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The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation at a glance

· 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 FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$125k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0191% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Health$5.2MEducation$1.8MArts & Culture$560kPhilanthropy$99kYouth Development$34kHuman Services$30kReligion$6kRecreation & Sports$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $30k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $160k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $400k
$25,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$3.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION$125,000
WEIL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE$125,000
FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER$50,000
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY$50,000
BREAST CANCER ALLIANCE$50,000
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA$40,000
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION EQUITY LAB$25,000
DELACORTE THEATER$25,000
JEWISH FEDERATION$25,000
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE$25,000
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART$20,000
SQUASH HAVEN$7,000
MORSELIFE FOUNDATION$5,000
GENERATION SOS$5,000
Individual grant recipient$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:

Its human-services grants (FY22–25, $34k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 85% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%SQUASH HAVEN: $10k → 12%MORSELIFE FOUNDATION: $5k → 11%SQUASH HAVEN: $7k → 12%SQUASH HAVEN: $7k → 12%SQUASH HAVEN: $5k → 12%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

NH
NY
PA
CT
RI
CA
NE
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 100% of The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 4% of the giving stays in CT; by stated purpose, 0%.

The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.7M · 13 repeat orgs$521k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
15

Total granted

$5.7M
$381k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+6%
+40%

Still filing today

62%
53%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 70% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $140k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHealthPhilanthropyHuman ServicesOther
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

  • WM
    WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
    6× · 2017–2025 · $115k · revenue +161%
  • NY
    NEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
    4× · 2018–2023 · $80k · revenue +6%
  • BS
    BRUNSWICK SCHOOL INC
    2× · 2017–2024 · $60k · revenue +69%

Funded once

  • WC
    WEIL CORNELL MEDICAL C
    one grant, 2022 · $125k
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $90k · revenue -16%
  • UJ
    UNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC
    one grant, 2022 · $35k · revenue +19%
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
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
2
Dickinson College

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

Education
3
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
4
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
5
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
6
Boston Architectural College

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

—
7
Manhattanville University

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

Education
8
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
9
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
10
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
11
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
12
The New School

The new school's mission is to prepare our students to understand, contribute to, and succeed in a rapidly changing society, and thus make the world a better and more just place. (continued on schedule o)

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Philanthropic Trust; the most unlike its peers is David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness -Based Education and World Peace. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

24 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 24 of the 40 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/24
Grantees still filing
14/24
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE: $4,100,000 · OtherWEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGEWEIL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE: $506,000 · OtherWEIL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE+15 more: $352,700 · Other+15 moreTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $1,162,500 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA …TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $325,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSIT…UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION: $90,000 · EducationTrustees of Dartmouth College: $75,000 · EducationBRUNSWICK SCHOOL INC: $60,000 · Education+2 more: $35,000 · EducationFILM AT LINCOLN CENTER INC: $275,000 · Arts & CultureWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $115,000 · Arts & CultureNEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $80,000 · Arts & CultureMuseum of Modern Art: $50,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $15,000 · Arts & CultureDAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION FOR CONSCIOUSNESS -BASED EDUCATION AND WORLD PEACE: $400,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $35,000 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $34,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $5,000 · PhilanthropyBREAST CANCER ALLIANCE INC: $50,000 · HealthYoung Leadership Addiction Awareness Inc: $10,000 · HealthADULT CONGENITAL HEART ASSOCIATION: $5,000 · HealthBROWN UNIVERSITY: $50,000 · Community ImprovementSQUASH HAVEN INC: $29,000 · Human ServicesMORSELIFE FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · Human Services
Other$4,958,700Education$1,747,500Arts & Culture$535,000Philanthropy$474,000Health$65,000Community Improvement$50,000Human Services$34,000

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 TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $1,162,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetDAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION FOR CONSCIOUSNESS -BASED EDUCATION AND WORLD PEACE: $400,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $325,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFILM AT LINCOLN CENTER INC: $275,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $115,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION: $90,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $80,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTrustees of Dartmouth College: $75,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBRUNSWICK SCHOOL INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBREAST CANCER ALLIANCE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $35,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $34,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSQUASH HAVEN INC: $29,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetREAD TO LEAD INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNational Education Opportunity Network Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGlades Academy Foundation Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetYoung Leadership Addiction Awareness Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetTHE PAPER BAG PLAYERS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetADULT CONGENITAL HEART ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMORSELIFE FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 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.

Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Vanguard Charitable Endowment ProgramPA12.2× affinity7 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Aaron and Betty Lee Stern Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Squash Haven Inc: 4% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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 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.

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 40 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 Aaron and Betty Lee Stern’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