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The Ferris Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Ferris Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$104k
Granted FY2025still arriving
17
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$483kPhilanthropy$115kHealth$33kEducation$29kEnvironment$25kPublic Safety & Disaster$15kYouth Development$14kAnimals$11kOther$0
02FY2025 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k12 grants · $29k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $75k
$3,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$673k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FRIENDS UPPER EAST SIDE HISTORIC DISTRICT$25,000
PRESERVE MONTANA$15,000
MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK$15,000
PARK COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$10,000
KEY WEST LITERARY SEMINAR$10,000
CENTURY ASSOCIATION ARCHIVES FOUNDATION$5,000
KEY WEST FILM SOCIETY INC (DBA TROPIC CINEMA)$5,000
JAMES MARSTON FITCH CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC$3,500
WNET$3,000
PHILHARMONIC SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NY INC$3,000
THE HAITI PROJECT$2,500
PRESERVATION LEAGUE OF NY STATE$2,500
FRIENDS OF KEY WEST LIBRARY$1,000
SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY$1,000
FRINGE THEATER OF KEY WEST INC$1,000
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 (FY18–18, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%LIVINGSTON HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION: $5k → 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

MT
NY
MA
OR
CA
MO
KS
TN
DC
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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$499k · 33 repeat orgs$154k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

33 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 22 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
36

Total granted

$499k
$143k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+12%

Still filing today

70%
61%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationHealthAnimalsCrime & LegalOther
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

  • TS
    THE STUDIOS OF KEY WEST
    6× · 2017–2024 · $96k · revenue +7%
  • MP
    MONTANA PRESERVATION ALLIANCE INC
    7× · 2018–2025 · $66k · revenue +54%
  • KW
    KEY WEST LITERARY SEMINAR INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $66k · revenue +175%

Funded once

  • MC
    MAYO CLINIC
    one grant, 2022 · $20k
  • SM
    SHAKER MUSEUM NEW LEBANON
    one grant, 2017 · $17k
  • KEY WEST WILDLIFE CENTER INC
    one grant, 2023 · $11k · revenue -52%
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
The Landmark Society of Western New York Inc

To educate the community as to the significance of their architectural and historic heritage through the preservation, protection, improvement, and restoration of sites and buildings in western new york that are of historic or civic…

Arts & Culture
2
The Paley Center for Media

Description of organization mission: the paley center for media is the premier institution dedicated to advancing the understanding of media-it's artistic value, social impact and historical importance-for the public and media…

Arts & Culture
3
Municipal Art Society of New York

The municipal art society of new york (mas) lifts up the voices of the people in the debates that shape new york's built environment and leads the way to a more livable city from sidewalk to skyline. mas envisions a future in which all new…

Arts & Culture
4
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
5
The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences

The mission of the brooklyn institute of arts and sciences, d/b/a brooklyn museum (the "museum") is to bring people together through art and experiences that inspire celebration, compassion, courage, and the will to act. (see schedule o).

Arts & Culture
6
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Inc

Organization's mission statement true to the ambitious vision of its founder and her spirit of creative risk-taking, the mission of the isabella stewart gardner museum is: - to bring to life and preserve the rich historic collection; - to…

Arts & Culture
7
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
8
New York City Center Inc

The mission of new york city center is to be new york city's leading center for dance and musical theater. dedicated to making the arts accessible to the broadest possible audience, city center seeks to create a welcoming environment and…

Arts & Culture
9
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
10
New Museum of Contemporary Art

A center for exhibitions, information, and documentation about living artists since 1977, which continues to be a place of experimentation and a hub of new art and new ideas.

Arts & Culture
11
New York Public Radio

To make the mind more curious, the heart more open, and the spirit more joyful through excellent audio programming that is deeply rooted in new york.

Arts & Culture
12
White Columns Inc

White columns identifies significant emerging and under-represented visual artists and encourages their creative and professional development through the presentation of group and solo exhibitions, an online curated artists registry, and…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Key West Art and Historical Society Inc; the most unlike its peers is The James Marston Fitch Charitable 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

51 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. 51 of the 75 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
51/51
Grantees still filing
30/51
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MONTANA PRESERVATION ALLIANCE INC: $66,000 · OtherMONTANA PRESERVATION ALLIANCE INCKEY WEST LITERARY SEMINAR INC: $65,825 · OtherKEY WEST LITERARY SEMINAR INCTESLOW PRESERVATION GROUP: $21,300 · OtherTESLOW PRESERVATION GROUPMAYO CLINIC: $20,000 · OtherMAYO CLINICSHAKER MUSEUM NEW LEBANON: $16,650 · OtherPRESERVATION LEAGUE OF NY STATE: $15,145 · OtherKEY WEST FILM SOCIETY INC (DBA TROPIC CINEMA): $14,000 · Other+37 more: $136,176 · Other+37 moreTHE STUDIOS OF KEY WEST: $95,829 · Arts & CultureTHE STUDIOS OF KEY WESTMUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $34,500 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORKFRIENDS OF THE UPPER EAST SIDE HISTORIC DISTRICTS INC: $26,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF THE UPPER EAST SIDE…AN CLAIDHEAMH SOLUIS INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureThe Shane Lalani Center for the Arts: $8,333 · Arts & CultureFRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S MARTIN HOUSE CORPORATION: $7,500 · Arts & Culture+10 more: $26,100 · Arts & Culture+10 morePARK COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $111,000 · PhilanthropyPARK COUNTY COMM…+1 more: $3,500 · PhilanthropyBARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY INC: $12,500 · EducationCENTURY ASSOCIATION ARCHIVES FOUNDATION: $11,000 · EducationThe New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations: $10,000 · EducationWIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 · Education+1 more: $500 · EducationEARTHJUSTICE: $15,000 · EnvironmentAMERICAN PRAIRIE FOUNDATION: $5,000 · EnvironmentWESTERN SUSTAINABILITY EXCHANGE: $3,400 · EnvironmentPark County Environmental Council: $2,000 · EnvironmentST BARTHOLOMEW'S CONSERVANCY INC: $1,000 · Environment+1 more: $500 · EnvironmentCity Squash Inc: $12,500 · Recreation & SportsTSIC INC DBA/TAKE STOCK IN CHILDREN: $11,160 · Crime & Legal
Other$355,096Arts & Culture$208,262Philanthropy$114,500Education$36,000Environment$26,900Recreation & Sports$12,500Crime & Legal$11,160

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 budgetPARK COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $111,000 over 8y, 1.0% of budgetTHE STUDIOS OF KEY WEST: $95,829 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetMONTANA PRESERVATION ALLIANCE INC: $66,000 over 7y, 3.5% of budgetKEY WEST LITERARY SEMINAR INC: $65,825 over 9y, 2.1% of budgetMUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $34,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE UPPER EAST SIDE HISTORIC DISTRICTS INC: $26,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetEARTHJUSTICE: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCity Squash Inc: $12,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetBARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY INC: $12,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTSIC INC DBA/TAKE STOCK IN CHILDREN: $11,160 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCENTURY ASSOCIATION ARCHIVES FOUNDATION: $11,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetKEY WEST WILDLIFE CENTER INC: $10,500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAN CLAIDHEAMH SOLUIS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations: $10,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetThe Shane Lalani Center for the Arts: $8,333 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetFRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S MARTIN HOUSE CORPORATION: $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHISTORIC HOUSE TRUST OF NEW YORK CITY INC: $6,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHISTORIC DISTRICTS COUNCIL INC: $5,501 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetAMERICAN PRAIRIE FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLivingston Healthcare Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPARK COUNTY SENIOR CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetART DECO SOCIETY OF NEW YORK: $4,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetTHE JAMES MARSTON FITCH CHARITABLE FOUNDATION INC: $3,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetHAITI PROJECT INC: $3,500 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetWNET: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRINGE THEATER OF KEY WEST INC: $2,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSHAKESPEARE & COMPANY INC: $2,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWIKIMEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPark County Environmental Council: $2,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetKEY WEST ART AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLIVINGSTON CENTER FOR ART AND CULTURE INC: $2,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetVASSAR COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLEWY BODY DEMENTIA RESOURCE CENTER OF NEW YORK INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGREENWICH VILLAGE SOCIETY FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKEY WEST ART CENTER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetST BARTHOLOMEW'S CONSERVANCY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SAINT MARY INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFLORIDA KEYS SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTH FLORIDA PBS INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR THE LIVING CITY: $500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBURCHFIELD PENNEY ART CENTER: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTH FLORIDA PUBLIC MEDIA GROUP INC: $100 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 loosely connected circle, clustered around a few shared anchors.

Park County Community…Solid Rock Foundation…Community Foundation …Freeman Family Founda…The Jm Kaplan Fund IncThe Stake FoundationHarry & Harriet Ruchm…The Dovana Foundation…The Dogwood FoundationThe Bernhill FundThe Arthur M Blank Fa…The Community Foundat…
Park County Community FoundationMT21.9× affinity8 shared granteesties to 6 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Park County Community Foundation · Solid Rock Foundation Co Rosamond Stanton · Community Foundation of the Florida Keys · Freeman Family Foundation · The Jm Kaplan Fund Inc · The Stake Foundation · Harry & Harriet Ruchman Foundation Inc · The Dovana Foundation Inc · The Dogwood Foundation · The Bernhill Fund · The Arthur M Blank Family Foundation · The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta 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 Ferris Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ferris 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 1%
  • Star of the Sea Foundation Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Shakespeare & Company Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Tsic Inc Dba/Take Stock in Children: 0% of income from government
  • South Florida Pbs Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
14report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Ferris Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Ferris Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

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 75 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Ferris’ 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