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The Alix Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Alix 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.

$30M
Granted FY2023
17
Grants FY2023
10
States reached
$25M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

80% of The Alix Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to Trustees Of The University Of Pennsylvania, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 14 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2023, the last year The Alix Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 10 organizations, $30M. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

9
’17
6
’18
11
’19
13
’20
7
’21
7
’22
10
’23
14
’24

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Health$58MEducation$9.6MArts & Culture$2.0MFood & Nutrition$533kHuman Services$209kPhilanthropy$100kInternational$83kEnvironment$30kOther$0
02FY2023 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $207k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $643k
  • $250k+2 grants · $29M
$20,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$64M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MAYO CLINIC$25,420,000
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA$3,500,000
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF GRANGE PARK OPERA FOUNDATION$242,603
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY$200,000
TEACHERS COLLEGE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY$200,000
CORAL SEA FOUNDATION$45,000
COLLEGESPRING$30,000
HOLY CROSS HIGH SCHOOL$26,549
FORGOTTEN HARVEST$20,000
NW GOLDBERG CARES$17,000
MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER$15,000
AMERICAN COLLEGE OF BANKRUPTCY FOUNDATION$12,500
MARINE TOYS FOR TOTS FOUNDATION$11,100
THE RIVER FUND NEW YORK INC$10,000
NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM$10,000
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 (FY17–24, $54k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 45% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%THE RIVER FUND NEW YORK INC: $10k → 13%UNITED NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSES OF NEW YORK: $10k → 17%HITHA HEALING HOUSE INC: $4k → 21%THE BALDWIN CENTER INC: $19k → 8%THE BALDWIN CENTER INC: $11k → 8%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

MT
MN
MI
NY
MA
PA
CT
CA
UT
CO
VA
MD
AZ
MS
GA
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.

14%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.2M · 21 repeat orgs$26M to everyone else

21 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2023, 11 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call). Read against FY2023, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

21
21

Total granted

$4.2M
$224k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+4%
+48%

Still filing today

81%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $100k 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
EducationHealthArts & CultureHuman ServicesInternationalPhilanthropyOther
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

  • NR
    NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM AT STOCKBRIDGE INC
    4× · 2017–2023 · $1.3M · revenue +11%
  • JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
    3× · 2022–2024 · $600k · revenue +26%
  • FORGOTTEN HARVEST INC
    4× · 2020–2023 · $273k · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • OL
    OL LENTILLE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2018 · $40k · revenue -37%
  • HM
    HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
    one grant, 2022 · $25k
  • SE
    SOCIAL & ECONOMIC ACTION FOR LEBANONINC
    one grant, 2020 · $21k · revenue -61%
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
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
2
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
3
Boston Architectural College

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

—
4
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
5
Manhattanville University

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

Education
6
Business Leaders for Michigan Foundation

Business leaders for michigan is a nonprofit, nonpartisan statewide organization driven by ceos from the state's leading employers, all working toward a shared goal: making michigan a top 10 state for jobs, talent and a thriving economy.…

Community Improvement
7
Fordham University

Fordham university, the jesuit university of new york, is committed to the discovery of wisdom and the transmission of learning, through research and through education of the highest quality. for more information, see schedule o.

Education
8
Michigan Biotechnology Institute

Bridging the gap between early-stage innovation and commercial application. partnering to de-risk, develop and scale-up discoveries into commercially-viable technology packages.

Education
9
Detroit Historical Society

The Detroit Historical Society tells Detroit's stories and why they matter through its exhibits, programs, outreach, and the preservation and dissemination of its artifacts and collections.

Arts & Culture
10
National Opinion Research Center

See schedule onorc at the university of chicago conducts research and data science on critical societal issues to guide decision-making and the development of programs and public policy. our experts identify relationships and trends, and…

Social Science
11
Delta Dental Fund

Delta dental fund's mission is to improve the oral health of the public and to advance dental science and the dental profession through research and education.

—
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Council of Michigan Foundations; the most unlike its peers is Ol Lentille Foundation. 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

42 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. 42 of the 56 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
41/42
Grantees still filing
24/42
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MAYO CLINIC: $32,642,000 · HealthMAYO CLINIC+6 more: $89,051 · HealthMAYO CLINIC: $25,420,000 · OtherMAYO CLINIC+21 more: $569,797 · OtherTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $8,216,634 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE…JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $600,000 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS U…Teachers College Columbia University: $400,000 · Education+9 more: $360,654 · EducationNORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM AT STOCKBRIDGE INC: $1,335,000 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN FRIENDS OF GRANGE PARK OPERA FOUNDATION: $480,020 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $87,201 · Arts & CultureFORGOTTEN HARVEST INC: $272,500 · Food & NutritionGLEANERS COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: $200,000 · Food & NutritionLIGHTHOUSE OF OAKLAND COUNTY: $60,000 · Human ServicesTHE BALDWIN CENTER INC: $30,000 · Human ServicesTHE RIVER FUND NEW YORK INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE UNITED NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSES OF NEW YORK INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesHitha Healing House Inc: $4,230 · Human ServicesMARINE TOYS FOR TOTS FOUNDATION: $83,642 · PhilanthropyCOUNCIL OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATIONS: $8,500 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION OF DETROIT: $7,500 · Philanthropy
Health$32,731,051Other$25,989,797Education$9,577,288Arts & Culture$1,902,221Food & Nutrition$472,500Human Services$114,230Philanthropy$99,642

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 budgetMAYO CLINIC: $32,642,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $8,216,634 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM AT STOCKBRIDGE INC: $1,335,000 over 4y, 9.4% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $600,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF GRANGE PARK OPERA FOUNDATION: $480,020 over 2y, 91% of budgetTeachers College Columbia University: $400,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFORGOTTEN HARVEST INC: $272,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetGLEANERS COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN: $200,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDETROIT COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $153,404 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetMARINE TOYS FOR TOTS FOUNDATION: $83,642 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCollegespring Inc: $80,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetLIGHTHOUSE OF OAKLAND COUNTY: $60,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetNW GOLDBERG CARES INC: $57,201 over 4y, 3.2% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA INC: $50,000 over 2y, 6.3% of budgetTHE EURO PEDS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 4y, 62% of budgetJUMPSTART FOR YOUNG CHILDREN INC: $41,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSWEET DREAMZZZ INC: $37,500 over 3y, 6.2% of budgetAMERICAN COLLEGE OF BANKRUPTCY FOUNDATION: $32,500 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetBLOOMFIELD HILLS SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $32,000 over 1y, 41% of budgetTHE BALDWIN CENTER INC: $30,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE JOHNSON NATURECENTER: $29,806 over 1y, 48% of budgetSOCIAL & ECONOMIC ACTION FOR LEBANONINC: $20,602 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMOTOWN HISTORICAL MUSUEM INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetDOWNTOWN DETROIT PARTNERSHIP INC: $17,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE HONORABLE TINA BROZMAN FDTN INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetHER JUSTICE INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE RIVER FUND NEW YORK INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTHE UNITED NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSES OF NEW YORK INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOUNCIL OF MICHIGAN FOUNDATIONS: $8,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF DETROIT: $7,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK INC: $4,701 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $4,350 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJEREMIE RISING: $4,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetHANDICAP INTERNATIONAL: $3,512 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMillsaps College: $1,750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBEYOND BASICS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetARCENCIEL USA INC: $886 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

Community Foundation …The Goldman Sachs Cha…The Ford FoundationUnited Jewish Foundat…The Ralph C Wilson Jr…United Way for Southe…DTE Energy FoundationThe Ayco Charitable F…The Kresge FoundationMorgan Stanley Global…Jewish Communal FundWK Kellogg Foundation
Community Foundation for Southeast MichiganMI18.3× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · The Ford Foundation · United Jewish Foundation · The Ralph C Wilson Jr Foundation · United Way for Southeastern Michigan · DTE Energy Foundation · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · The Kresge Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Jewish Communal Fund · WK Kellogg Foundation

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 Alix Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Alix 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%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
10report 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.

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 56 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Alix’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