Connecticut · Private foundation
The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern 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.
- $590k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 17
- Grants FY2025
- 9
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 22%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $25,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $125,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 3 to 10
- FY2017 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 5
- Total assets, FY2025
- $3.4M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 22% of the organizations The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 6% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 94% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 14 | $475k | 50% |
| FY2024 | 9 | $489k | 22% |
| FY2023 | 8 | $415k | 50% |
| FY2022 | 10 | $465k | 80% |
| FY2021 | 3 | $35k | 100% |
| FY2019 | 3 | $4.0M | 0% |
| FY2018 | 6 | $197k | 50% |
| FY2017 | 8 | $124k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness -Based Education and World Peace | $400,000 | 3 | 2% |
| Film at Lincoln Center Inc | $275,000 | 3 | 1% |
| Whitney Museum of American Art | $115,000 | 6 | 0% |
| University of Nebraska Foundation | $90,000 | 1 | 0% |
| New York Shakespeare Festival | $80,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Brunswick School Inc | $60,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Breast Cancer Alliance Inc | $50,000 | 1 | 2% |
| Museum of Modern Art | $50,000 | 2 | 0% |
| United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York Inc | $35,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Squash Haven Inc | $29,000 | 4 | 1% |
Show all 20 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness -Based Education and World Peace | $400,000 | 3 | 2% |
| Film at Lincoln Center Inc | $275,000 | 3 | 1% |
| Whitney Museum of American Art | $115,000 | 6 | 0% |
| University of Nebraska Foundation | $90,000 | 1 | 0% |
| New York Shakespeare Festival | $80,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Brunswick School Inc | $60,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Breast Cancer Alliance Inc | $50,000 | 1 | 2% |
| Museum of Modern Art | $50,000 | 2 | 0% |
| United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York Inc | $35,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Squash Haven Inc | $29,000 | 4 | 1% |
| Read to Lead Inc | $25,000 | 1 | 1% |
| National Education Opportunity Network Inc | $25,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Glades Academy Foundation Inc | $10,000 | 1 | 1% |
| Young Leadership Addiction Awareness Inc | $10,000 | 2 | 1% |
| The Paper Bag Players Inc | $10,000 | 1 | 4% |
| Congregation Emanuel | $6,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Museum Associates | $5,000 | 1 | n/a |
| Robin Hood Foundation | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Adult Congenital Heart Association | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Morselife Foundation Inc | $5,000 | 1 | 0% |
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 15 recipients with no EIN on record ($4.9M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
How this is measured
Compare The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation with peer funders
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern 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.
About The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation
- How much does The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation give?
- The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation reported 17 grants totaling $589,500 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 3 and 10 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2024.
- What does The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Health (66%), Education (23%), Arts & Culture (7%).
- Who are The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness -Based Education and World Peace ($400k), Film at Lincoln Center Inc ($275k), Whitney Museum of American Art ($115k).
- Does The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 22% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, National Philanthropic Trust, Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc.
- Where is The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation based?
- The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation is based in CT.
Play a game based on Aaron and Betty Lee Stern’s filings →