Skip to content
The Baobab Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

The Baobab Fund

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.

$5k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$5k
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.

International$7.4MPhilanthropy$521kReligion$339kArts & Culture$170kSocial Science$101kEducation$85kAnimals$25kHealth$15kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$56k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
American Academy in Berlin$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%The Garrison Institute: $100k → 6%Institute of International Educatio: $50k → 17%Kolot Chayeinu: $100k → 20%The Garrison Institute: $1k → 6%Pace University: $25k → 17%Kolot Chayeinu: $50k → 20%Transportation Alternatives: $10k → 17%Luria Academy of Brooklyn: $10k → 20%American Academy in Berlin: $5k → 17%Poly Prep Country Day School: $50k → 20%HEAF: $80k → 17%HEAF: $35k → 17%HEAF: $31k → 17%HEAF: $25k → 17%HEAF: $18k → 17%American Friends of Cite du Vin: $145k → 17%Rescue Dogs Rock NYC: $25k → 17%Amalgamate Dance Company Inc: $15k → 17%Amalgamate Dance Company Inc: $10k → 17%International Rescue Committee: $3.1M → 17%International Rescue Committee: $3.0M → 17%International Rescue Committee: $1.0M → 17%Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center: $5k → 17%International Rescue Commitee: $10k → 17%Institute of International Educatio: $50k → 17%SEB Charitable Fund: $521k → 17%Fountain House: $5k → 17%JDRF: $5k → 17%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.
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.7M · 7 repeat orgs$806k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +81% since the first grant, against +49% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
10

Total granted

$7.7M
$801k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+81%
+49%

Still filing today

57%
70%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k 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
EducationInternationalHealthPhilanthropyOther
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

  • IR
    International Rescue Committee INC
    4× · 2017–2022 · $7.1M · revenue +81%
  • H
    HEAF
    5× · 2018–2023 · $189k
  • KC
    KOLOT CHAYEINU INC
    2× · 2017–2020 · $150k

Funded once

  • SC
    SEB CHARITABLE FUNDgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $521k · revenue +98%
  • AF
    American Friends of Cite du Vin
    one grant, 2018 · $145k
  • PP
    POLY PREP COUNTRY DAY SCHOOLgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $50k · revenue +51%
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
World Learning Inc

Creating a more sustainable, peaceful, and just world through education, development, and exchange since 1932. as both an accredited academic institution and an international ngo, world learning, inc. offers the best of theory and practice…

International
2
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
3
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
4
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

—
5
Ie New York College

(see schedule o)

Education
6
The Central European University

Ceu is committed to promoting the values of open society and self-reflective critical thinking. it aims at excellence in the mastery of established knowledge, courage to pursue the creation of new knowledge in the humanities, the social…

International
7
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
8
Berggruen Institute
Education
9
United Nations International School

Under the auspices of the united nations and guided by its ideals, the united nations international school (unis) provides an inclusive and diverse learning environment in which rigorous international programs foster academic excellence,…

Education
10
The Brookings Institution

The brookings institution (brookings) is a nonprofit public policy organization that conducts in-depth, independent research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national, and global level.…

Social Science
11
Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics

The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…

Social Science
12
Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities

The auschwitz institute for the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities is dedicated to building a world that prevents genocide. we aim to see every state effectively integrate within government the domestically developed function of…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Human Rights Watch Inc; the most unlike its peers is Seb Charitable Fund. 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

13 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. 13 of the 19 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
11/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

International Rescue Committee INC: $7,110,000 · InternationalInternational Rescue Committee INC+3 more: $170,000 · InternationalHEAF: $188,850 · OtherKOLOT CHAYEINU INC: $150,000 · OtherAmerican Friends of Cite du Vin: $145,000 · OtherRescue Dogs Rock NYC: $25,000 · OtherAmalgamate Dance Company Inc: $25,000 · Other+2 more: $15,000 · OtherSEB CHARITABLE FUND: $520,948 · PhilanthropyTHE GARRISON INSTITUTE: $101,000 · EducationPOLY PREP COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $50,000 · EducationPACE UNIVERSITY: $25,000 · EducationLURIA ACADEMY OF BROOKLYN: $10,000 · EducationPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $90,000 · HealthBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $5,000 · HealthFOUNTAIN HOUSE INC: $5,000 · Health
International$7,280,000Other$548,850Philanthropy$520,948Education$186,000Health$100,000

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 budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $7,110,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetTHE GARRISON INSTITUTE: $101,000 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetINSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $90,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INC: $65,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPOLY PREP COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPACE UNIVERSITY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRANSPORTATION ALTERNATIVES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLURIA ACADEMY OF BROOKLYN: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN ACADEMY IN BERLIN: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNTAIN HOUSE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Jewish Communal FundNational Philanthropi…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…Morgan Stanley Global…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Jewish Communal FundNY14.1× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Communal Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Baobab Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Baobab Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 19 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 Baobab’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