Skip to content
The Catalyst Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Catalyst 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.

$403k
Granted FY2024still arriving
23
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$60k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

International$885kHealth$592kCivil Rights$315kEducation$289kFood & Nutrition$125kReligion$108kHuman Services$65kCommunity Improvement$30kOther$0
02FY2024 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k9 grants · $38k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $195k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $170k
$10,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$4.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NEW ISRAEL FUND$60,000
RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC$60,000
PARTNERS IN HEALTH$50,000
Individual grant recipient$40,000
PEN AMERICAN CENTER$25,000
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA$25,000
ADELPHI UNIVERSITY$25,000
SF-MARIN FOOD BANK$20,000
ST ANTHONY FOUNDATION$10,000
SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC$10,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION$10,000
AMERICANS FOR PEACE NOW$10,000
SINGLE MOM PROJECT$10,000
NEW ISRAEL FUND$10,000
CANAL ALLIANCE$7,500
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 (FY19–24, $55k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: $8k → 10%FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: $8k → 10%FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: $8k → 10%FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: $8k → 10%FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: $8k → 10%A HOME WITHIN INC: $2k → 10%FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: $5k → 10%A HOME WITHIN INC: $2k → 10%A HOME WITHIN INC: $2k → 10%A HOME WITHIN INC: $2k → 10%A HOME WITHIN INC: $2k → 10%A HOME WITHIN INC: $2k → 10%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

MI
NY
MA
NJ
CT
CA
MD
DE
DC
AL
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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.3M · 24 repeat orgs$40k to everyone else

24 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
1

Total granted

$2.3M
$30k

Still filing today

67%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
HealthEducationHuman ServicesCrime & LegalReligionCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • RF
    RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC
    6× · 2019–2024 · $320k · revenue +24%
  • PARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION
    6× · 2019–2024 · $250k · revenue +84%
  • AU
    ADELPHI UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2019–2024 · $135k · revenue +15%

Funded once

  • J
    JGIVE
    one grant, 2023 · $30k
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
Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

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

—
2
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
3
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
4
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
5
Manhattanville University

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

Education
6
University of Miami

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

Education
7
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
8
Seton Hall University

Seton hall university is a catholic institution of higher education

—
9
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
10
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
11
United University Professions

United university professions was organized to improve the terms and conditions of employment of those it represents; to promote mutual assistance and cooperation among the members of this organization; to advance education in a democracy…

—
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hispanic Federation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation. 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

19 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. 19 of the 29 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
18/19
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA: $275,000 · OtherAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USAYALE CHILD STUDY CENTER - MINDING THE BABY RESEARCH PROJECT: $180,000 · OtherYALE CHILD STUDY CENTER - MINDING THE BABY RESEARCH …Individual grant recipient: $160,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientPEN AMERICAN CENTER: $150,000 · OtherPEN AMERICAN CENTERSAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK: $125,000 · OtherSAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANKAMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE: $80,000 · OtherAMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICEST ANTHONY FOUNDATION: $65,000 · OtherAMERICANS FOR PEACE NOW: $60,000 · Other+7 more: $132,000 · Other+7 moreRESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC: $320,000 · HealthRESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MEN…PARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $250,000 · HealthPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPRO…National Women's Health Network: $80,000 · HealthNational Women's Health Net…NEW ISRAEL FUND: $250,000 · InternationalNEW ISRAEL F…MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $30,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SAN…ADELPHI UNIVERSITY: $135,000 · EducationADELPHI UNI…UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $60,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY …THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $40,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEE…JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $30,000 · EducationJOHNS HOPKI…+1 more: $8,000 · EducationSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $105,000 · Crime & LegalFIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: $42,500 · Human ServicesA HOME WITHIN INC: $12,000 · Human ServicesCANAL ALLIANCE: $42,500 · Religion
Other$1,227,000Health$650,000International$280,000Education$273,000Crime & Legal$105,000Human Services$54,500Religion$42,500

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 budgetRESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC: $320,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetPARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $250,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNEW ISRAEL FUND: $250,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetADELPHI UNIVERSITY: $135,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK: $125,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $105,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNational Women's Health Network: $80,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $60,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetFIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH: $42,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCANAL ALLIANCE: $42,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHISPANIC FEDERATION INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $30,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $30,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA JAZZ CONSERVATORY INC: $26,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE: $12,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetA HOME WITHIN INC: $12,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetUniversity of Michigan: $12,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $8,000 over 4y, 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.

  • Who funds RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE INC ↗
  • Who funds PARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds NEW ISRAEL FUND ↗
  • Who funds ADELPHI UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds SAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds National Women's Health Network ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds FIRST PLACE FOR YOUTH ↗
  • Who funds CANAL ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds HISPANIC FEDERATION INC ↗
  • Who funds JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA JAZZ CONSERVATORY INC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE ↗
  • Who funds A HOME WITHIN INC ↗
  • Who funds University of Michigan ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Catalyst Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Catalyst Foundation. 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%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 12%
  • University of Delaware: 30% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Partners in Health a Nonprofit Corporation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
3report 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 29 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 Catalyst’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