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Sumers Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Sumers 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.

$114k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$40k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$3.5MArts & Culture$119kRecreation & Sports$75kAnimals$20kHuman Services$10kReligion$5kHealth$2kCrime & Legal$2kOther$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $4k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $110k
$30,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$730k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Delirium Musicum$40,000
YLC Ballet Westside Ballet of Santa Monica$30,000
Individual grant recipient$30,000
SOL-LA Music Academy Inc$10,000
The Music Center$2,500
Philharmonic Society of Orange County$1,000
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 (FY17–20, $85k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, 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%CHALLENGED ATHLETES FOUNDATION: $75k → 11%AGMA RELIEF FUND: $10k → 17%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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.1M · 3 repeat orgs$713k to everyone else

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

3 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
12

Total granted

$3.1M
$599k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+31%

Still filing today

100%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $114k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’25
Arts & CultureAnimalsEducationHuman ServicesHealthPhilanthropyOther
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

  • WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
    2× · 2018–2019 · $3.0M · revenue +76%
  • PC
    PRAIRIE CULTURAL COMMONS
    2× · 2022–2023 · $20k
  • TT
    THE TOM GOLD DANCE FOUNDATION 51 WEST 81ST STREET
    2× · 2020–2021 · $15k · revenue -90%

Funded once

  • Cornell Universitygraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $483k · revenue +59%
  • CA
    CHALLENGED ATHLETES INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $75k · revenue +54%
  • HS
    Humane Society of Napa County & SPCA INC
    one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +9%
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 Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
2
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
3
Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan school of music is deeply committed to excellence in education, performance, and creative activity; to the humanity of the school's environment; and to the cultural enrichment of the larger community. a premiere international…

Arts & Culture
4
The Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts Inc

To offer accessible, high-quality performing arts education that sparks personal growth and builds inclusive communities. its vision is to transform performing arts education in an inclusive community accessible to all.

—
5
Princeton Ballet Society

Princeton ballet society's mission is to nurture a lifelong love of dance and lift the collective spirit through excellent, relevant, and accessible artistic and educational programs, with a focus on classical ballet.

Arts & Culture
6
Women's Project & Productions Inc

Wp theater is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing, and promoting the work of women+ at every stage of their careers. for over four decades we have served as leaders of a global movement…

Arts & Culture
7
San Francisco Opera Association

We believe opera is a uniquely compelling, entertaining and emotionally thrilling art form. our mission is to bring together growing audiences to experience opera's transformative power.

Arts & Culture
8
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
9
The Diller-Quaile School of Music Inc

For more than a century, diller-quaile has offered an environment where music can flourish in all its aspects, enriching the lives of students of all ages and cultural backgrounds. the belief that music is a fundamental part of human life…

Arts & Culture
10
The Performance Art Museum

The performance art museum (pam) is the first u.s. institution exclusively dedicated to the presentation and preservation of live art. our mission is to facilitate the powerful impact of live experiences that can profoundly transform our…

Arts & Culture
11
Ithaca College

Our mission is to educate, engage, and empower through theory, practice, and performance.

Education
12
Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Deeply rooted in our local beverly hills community and influenced by cultural change, the wallis annenberg center for the performing arts, a public-private partnership with the city of beverly hills, strives to be a site for the…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Sol-La Music Academy Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Tom Gold Dance Foundation 51 West 81ST Street. 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

18 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. 18 of the 22 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
11/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $3,031,339 · EducationWASHINGTON UNIVERSITYCornell University: $482,995 · EducationCornell University+1 more: $10,000 · EducationDELIRIUM MUSICUM: $40,000 · Arts & CultureYLC BALLET WESTSIDE BALLET OF SANTA MONICA: $30,000 · Arts & CulturePRAIRIE CULTURAL COMMONS: $20,000 · Arts & CultureSOL-LA MUSIC ACADEMY INC: $10,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $1,000 · Arts & CultureCHALLENGED ATHLETES INC: $75,000 · Human ServicesAGMA RELIEF FUND: $10,000 · Human ServicesIndividual grant recipient: $30,000 · OtherTHE TOM GOLD DANCE FOUNDATION 51 WEST 81ST STREET: $15,000 · OtherINSIGHT MEDITATION CENTER OF THE MID-PENINSULA: $5,000 · OtherThe Music Center: $2,500 · OtherWOMEN'S PRISON ASSOCIATION AND HOME: $2,000 · Other+1 more: $1,500 · OtherHumane Society of Napa County & SPCA INC: $10,000 · AnimalsI Stand With My Pack Inc: $5,000 · AnimalsA Purposeful Rescue Inc: $5,000 · AnimalsQUEEN OF THE VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $1,000 · HealthLISA B FISHMAN FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 · HealthSTUDENT LEADERSHIP NETWORK INC: $1,000 · Philanthropy
Education$3,524,334Arts & Culture$101,000Human Services$85,000Other$56,000Animals$20,000Health$2,000Philanthropy$1,000

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 budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $3,031,339 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCornell University: $482,995 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHALLENGED ATHLETES INC: $75,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetDELIRIUM MUSICUM: $40,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetYLC BALLET WESTSIDE BALLET OF SANTA MONICA: $30,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetTHE TOM GOLD DANCE FOUNDATION 51 WEST 81ST STREET: $15,000 over 2y, 5.9% of budgetHumane Society of Napa County & SPCA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAGMA RELIEF FUND: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSOL-LA MUSIC ACADEMY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetI Stand With My Pack Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetA Purposeful Rescue Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetWOMEN'S PRISON ASSOCIATION AND HOME: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetQUEEN OF THE VALLEY MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPHILHARMONIC SOCIETY OF ORANGE COUNTY: $1,000 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.

American Online Givin…National Philanthropi…Paypal Charitable Giv…Donor Advised Charita…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
American Online Giving Foundation IncDE7.8× affinity9 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Online Giving Foundation Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · 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 Sumers Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sumers Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get 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 · 0–20%
    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 Sumers Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Sumers 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 22 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 Sumers 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