· Private foundation
The 1916 Foundation
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- $10k–50k5 grants · $153k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
- $250k+3 grants · $1.4M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| DELAWARE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $750,000 |
| BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | $350,000 |
| WESTMINSTER ABBEY | $333,333 |
| THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS | $50,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $43,000 |
| TATNALL SCHOOL | $40,000 |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD | $25,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA | $25,000 |
| MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER | $20,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
US giving: 76% of grant dollars ($3.0M). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 24% that went abroad ($931k) is mapped below.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 48% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.
How this is measured
Beyond the US: 24% of all-years giving ($931k)
2 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 29% of The 1916 Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +61% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.
6 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $128k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- BSBOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC5× · 2017–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +38%
- SFSHAW FESTIVAL FOUNDATION2× · 2018–2019 · $375k · revenue +262%
- TKTHE KENAN-FLAGLER BUSINESS SCHOOL FOUNDATION2× · 2018–2019 · $150k · revenue +61%
Funded once
- TSTHE SHAW FESTIVAL FOUNDATIONone grant, 2021 · $125k
MAHAIWE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER INCgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $62k · revenue +77%- DTDELAWARE THEATRE COMPANYone grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +11%
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.
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.
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.
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
Organization's mission statement true to the ambitious vision of its founder and her spirit of creative risk-taking, the mission of the isabella stewart gardner museum is: - to bring to life and preserve the rich historic collection; - to…
Wake Forest University, a 501(c)(3) institution of higher education, is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the liberal arts and in graduate and professional education. The organization is comprised of seven constituent parts: Wake…
Manhattan school of music is deeply committed to excellence in education, performance, and creative activity; to the humanity of the school's environment; and to the cultural enrichment of the larger community. a premiere international…
The mission of the princeton symphony orchestra is to leverage the power of live music to uplift the human experience.
Balletx expands the vocabulary of contemporary ballet for all audiences through innovative performances, world premiere choreography, dance education, and community programs.
Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…
To enrich the community by producing and presenting exceptional live theatre that touches the heart, engages the mind and delights the spirit.
Wmht enriches communities and elevates diverse perspectives by providing content, connection, and conversation that advance education, culture, and civic engagement.
Theatre can lead to extraordinary moments of shared imagination. it enables us to stand in anothers shoes to better understand ourselves and the world around us. it shows us who we are, who we have been, who we could be. the nt delivers on…
To make the mind more curious, the heart more open, and the spirit more joyful through excellent audio programming that is deeply rooted in new york.
How this is measured
10 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. 10 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC ↗
- Who funds DELAWARE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds SHAW FESTIVAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds THE KENAN-FLAGLER BUSINESS SCHOOL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
- Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS ↗
- Who funds MAHAIWE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds DELAWARE THEATRE COMPANY ↗
- Who funds THE TATNALL SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds WGBH 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.
Open a dossier: Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The 1916 Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The 1916 Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Delaware Community Foundation Inc: 13% of income from government
- Delaware Theatre Company: 8% of income from government
- The Trustees of Reservations: 2% of income from government
- Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center Inc: 2% of income from government
- Wgbh Educational Foundation: 1% of income from government
- Boston Symphony Orchestra Inc: 0% of income from government
- The Tatnall School Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The 1916 Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The 1916 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.
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