Skip to content
Sybiel B Berkman Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Sybiel B Berkman 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.

$274k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$60k
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 2025.

Health$881kScience & Tech$403kPhilanthropy$210kArts & Culture$204kAnimals$179kEducation$130kReligion$52kCivil Rights$48kOther$0
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $99k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $165k
$25,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$189k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DOCUMENTING HOPE$60,000
PENNSYLVANIA SPCA$54,800
MICROBIOME RESEARCH FOUNDATION$50,000
CHABAD AT HARVARD$25,000
BROTHERS FOR LIFE$25,000
ADL$23,700
UJA FEDERATION OF NY$15,000
GREATER MIAMI JEWISH FEDERATION$10,000
THE GRAYSON SCHOOL$5,000
HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY$5,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 53% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: $200k → 8%THE GRAYSON SCHOOL: $8k → 6%THE HAVERFORD FUND - THE HAVERFORD SCHOOL: $5k → 10%THE BARNES FOUNDATION: $25k → 22%MICROBIOME RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $100k → 10%PLAYING FOR CHANGE FOUNDATION: $10k → 14%JEWISH CENTER OF THE HAMPTONS: $18k → 7%RELEASE RECOVERY FOUNDATION: $24k → 17%GREATER MIAMI JEWISH FEDERATION: $10k → 15%DOCUMENTING HOPE: $60k → 11%BROTHERS FOR LIFE: $46k → 9%ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: $10k → 14%KAKENYA'S DREAM: $10k → 7%HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: $100k → 8%THE GRAYSON SCHOOL: $5k → 6%JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $50k → 22%MICROBIOME RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%PROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%UJA FEDERATION OF NY: $25k → 17%ACHIEVE MIAMI: $25k → 15%EPIDEMIC ANSWERS: $60k → 11%THEATRE ASPEN: $5k → 6%BROTHERS FOR LIFE: $25k → 9%KAKENYA'S DREAM: $10k → 7%HARVARD UNIVERSITY: $100k → 8%PHILADELPHIA HOLOCAUST REMEMBERANCE FOUNDATION: $50k → 22%MICROBIOME RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $50k → 10%UJA FEDERATION OF NY: $15k → 17%THE MIAMI FOUNDATION: $25k → 15%EPIDEMIC ANSWERS: $60k → 11%KAKENYA'S DREAM: $10k → 7%CHABAD AT HARVARD: $25k → 8%JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $30k → 22%MICROBIOME RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $40k → 10%HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY: $5k → 17%EPIDEMIC ANSWERS: $40k → 11%JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $30k → 22%GRACE SCHOOL CHURCH: $5k → 17%EPIDEMIC ANSWERS: $30k → 11%JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $25k → 22%ORPHAN DISEASE PATHWAY PROJECT: $25k → 11%PENNSYLVANIA SPCA: $59k → 22%PENNSYLVANIA SPCA: $55k → 22%PENNSYLVANIA SPCA: $35k → 22%PENNSYLVANIA SPCA: $25k → 22%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $50k → 22%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $25k → 22%INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART - UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $10k → 22%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

WA
IL
NY
MA
PA
CT
CA
CO
VA
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 12% of Sybiel B Berkman Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Sybiel B Berkman Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 2.3% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 12 repeat orgs$617k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +51% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

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

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
17

Total granted

$1.2M
$564k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+51%
+13%

Still filing today

75%
76%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $54k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHealthPhilanthropyAnimalsInternationalOther
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

  • DH
    Documenting Hope Inc
    5× · 2021–2025 · $250k · revenue +93%
  • PS
    Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
    5× · 2020–2025 · $179k · revenue +51%
  • BF
    Brothers for Life
    3× · 2022–2025 · $96k · revenue +233%

Funded once

  • SC
    SYLVESTER COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER
    one grant, 2021 · $300k
  • PH
    PHILADELPHIA HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue -6%
  • AM
    ACHIEVE MIAMI INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +55%
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
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
2
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
3
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
4
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Chartered by a unanimous act of congress, the museum is america's national institution for the documentation, study, interpretation, and education of holocaust history and serves as our country's memorial to the victims of the holocaust.…

Arts & Culture
5
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

The children's hospital of philadelphia, the oldest hospital in the united states dedicated exclusively to pediatrics, strives to be the world leader in the advancement of health care for children by integrating excellent patient care,…

Health
6
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
7
The Philadelphia School

The philadelphia school educates children for a future that is impossible to know but not impossible to shape. learn here. go anywhere.

—
8
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

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

—
9
Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life At the Penn State University

To enrich the lives of jewish and undergraduate students so that they may enrich the jewish people and the world. penn state hillel's student leaders, professionals, and lay leaders are dedicated to creating a pluralistic, welcoming, and…

—
10
Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Committed to exceptional healthcare quality for all and actively engaged with our community, einstein drives scientific discovery and educates compassionate leaders in health and science.

Education
11
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
12
Fordham University

Fordham university, the jesuit university of new york, is committed to the discovery of wisdom and the transmission of learning, through research and through education of the highest quality. for more information, see schedule o.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Playing for Change Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Documenting Hope 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

27 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. 27 of the 37 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
27/27
Grantees still filing
19/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SYLVESTER COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER: $300,000 · OtherSYLVESTER COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTERHARVARD LAW SCHOOL: $300,000 · OtherHARVARD LAW SCHOOLMICROBIOME RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $240,000 · OtherMICROBIOME RESEARCH FOUNDATION+7 more: $96,700 · Other+7 moreDocumenting Hope Inc: $250,000 · EducationDocumenting Hope IncPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $100,000 · EducationPresident and Fellows of H…TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $75,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY…KAKENYA CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE: $30,000 · EducationKAKENYA CENTER FOR EXCELLE…ACHIEVE MIAMI INC: $25,000 · Education+3 more: $23,500 · EducationJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $134,900 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDER…UNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $40,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED JEWIS…THE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · PhilanthropyTHE MIAMI FO…PROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: $25,000 · PhilanthropyPROSTATE CAN…GREATER MIAMI JEWISH FEDERATION INC: $10,000 · PhilanthropyBrothers for Life: $96,250 · Arts & CultureBrothers …PHILADELPHIA HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · Arts & CulturePHILADELP…THE BARNES FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Arts & CultureTHE BARNE…+4 more: $15,000 · Arts & Culture+4 morePennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: $179,200 · AnimalsPennsylva…THE ORPHAN DISEASE PATHWAY PROJECT: $25,000 · HealthTHE RELEASE RECOVERY FOUNDATION INC: $23,500 · HealthALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $10,000 · HealthTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION: $2,500 · HealthANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $24,750 · Civil RightsPLAYING FOR CHANGE FOUNDATION: $10,000 · International
Other$936,700Education$503,500Philanthropy$234,900Arts & Culture$186,250Animals$179,200Health$61,000Civil Rights$24,750International$10,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDocumenting Hope Inc: $250,000 over 5y, 7.6% of budgetPennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: $179,200 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER PHILADELPHIA: $134,900 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBrothers for Life: $96,250 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $75,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPHILADELPHIA HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetUNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKAKENYA CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE: $30,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE MIAMI FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetACHIEVE MIAMI INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetPROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ORPHAN DISEASE PATHWAY PROJECT: $25,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetTHE BARNES FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: $24,750 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE RELEASE RECOVERY FOUNDATION INC: $23,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetTHE GRAYSON SCHOOL: $12,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DISEASE & RELATED DISORDERS ASSOCIATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER MIAMI JEWISH FEDERATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLAYING FOR CHANGE FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE AGNES IRWIN SCHOOL: $7,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHEATRE ASPEN: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPENN HILLEL: $4,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetANDERSON RANCH ARTS CENTER: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA FOUNDATION: $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.

Gs Donor Advised Phil…National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…Morgan Stanley Global…American Endowment Fo…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…The Bank of America C…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncNY17× affinity8 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Endowment Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation 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 Sybiel B Berkman Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sybiel B Berkman Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
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 Sybiel B Berkman Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Sybiel B Berkman 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 37 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 Sybiel B Berkman’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