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Syzygy Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Syzygy Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$585k
Granted FY2024still arriving
12
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$255k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.2MEducation$395kEnvironment$215kYouth Development$173kAnimals$107kCrime & Legal$60kPublic Safety & Disaster$25kEmployment$10kOther$0
02FY2024 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $177k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $140k
  • $250k+1 grant · $255k
$27,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$998k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ROXIE THEATER$255,000
GREENBELT ALLIANCE$80,000
Individual grant recipient$60,000
TRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANY$45,000
FOR-SITE FOUNDATION$40,000
Individual grant recipient$27,000
THE UTAH FILM CENTER$25,000
FAMILY VIOLENCE APPELLATE PROJECT$20,000
MARINE MAMMAL CARE$10,000
SONOMA VALLEY NEXT 100$10,000
THE GLEN ELLEN HISTORICAL SOCIETY$7,500
FRACTURED ATLAS (SAHARA PROJECT)$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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 22% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%DOCUMENTARY EDUCATION REOURCES: $50k → 8%STUDIO LIFEMASS MOCA: $150k → 12%FAMILY VIOLENCE APPELLATE PROJECT: $20k → 10%ARTLIFE PRODUCTIONS INC: $25k → 10%BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY: $25k → 14%HUMAN ARTS ASSOCIATION: $34k → 17%MEDIA COLLECTIVE: $50k → 20%AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY: $65k → 10%HOUSTON SPCA: $25k → 16%THE UTAH FILM CENTER: $25k → 8%OUTWARD BOUND CALIFORNIA: $115k → 7%INDEPENDENT FEATURES PROJECT - MIDWEST: $50k → 14%RSPCA NEW SOUTH WALES AID CO CAF AMERICA: $25k → 9%DOCUMENTARY EDUCATION RESOURCES: $50k → 8%TRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANY: $45k → 9%ROXIE THEATER: $255k → 10%HUMAN ARTS ASSOCIATION: $28k → 17%AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY: $60k → 10%CENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY: $25k → 14%OUTWARD BOUND CALIFORNIA: $75k → 7%TRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANY: $30k → 9%HUMAN ARTS ASSOCIATION: $18k → 17%AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY: $54k → 10%WOMEN SILICON VALLEY: $60k → 8%TRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANY: $30k → 9%WOMEN SILICON VALLEY: $20k → 8%TRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANY: $25k → 9%WOMEN MAKE MOVIES: $50k → 17%TRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANY: $25k → 9%TRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANY: $25k → 9%TRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANY: $20k → 9%FIRST GRADUATE: $150k → 10%FOR-SITE FOUNDATION: $40k → 10%FOR-SITE FOUNDATION: $20k → 10%FOR-SITE FOUNDATION: $20k → 10%FOR-SITE FOUNDATION: $20k → 10%FOR-SITE FOUNDATION: $20k → 10%FOR-SITE FOUNDATION: $20k → 10%FOR-SITE FOUNDATION: $20k → 10%SF FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%GREENBELT ALLIANCE: $80k → 10%GREENBELT ALLIANCE: $30k → 10%GREENBELT ALLIANCE: $20k → 10%GREENBELT ALLIANCE: $20k → 10%GREENBELT ALLIANCE: $20k → 10%GREENBELT ALLIANCE: $20k → 10%GREENBELT ALLIANCE: $15k → 10%SAN FRANCISCO EDUCATION FUND: $15k → 10%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

IL
NY
MA
CA
UT
CO
VA
DC
TX
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.

69%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.6M · 13 repeat orgs$714k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
20

Total granted

$1.6M
$637k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+48%

Still filing today

77%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $77k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureAnimalsYouth DevelopmentEducationHealthEnvironmentOther
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

  • TR
    The Roxie Theater
    4× · 2020–2024 · $270k · revenue +262%
  • GA
    GREENBELT ALLIANCEPEOPLE FOR OPEN SPACE
    7× · 2017–2024 · $205k · revenue +7%
  • FS
    Film Society of Austin Inc
    3× · 2017–2019 · $179k · revenue +47%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2021 · $150k
  • FG
    FIRST GRADUATE
    one grant, 2017 · $150k · revenue +18%
  • MC
    MEDIA COLLECTIVE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +690% · 39% of their budget
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
San Francisco Film Society

SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM connects and inspires audiences, students and teachers, and filmmakers through our film…

—
2
California Film Institute

The california film institute celebrates film and videos as art and education. its goal is to present and support emerging and established independent filmakers whose works address issues relevant to contemporary society. this is…

Arts & Culture
3
San Francisco Green Film Festival

San Francisco Green Film Festival's (SFGFF) mission is to educate and connect communities through forward thinking programs of environmental films, dialogues, and action opportunities.

—
4
Northwest Film Forum

Northwest Film Forum incites public dialogue and creative action through collective cinematic experiences. A nonprofit film and arts center located in Seattle, Northwest Film Forum presents hundreds of films, festivals, community events,…

Arts & Culture
5
Breaking Through the Lens

Advocate for gender equality in the film industry.

Arts & Culture
6
American Humane Association

Founded in 1877, american humane association, dba american humane society (american humane) is committed to ensuring the safety, welfare and well-being of animals. our leadership programs are first to serve in promoting and nurturing the…

Animals
7
Marin Humane Society

Marin humane transforms lives through exceptional animal care, humane education, and advocacy. every day, marin humane inspires compassion and positive relationships between people and animals.

Animals
8
National Film Preservation Foundation

The NFPF is a nonprofit organization established in the District of Columbia resulting from an Act of Congress in order to preserve and make publicly accessible our nations film heritage. The NFPF works with archives to preserve American…

Arts & Culture
9
Hollywood Foreign Press Association Charitable Trust
Philanthropy
10
Reel Earth Films

Reel Earth Films promotes wildlife conservation by creating films that nurture the human connection to nature, spread awareness about life-threatening challenges facing species worldwide, and advance environmental activism and research.

Arts & Culture
11
Dance Film Sf Inc

Dance Film SF DFSF brings dance to wider audiences through the presentation and development of dance-based films. We celebrate the best dance films from around the world, encourage and assist choreographers and filmmakers in the creation…

Arts & Culture
12
The Silent Film Festival

SFSFF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the presentation and preservation of silent cinema, and the education of the public about silent film as an art form and as a culturally valuable historical record.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Documentary Educational Resources Inc; the most unlike its peers is Media Collective 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

28 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. 28 of the 39 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/28
Grantees still filing
16/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

The Roxie Theater: $270,000 · Arts & CultureThe Roxie TheaterTRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANY: $200,000 · Arts & CultureTRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANYFilm Society of Austin Inc: $178,750 · Arts & CultureFilm Society of Austin IncFOR-SITE Foundation: $160,000 · Arts & CultureFOR-SITE FoundationDOCUMENTARY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INC: $100,000 · Arts & CultureDOCUMENTARY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INCWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $50,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $60,000 · Arts & Culture+3 moreOUTWARD BOUND CALIFORNIA: $190,000 · OtherOUTWARD BOUND CALIFORNIAIndividual grant recipient: $150,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $120,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientHUMAN ARTS ASSOCIATION LTD: $83,580 · OtherHUMAN ARTS ASSOCIATION LTDIndependent Filmmaker Project Midwest: $50,000 · OtherIndependent Filmmaker Project MidwestIndividual grant recipient: $27,000 · OtherSan Francisco Education Fund: $30,000 · Other+11 more: $125,750 · Other+11 moreGREENBELT ALLIANCEPEOPLE FOR OPEN SPACE: $205,000 · EnvironmentGREENBELT…FIRST GRADUATE: $150,000 · Youth DevelopmentUKULELE KIDS CLUB INC: $23,460 · Youth DevelopmentHOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $25,000 · AnimalsBEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY: $25,000 · AnimalsHumane World for Animals Inc: $5,000 · AnimalsNORTH VALLEY ANIMAL DISASTER GROUP: $5,000 · AnimalsHUMANE SOCIETY OF BROWARD COUNTY INC: $5,000 · AnimalsTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $5,000 · Animals+1 more: $1,500 · AnimalsFAMILY VIOLENCE APPELLATE PROJECT: $55,000 · Crime & LegalMEDIA COLLECTIVE INC: $50,000 · Health
Arts & Culture$1,018,750Other$776,330Environment$205,000Youth Development$173,460Animals$71,500Crime & Legal$55,000Health$50,000

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 budgetThe Roxie Theater: $270,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetGREENBELT ALLIANCEPEOPLE FOR OPEN SPACE: $205,000 over 7y, 2.8% of budgetTRANSCENDENCE THEATRE COMPANY: $200,000 over 7y, 1.5% of budgetFilm Society of Austin Inc: $178,750 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetFOR-SITE Foundation: $160,000 over 7y, 4.5% of budgetDOCUMENTARY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INC: $100,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetHUMAN ARTS ASSOCIATION LTD: $83,580 over 4y, 41% of budgetFAMILY VIOLENCE APPELLATE PROJECT: $55,000 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetMEDIA COLLECTIVE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 39% of budgetWOMEN MAKE MOVIES INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSan Francisco Education Fund: $30,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetARTLIFE PRODUCTIONS INC: $25,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetUTAH FILM CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSTON SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCENTER FOR DISASTER PHILANTHROPY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUKULELE KIDS CLUB INC: $23,460 over 4y, 4.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF THE NORTH STATE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSonoma Valley Next 100: $10,000 over 1y, 7.1% of budgetHumane World for Animals Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH VALLEY ANIMAL DISASTER GROUP: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF BROWARD COUNTY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDomestic Violence Intervention Collaborative: $5,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetPets Lifeline Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

The San Francisco Fou…Silicon Valley Commun…Jewish Community Fede…Marin Community Found…Catapult Film FundThe Battery FoundationMcNabb FoundationGordon E and Betty I …The Yelp FoundationGs Donor Advised Phil…ImpactassetsincMorgan Stanley Global…
The San Francisco FoundationCA21.1× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The San Francisco Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · Marin Community Foundation · Catapult Film Fund · The Battery Foundation · McNabb Foundation · Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation · The Yelp Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Impactassetsinc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust 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 Syzygy Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Syzygy Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Documentary Educational Resources Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 39 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 Syzygy’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