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Stern Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Stern 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.

$43k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$15k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Philanthropy$150kYouth Development$108kReligion$80kCommunity Improvement$57kArts & Culture$35kHealth$25kFood & Nutrition$20kInternational$17kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $26k
$4,500
Median grant
2
States reached
$327k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT$15,000
BRILLIANT DETROIT$11,364
REPAIR THE WORLD$8,600
TEMPLE ISRAEL$4,500
YAD EZRA$1,800
Individual grant recipient$1,536
THE FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE$500
JDRF$189
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 46% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%DREAMSTREET: $3k → 14%DREAMSTREET THEATRE: $5k → 20%CONSERVATIVE SYNAGOGUE ADATH ISRAEL OF RIVERDALE: $12k → 28%PERFORMING ARTS PROJECT: $6k → 19%YAD EZRA: $6k → 8%MAPSCORPS: $10k → 14%PERFORMING ARTS PROJECT: $6k → 19%YAD EZRA: $3k → 8%PERFORMING ARTS PROJECT: $5k → 19%YAD EZRA: $2k → 8%KIVUNIM: $2k → 17%PERFORMING ARTS PROJECT: $5k → 19%YAD EZRA: $2k → 8%CHABAD DOWNTOWN DETROIT: $2k → 21%AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE: $10k → 17%YAD EZRA: $2k → 8%WDET: $2k → 21%ASTEP: $3k → 17%REPAIR THE WORLD: $15k → 17%REPAIR THE WORLD: $9k → 17%REPAIR THE WORLD: $3k → 17%BRILLIANT DETROIT: $11k → 21%BRILLIANT DETROIT: $10k → 21%BRILLIANT DETROIT: $10k → 21%BRILLIANT DETROIT: $10k → 21%BRILLIANT DETROIT: $10k → 21%BRILLIANT DETROIT: $10k → 21%BRILLIANT DETROIT: $10k → 21%BRILLIANT DETROIT: $10k → 21%BRILLIANT DETROIT: $5k → 21%REPAIR THE WORLD WORKSHOP: $21k → 21%REPAIR THE WORLD WORKSHOP: $5k → 21%JEWISH FEDERATION OF METRO DETROIT: $45k → 8%JEWISH FEDERATION OF METRO DETROIT: $31k → 8%JEWISH FEDERATION OF METRO DETROIT: $18k → 8%JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT: $15k → 8%JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT: $10k → 8%JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT: $10k → 8%TEMPLE ISRAEL: $13k → 8%JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT: $4k → 8%TEMPLE ISRAEL: $13k → 8%TEMPLE ISREAL: $10k → 8%TEMPLE ISRAEL: $9k → 8%TEMPLE ISRAEL: $8k → 8%TEMPLE ISRAEL: $7k → 8%TEMPLE ISRAEL: $5k → 8%TEMPLE ISRAEL: $3k → 8%HUMBLE DESIGN: $5k → 8%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

VT
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
IA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
VA
DE
DC
GA
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$327k · 26 repeat orgs$59k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +42% since the first grant, against +4% for those funded once.

26 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 19 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
41

Total granted

$327k
$59k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+4%

Still filing today

58%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
HealthArts & CultureEducationRecreation & SportsPhilanthropyInternationalOther
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

  • BRILLIANT DETROIT
    9× · 2017–2025 · $87k · revenue +430%
  • RT
    REPAIR THE WORLD
    3× · 2023–2025 · $27k · revenue +77%
  • YE
    YAD EZRA
    7× · 2017–2025 · $16k · revenue +42%

Funded once

  • CS
    CONSERVATIVE SYNAGOGUE ADATH ISRAEL OF RIVERDALE
    one grant, 2024 · $12k
  • The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +4%
  • TI
    TEMPLE ISREAL
    one grant, 2018 · $10k
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
Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation

The samuel waxman cancer research foundation (the "foundation") funds innovative research to bring faster cures to patients. in addition to supporting ongoing collaborative research in specific cancers, our scientists are investigating the…

—
2
Minneapolis Jewish Federation

Minneapolis jewish federation is a nonprofit organization that promotes a culture of philanthropy, leverages resources to meet local and global jewish needs, and facilitates community planning to ensure a thriving and secure future.

Philanthropy
3
The Jewish Fund

The jewish fund is organized and operates exclusively for charitable, educational, and religious purposes. the fund's primary activities are: supporting a jewish health care mission in the greater detroit area and michigan; promotion of…

Philanthropy
4
International Biomedical Research Alliance

Our mission is to invest in and accelerate the development of the most promising future leaders in biomedical research with global impact.

Health
5
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…

—
6
Weizmann Institute of Science

The weizmann institute of science, located in rehovot, israel, is one of the worlds top-ranking, multidisciplinary research institutions. at any one time, several thousand scientists, staff and students are involved in hundreds of research…

Science & Tech
7
Metropolitan Jewish Health System Inc

Mjhs health system is a charitable not-for-profit established to support the activities of affiliated organizations. mjhs is built on the core values of compassion, dignity and respect, first established by the four brooklyn ladies in…

Health
8
The Jewish Studio Project

Through thought leadership, community programs, leadership development, and organizational partnerships, jsp is building a movement to activate the creative power of the jewish community.

Religion
9
Chelsea Jewish Lifecare Inc

The organization's mission is to manage a continuum of senior care business lines that consistently provide high-quality compassionate care while focusing on the development of innovative programs and services that enable individuals to…

Health
10
Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School

Abraham joshua heschel day school cultivates students' natural sense of wonder into an exceptionally rich education that encourages critical thinking, creativity, and compassion. in partnership with our families, we inspire our students to…

—
11
Society for Neuroscience

Sfn's mission is to: 1. advance the understanding of the brain and the nervous system by bringing together scientists of all segments of neuroscience, by facilitating the integration of research directed at all levels of biological…

Health
12
United Jewish Foundation

The united jewish foundation of detroit owns, manages and invests jewish communal assets, including general and endowment funds, agency endowments, supporting foundations and real property. the foundation is committed to ensuring that…

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Repair the World; the most unlike its peers is Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc. 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

36 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. 36 of the 70 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/36
Grantees still filing
25/36
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TEMPLE ISRAEL OF DETROIT: $58,064 · OtherTEMPLE ISRAEL OF DETROITREPAIR THE WORLD WORKSHOP: $26,445 · OtherREPAIR THE WORLD WORKSHOPYAD EZRA: $16,483 · OtherYAD EZRAAMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION CENTER: $12,500 · OtherAMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION CENTERCONSERVATIVE SYNAGOGUE ADATH ISRAEL OF RIVERDALE: $12,000 · OtherCONSERVATIVE SYNAGOGUE ADATH ISRAEL OF RIVERDA…MAPSCORPS: $11,500 · OtherTEMPLE ISREAL: $10,000 · OtherFRIENDSHIP CIRCLE: $8,350 · OtherWAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY: $7,640 · OtherHumble Design Inc: $9,223 · Other+41 more: $48,851 · Other+41 moreJEWISH FEDERATION OF DETROIT: $147,896 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION OF DETROIT+3 more: $1,616 · PhilanthropyBRILLIANT DETROIT: $87,029 · Youth DevelopmentBRILLIANT DETROITREPAIR THE WORLD: $26,782 · Community ImprovementTHE PERFORMING ARTS PROJECT INC: $21,900 · Arts & CultureDETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE: $1,530 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $844 · Arts & CultureThe American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc: $10,000 · InternationalSave The Children Federation Inc: $3,022 · InternationalBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $8,089 · HealthDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $1,530 · HealthTHE ANDREW MCDONOUGH B FOUNDATION: $1,100 · HealthERASE PTSD NOW INC: $1,000 · HealthNFX: $1,000 · Health+2 more: $300 · Health
Other$221,056Philanthropy$149,512Youth Development$87,029Community Improvement$26,782Arts & Culture$24,274International$13,022Health$13,019

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 budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF DETROIT: $147,896 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetBRILLIANT DETROIT: $87,029 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetREPAIR THE WORLD: $26,782 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE PERFORMING ARTS PROJECT INC: $21,900 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetYAD EZRA: $16,483 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetMAPSCORPS: $11,500 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetThe American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHumble Design Inc: $9,223 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $8,089 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetORT AMERICA INC: $6,150 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $3,022 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetKIVUNIM: $1,863 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE: $1,530 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $1,530 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ANDREW MCDONOUGH B FOUNDATION: $1,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDOWNTOWN BOXING GYM YOUTH PROGRAM: $1,058 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH SENIOR LIFE FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetERASE PTSD NOW INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNFX: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC: $750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $618 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINTANDEM CYCLING INC: $550 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetARTS IGNITE INC: $536 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIDYLLWILD ARTS FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPAYPAL CHARITABLE GIVING FUND: $436 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetStanford Jazz Workshop: $308 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHEBREW FREE LOAN ASSOCIATION: $180 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDETROIT COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $150 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Michigan: $104 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMATRIX HUMAN SERVICES: $103 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGLEANERS COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSANDY HOOK PROMISE FOUNDATION: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $72 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSHERWOOD FORESTRY SERVICE: $25 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.

  • Who funds JEWISH FEDERATION OF DETROIT ↗
  • Who funds BRILLIANT DETROIT ↗
  • Who funds REPAIR THE WORLD ↗
  • Who funds THE PERFORMING ARTS PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds YAD EZRA ↗
  • Who funds MAPSCORPS ↗
  • Who funds The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc ↗
  • Who funds Humble Design Inc ↗
  • Who funds BREAKTHROUGH T1D ↗
  • Who funds ORT AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds Save The Children Federation Inc ↗
  • Who funds KIVUNIM ↗
  • Who funds DETROIT PUBLIC THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE ANDREW MCDONOUGH B FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds DOWNTOWN BOXING GYM YOUTH PROGRAM ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH SENIOR LIFE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ERASE PTSD NOW INC ↗
  • Who funds NFX ↗
  • Who funds SEED SAVERS EXCHANGE INC ↗

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.

United Jewish Foundat…Community Foundation …The Eugene Applebaum …National Philanthropi…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The Goldman Sachs Cha…Ge Aerospace Foundati…ImpactassetsincMorgan Stanley Global…Jewish Communal FundCharities Aid Foundat…Verizon Foundation
United Jewish FoundationMI15.5× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: United Jewish Foundation · Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · The Eugene Applebaum Family Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Jewish Communal Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America · Verizon 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 Stern Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Stern Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Sandy Hook Promise Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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.

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 70 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 Stern 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