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Simha and Sara Lainer Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Simha and Sara Lainer Family 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.

$1.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1.0M
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Religion$4.5MPhilanthropy$3.0MHousing & Shelter$2.0MArts & Culture$525kEducation$475kInternational$438kHuman Services$198kCivil Rights$90kOther$0
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$19M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MILKEN COMMUNITY SCHOOL$1,000,000
LOS ANGELES FAMILY HOUSING$500,000
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 (FY20–20, $180k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE LOS ANGELES: $180k → 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.

80%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.0M · 11 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

11 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
13

Total granted

$7.0M
$748k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-9%
+35%

Still filing today

64%
62%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 33% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.0M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
PhilanthropyEducationReligionArts & CultureInternationalHuman ServicesOther
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

  • HA
    HILLEL AT UCLA
    8× · 2017–2024 · $1.2M · revenue +108%
  • NY
    NATIONAL YIDDISH BOOK CENTER INC
    5× · 2017–2024 · $500k · revenue +99%
  • TS
    THE SCHECHTER INSTITUTES INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $270k · revenue +42%

Funded once

  • JF
    JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF LOS ANGELESgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $180k · revenue +55%
  • MO
    MESIVTA OF GREATER LA
    one grant, 2021 · $180k
  • AJ
    AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2023 · $100k · revenue -20%
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
University of Judaism Foundation
—
2
University of Southern California Hillel Foundation

To create an informed, celebratory and satisfying jewish community for students at the university of southern california, to deepen jewish identity through social, intellectual and spiritual participation, to offer diversified…

—
3
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…

—
4
Hebrew College

Promotes excellence in jewish learning & leadership within a pluralistic environment. see sch ohebrew college promotes excellence in jewish learning and leadership within a pluralistic environment of open inquiry, intellectual rigor,…

Education
5
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
6
The Israel Institute Inc

The israel institute, inc. (the institute) enhances knowledge about modern israel by ensuring that more students have access to courses about israel during their time on campus.

International
7
Young Judaea Global Inc

Young judaea is a diverse community that educates and empowers jewish youth to deeply engage with israel and to lead positive change for the jewish people, israel and the world.

Education
8
American Friends of Hebrew University Inc

Support the hebrew univ. of jerusalem, israel's foremost center of higher edu. & research.

International
9
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
10
American Friends of Bar-Ilan University

We fundraise in the u.s. to support, and raise awareness of, bar-ilan university in israel.

Education
11
The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America

The shalom hartman institute (shi) is a leading research and educational center serving israel and world jewry. we work to enrich the moral and spiritual life of israel and the jewish people, deepen the commitment to pluralism and israel's…

International
12
Sherit Isroel
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Jewish Funders Network; the most unlike its peers is American Friends of Zacharias Frankel College. 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

20 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. 20 of the 29 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/20
Grantees still filing
10/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LOS ANGELES FAMILY HOUSING: $2,010,000 · OtherLOS ANGELES FAMILY HOUSINGHILLEL AT UCLA: $1,185,000 · OtherHILLEL AT UCLAMILKEN COMMUNITY SCHOOL: $1,000,000 · OtherMILKEN COMMUNITY SCHOOLHILLEL 818: $500,000 · OtherHILLEL 818JEWISH ACADEMY OF LOS ANGELES: $255,000 · Other+8 more: $648,000 · Other+8 moreJEWISH FEDERATION COUNCIL OF GREATER LA: $1,945,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION COUNCIL O…JEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES: $455,000 · PhilanthropyJEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION…THE SCHECHTER INSTITUTES INC: $270,000 · PhilanthropyTHE SCHECHTER INSTITUTES IN…+2 more: $19,500 · PhilanthropyBUREAU OF JEWISH EDUCATION OF GREATER LOS ANGELES INC: $1,638,088 · ReligionBUREAU OF JEWISH…+1 more: $25,000 · ReligionNATIONAL YIDDISH BOOK CENTER INC: $500,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF UNITED HATZALAH INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureHIAS INC: $400,000 · InternationalNEW ISRAEL FUND: $33,000 · International+1 more: $5,000 · InternationalJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF LOS ANGELES: $180,000 · Human ServicesAMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY: $100,000 · EducationUCLA FOUNDATION: $20,000 · EducationCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Education
Other$5,598,000Philanthropy$2,689,500Religion$1,663,088Arts & Culture$525,000International$438,000Human Services$180,000Education$140,000

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 budgetJEWISH FEDERATION COUNCIL OF GREATER LA: $1,945,000 over 8y, 0.9% of budgetBUREAU OF JEWISH EDUCATION OF GREATER LOS ANGELES INC: $1,638,088 over 8y, 9.2% of budgetHILLEL AT UCLA: $1,185,000 over 8y, 11% of budgetMILKEN COMMUNITY SCHOOL: $1,000,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetNATIONAL YIDDISH BOOK CENTER INC: $500,000 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetHILLEL 818: $500,000 over 2y, 7.4% of budgetJEWISH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF LOS ANGELES: $455,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHIAS INC: $400,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHE SCHECHTER INSTITUTES INC: $270,000 over 7y, 2.5% of budgetJEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF LOS ANGELES: $180,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY: $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF ZACHARIAS FRANKEL COLLEGE: $80,000 over 2y, 70% of budgetNEW ISRAEL FUND: $33,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF UNITED HATZALAH INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMOVING TRADITIONS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetUCLA FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY NORTHRIDGE FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICA GIVES INC: $17,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH FUNDERS NETWORK: $2,500 over 1y, 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.

Jewish Federation Cou…Jewish Community Foun…Jewish Community Foun…Ellie and Mark Lainer…The Diane and Guilfor…Jewish Community Foun…Morgan Stanley Global…California Community …Jewish Communal FundAmerican Endowment Fo…Gs Donor Advised Phil…National Philanthropi…
Jewish Federation Council of Greater LaCA17.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Federation Council of Greater La · Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles · Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles Group · Ellie and Mark Lainer Family Foundation · The Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · California Community Foundation · Jewish Communal Fund · American Endowment Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic 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 Simha and Sara Lainer Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Simha and Sara Lainer Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 88%
  • Hias Inc: 88% of income from government
  • National Yiddish Book Center Inc: 2% of 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)
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 Simha and Sara Lainer Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Simha and Sara Lainer Family 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 29 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 Simha and Sara Lainer Family’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