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Senser Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Senser 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.

$416k
Granted FY2024still arriving
18
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$120k
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 2024.

International$1.5MHuman Services$597kPhilanthropy$583kCivil Rights$376kReligion$262kHealth$256kEducation$147kCommunity Improvement$110kOther$0
02FY2024 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k4 grants · $25k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $221k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $170k
$10,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$23k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICA GIVES$120,000
BRIGHT STAR COMMUNITY OUTREACH$50,000
MOVING TRADITIONS$40,000
FUENTE LATINA$40,000
JEWISH WOMEN INTERNATIONAL$30,000
RED TENT FUND$30,000
BNAI ABRAHAM-ZION CONGREGATION (GLASSER PRESCHOOL)$11,000
SHALOM HARTMAN INSTITUTE$10,000
CAMP YOUNG JUDAEA MIDWEST$10,000
PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS$10,000
JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO$10,000
LITTLE VILLAGE ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ORGANIZATION$10,000
SHALVA$10,000
NEIGHBORS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE$10,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF ILLINOIS$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 (FY17–24, $410k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 93% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%SHALOM TASK FORCE: $45k → 17%RED TENT FUND: $30k → 7%JEWISH FREE LOAN CHICAGO: $5k → 14%SHALVA: $115k → 14%SHALVA: $70k → 14%SHALVA: $45k → 14%SHALVA: $25k → 14%SHALVA: $25k → 14%SHALVA: $25k → 14%SHALVA: $15k → 14%SHALVA: $10k → 14%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
OH
PA
NJ
CA
VA
DC
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 5% of Senser Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Senser Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 9.8% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.6M · 26 repeat orgs$531k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +28% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.

26 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2024, 15 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
21

Total granted

$3.6M
$355k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+6%

Still filing today

81%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 57% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $176k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
InternationalEducationHuman ServicesCivil RightsPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • TS
    THE SHALOM HARTMAN INSTITUTE OF NORTH AMERICA
    6× · 2018–2024 · $415k · revenue +1%
  • AG
    AMERICA GIVES INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $405k · revenue +226%
  • SI
    SHALVA INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $330k · revenue +74%

Funded once

  • OF
    ORGANIZATION FOR THE RESOLUTION OF AGUNOT INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $55k · revenue +34%
  • AF
    AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE GHETTO FIGHTERS' MUSEUM INC
    one grant, 2022 · $55k
  • ST
    SHALOM TASK FORCE INC
    one grant, 2023 · $45k · revenue -1%
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
Jewish Electorate Institute

The jewish electorate institute (jei) is an independent, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization that surveys, interprets, reports, and educates the public about the perspectives, voting behaviors, and motivations of the american jewish…

Civil Rights
2
The Jewish Agency for Israel

The jewish agency binds jews across ideologies and civilizations together in a worldwide jewish family with israel at its center. it provides the global framework for aliyah, ensures global jewish safety, strengthens jewish identity and…

—
3
The Israel Innovation Fund Inc

Our vision is to reignite the zionist spirit and meet the needs of jewish civilization in the twenty-first century by connecting people around the world through the vibrancy and creativity of contemporary israeli culture.

Arts & Culture
4
Jews of Color Initiative

The Jews of Color Initiatives mission is to advance racial equity in the U.S. Jewish community by centering the leadership of Jews of Color and ensuring that our communities and institutions reflect the multiracial reality of the Jewish…

Civil Rights
5
Jewish Voice Ministries Intl

To proclaim the gospel, grow the messianic jewish community and engage the church concerning israel and the jewish people. this is done through education, evangelism and being a movement leader, all with excellence in order to transform…

—
6
Sherit Isroel
—
7
Jewish Voters Unite Inc

The jewish voters unite's mission is to educate and mobilize jewish communities to participate in every election and make their voices heard at the polls.

Religion
8
Israel 21c

Through its news service and public programs, Israel 21c educates individuals and groups about comtemporary life in Israel providing news and information on the people of Israel, its culture and business and scientific achievements.

Education
9
New Jewish Narrative Inc

To support a strong and secure israel and to carry out public information activities on the middle east peace issues in the united states.

International
10
Partners in Torah

Offering jewish adults a personal connection to judaism,fostering a sense of belonging to the greater jewishcommunity, and building bridges between jews of allbackgrounds. to date, over 74,000 men and women from 39countries have been…

Religion
11
The Shalem Foundation

To promote and foster the creation of a zionist intellectual infrastructure for the state of israel, the development of a jewish national culture, and the establishment and promotion of intellectual and economic liberty.

Crime & Legal
12
Jewish Council on Urban Affairs

The Jewish Council on Urban Affair's (JCUA) longstanding mission is to combat poverty, racism and antisemitism working in partnership with diverse communities. JCUA uses a community organizing model to engage the Jewish community in the…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Avodah the Jewish Service Corps Inc; the most unlike its peers is Neighbors for Environmental Justice. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

39 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. 39 of the 54 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
39/39
Grantees still filing
24/39
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE SHALOM HARTMAN INSTITUTE OF NORTH AMERICA: $415,000 · InternationalTHE SHALOM HARTMAN INSTITUTE OF…Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Inc: $277,500 · InternationalFoundation for the Defense of D…THE GOOD PEOPLE FUND INC: $207,500 · InternationalTHE GOOD PEOPLE FUND INCAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $102,512 · InternationalAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUND…American Friends of Tel Aviv Univ: $90,000 · InternationalAmerican Friends of Tel Aviv Un…Fuente Latina Inc: $40,000 · International+2 more: $46,000 · InternationalJewish Women International: $265,000 · OtherJewish Women InternationalTHE ARK: $197,400 · OtherTHE ARKJEWISH WOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $113,000 · OtherJEWISH WOMEN'S FOUNDATION OF METRO…Individual grant recipient: $80,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE GHETTO FIGHTERS' MUSEUM INC: $55,000 · OtherA WIDER BRIDGE: $100,000 · OtherA WIDER BRIDGEAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $60,000 · OtherORGANIZATION FOR THE RESOLUTION OF AGUNOT INC: $55,000 · OtherBRIGHT STAR COMMUNITY OUTREACH CORP: $50,000 · Other+22 more: $313,100 · Other+22 moreAMERICA GIVES INC: $405,000 · PhilanthropyAMERICA GIVES I…JEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $80,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH UNITED F…PEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $75,000 · PhilanthropyPEF ISRAEL ENDO…+1 more: $5,000 · PhilanthropySHALVA INC: $330,000 · Human ServicesSHALVA INCSHALOM TASK FORCE INC: $45,000 · Human ServicesSHALOM TASK…RED TENT FUND: $30,000 · Human ServicesRED TENT FU…+1 more: $5,000 · Human ServicesAMERICAN FRIENDS OF KOLOT INC: $215,000 · EducationHEAR SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $40,000 · EducationAMERICAN FRIENDS OF KIDUM INC: $40,000 · Education+1 more: $2,000 · EducationPlanned Parenthood of Illinois: $232,500 · HealthAVODAH THE JEWISH SERVICE CORPS INC: $185,000 · Community ImprovementTHE WORKING WORLD INC: $25,000 · Community Improvement
International$1,178,512Other$1,288,500Philanthropy$565,000Human Services$410,000Education$297,000Health$232,500Community Improvement$210,000

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 budgetTHE SHALOM HARTMAN INSTITUTE OF NORTH AMERICA: $415,000 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetAMERICA GIVES INC: $405,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetSHALVA INC: $330,000 over 8y, 9.9% of budgetFoundation for the Defense of Democracies Inc: $277,500 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetJewish Women International: $265,000 over 4y, 4.7% of budgetPlanned Parenthood of Illinois: $232,500 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF KOLOT INC: $215,000 over 3y, 30% of budgetTHE GOOD PEOPLE FUND INC: $207,500 over 5y, 3.8% of budgetAVODAH THE JEWISH SERVICE CORPS INC: $185,000 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetAMERICAN ISRAEL EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $102,512 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetA WIDER BRIDGE: $100,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetAmerican Friends of Tel Aviv Univ: $90,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH UNITED FUND OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO: $80,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetPEF ISRAEL ENDOWMENT FUNDS INC: $75,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $60,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetORGANIZATION FOR THE RESOLUTION OF AGUNOT INC: $55,000 over 1y, 6.9% of budgetBRIGHT STAR COMMUNITY OUTREACH CORP: $50,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSHALOM TASK FORCE INC: $45,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetFuente Latina Inc: $40,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetMOVING TRADITIONS: $40,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetHEAR SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $40,000 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetLittle Village Environmental Justice Org: $40,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF KIDUM INC: $40,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $31,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMAOT CHITIM OF GREATER CHICAGO INC: $30,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetRED TENT FUND: $30,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetTHE WORKING WORLD INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNeighbors for Environmental Justice: $20,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetEVERTHRIVE ILLINOIS: $18,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCAMP YOUNG JUDAEA MIDWEST INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetPHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJumpstart Labs Inc DBA Jewish JUMPSTART JSLABS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCulinary Care: $5,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetJewish Free Loan Chicago Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetUNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSEFARIA INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCANTOR'S ASSEMBLY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetZIONESS MOVEMENT INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Jewish Federation of …Jewish Communal FundJewish Community Foun…Jewish Community Fede…United Jewish Appeal-…FjcHochberg Family Found…The Shimon Ben Joseph…New Venture FundGreater Miami Jewish …Combined Jewish Phila…The Chicago Community…
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan ChicagoIL30.8× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago · Jewish Communal Fund · Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York Inc · Fjc · Hochberg Family Foundation · The Shimon Ben Joseph Foundation Dba Jim Joseph Foundation · New Venture Fund · Greater Miami Jewish Federation Inc · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · The Chicago Community Trust

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 Senser Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Senser Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    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 Senser Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Senser 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 54 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Senser’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