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Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund Inc

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.

$120M
Granted FY2024still arriving
118
Grants FY2024still arriving
22
States reached
$26M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Education$426MRecreation & Sports$93MEnvironment$61MHealth$56MArts & Culture$22MInternational$11MScience & Tech$9.2MYouth Development$3.3MOther$0
02FY2024 · 118 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k24 grants · $528k
  • $50k–250k40 grants · $4.6M
  • $250k+54 grants · $115M
$200,000
Median grant
22
States reached
$3.1B
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ARMAND HAMMER UNITED WORLD COLLEGE OF THE AMERICAN$26,000,000
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FOUNDATION INC$13,130,000
SANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL$9,219,000
PRESIDENT & TRUSTEES OF COLBY COLLEGE$6,000,000
SONOMA ACADEMY$5,580,000
MACALESTER COLLEGE$5,520,556
THE BRIGHAM & WOMENS HOSPITAL INC$5,000,000
CONEY ISLAND PREP BUILDERS INC$3,500,000
HUDSON VALLEY SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC$3,500,000
LANDPATHS$2,500,000
PETALUMA RIVER PARK FOUNDATION INC$2,500,000
THE COLLEGE OF IDAHO INC$2,210,000
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OCEAN CLEANUP FOUNDATION$2,000,000
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO$2,000,000
UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS AMERICAN FOUNDATION INC$2,000,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $1.5M) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 33% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%KIEVE-WAVUS EDUCATION INC: $200k → 9%KIEVE-WAVUS EDUCATION INC: $200k → 9%KIEVE-WAVUS EDUCATION INC: $200k → 9%KIEVE-WAVUS EDUCATION INC: $200k → 9%KIEVE-WAVUS EDUCATION INC: $200k → 9%MT DESERT ISLAND YMCA: $200k → 11%ALBERTINA KERR CENTERS: $100k → 12%ALBERTINA KERR CENTERS: $50k → 12%PDX HACKERSPACE: $80k → 12%PDX HACKERSPACE: $65k → 12%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

ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
WV
VA
MD
NM
TN
DC
OK
GA
TX
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 50% of Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund Inc’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund Inclessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$633M · 114 repeat orgs$47M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +32% since the first grant, against +30% for those funded once.

114 repeat relationships: 80 still active in FY2024, 34 since wound down; 15 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

114
38

Total granted

$633M
$36M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+30%

Still filing today

89%
84%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10M went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationEnvironmentArts & CultureHealthRecreation & SportsInternationalOther
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

  • THE ARMAND HAMMER UNITED WORLD COLLEGE OF THE AMER
    5× · 2020–2024 · $138M · revenue +33% · 77% of their budget
  • HH
    HUDSON HIGHLANDS FJORD TRAIL INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $45M · revenue +566% · 67% of their budget
  • SF
    SANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL
    5× · 2020–2024 · $38M · revenue +47% · 84% of their budget

Funded once

  • TS
    The Scenic Hudson Land Trust Inc
    one grant, 2020 · $8.7M · revenue -20% · 57% of their budget
  • YU
    YALE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2020 · $5.0M
  • SO
    ST OLAF COLLEGEgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $4.6M · revenue +38%
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
Boston Architectural College

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

—
2
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
3
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
4
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
5
The Trustees of Princeton University

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…

Education
6
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
7
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
8
Sarah Lawrence College

At sarah lawrence college, our mission is to graduate citizens of the world who are diverse in every definition of the word, who take intellectual and creative risks, and who are able to focus exceptional intellectual discipline (continued…

Education
9
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
10
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
11
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
12
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Groundwork Hudson Valley Inc; the most unlike its peers is Federated Conservationists of Westchester County Inc. 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

154 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 154 of the 175 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.

29
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
153/154
Grantees still filing
109/154
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE ARMAND HAMMER UNITED WORLD COLLEGE OF THE AMER: $138,310,000 · EducationTHE ARMAND HAMMER UNITED WORLD COLLEGE OF THE AMERUNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FOUNDATION INC: $40,002,662 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FOUNDATION INCSANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $38,154,837 · EducationSANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOLSONOMA ACADEMY: $36,780,000 · EducationSONOMA ACADEMYThe President and Trustees of Colby College: $22,025,000 · EducationThe President and Trustees of Colby College+61 more: $114,310,483 · Education+61 moreHUDSON HIGHLANDS FJORD TRAIL INC: $45,000,000 · EnvironmentHUDSON HIGHLAND…PECONIC LAND TRUST INC: $10,843,333 · EnvironmentPECONIC LAND TR…The Scenic Hudson Land Trust Inc: $8,700,000 · EnvironmentThe Scenic Huds…Scenic Hudson Inc: $7,850,000 · EnvironmentScenic Hudson I…LAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC: $5,000,000 · EnvironmentLAND TRUST ALLI…LandPaths: $4,500,000 · Environment+13 more: $11,520,500 · Environment+13 moreCOLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC: $12,507,776 · OtherCOLLEGE OF THE …MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED: $10,000,000 · OtherMASS GENERAL BR…PARTNERS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM INC - THE BRIGHAM AND W: $10,000,000 · OtherPARTNERS HEALTH…THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $5,710,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONS…YALE UNIVERSITY: $5,050,000 · OtherAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OCEAN CLEANUP FOUNDATION: $4,000,000 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY: $3,504,154 · OtherMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $3,333,333 · Other+50 more: $41,758,585 · Other+50 moreCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $35,064,500 · Recreation & SportsPETALUMA RIVER PARK FOUNDATION INC: $7,750,000 · Recreation & SportsUnited States Ski Team Foundation: $3,845,000 · Recreation & Sports+3 more: $375,000 · Recreation & SportsNEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC: $20,125,000 · HealthTHE SOUTHAMPTON HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $7,535,000 · HealthGLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS: $5,339,870 · HealthWEST COUNTY HEALTH CENTERS INC: $1,450,000 · Health+4 more: $1,195,000 · HealthAmerican Museum of Natural History: $6,175,000 · Arts & CultureHUDSON VALLEY SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC: $3,500,000 · Arts & CultureGINA GIBNEY DANCE INC: $2,316,666 · Arts & CultureSTRAWTOWN ART & GARDEN STUDIO INC: $1,375,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM FOUNDATION OF PACIFIC GROVE INC: $1,350,000 · Arts & CultureARISE MEDIA INC: $750,000 · Arts & Culture+10 more: $2,145,000 · Arts & CultureBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences: $8,402,642 · Science & TechSANTA FE INSTITUTE: $666,667 · Science & Tech
Education$389,582,982Environment$93,413,833Other$95,863,848Recreation & Sports$47,034,500Health$35,644,870Arts & Culture$17,611,666Science & Tech$9,069,309

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE ARMAND HAMMER UNITED WORLD COLLEGE OF THE AMER: $138,310,000 over 5y, 77% of budgetHUDSON HIGHLANDS FJORD TRAIL INC: $45,000,000 over 2y, 67% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FOUNDATION INC: $40,002,662 over 4y, 6.0% of budgetSANTA FE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $38,154,837 over 5y, 84% of budgetSONOMA ACADEMY: $36,780,000 over 5y, 38% of budgetCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $35,064,500 over 5y, 14% of budgetThe President and Trustees of Colby College: $22,025,000 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetNEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC: $20,125,000 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetCOLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC: $12,507,776 over 5y, 13% of budgetMACALESTER COLLEGE: $12,474,782 over 3y, 2.5% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $11,800,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPECONIC LAND TRUST INC: $10,843,333 over 3y, 24% of budgetCONEY ISLAND PREP BUILDERS INC: $9,700,000 over 3y, 58% of budgetHOLDERNESS SCHOOL: $9,450,000 over 5y, 10% of budgetThe Scenic Hudson Land Trust Inc: $8,700,000 over 1y, 57% of budgetBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences: $8,402,642 over 3y, 20% of budgetScenic Hudson Inc: $7,850,000 over 5y, 17% of budgetPETALUMA RIVER PARK FOUNDATION INC: $7,750,000 over 3y, 61% of budgetLake Forest College: $7,650,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetTHE SOUTHAMPTON HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $7,535,000 over 4y, 52% of budgetAmerican Museum of Natural History: $6,175,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $5,710,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS: $5,339,870 over 3y, 18% of budgetLAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC: $5,000,000 over 4y, 9.9% of budgetST OLAF COLLEGE: $4,641,288 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetLandPaths: $4,500,000 over 2y, 80% of budgetFUTURE GENERATIONS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $4,175,000 over 5y, 40% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: $4,007,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE OCEAN CLEANUP FOUNDATION: $4,000,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE LAWRENCEVILLE SCHOOL: $3,980,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetUnited States Ski Team Foundation: $3,845,000 over 5y, 18% of budgetBROOKS SCHOOL: $3,714,805 over 5y, 2.2% of budgetCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $3,585,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: $3,560,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetHUDSON VALLEY SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC: $3,500,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetTHE TAFT SCHOOL CORPORATION: $3,174,385 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetCHAUTAUQUA FOUNDATION INC: $3,000,000 over 3y, 9.1% of budgetTilting Futures Incorporated: $3,000,000 over 3y, 24% of budgetTRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY: $2,814,994 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetTEATOWN LAKE RESERVATION INC: $2,750,000 over 5y, 20% of budgetMaine Seacoast Mission: $2,493,575 over 4y, 17% of budgetEMMA WILLARD SCHOOL: $2,369,837 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetGINA GIBNEY DANCE INC: $2,316,666 over 3y, 10% of budgetThe College of Idaho Inc: $2,210,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetSCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP-AFGHANISTAN INC: $2,150,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetMILTON ACADEMY: $2,110,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetMaine Coast Heritage Trust: $2,050,000 over 3y, 10% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR SHIPBOARD EDUCATION: $2,000,000 over 2y, 2.5% 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 New York Communit…The Abeles FoundationSanta Fe Community Fo…Maine Community Found…The Bessemer Giving F…Marin Community Found…Albuquerque Community…The Goldman Sachs Cha…Jewish Communal FundGarfield Street Found…Gale Family FoundationIbm International Fou…
The New York Community TrustNY23.3× affinity12 shared granteesties to 8 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The New York Community Trust · The Abeles Foundation · Santa Fe Community Foundation · Maine Community Foundation Inc · The Bessemer Giving Fund · Marin Community Foundation · Albuquerque Community Foundation · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Jewish Communal Fund · Garfield Street Foundation · Gale Family Foundation · Ibm International 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 Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 100%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Albertina Kerr Centers: 74% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • Trustees of Tufts College: 13% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • The Farm School Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Lever Inc: 10% of income from government
  • Brandeis University: 9% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Lewis & Clark College: 2% of income from government
  • Appalachian Mountain Club: 1% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Middlebury College: 1% of income from government
  • Berklee College of Music Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Year Up Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Amherst College Trustees: 0% of income from government
  • Wheaton College: 0% of income from government
  • Bennington College Corporation: 0% of income from government
  • Milton Academy: 0% of income from government
  • Williams College: 0% of income from government
  • Catlin Gabel School: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
10get no government money at all
32report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
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 Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund Inc?

Find your warmest path to Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund Inc 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 175 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 Shelby Cullom Davis’ 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