· Private foundation
The George Lucas Educational 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.
Read this first · the figures below need context
50% of The George Lucas Educational Foundation’s FY2023 grant dollars went to President And Fellows Of Harvard College, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2023 names 4 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2023.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2023
- $50k–250k7 grants · $500k
- $250k+1 grant · $503k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| HARVARD UNIVERSITY | $503,048 |
| THE CONCORD CONSORTIUM | $150,000 |
| MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY | $100,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA | $50,499 |
| UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY | $50,000 |
| NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY | $50,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO - BOULDER | $50,000 |
| NEW YORK UNIVERSITY | $50,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 57% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
9 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2023, 2 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MSMICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY4× · 2020–2023 · $1.9M
- TCTHE CONCORD CONSORTIUM INCORPORATED2× · 2022–2023 · $297k · revenue -27%
- NYNew York University3× · 2021–2023 · $200k · revenue +30%
Funded once
- UOUNIVERSITY OF COLORADOone grant, 2020 · $110k
- UOUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELESone grant, 2022 · $100k
- SSFUSDone grant, 2020 · $39k
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.
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.
See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.
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…
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…
The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.
Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…
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,…
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."
Mission strengthened by more than a century and a half of dedication to academic excellence, boston college commits itself to the highest standards of teaching and research in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs and to the…
The mission of southern california university of health sciences (scu) is to educate students as competent, caring and successful practitioners of integrative healthcare. the university is committed to providing excellence in academics,…
Organization's mission bentley university believes good business can impact more than the bottom line - it can change the world. bentley is a community of future business leaders who will deliver value in the marketplace and lasting…
We educate the next generation of leaders to improve the health of our society.
Fairleigh dickinson university is a center of academic excellence dedicated to the preparation of world citizens through global education. the university strives to provide students with the multi-disciplinary, intercultural, and ethical…
How this is measured
8 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. 8 of the 17 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
- Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ↗
- Who funds THE CONCORD CONSORTIUM INCORPORATED ↗
- Who funds New York University ↗
- Who funds Northwestern University ↗
- Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds MATHACTION ↗
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The George Lucas Educational Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The George Lucas Educational Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- The Concord Consortium Incorporated: 37% of income from government
- President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
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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.
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