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Shepard and Amanda Fairey Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Shepard and Amanda Fairey 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.

$38k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$25k
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, FY2019 to 2025.

Education$194kArts & Culture$48kInternational$43kPhilanthropy$30kSocial Science$9kYouth Development$5kHuman Services$1k
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $3k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $35k
$10,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$48k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN$25,000
THE CENTER FOR CULTURAL INNOVATION$10,000
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC$2,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $30k → 14%LOWER EAST SIDE GIRLS CLUB: $5k → 17%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $5k → 14%RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $25k → 14%LOS ANGELES GAY AND LESBIAN COMMUNITY SERVICES CEN: $1k → 14%AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF THE USA INC: $43k → 17%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $3k → 14%RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $25k → 14%THE CENTER FOR CULTURAL INNOVATION: $10k → 14%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $1k → 14%RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $25k → 14%SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO: $10k → 14%AMERICANS FOR THE ARTS INC: $25k → 14%RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $25k → 14%826LA: $15k → 14%RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $25k → 14%RISE EDUCATION FUND: $7k → 14%RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $25k → 14%FUTURE ROOTS INC: $1k → 14%RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $10k → 14%FUTURE ROOTS INC: $1k → 14%FUTURE ROOTS INC: $500 → 14%IMAGINE PROJECT INC: $100 → 14%LIBRARY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES: $8k → 14%LIBRARY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES: $3k → 14%LIBRARY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES: $1k → 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.
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.

61%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$182k · 4 repeat orgs$116k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +31% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
8

Total granted

$182k
$106k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+31%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationInternationalSocial SciencePhilanthropyYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
    6× · 2019–2025 · $160k · revenue +8%
  • TL
    THE LIBRARY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES
    3× · 2019–2024 · $11k · revenue +39%
  • THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC
    3× · 2021–2025 · $9k · revenue +159%

Funded once

  • AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF THE USA INC
    one grant, 2021 · $43k · revenue -5%
  • Americans for the Arts Inc
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue -52%
  • 8
    826LA
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue -18%
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
Arts for La

Arts for la leads communities, artists and organizations to advocate for an equitable, healthy, and creative los angeles region through the arts.

Arts & Culture
2
California Institute of Contemporary Art
—
3
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

The Television Academy is dedicated to celebrating excellence, innovation and the advancement of the telecommunications arts and sciences through recognition, education and leadership, while fostering a diverse, inclusive and accessible…

—
4
Ucla Foundation

The ucla foundation is the giving, receiving, and investing arm of the ucla campus. the foundation enables private donors to help build, sustain and advance one of the world's finest academic and research institutions. private philanthropy…

Education
5
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
6
Los Angeles Opera Company

To serve the public by producing world-class opera that preserves, promotes and advances the art form while embodying the diversity, spirit and artistic sensibility unique to los angeles. we envision an engaged and enlightened community in…

Arts & Culture
7
Inner-City Arts

Inner-city arts believes that the arts and creativity are transformational, and we envision a society that honors the human capacity for creativity, and values its cultivation in the education of young people. inner-city arts uses arts…

Arts & Culture
8
Latino Theater Company

The latino theater company operates the los angeles theatre center, whose mission is to provide a world class arts center for those pursuing artistic excellence; a laboratory where both tradition and innovation are honored and honed; a…

Arts & Culture
9
United States Artists Inc

To invest in america's finest artists and illuminate the value of artists to society.

Arts & Culture
10
California College of the Arts

California college of the arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. benefitting from its san francisco bay area location, the college prepares…

Education
11
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Aspen Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is Imagine Theatre. 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

14 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.

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)
14/14
Grantees still filing
7/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $160,000 · EducationRHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN826LA: $15,000 · Education826LATHE LIBRARY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES: $11,250 · EducationTHE LIBRARY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELESAmericans for the Arts Inc: $25,000 · Arts & CultureAmericans for th…SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO: $10,000 · Arts & CultureSOUTHERN CALIFOR…Center for Cultural Innovation: $10,000 · Arts & CultureCenter for Cultu…FUTURE ROOTS INC: $2,500 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $100 · Arts & CultureAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF THE USA INC: $42,500 · InternationalAMNESTY INTERN…CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $30,000 · PhilanthropyCALIFORNIA C…RISE EDUCATION FUND: $7,445 · PhilanthropyRISE EDUCATI…THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $8,500 · Social ScienceTHE LOWER EAST SIDE GIRLS CLUB OF NEW YORK INC: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentLOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER: $1,000 · Other
Education$186,250Arts & Culture$47,600International$42,500Philanthropy$37,445Social Science$8,500Youth Development$5,000Other$1,000

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 budgetRHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $160,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL OF THE USA INC: $42,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmericans for the Arts Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budget826LA: $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE LIBRARY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES: $11,250 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RADIO: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCenter for Cultural Innovation: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $8,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRISE EDUCATION FUND: $7,445 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE LOWER EAST SIDE GIRLS CLUB OF NEW YORK INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFUTURE ROOTS INC: $2,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLOS ANGELES LGBT CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIMAGINE THEATRE: $100 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

California Community …Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
California Community FoundationCA14.9× affinity5 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Community Foundation · 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 Shepard and Amanda Fairey Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Shepard and Amanda Fairey 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%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s 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 · 0–40%
    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 14 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

    Play a game based on Shepard and Amanda Fairey’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