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $20k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $583k
  • $250k+5 grants · $10M
$172,127
Median grant
5
States reached
$249M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION$6,250,000
NEW VENTURE FUND$2,080,000
BIDEN CANCER INITIATIVE INC$1,000,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION$500,000
ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI$250,000
PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY$172,127
JP HAITIAN RELIEF ORGANIZATION$160,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION$150,000
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA$51,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION$50,000
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION$20,000
SHARE OUR STRENGTH INC$5,000
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 83% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%EMILY WHITEHEAD FOUNDATION: $50k → 16%BEYOND TYPE 1: $25k → 7%THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $6.3M → 8%COLLEGE TRACK: $160k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $500k → 10%THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $150k → 14%COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $30k → 7%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $250k → 17%UTAH FILM CENTER: $38k → 8%THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $6.3M → 14%UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: $20k → 8%THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $6.3M → 8%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $150k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $51k → 14%ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $250k → 17%NEW VENTURE FUND: $3.6M → 14%THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $6.3M → 8%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%THE UCLA FOUNDATION: $16.0M → 14%NEW VENTURE FUND: $2.5M → 14%LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: $1.0M → 8%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $31.0M → 10%UCLA FOUNDATION: $200k → 14%NEW VENTURE FUND: $2.1M → 14%AMERICAN DIABETES ASSOCIATION: $10k → 8%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $9.0M → 10%BABY2BABY: $50k → 14%NEW VENTURE FUND: $2.0M → 14%LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $1.0M → 8%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $5.0M → 10%SOCIAL IMPACT FUND: $50k → 14%NEW VENTURE FUND: $2.0M → 14%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $5.0M → 10%JP HAITIAN RELIEF ORGANIZATION: $490k → 14%NEW VENTURE FUND: $2.0M → 14%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $5.0M → 10%JP HAITIAN RELIEF ORGANIZATION: $350k → 14%NEW VENTURE FUND: $2.0M → 14%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $3.0M → 10%MUSEUM ASSOCIATES: $525k → 14%NEW VENTURE FUND: $2.0M → 14%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $900k → 10%JP HAITIAN RELIEF ORGANIZATION: $160k → 14%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $550k → 10%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $270k → 10%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $270k → 10%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $270k → 10%PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $172k → 10%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

IL
NY
IA
PA
CA
UT
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.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$87M · 5 repeat orgs$4.3M to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2018, 1 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2018 (too recent to call). Read against FY2018, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
6

Total granted

$87M
$309k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+80%
+190%

Still filing today

100%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $675k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’23’24
HealthArts & CultureEducationPublic Safety & DisasterScience & TechOther
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

  • PI
    PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY
    3× · 2017–2019 · $60M · revenue +173% · 91% of their budget
  • THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION
    4× · 2018–2021 · $25M · revenue +27%
  • CC
    CORE COMMUNITY ORGANIZED RELIEF EFFORT
    2× · 2017–2018 · $1.0M · revenue +381%

Funded once

  • CT
    COLLEGE TRACKgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $160k · revenue +190%
  • B
    BABY2BABYgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +463%
  • EW
    EMILY WHITEHEAD FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +141%
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
California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy

To harness the power of the human immune system and advanced computing technologies to create and translate scientific discoveries into next generation vaccines and therapies for prevention, control and cure of chronic diseases, enabling…

Health
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
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
4
University of California Irvine Foundation

The mission of the university of california, irvine foundation (uc irvine foundation) is to raise and manage private funds to support uc irvine's broader mission of excellence in teaching, research and public service. to this end, the uc…

Education
5
The Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation

The jonsson cancer center foundation is the single most important vehicle for raising private funds for cancer research at ucla and plays a key role in advancing cancer treatments and care. please see schedule o for additional information.

—
6
Boston Architectural College

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

—
7
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
8
Uc Santa Barbara Foundation

The uc santa barbara foundation actively works to further the goals of the university of california, santa barbara. the foundation seeks to maintain and nurture the university's quality and distinction. on behalf of the campus, the…

Education
9
City of Hope

City of Hope's mission is to make hope a reality for all touched by cancer and diabetes. PLEASE SEE SCHEDULE O FOR A CONTINUATION OF OUR MISSION

Health
10
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
11
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
12
University of Virginia Investment Management Company

The university of virginia investment management company (uvimco) is organized to invest funds on behalf of the rector and visitors of the university of virginia (the university or uva) and university-associated organizations (uaos).

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Ucla Foundation; the most unlike its peers is American Diabetes Association. 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

25 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. 25 of the 26 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/25
Grantees still filing
19/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $60,432,127 · HealthPARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY+4 more: $1,085,000 · HealthTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $25,000,000 · Arts & CultureTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUND…+4 more: $713,500 · Arts & CultureUCLA FOUNDATION: $16,200,000 · EducationUCLA FOUNDATIONTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $1,000,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRU…UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $700,000 · Education+4 more: $731,000 · EducationNEW VENTURE FUND: $18,320,000 · EnvironmentNEW VENTURE FUNDBIDEN CANCER INITIATIVE INC: $1,000,000 · OtherOPENCOVIDSCREEN FOUNDATION: $500,000 · Other+3 more: $69,000 · OtherCORE COMMUNITY ORGANIZED RELIEF EFFORT: $1,000,000 · Public Safety & DisasterSocial Impact Fund: $50,000 · PhilanthropyCOLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $30,000 · Science & Tech
Health$61,517,127Arts & Culture$25,713,500Education$18,631,000Environment$18,320,000Other$1,569,000Public Safety & Disaster$1,000,000Philanthropy$50,000Science & Tech$30,000

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 budgetPARKER INSTITUTE FOR CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY: $60,432,127 over 3y, 91% of budgetTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $25,000,000 over 4y, 4.4% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $18,320,000 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetUCLA FOUNDATION: $16,200,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetLUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN'S HEALTH: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetBIDEN CANCER INITIATIVE INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetCORE COMMUNITY ORGANIZED RELIEF EFFORT: $1,000,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $700,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMUSEUM ASSOCIATES: $525,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetOPENCOVIDSCREEN FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 1y, 9.5% of budgetICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $500,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLEGE TRACK: $160,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $150,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $51,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBABY2BABY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetEMILY WHITEHEAD FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetUTAH FILM CENTER: $37,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBEYOND TYPE 1: $25,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEdmundson Art Foundation Inc: $1,000 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.

Gs Donor Advised Phil…National Philanthropi…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncNY11.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Sean N Parker Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sean N Parker Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report 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 Sean N Parker Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Sean N Parker 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 26 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 2018, released 2018. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Sean N Parker’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