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The Character Lab Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Character Lab Inc

Character lab advances scientific insights that help kids thrive.

$10k
Granted FY2021
1
Grants FY2021
1
States reached
$10k
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 2021.

Education$1.9MSocial Science$395kHealth$223kPhilanthropy$196kRecreation & Sports$77kCommunity Improvement$15kCivil Rights$10k
02FY2021 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BEHAVIORAL IDEAS LAB INC$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–21) land where the poverty rate runs at 18%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 87% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%HIGHER GROUND A RESOURCE CENTER: $8k → 15%BREAD AND ROSES: $15k → 22%THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: $42k → 11%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: $85k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN: $25k → 10%CHARLES AND LYNN SCHUSTERMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION: $44k → 15%WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $152k → 8%FOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $148k → 13%UGARF RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $119k → 27%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BOOTH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS: $105k → 14%BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $38k → 19%THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $421k → 22%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: $40k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN: $13k → 10%FOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $10k → 13%NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: $77k → 14%BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $20k → 19%UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $269k → 22%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: $30k → 17%BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $20k → 19%THE TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $141k → 22%WE THE PROTESTORS: $10k → 17%BEHAVIORAL IDEAS LAB INC: $10k → 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

IL
MI
NY
PA
CA
AZ
AR
OK
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.0M · 7 repeat orgs$525k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +153% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

7 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2021, 7 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2021 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
7

Total granted

$1.0M
$515k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+153%
+25%

Still filing today

29%
86%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2021, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21
EducationPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsSocial ScienceCivil 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

  • IU
    Indiana University School of Medicine
    2× · 2018–2019 · $279k
  • RO
    REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
    2× · 2018–2019 · $223k
  • FF
    FOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC
    2× · 2019–2020 · $158k · revenue +153%

Funded once

  • WF
    Walton Family Foundation Inc
    one grant, 2017 · $152k · revenue -27%
  • UO
    University of Georgia Research Foundation Incgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $119k · revenue +79%
  • University of Chicagograduated
    one grant, 2019 · $105k · revenue +25%
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
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
2
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
3
University of Miami

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

Education
4
Drexel University

Drexel university fulfills its founder's vision of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing its collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. drexel is an…

Education
5
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
6
Chancellor Masters & Scholars of the University of Oxford

The principal objects of the University are the advancement of learning by teaching and research, and its dissemination by every means. We work as one Oxford bringing together our staff, students and alumni, our colleges, faculties,…

—
7
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
8
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

We educate the next generation of leaders to improve the health of our society.

Education
9
Northern Illinois University Foundation

The niu foundation's mission is to energize and connect the private sector with the niu community to secure and steward resources that support the future and growth of niu.

Education
10
National Science and Technology Medals Foundation Inc

The nstmf's mission is to build inclusive stem communities across the united states. fundamental to these communities are the significant, inspirational connections we foster between the individuals who have received national recognition…

—
11
Wake Forest University

Wake Forest University, a 501(c)(3) institution of higher education, is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the liberal arts and in graduate and professional education. The organization is comprised of seven constituent parts: Wake…

Education
12
University of Rochester

The provision of higher education in the liberal arts and sciences, medicine and dentistry, nursing and music; research; and charitable patient care services.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Chicago; the most unlike its peers is Walton Family Foundation Inc. 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 18 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)
12/13
Grantees still filing
10/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $831,640 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIATHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $449,249 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITYNew York University: $155,472 · EducationNew York UniversityUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation Inc: $118,997 · EducationUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation IncUniversity of Chicago: $105,163 · EducationUniversity of Chicago+1 more: $7,925 · EducationIndiana University School of Medicine: $278,514 · OtherIndiana University School of Medici…REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $223,193 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIG…FOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $158,214 · OtherFOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC…REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT RIVERSIDE: $106,781 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFO…THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: $78,000 · OtherTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVER…UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: $38,470 · Other+1 more: $15,000 · OtherWalton Family Foundation Inc: $151,625 · PhilanthropyCharles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation: $44,000 · PhilanthropyNorthwestern University: $77,150 · Recreation & SportsBEHAVIORAL IDEAS LAB INC: $10,000 · Social ScienceWE THE PROTESTERS INC: $10,000 · Civil Rights
Education$1,668,446Other$898,172Philanthropy$195,625Recreation & Sports$77,150Social Science$10,000Civil Rights$10,000

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 budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $831,640 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $449,249 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR ORANGE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $158,214 over 2y, 5.4% of budgetNew York University: $155,472 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation Inc: $118,997 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $105,163 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwestern University: $77,150 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBread and Roses Community Fund: $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBEHAVIORAL IDEAS LAB INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWE THE PROTESTERS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHigher Ground A Resource Center: $7,925 over 1y, 0.7% 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 set of overlaps that mostly run through this funder rather than between each other.

Amazonsmile Foundation
Amazonsmile FoundationWA2.4× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 0Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Character Lab Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Character Lab Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get 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 18 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2021, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Character Lab’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