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The Ellen Wills Martin Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Ellen Wills Martin 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.

$82k
Granted FY2024still arriving
48
Grants FY2024still arriving
15
States reached
$6k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$224kInternational$96kHealth$38kCommunity Improvement$32kReligion$29kAnimals$22kHuman Services$21kPublic Safety & Disaster$20kOther$0
02FY2024 · 48 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
15
States reached
$783k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS AMERICAN FOUNDATION INC$6,000
ORANGUTAN OUTREACH$6,000
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY$5,000
ROMANIAN CHRISTIAN ENTERPRISES - SONRISE SCHOOL$5,000
OGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGE$4,000
ANGLICAN RELIEF & DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (UKRAINE$3,000
SAMARITAN'S PURSE$3,000
ST JUDE'S CHILDREN RESEACH HOSPITAL$2,500
ROMANIAN CHRISTIAN ENTERPRISES - ANNUAL FUND$2,500
ANGLICAN RELIEF & DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (UKRAINE$2,000
THE FALLS CHURCH ANGLICAN REFUGEE CARE MINISTRY$2,000
PRIORY IN THE USA OF THE ORDER OF ST JOHN$2,000
ST PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH$2,000
HIDDEN WINGS$2,000
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS$2,000
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 (FY21–21, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 6%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%Oasis Life Network: $1k → 6%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

ME
NH
IL
NY
MA
SD
PA
CT
RI
CA
CO
NE
VA
MD
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
GA
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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$457k · 56 repeat orgs$85k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +36% for those funded once.

56 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2024, 34 since wound down; 21 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

56
18

Total granted

$457k
$44k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+36%

Still filing today

46%
39%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $41k 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
EducationInternationalHealthEnvironmentAnimalsArts & CultureOther
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

  • RC
    ROMANIAN CHRISTIAN ENTERPRISES
    8× · 2017–2024 · $40k · revenue +116%
  • OL
    OGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGE
    5× · 2020–2024 · $20k · revenue +11%
  • OO
    ORANGUTAN OUTREACH INC ATTN RICHARD ZIMMERMAN
    8× · 2017–2024 · $19k · revenue +67%

Funded once

  • BARD COLLEGEgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue +245%
  • BF
    BURGUNDY FARM COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $7k · revenue +36%
  • NY
    New York University
    one grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue +11%
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
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
2
Saint Anselm College

Saint anselm is a catholic, benedictine college providing all of its students a distinctive liberal arts education that incorporates opportunities for professional and career preparation. it does so in a learning community that encourages…

Education
3
Boston Architectural College

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

—
4
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
5
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
6
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
7
Manhattanville University

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

Education
8
The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel

Enhance the ability of actec members to provide the most efficient and highest quality services to their clients; develop qualified trust and estate counselors; improve and reform probate, trust and tax laws, procedures, and standards of…

Community Improvement
9
Stony Brook Surgical Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

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

Health
10
Stony Brook Urology 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
Stony Brook Ophthalmology University Faculty Practice Corporation

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

Health
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Medecins Sans Frontieres Usa Inc; the most unlike its peers is Great Mountain Forest 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

39 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. 39 of the 95 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
39/39
Grantees still filing
32/39
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BARD OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT: $30,000 · OtherBARD OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENTUniversity of St Andrews: $26,000 · OtherUniversity of St AndrewsRIVENDELL SCHOOL ANNUAL FUND: $20,500 · OtherRIVENDELL SCHOOL ANNUAL FUNDGrace Church School Annual Fund: $14,500 · OtherST JUDE'S CHILDREN RESEARCH HOSPITAL: $13,000 · OtherNEW MISSION SYSTEMS INC: $10,000 · OtherRiverside School Building Fund: $10,000 · OtherAMERICAN RED CROSS: $10,000 · Other+60 more: $160,250 · Other+60 moreOGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGE: $20,250 · EducationOGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGEGRACE CHURCH SCHOOL: $18,000 · EducationGRACE CHURCH SCHOOLCHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: $14,000 · EducationCHAPMAN UNIVERSITYTHE LOOMIS INSTITUTE D/B/A THE LOOMIS CHAFFEE SCHOOL: $10,000 · EducationTHE LOOMIS INSTITUTE D…BARD COLLEGE: $10,000 · EducationBARD COLLEGESARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: $9,500 · EducationSARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGEBURGUNDY FARM COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INC: $7,000 · EducationBURGUNDY FARM COUNTRY …THE HOLTON ARMS SCHOOL: $6,000 · EducationTHE HOLTON ARMS SCHOOLNew York University: $5,000 · Education+3 more: $7,500 · Education+3 moreROMANIAN CHRISTIAN ENTERPRISES: $40,000 · InternationalROMANIAN CHRIS…MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $11,000 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS …COOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $7,000 · InternationalCOOPERATIVE FO…United States Association for UNHCR: $6,000 · InternationalUnited States …CHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL USA: $5,000 · InternationalCHILDFUND INTE…ALZHEIMER'S FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $16,250 · HealthHIDDEN WINGS: $10,000 · HealthPRIORY IN THE USA OF THE MOST VENERABLE ORDER OF THE HOSP / ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM: $4,000 · Health+1 more: $1,000 · HealthORANGUTAN OUTREACH INC ATTN RICHARD ZIMMERMAN: $19,250 · AnimalsWILD BIRD FUND INC: $3,000 · AnimalsSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $8,000 · ReligionCORACLE: $1,000 · ReligionARMY EMERGENCY RELIEF: $5,000 · Public BenefitASSOCIATION OF THE GRADUATES OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY: $4,000 · Public Benefit
Other$294,250Education$107,250International$69,000Health$31,250Animals$22,250Religion$9,000Public Benefit$9,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetROMANIAN CHRISTIAN ENTERPRISES: $40,000 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetOGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGE: $20,250 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetORANGUTAN OUTREACH INC ATTN RICHARD ZIMMERMAN: $19,250 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetGRACE CHURCH SCHOOL: $18,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $16,250 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCHAPMAN UNIVERSITY: $14,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $11,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetNEW MISSION SYSTEMS INC: $10,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetHIDDEN WINGS: $10,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetTHE LOOMIS INSTITUTE D/B/A THE LOOMIS CHAFFEE SCHOOL: $10,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBARD COLLEGE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE: $9,500 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $8,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGETOWN MINISTRY CENTER: $8,000 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetBURGUNDY FARM COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $7,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetUnited States Association for UNHCR: $6,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HOLTON ARMS SCHOOL: $6,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI: $6,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL USA: $5,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARMY EMERGENCY RELIEF: $5,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetASSOCIATION OF THE GRADUATES OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPRIORY IN THE USA OF THE MOST VENERABLE ORDER OF THE HOSP / ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWILD BIRD FUND INC: $3,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNORFOLK VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT INC: $3,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetST PAUL'S SCHOOL: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI IN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY INC: $2,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetTHE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetYOUNG LIFE: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GARDEN CLUB OF VIRGINIA INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCORACLE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetColorado Outdoor Education Center Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOasis Life Network: $1,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetGreat Mountain Forest Corporation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMONTGOMERY HOUSING PARTNERSHIP INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MUSELLA FOUNDATION FOR BRAIN TUMOR RESEARCH AND INFORMATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNORFOLK LAND TRUST INC: $500 over 1y, 0.1% 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 ROMANIAN CHRISTIAN ENTERPRISES ↗
  • Who funds OGLALA LAKOTA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds ORANGUTAN OUTREACH INC ATTN RICHARD ZIMMERMAN ↗
  • Who funds GRACE CHURCH SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds ALZHEIMER'S FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW MISSION SYSTEMS INC ↗
  • Who funds HIDDEN WINGS ↗
  • Who funds THE LOOMIS INSTITUTE D/B/A THE LOOMIS CHAFFEE SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds BARD COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds SARAH LAWRENCE COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE ↗
  • Who funds GEORGETOWN MINISTRY CENTER ↗
  • Who funds BURGUNDY FARM COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds COOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC ↗
  • Who funds United States Association for UNHCR ↗
  • Who funds THE HOLTON ARMS SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI ↗
  • Who funds CHILDFUND INTERNATIONAL USA ↗
  • Who funds New York University ↗
  • Who funds ARMY EMERGENCY RELIEF ↗
  • Who funds ASSOCIATION OF THE GRADUATES OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY ↗

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 Ayco Charitable F…National Philanthropi…Chubb Charitable Foun…T Rowe Price Program …Vanguard Charitable E…The Bessemer Giving F…AbbVie FoundationAmerican Endowment Fo…Texas Instruments Fou…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…Aetna Foundation IncMorgan Stanley Global…
The Ayco Charitable FoundationNY13.3× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Ayco Charitable Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Chubb Charitable Foundation · T Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bessemer Giving Fund · AbbVie Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Texas Instruments Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Aetna Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust 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 Ellen Wills Martin Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ellen Wills Martin Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 49%
  • Norfolk Land Trust Inc: 49% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get 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 95 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 Ellen Wills Martin’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