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Telescope Fund at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Telescope Fund

TELESCOPE FUND partners with donors to expand their philanthropic giving by providing them with the tools to catalyze their vision for change and supporting strategic grantmaking, efficient operations, expert advising, and innovative problem solving.

$10M
Granted FY2024still arriving
35
Grants FY2024still arriving
21
States reached
$2.2M
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, FY2022 to 2024.

Public Benefit$29MCivil Rights$15MPhilanthropy$7.9MEducation$6.1MCommunity Improvement$3.5MHuman Services$3.1MEnvironment$3.0MInternational$2.3MOther$0
02FY2024 · 35 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k2 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $129k
  • $50k–250k17 grants · $2.2M
  • $250k+9 grants · $7.9M
$150,000
Median grant
21
States reached
$28M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP INC$2,200,000
SUPERHUMANS UKRAINE INC$1,000,000
DREAMING OUT LOUD INC$1,000,000
SAVE UKRAINE INC$1,000,000
FEED THE CHILDREN$700,000
FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC$680,000
DIONS CHICAGO DREAM INC NFP$600,000
ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION$500,000
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND$266,046
GLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION$237,000
GAMES FOR CHANGE INC$200,000
CAL RIPKEN SR FOUNDATION INC$200,000
IMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST$152,437
ISAIAH$152,436
PENNSYLVANIA VOICE$150,000
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 (FY22–24, $9.7M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 52% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%ACTIVATE 48 EDUCATION FUND: $550k → 11%BLOOM TO LIFE: $50k → 11%MAKE THE ROAD STATES INC: $350k → 20%NAEVA: $400k → 14%NM COMUNIDADES EN ACCION Y DE FE: $350k → 23%HARRIET TUBMAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS CORP: $25k → 14%VOCES DE LA FRONTERA: $400k → 17%ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE ATLANTA: $700k → 9%DESTINY CENTER OF DESOTO COUNTY: $10k → 10%TIDES CENTER: $1.6M → 10%MAKE THE ROAD STATES INC: $350k → 20%NAEVA: $250k → 14%NM COMUNIDADES EN ACCION Y DE FE: $225k → 23%VOCES DE LA FRONTERA: $400k → 17%ASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE ATLANTA: $500k → 9%GEORGIA LATINO ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: $400k → 14%ACTIVATE 48 EDUCATION FUND: $400k → 11%TIDES CENTER: $900k → 10%FREEDOM INC: $430k → 10%GEORGIA LATINO ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: $300k → 14%FREEDOM INC: $400k → 10%ACTIVATE 48 EDUCATION FUND: $50k → 11%PUBLIC ALLIES: $300k → 23%INSTITUTO LAB: $300k → 11%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
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
NV
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
NE
MO
VA
MD
AZ
NM
TN
NC
DC
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$59M · 50 repeat orgs$12M to everyone else

50 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2024, 38 since wound down; 20 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

50
31

Total granted

$59M
$6.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+12%
+14%

Still filing today

100%
81%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5.6M went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24
Civil RightsHuman ServicesEducationPublic BenefitCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentOther
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

  • ALLIANCE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZING
    2× · 2022–2023 · $2.3M · revenue +12%
  • TR
    THE RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $2.2M · revenue +11%
  • TO
    THE OHIO ORGANIZING COLLABORATIVE
    2× · 2022–2023 · $2.1M · revenue +59%

Funded once

  • BLUEPRINT NORTH CAROLINA
    one grant, 2022 · $1.1M · revenue -61%
  • MW
    MUSIC WILL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $750k · revenue +31%
  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR THE MID SOUTH INC
    one grant, 2022 · $750k · revenue -56% · 47% 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
Democracy Works Inc

The organization's mission is to leverage web-technologies to improve civic engagement and voter education.

Civil Rights
2
Colorofchangeorg

Colorofchange.org works to strengthen the voice of black americans and increase the level of accountability and responsiveness of elected officials to underrepresented black constituencies using the internet as a lobbying and…

—
3
Bold Impact

Bold Impact is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting a democracy where all communities get to thrive.

Arts & Culture
4
Democracy Forward

See schedule o.this organization seeks to build collective power to defend and advance a vibrant democracy that benefits all people.

—
5
Fund for Justice

Fund for Justice is a nationally connected social impact research and advocacy organization that works to achieve fundamental, systemic reform by addressing policies and practicies that prevent individuals from reaching their full…

Crime & Legal
6
Alliance for Justice

Alliance for justice builds the strength of progressive movements by training and educating nonprofit organizations on advocacy, while harnessing their collective power to transform our state and federal courts.

Civil Rights
7
Voteamerica

The mission of voteamerica is to strengthen united states democracy by increasing voter turnout.

Civil Rights
8
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
9
Fair Democracy

Fair democracy works to ensure that the roots of american democracy are healthy with strong voting rights and access, an engaged and informed electorate, an open and accountable government and trusted messengers engaging americans in civil…

Civil Rights
10
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
11
The Campaign Legal Center Inc

The nonpartisan campaign legal center advances democracy through law at the federal, state and local levels, fighting for every american's rights to responsive government and a fair opportunity to participate in and affect the democratic…

Crime & Legal
12
Civic Tn

Civictn and its partners are working individually and collectively to create a more accessible, inclusive, and representative democracy by lifting up the voices of the disenfranchised, restoring the power and accessibility of the vote, and…

Civil Rights
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Progress Florida Education Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is Clark County Museum. 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

103 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. 103 of the 110 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.

14
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
103/103
Grantees still filing
59/103
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ONE ARIZONA: $4,170,000 · Civil RightsONE ARIZONAFLORIDA RISING TOGETHER INC: $2,965,000 · Civil RightsFLORIDA RISING TOGETHER INCALLIANCE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZING: $2,250,000 · Civil RightsALLIANCE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZINGPENNSYLVANIA VOICE: $2,150,000 · Civil RightsPENNSYLVANIA VOICETEXAS FREEDOM NETWORK EDUCATION FUND: $2,100,000 · Civil RightsTEXAS FREEDOM NETWORK EDUCATION FUNDPROGEORGIA STATE TABLE INC: $2,000,000 · Civil RightsPROGEORGIA STATE TABLE INCALABAMA FORWARD: $1,800,000 · Civil RightsALABAMA FORWARDNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $1,250,000 · Civil RightsPROMOTE THE VOTE FUND INC: $1,100,000 · Civil RightsMISSISSIPPI VOTES: $1,000,000 · Civil Rights+14 more: $8,060,000 · Civil Rights+14 moreTIDES CENTER: $2,550,000 · Human ServicesTIDES CENTERASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE ATLANTA INC: $1,200,000 · Human ServicesASIAN AMERICAN…ACTIVATE 48 EDUCATION FUND: $1,000,000 · Human ServicesACTIVATE 48 ED…FREEDOM INC: $830,000 · Human ServicesFREEDOM INCVOCES DE LA FRONTERA INC: $800,000 · Human ServicesVOCES DE LA FR…GEORGIA LATINO ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS INC: $700,000 · Human ServicesGEORGIA LATINO…Make The Road States Inc: $700,000 · Human ServicesMake The Road …NAEVA: $650,000 · Human ServicesNAEVANM Comunidades En Accion Y De Fe: $575,000 · Human ServicesNM Comunidades…+5 more: $685,000 · Human Services+5 moreTHE OHIO ORGANIZING COLLABORATIVE: $2,150,000 · Public BenefitTHE OHIO OR…NEO Philanthropy Inc: $1,950,000 · Public BenefitNEO Philant…CENTER FOR CIVIC POLICY: $1,575,000 · Public BenefitCENTER FOR …TAKEACTION MN EDUCATION FUND: $850,000 · Public BenefitTAKEACTION …One Voice: $550,000 · Public BenefitOne Voice+3 more: $487,800 · Public Benefit+3 moreWe the People MI: $1,375,000 · EducationWe the Peop…BLUEPRINT NORTH CAROLINA: $1,150,000 · EducationBLUEPRINT N…WE ARE DOWN HOME: $1,050,000 · EducationWE ARE DOWN…CAL RIPKEN SR FOUNDATION INC: $900,000 · EducationCAL RIPKEN …VIRGINIA NEW MAJORITY EDUCATION FUND: $800,000 · EducationVIRGINIA NE…FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $680,000 · EducationFLORIDA ATL…NORTH CAROLINA BLACK ALLIANCE INC: $650,000 · EducationNORTH CAROL…SCHOLARSHIP AMERICA INC: $350,000 · EducationGEORGIA ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND INC: $350,000 · Education+3 more: $77,500 · EducationTEXAS ORGANIZING PROJECT EDUCATION FUND: $1,250,000 · Community ImprovementFAITH IN FLORIDA INC: $1,050,000 · Community ImprovementFOUNDATION FOR THE MID SOUTH INC: $750,000 · Community ImprovementASIAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL: $500,000 · Community ImprovementGALEO LATINO COMMUNITY DEVELOP FUND INC: $400,000 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $266,046 · Community ImprovementTHE RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP INC: $2,225,000 · EnvironmentNEW VENTURE FUND: $884,000 · EnvironmentNATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION: $500,000 · Environment+3 more: $175,000 · EnvironmentLAW FORWARD INC: $900,000 · Crime & LegalVOICE OF THE EXPERIENCED VOTE: $800,000 · Crime & LegalFORWARD JUSTICE: $700,000 · Crime & Legal+1 more: $11,000 · Crime & LegalSUPERHUMANS UKRAINE INC: $1,000,000 · OtherSUPERHUMANS UKRA…Women With A Vision: $600,000 · OtherWomen With A Vis…Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $700,000 · OtherAmalgamated Char…GVNGorg: $479,500 · OtherIMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST: $1,552,437 · OtherIMAGINE NORTH CA…ISAIAH: $1,402,436 · OtherISAIAHSAVE UKRAINE INC: $1,000,000 · OtherSAVE UKRAINE INCDREAMING OUT LOUD INC: $1,000,000 · OtherDREAMING OUT LOU…FEED THE CHILDREN INC: $800,000 · OtherFEED THE CHILDRE…MUSIC WILL INC: $750,000 · OtherMUSIC WILL INCDIONS CHICAGO DREAM INC NFP: $600,000 · OtherDIONS CHICAGO DR…+25 more: $1,351,700 · Other+25 more
Civil Rights$28,845,000Human Services$9,690,000Public Benefit$7,562,800Education$7,382,500Community Improvement$4,216,046Environment$3,784,000Crime & Legal$2,411,000Other$11,236,073

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetONE ARIZONA: $4,170,000 over 2y, 31% of budgetFLORIDA RISING TOGETHER INC: $2,965,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $2,550,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetALLIANCE FOR YOUTH ORGANIZING: $2,250,000 over 2y, 9.1% of budgetTHE RECYCLING PARTNERSHIP INC: $2,225,000 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetTHE OHIO ORGANIZING COLLABORATIVE: $2,150,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetPENNSYLVANIA VOICE: $2,150,000 over 3y, 37% of budgetTEXAS FREEDOM NETWORK EDUCATION FUND: $2,100,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetPROGEORGIA STATE TABLE INC: $2,000,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetNEO Philanthropy Inc: $1,950,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetALABAMA FORWARD: $1,800,000 over 2y, 36% of budgetCENTER FOR CIVIC POLICY: $1,575,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetIMAGINE NORTH CAROLINA FIRST: $1,552,437 over 2y, 26% of budgetISAIAH: $1,402,436 over 3y, 10% of budgetWe the People MI: $1,375,000 over 2y, 30% of budgetTEXAS ORGANIZING PROJECT EDUCATION FUND: $1,250,000 over 3y, 8.7% of budgetNEW GEORGIA PROJECT INC: $1,250,000 over 2y, 4.8% of budgetASIAN AMERICANS ADVANCING JUSTICE ATLANTA INC: $1,200,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetBLUEPRINT NORTH CAROLINA: $1,150,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetPROMOTE THE VOTE FUND INC: $1,100,000 over 2y, 54% of budgetFAITH IN FLORIDA INC: $1,050,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetWE ARE DOWN HOME: $1,050,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetDREAMING OUT LOUD INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetSAVE UKRAINE INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 33% of budgetMISSISSIPPI VOTES: $1,000,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetSUPERHUMANS UKRAINE INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetACTIVATE 48 EDUCATION FUND: $1,000,000 over 3y, 19% of budgetDemocracy North Carolina: $950,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetTHE OLE EDUCATION FUND: $950,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetFLORIDA RIGHTS RESTORATION COALITION: $900,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetARIZONA CENTER FOR EMPOWERMENT: $900,000 over 2y, 6.6% of budgetCAL RIPKEN SR FOUNDATION INC: $900,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetLAW FORWARD INC: $900,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $884,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTAKEACTION MN EDUCATION FUND: $850,000 over 3y, 8.4% of budgetSTATE VOICES: $850,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetFREEDOM INC: $830,000 over 2y, 9.5% of budgetPROGRESSIVE LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE OF NEVADA: $800,000 over 2y, 36% of budgetVOICE OF THE EXPERIENCED VOTE: $800,000 over 2y, 9.4% of budgetVIRGINIA NEW MAJORITY EDUCATION FUND: $800,000 over 3y, 5.5% of budgetVOCES DE LA FRONTERA INC: $800,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetFEED THE CHILDREN INC: $800,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMUSIC WILL INC: $750,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR THE MID SOUTH INC: $750,000 over 1y, 47% of budgetFORWARD JUSTICE: $700,000 over 2y, 8.8% of budgetAmalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc: $700,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGEORGIA LATINO ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS INC: $700,000 over 2y, 16% of budgetMake The Road States Inc: $700,000 over 2y, 2.7% 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.

NEO Philanthropy IncAmalgamated Charitabl…New Venture FundTides FoundationWindward FundWay to RiseHopewell FundMarguerite Casey Foun…The Ford FoundationSilicon Valley Commun…Rockefeller Family Fu…Mary Reynolds Babcock…
NEO Philanthropy IncNY74.7× affinity39 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: NEO Philanthropy Inc · Amalgamated Charitable Foundation Inc · New Venture Fund · Tides Foundation · Windward Fund · Way to Rise · Hopewell Fund · Marguerite Casey Foundation · The Ford Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Rockefeller Family Fund Inc · Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation Incorporated

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 80%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 9%
  • Cal Ripken Sr Foundation Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Preeclampsia Foundation Inc: 9% of income from government
  • Feed the Children Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
8get no government money at all
18report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 Telescope Fund?

Find your warmest path to Telescope Fund 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 110 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 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 Telescope’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