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The Andrew W Mellon Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Andrew W Mellon Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$555M
Granted FY2024still arriving
848
Grants FY2024still arriving
52
States reached
$8.6M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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.

Arts & Culture$1.4BEducation$1.0BPhilanthropy$204MCivil Rights$103MEnvironment$102MCrime & Legal$73MCommunity Improvement$71MScience & Tech$70MOther$0
02FY2024 · 848 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k16 grants · $417k
  • $50k–250k172 grants · $26M
  • $250k+660 grants · $529M
$500,000
Median grant
52
States reached
$7.8B
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES$8,556,000
CITY OF RICHMOND$7,000,000
THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACKS IN DANCE INC$5,600,000
FREEDOM READS$5,000,000
WGBH EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$5,000,000
MONTPELIER FOUNDATION$4,282,000
MONUMENT LAB$4,000,000
LOS ANGELES NOMADIC DIVISION$3,950,000
NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES$3,500,000
FIDELITY CHARITABLE$3,485,813
HUNTER COLLEGE$3,468,000
THE CITY OF CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS AND SPECIAL EVENTS$3,400,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA CRUZ$3,000,000
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION$3,000,000
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY AT FRESNO$2,944,000
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 (FY18–24, $26.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 96% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF IDAHO INC: $774k → 11%Ekvnv Yefolecvlke: $1.6M → 18%FREEDOM READS: $5.0M → 12%EMMETT TILL INTERPRETIVE CENTER: $2.3M → 31%ASSOCIATION ON AMERICAN INDIAN AFFAIRS INC: $1.0M → 6%COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF IDAHO INC: $774k → 11%EKVNV YEFOLECVLKE: $1.4M → 18%FREEDOM READS: $5.0M → 12%EMMETT TILL INTERPRETIVE CENTER: $1.1M → 31%INDIAN LAND TENURE FOUNDATION: $1.3M → 14%FREEDOM READS: $2.3M → 12%INTERNET ARCHIVE: $750k → 10%HYPOTHESIS PROJECT: $1.0M → 10%HYPOTHESIS PROJECT: $1.0M → 10%EDWARD CHARLES FOUNDATION: $900k → 14%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

AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
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.
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 5% of The Andrew W Mellon Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 25% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 27%.

The Andrew W Mellon Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 6.3% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.7B · 907 repeat orgs$376M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +30% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

907 repeat relationships: 430 still active in FY2024, 477 since wound down; 249 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

907
631

Total granted

$2.7B
$251M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+30%
+8%

Still filing today

78%
68%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $125M 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
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementPhilanthropyCivil RightsOther
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

  • AC
    AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES
    8× · 2017–2024 · $129M · revenue +33% · 68% of their budget
  • UO
    University of Michigan
    8× · 2017–2024 · $39M · revenue +202%
  • SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $24M · revenue +31%

Funded once

  • JF
    Jazz Foundation of America Incgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $5.0M · revenue +728%
  • EU
    EMORY UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2023 · $3.8M
  • DO
    DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS CITY OF LOS ANGELES
    one grant, 2023 · $3.0M
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
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
2
Boston Architectural College

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

—
3
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
4
National Academy of Design

The mission of the national academy of design is to promote the fine arts in america through exhibition and education.

Education
5
Center for Arts Design and Social Research Incorporated

The center for arts, design and social research is a private, nonprofit institution of higher education that provides instruction in and conducts research on the relationship of art and design to global societies. the center offers…

Education
6
New York School of Interior Design

New york school of interior design provides the most innovative, immersive, and transformative interior design education in the world, demonstrating the impact of professionally designed interiors on the health, happiness, and well-being…

Education
7
Kadist Collection Manager Inc
Arts & Culture
8
California Institute of Contemporary Art
—
9
Rhode Island School of Design

The mission of rhode island school of design, through its college and museum,is to educate its students and the public in the creation and (see schedule o)appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to…

Education
10
American Repertory Theatre Co Inc

Seeks to expand the boundaries of theater, producing, performing and presenting works of literary, experimental and educational value. provide a home for outstanding artists, a training ground for young artists (including an extensive…

Arts & Culture
11
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
12
Manhattanville University

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

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Cultureworks Greater Philadelphia; the most unlike its peers is Science for Monks. 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

1401 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. 1401 of the 1,838 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.

461
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
251
Early backer (in before they grew)
1378/1401
Grantees still filing
834/1401
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

University of Michigan: $38,895,725 · Other+87 more: $743,174,108 · Other+87 moreAMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES: $129,122,400 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOC…SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $23,995,000 · Arts & CultureNEW ENGLAND FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS INCORPORATED: $23,888,000 · Arts & CultureTHE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM: $21,000,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES: $19,150,000 · Arts & CultureWGBH Educational Foundation: $18,500,000 · Arts & Culture+52 more: $303,635,129 · Arts & Culture+52 moreNew York University: $22,817,400 · EducationNew York UniversityTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $22,176,850 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLU…JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $19,012,000 · EducationJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVER…TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $16,019,500 · EducationCornell University: $14,638,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $12,726,962 · EducationThe New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations: $12,567,000 · EducationAMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND: $12,309,000 · Education+35 more: $218,025,651 · Education+35 moreTIDES CENTER: $116,981,000 · Human ServicesFREEDOM READS INC: $12,250,000 · Human ServicesBROWN UNIVERSITY: $21,246,000 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $16,743,310 · Community ImprovementCENTRO DE ECONOMIA CREATIVA INC: $13,635,500 · Community ImprovementNONPROFIT FINANCE FUND: $7,754,500 · Community ImprovementARTIST COMMUNITIES ALLIANCE: $3,675,000 · Community ImprovementCOUNCIL ON LIBRARY AND INFORMATION RESOURCES: $51,264,000 · EnvironmentSOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL: $28,306,000 · Social ScienceITHAKA HARBORS INC: $7,156,000 · Social ScienceTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $4,800,000 · Social Science
Other$782,069,833Arts & Culture$539,290,529Education$350,292,363Human Services$129,231,000Community Improvement$63,054,310Environment$51,264,000Social Science$40,262,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetAMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES: $129,122,400 over 8y, 68% of budgetTIDES CENTER: $116,981,000 over 4y, 32% of budgetCOUNCIL ON LIBRARY AND INFORMATION RESOURCES: $51,264,000 over 8y, 94% of budgetSOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL: $28,306,000 over 6y, 34% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $23,995,000 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetNEW ENGLAND FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS INCORPORATED: $23,888,000 over 8y, 53% of budgetNew York University: $22,817,400 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $22,176,850 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $21,246,000 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetTHE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM: $21,000,000 over 6y, 20% of budgetNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES: $19,150,000 over 6y, 7.8% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $19,012,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetWGBH Educational Foundation: $18,500,000 over 7y, 2.6% of budgetFRACTURED ATLAS INC: $17,384,549 over 8y, 24% of budgetNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $16,916,000 over 3y, 6.1% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $16,743,310 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $16,019,500 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetNorthwestern University: $14,852,993 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetCornell University: $14,638,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetUnited States Artists Inc: $13,800,250 over 4y, 53% of budgetCENTRO DE ECONOMIA CREATIVA INC: $13,635,500 over 4y, 93% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR CITIZENS AND SCHOLARS: $13,374,500 over 6y, 35% of budgetINSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION INC: $13,300,000 over 7y, 1.1% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $12,726,962 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetThe New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations: $12,567,000 over 8y, 1.0% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND: $12,309,000 over 6y, 11% of budgetFREEDOM READS INC: $12,250,000 over 3y, 36% of budgetTHE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACKS IN DANCE: $12,224,500 over 7y, 83% of budgetTHE NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST: $12,000,000 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $11,241,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetTHE ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS INC: $11,230,334 over 5y, 90% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $11,000,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetBARD COLLEGE: $10,639,300 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetThe New School: $10,505,000 over 8y, 0.6% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $10,491,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $10,000,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $9,585,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $9,238,000 over 7y, 2.2% of budgetMONUMENT LAB INC: $9,000,000 over 3y, 79% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $8,253,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $8,065,000 over 3y, 5.0% of budgetTHE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: $8,000,000 over 5y, 14% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Middlebury College: $7,886,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetMUSEUM ASSOCIATES: $7,800,000 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetNONPROFIT FINANCE FUND: $7,754,500 over 8y, 8.0% of budgetALLIANCE OF RESIDENT THEATRES NEW YORK INC: $7,530,000 over 5y, 52% of budgetTHE TANK LTD: $7,426,000 over 5y, 85% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $7,425,750 over 5y, 0.4% 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.

  • Who funds AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES ↗
  • Who funds TIDES CENTER ↗
  • Who funds COUNCIL ON LIBRARY AND INFORMATION RESOURCES ↗
  • Who funds University of Michigan ↗
  • Who funds SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ↗
  • Who funds NEW ENGLAND FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds New York University ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds BROWN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES ↗
  • Who funds JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds WGBH Educational Foundation ↗
  • Who funds FRACTURED ATLAS INC ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds Cornell University ↗
  • Who funds United States Artists Inc ↗
  • Who funds CENTRO DE ECONOMIA CREATIVA INC ↗
  • Who funds INSTITUTE FOR CITIZENS AND SCHOLARS ↗
  • Who funds INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds The New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND ↗

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.

The Howard Gilman Fou…Doris Duke Charitable…The Andy Warhol Found…Terra Foundation for …New England Foundatio…The Shubert Foundatio…Jerome Foundation IncMid Atlantic Arts IncBooth Ferris Foundati…The Ford FoundationThe Fan Fox and Lesli…The Map Fund Inc
The Howard Gilman Foundation IncNY116.7× affinity114 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Howard Gilman Foundation Inc · Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Inc · The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc · Terra Foundation for American Art · New England Foundation for the Arts Incorporated · The Shubert Foundation Inc · Jerome Foundation Inc · Mid Atlantic Arts Inc · Booth Ferris Foundation Xxxxx4008 · The Ford Foundation · The Fan Fox and Leslie R Samuels Foundation Inc · The Map Fund Inc

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 Andrew W Mellon Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Andrew W Mellon Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Mid Atlantic Arts Inc: 66% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • Trustees of Tufts College: 13% of income from government
  • Freedom Reads Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
  • New England Foundation for the Arts Incorporated: 8% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
  • Silk Road Project Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Five Colleges Incorporated: 3% of income from government
  • The Theater Offensive Inc: 2% of income from government
  • New England Conservatory of Music: 1% of income from government
  • The Institute of Contemporary Art Inc: 1% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Middlebury College: 1% of income from government
  • Wesleyan University: 1% of income from government
  • Wellesley College: 1% of income from government
  • Wgbh Educational Foundation: 1% of income from government
  • Amherst College Trustees: 0% of income from government
  • Emerson College: 0% of income from government
  • Oregon Shakespeare Festival Association Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
33report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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 1838 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Andrew W Mellon’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