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SYYK Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

SYYK 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.

$1.6M
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$625k
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 2024.

Education$4.1MScience & Tech$304kPublic Safety & Disaster$9kInternational$9kPhilanthropy$3kArts & Culture$1kCivil Rights$500Crime & Legal$500
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $2k
  • $250k+3 grants · $1.6M
$500,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$34M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Harvey Mudd College$625,000
Massachusetts Institute of Technology$500,000
George Mason University Foundation$500,000
Doctors Without Borders$1,500
LSU Health Foundation New Orleans$140
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 9%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 29% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $500k → 8%Roca Inc: $500 → 16%The Trustees of the University of PA: $500 → 22%Harvey Mudd College: $625k → 14%Hawaii Community Foundation (Maui Strong): $3k → 9%White Helmets (Voices Proj USA)-Syrian Earthquakes: $1k → 17%Carnegie Institution of Washington: $2k → 14%George Mason University Foundation: $500k → 6%LSU Health Foundation New Orleans: $140 → 23%University of Maryland: $500k → 11%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $500k → 8%Harvey Mudd College: $625k → 14%Doctors Without Borders: $5k → 17%SAMS - Syrian Earthquakes: $1k → 14%George Mason University Foundation: $500k → 6%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $500k → 8%Harvey Mudd College: $500k → 14%Doctors Without Borders: $3k → 17%QUA - LGBTQ Ukrainians in America: $500 → 14%George Mason University: $300k → 6%Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $500k → 8%Point Foundation: $5k → 14%Doctors Without Borders: $2k → 17%WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: $5k → 14%George Mason University: $200k → 6%Point Foundation: $1k → 14%Doctors Without Borders: $1k → 17%WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: $500 → 14%George Mason University Founation: $200k → 6%ProPublica: $1k → 17%Carnegie Institution for Science: $2k → 14%George Mason University Foundation: $50k → 6%George Mason University Foundation: $22k → 6%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

NY
MA
PA
CA
VA
MD
DC
HI
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.

75%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.0M · 6 repeat orgs$1.0M to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
9

Total granted

$3.0M
$1.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
+44%

Still filing today

100%
22%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $140 went to new ones.

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

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

’21’22’23’24’25
EducationInternationalYouth DevelopmentScience & TechArts & CultureHealthOther
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

  • HM
    Harvey Mudd College
    3× · 2023–2025 · $1.8M · revenue +7%
  • MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $10k · revenue +13%
  • PF
    POINT FOUNDATION
    2× · 2022–2023 · $6k · revenue +53%

Funded once

  • GM
    George Mason University
    one grant, 2022 · $500k
  • UO
    University of Maryland
    one grant, 2022 · $500k
  • HC
    Hawaii Community Foundation (Maui Strong)
    one grant, 2023 · $3k
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 Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
2
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
3
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
4
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
5
Boston Architectural College

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

—
6
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
7
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
8
University of Maryland Oncology Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
9
University of Maryland Physicians Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

—
10
University of Maryland Neurosurgeryassociates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Education
11
University of Maryland Surgical Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
12
University of Maryland Pediatric Associates Pa

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland school of medicine, medical services are rendered by the members of the faculty on behalf of the school of medicine in connection with their duties to provide clinical…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is George Mason University Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Roca 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

11 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. 11 of the 18 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)
11/11
Grantees still filing
8/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $2,000,000 · EducationMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyHarvey Mudd College: $1,750,000 · EducationHarvey Mudd CollegeGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $1,271,500 · EducationGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC+2 more: $6,000 · EducationGeorge Mason University: $500,000 · OtherGeorge Mason Unive…University of Maryland: $500,000 · OtherUniversity of Mary…+5 more: $6,551 · OtherMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $10,000 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,500 · InternationalCARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: $4,000 · Science & TechPRO PUBLICA INC: $1,000 · Arts & CultureROCA INC: $500 · Youth DevelopmentLSU HEALTH FOUNDATION NEW ORLEANS: $140 · Health
Education$5,027,500Other$1,006,551International$15,500Science & Tech$4,000Arts & Culture$1,000Youth Development$500Health$140

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

25%50%75%100%$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $2,000,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHarvey Mudd College: $1,750,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $1,271,500 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $10,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPOINT FOUNDATION: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPRO PUBLICA INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetROCA INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLSU HEALTH FOUNDATION NEW ORLEANS: $140 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

American Online Givin…
American Online Giving Foundation IncDE8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Online Giving Foundation Inc

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 SYYK Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from SYYK Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 78%
  • Roca Inc: 78% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 SYYK Foundation?

Find your warmest path to SYYK 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 18 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 SYYK’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