Skip to content
The Betsy and Jesse Fink Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Betsy and Jesse Fink Family 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.

$1.7M
Granted FY2024still arriving
30
Grants FY2024still arriving
10
States reached
$250k
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.

Philanthropy$3.2MEnvironment$2.2MFood & Nutrition$1.9MEducation$1.3MArts & Culture$586kScience & Tech$270kAnimals$169kCommunity Improvement$120kOther$0
02FY2024 · 30 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $33k
  • $10k–50k13 grants · $241k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $905k
  • $250k+2 grants · $500k
$20,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$15M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
RENAISSANCE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC$250,000
DENVER FILM SOCIETY$250,000
RENAISSANCE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC$230,000
ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION$125,000
ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION$100,000
EARTHJUSTICE$100,000
REFED INC$100,000
REFED INC$100,000
ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION$100,000
BIODIVERSITYWORKS INC$50,000
BIODIVERSITYWORKS INC$47,500
WORLD WILDLIFE FUND$30,000
REFED INC$25,000
CENTER FOR RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL (CREST)$23,988
THE XERCES SOCIETY$20,000
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 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 82% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%ISLAND GROWN INITIATIVE LTD: $125k → 8%COMMONWEALTH KITCHEN: $50k → 16%EARTHJUSTICE: $100k → 10%REFED INC: $125k → 13%ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $200k → 14%FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $500k → 11%UPCYCLED FOOD FOUNDATION: $50k → 8%RENAISSANCE CHARITABLE: $560k → 16%SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL: $57k → 9%IMPACT ASSETS: $105k → 8%ISLAND GROWN INITIATIVE LTD: $125k → 8%COMMONWEALTH KITCHEN: $50k → 16%REFED INC: $50k → 10%EARTHJUSTICE: $100k → 10%REFED INC: $100k → 13%ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $200k → 14%FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $250k → 11%RENAISSANCE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC: $250k → 16%ISLAND GROWN INITIATIVE: $105k → 8%EARTHJUSTICE: $100k → 10%REFED INC: $100k → 13%ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $125k → 14%FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $250k → 11%RENAISSANCE CHARITABLE: $250k → 16%BIODIVERSITYWORKS INC: $50k → 8%EARTHJUSTICE: $100k → 10%REFED INC: $100k → 13%ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $125k → 14%FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $150k → 11%RENAISSANCE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC: $230k → 16%REFED INC: $100k → 13%ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $100k → 14%FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $100k → 11%DENVER FILM SOCIETY: $250k → 12%RENAISSANCE CHARITABLE: $200k → 16%REFED INC: $55k → 13%ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $100k → 14%FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $75k → 11%DENVER FILM SOCIETY: $250k → 12%RENAISSANCE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC: $90k → 16%REFED INC: $50k → 13%ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%RENAISSANCE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC: $50k → 16%ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%RENAISSANCE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC: $50k → 16%NEW VENTURE FUND (FOOD WASTE ROADMAP): $100k → 14%NEW VENTURE FUND (FOOD WASTE ROADMAP): $100k → 14%HARLEM GROWN: $75k → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

VT
NH
NY
MA
OR
IN
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
VA
MD
AZ
NC
DC
LA
TX
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 19% of The Betsy and Jesse Fink Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Betsy and Jesse Fink Family Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 3.5% 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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$7.6M · 40 repeat orgs$446k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +59% since the first grant, against +42% for those funded once.

40 repeat relationships: 19 still active in FY2024, 21 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

40
25

Total granted

$7.6M
$426k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+59%
+42%

Still filing today

80%
84%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k 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
EnvironmentFood & NutritionArts & CultureEducationAnimalsInternationalOther
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

  • EC
    ESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    6× · 2019–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +144%
  • RI
    REFED INC
    7× · 2018–2024 · $816k · revenue +202%
  • IG
    ISLAND GROWN INITIATIVE LTD
    7× · 2017–2023 · $555k · revenue +437%

Funded once

  • UF
    Upcycled Food Foundation
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue -57%
  • UF
    UTAH FILM CENTERgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $35k · revenue +79%
  • IW
    INTERNATIONAL WILDERNESS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2017 · $35k · revenue -14%
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
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
2
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Foundation

To engage and catalyze global seafood supply chains in rebuilding depleted fish stocks and reducing the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming.

Animals
3
Rainforest Trust

Rainforest trust saves endangered wildlife and protects our planet by creating rainforest reserves through partnerships, community engagement, and donor support.

International
4
Ocean Conservancy

Ocean conservancy unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.

Environment
5
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
6
Project Drawdown

Project drawdown's mission is to drive meaningful climate action by advancing science-based solutions and strategies. project drawdown's work is focused on three pillars: science - advancing science-based climate solutions and strategies;…

Education
7
Rainforest Alliance Inc

RA works at the intersection of business, agriculture & forests to improve lives & protect nature by transforming how land is used, production of goods & consumer choices.

—
8
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
9
Environment Now
—
10
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
11
Rainforest Foundation Inc

The purpose of rainforest foundation us is to support indigenous peoples and forest communities in their efforts to secure their lands, protect their environment, and uphold their rights.

Environment
12
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Refed Inc; the most unlike its peers is WAREHOUSES4GOOD. 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

58 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. 58 of the 71 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)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
58/58
Grantees still filing
41/58
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $1,325,000 · OtherFIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUN…NEW VENTURE FUND (FOOD WASTE ROADMAP): $250,000 · OtherNEW VENTURE FUND (FOOD WASTE…CENTER FOR RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL (CREST): $209,471 · OtherCENTER FOR RESPONSIBLE TRAVE…Individual grant recipient: $102,000 · OtherCOMMONWEALTH KITCHEN INC: $100,000 · Other+21 more: $563,000 · Other+21 moreRenaissance Charitable Foundation Inc: $1,730,000 · PhilanthropyRenaissance Charitabl…IMPACTASSETSINC: $105,400 · PhilanthropyIMPACTASSETSINC+1 more: $20,000 · PhilanthropyBIODIVERSITYWORKS INC: $447,011 · EnvironmentBIODIVERSITYWORKS …EARTHJUSTICE: $415,000 · EnvironmentEARTHJUSTICEHARLEM GROWN INC: $270,000 · EnvironmentHARLEM GROWN INCNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $140,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES …ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $90,000 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL DEFE…WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $75,000 · EnvironmentThe Ocean Foundation: $67,474 · Environment+7 more: $115,000 · Environment+7 moreESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $1,100,000 · EducationESF COLLEGE FOUNDA…NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY: $250,000 · EducationNATIONAL GEOGRAPHI…New York University: $130,000 · EducationNew York Universit…President and Fellows of Harvard College: $75,000 · Education+2 more: $52,500 · EducationREFED INC: $815,500 · Food & NutritionREFED INCISLAND GROWN INITIATIVE LTD: $555,000 · Food & NutritionISLAND GROWN INITI…Community Food Bank Inc: $80,000 · Food & Nutrition+8 more: $147,000 · Food & Nutrition+8 moreDENVER FILM SOCIETY: $500,000 · Arts & CultureUTAH FILM CENTER: $35,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureCREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $21,000 · Arts & CultureXERCES SOCIETY INC: $105,000 · AnimalsWildlife Conservation Society: $30,000 · AnimalsAmerican Bird Conservancy: $20,000 · AnimalsHAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY ASSOCIATION: $10,000 · Animals+1 more: $4,000 · Animals
Other$2,549,471Philanthropy$1,855,400Environment$1,619,485Education$1,607,500Food & Nutrition$1,597,500Arts & Culture$606,000Animals$169,000

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 budgetRenaissance Charitable Foundation Inc: $1,730,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetESF COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $1,100,000 over 6y, 4.4% of budgetREFED INC: $815,500 over 7y, 4.1% of budgetISLAND GROWN INITIATIVE LTD: $555,000 over 7y, 6.1% of budgetDENVER FILM SOCIETY: $500,000 over 2y, 4.8% of budgetBIODIVERSITYWORKS INC: $447,011 over 7y, 17% of budgetEARTHJUSTICE: $415,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetHARLEM GROWN INC: $270,000 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetNATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY: $250,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $140,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $130,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetIMPACTASSETSINC: $105,400 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetXERCES SOCIETY INC: $105,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetCOMMONWEALTH KITCHEN INC: $100,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $90,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCommunity Food Bank Inc: $80,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $70,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetROCKY MOUNTAIN PLANNED PARENTHOOD INC: $70,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetThe Ocean Foundation: $67,474 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUpcycled Food Foundation: $50,000 over 1y, 8.6% of budgetWALKING MOUNTAINS: $47,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetWHOLESOME WAVE INC: $45,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetUTAH FILM CENTER: $35,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS AUDUBON SOCIETY INC: $35,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL WILDERNESS LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC: $35,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMV YOUTH INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCREATIVE VISIONS FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetRe-Plate Inc DBA Replate: $25,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetCAPE ELEUTHERA FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetAmerican Bird Conservancy: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF THE ADIRONDACKS: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetJUST CAPITAL FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWoodwell Climate Research Center Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMISSION INVESTORS EXCHANGE INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetPERFECT EARTH PROJECT INC: $15,000 over 2y, 4.8% of budgetTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FARMLAND TRUST: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFOOD TANK THE THINK TANK FOR FOOD: $10,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSHARING EXCESS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNatureServe: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE VERMONT CENTER FOR ECOSTUDIES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY ASSOCIATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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.

ImpactassetsincClaneil Foundation IncThe Bessemer Giving F…Silicon Valley Commun…The Kroger Co Zero Hu…Clif Family FoundationThe Rockefeller Found…Refed IncLineage Foundation fo…Posner Foundation of …Boston Foundation IncThe Chicago Community…
ImpactassetsincMD24.5× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Impactassetsinc · Claneil Foundation Inc · The Bessemer Giving Fund · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Kroger Co Zero Hunger Zero Waste Foundation · Clif Family Foundation · The Rockefeller Foundation · Refed Inc · Lineage Foundation for Good · Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh · Boston Foundation Inc · The Chicago Community Trust

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 Betsy and Jesse Fink Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Betsy and Jesse Fink Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • Xerces Society Inc: 22% of income from government
  • Woodwell Climate Research Center Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Center for Ecotechnology Inc: 9% of income from government
  • Commonwealth Kitchen Inc: 9% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • The Center for Independent Documentary Inc: 6% of income from government
  • The Vermont Center for Ecostudies Inc: 4% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Reservations: 2% of income from government
  • Massachusetts Audubon Society Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Biodiversityworks Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Island Grown Initiative Ltd: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
11report 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 71 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 Betsy and Jesse Fink Family’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