Skip to content
Symons Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Symons Foundation Inc

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$10k
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$2k
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, FY2018 to 2024.

Animals$75kEducation$9kHealth$2kHuman Services$2k
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CORNELL UNIVERSITY$2,000
NORTH SHORE COMMUNITY COLLEGE$1,974
CULINARY INSTITUTE$1,500
CATSKILL ANIMAL SANCTUARY$1,500
ITHACA COLLEGE$1,000
Individual grant recipient$966
ULSTER COUNTY ASCPA$500
RUTGERS FOUNDATION$100
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 (FY22–22, $300) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, 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%TAKODA SERVICE DOGS: $300 → 16%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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$72k · 11 repeat orgs$14k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +12% since the first grant, against +6% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
10

Total granted

$72k
$10k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+12%
+6%

Still filing today

55%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 53% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationAnimalsHealthHuman 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

  • Cornell University
    2× · 2022–2024 · $5k · revenue +15%
  • UC
    ULSTER COUNTY SPCA
    3× · 2019–2024 · $3k · revenue +15%
  • WF
    WOODSTOCK FARM ANIMAL SANCTUARY INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $700 · revenue +12%

Funded once

  • CF
    CENETR FOR ALLIED HEALTH EDUCTION
    one grant, 2018 · $2k
  • RU
    RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2018 · $2k
  • CF
    CENTER FOR ALLIED HEALTH EDUCTION
    one grant, 2019 · $2k
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
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
2
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
3
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
4
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
5
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
6
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
7
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

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

—
8
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
9
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

We educate the next generation of leaders to improve the health of our society.

Education
10
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
11
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
12
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Rutgers University Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Als Recovery Fund. 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

12 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. 12 of the 24 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/12
Grantees still filing
6/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ULSTER COUNTY COLLEGE: $15,000 · OtherULSTER COUNTY COLLEGELOVE N CARE PET SANCTUARY: $14,750 · OtherLOVE N CARE PET SANCTUARYIndividual grant recipient: $14,531 · OtherIndividual grant recipientSTATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK: $5,000 · OtherSTATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK+11 more: $15,174 · Other+11 moreCATSKILL ANIMAL SANCTUARY INC: $10,500 · AnimalsCATSKILL ANIMAL S…ULSTER COUNTY SPCA: $2,500 · AnimalsULSTER COUNTY SPC…WOODSTOCK FARM ANIMAL SANCTUARY INC: $700 · AnimalsCornell University: $5,000 · EducationCornell Un…RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,300 · EducationRUTGERS UN…ITHACA COLLEGE: $1,000 · EducationITHACA COL…BARD COLLEGE: $500 · EducationBARD COLLE…GOOD GRIEF INC: $500 · HealthTAKODA SERVICE DOGS INC: $300 · Human Services
Other$64,455Animals$13,700Education$7,800Health$500Human Services$300

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 budgetCATSKILL ANIMAL SANCTUARY INC: $10,500 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetCornell University: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetULSTER COUNTY SPCA: $2,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetRUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $1,300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetITHACA COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALS RECOVERY FUND: $1,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOODSTOCK FARM ANIMAL SANCTUARY INC: $700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBARD COLLEGE: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGOOD GRIEF INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTAKODA SERVICE DOGS INC: $300 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetDELTA UPSILON EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $100 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 CATSKILL ANIMAL SANCTUARY INC ↗
  • Who funds Cornell University ↗
  • Who funds ULSTER COUNTY SPCA ↗
  • Who funds RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ITHACA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds ALS RECOVERY FUND ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds WOODSTOCK FARM ANIMAL SANCTUARY INC ↗
  • Who funds BARD COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds GOOD GRIEF INC ↗
  • Who funds TAKODA SERVICE DOGS INC ↗
  • Who funds DELTA UPSILON EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION ↗

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.

Ge Aerospace Foundati…Verizon FoundationThe Pfizer Foundation…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Ge Aerospace FoundationCT12.2× affinity4 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ge Aerospace Foundation · Verizon Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Symons Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Symons Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Rutgers University Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
1report 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.

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 24 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Symons’ 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