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The Harold Burson Foundation (FKA John W Hill Hill and Knowlton Foundation) at a glance

· Private foundation

The Harold Burson Foundation (FKA John W Hill Hill and Knowlton Foundation)

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$319k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$75k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

International$157kPhilanthropy$130kCommunity Improvement$121kHealth$118kPublic Safety & Disaster$95kCivil Rights$93kHuman Services$83kSocial Science$83kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $4k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $40k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $275k
$50,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$2.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Lagrant Foundation$75,000
Committee to Protect Journalists$75,000
World Central Kitchen$75,000
Blue Star Families$50,000
Arthur Page Society$20,000
McCain Institute Arizona State University$10,000
Institute for Public Relations$10,000
The Seminar$3,750
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 (FY20–24, $42k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Nina Vaca Foundation: $4k → 14%Wounded Warrior Project: $10k → 14%Wounded Warrior Project: $10k → 14%YMCA of Greater New York: $5k → 17%YMCA of Greater New York: $5k → 17%YMCA of Greater NY: $3k → 17%Community Service Society of New York: $4k → 17%The Community Service Society of New York: $1k → 17%Community Service Society of New York: $425 → 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

MN
IL
NY
NV
IA
IN
NJ
CT
CA
VA
MD
AZ
DC
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 7% of The Harold Burson Foundation (FKA John W Hill Hill and Knowlton Foundation)’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 44% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 40%.

The Harold Burson Foundation (FKA John W Hill Hill and Knowlton Foundation)lessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 3.3% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

40%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$419k · 14 repeat orgs$619k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +42% since the first grant, against +22% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
30

Total granted

$419k
$385k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+22%

Still filing today

93%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 27% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $234k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
InternationalHuman ServicesFood & NutritionHealthCivil RightsPhilanthropyOther
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

  • TL
    THE LAGRANT FOUNDATION
    3× · 2020–2025 · $110k · revenue +60%
  • PROJECT SUNSHINE INC
    2× · 2020–2022 · $50k · revenue +33%
  • FF
    Foundation for Public Relations Research and Educa
    3× · 2023–2025 · $43k · revenue +25%

Funded once

  • EL
    EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
    one grant, 2023 · $60k · revenue +15%
  • MF
    Mayor's Fund to Advance NY City
    one grant, 2020 · $50k
  • AMERICARES FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $37k · revenue +50%
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
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
2
International Crisis Group

Crisis group works to prevent and resolve deadly conflict around the world by informing and influencing the perceptions and actions of policymakers and other key conflict actors. to this end, we endeavour to talk to all sides and provide…

International
3
Waterorg

Water.org's goal is to bring safe water and sanitation to the world through access to small, affordable loans.

International
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
Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pew Research Center generates a foundation of facts that enriches the public dialogue and…

Social Science
6
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
7
Pact Inc

Pact is a nonprofit organization that builds evidence-based, data-driven, and community-led solutions for human development (continued in schedule o)

International
8
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
9
Global Poverty Project Inc

Our mission is to build a movement of global citizens whose actions will help achieve our vision of a world without extreme poverty.

Social Science
10
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists Inc

International consortium of investigative journalists, inc.'s (icij) mission is to show people how the world really works through stories that rock the world; forcing positive change.

International
11
International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution Inc

Cprs mission is to harness the insights and experiences of its members to prevent and resolve business disputes.we do this by:(see schedule o)- convening a community of members to generate innovative and best practice resources to prevent…

—
12
The Rand Corporation

Help improve policy and decision making through research and analysis.

Public Benefit
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of Metro New York and Western New York; the most unlike its peers is Every Org. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the 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 52 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
39/39
Grantees still filing
28/39
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL: $60,000 · OtherEXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP COUNCILMayor's Fund to Advance NY City: $50,000 · OtherMayor's Fund to Advance NY CityFoundation for Public Relations Research and Educa: $42,500 · OtherFoundation for Public Relations Research and …Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board: $35,000 · OtherCommittee for Economic Development of The Con…THE ARTHUR PAGE SOCIETY: $20,000 · OtherGOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER INC: $20,000 · OtherCITYMEALS-ON-WHEELS: $15,000 · OtherTHE ECONOMIC CLUB OF NEW YORK: $30,000 · OtherTHE ECONOMIC CLUB OF NEW YORKLiteracy Partners Inc: $15,000 · Other+20 more: $132,050 · Other+20 moreWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $75,000 · InternationalWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INCAMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $36,670 · InternationalAMERICARES FOUNDATION INCUnited States Association for UNHCR: $35,000 · InternationalUnited States Association…BRAZIL FOUNDATION: $25,000 · InternationalBRAZIL FOUNDATIONInternational Rescue Committee INC: $25,000 · InternationalInternational Rescue Comm…TURKISH PHILANTHROPY FUNDS INC: $15,000 · InternationalTURKISH PHILANTHROPY FUND…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $10,000 · InternationalPALESTINIAN AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: $10,000 · InternationalTHE VOICES PROJECT USA INC: $10,000 · InternationalTHE LAGRANT FOUNDATION: $110,000 · PhilanthropyTHE LAGRANT…+1 more: $1,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS INC: $75,000 · Civil RightsCOMMITTEE…PRIDE NETWORK INC: $10,000 · Civil RightsPRIDE NET…TREVOR PROJECT INC: $4,500 · Civil RightsPROJECT SUNSHINE INC: $50,000 · HealthPROJECT S…THE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH: $20,000 · HealthTHE MICHA…NYU LANGONE HOSPITALS: $15,000 · HealthNYU LANGO…WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $15,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER NEW YORK: $13,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY SERVICE SOCIETY OF NEW YORK: $5,585 · Human ServicesNINA VACA FOUNDATION: $3,500 · Human ServicesBLUE STAR FAMILIES INC: $50,000 · Public Benefit
Other$419,550International$241,670Philanthropy$111,000Civil Rights$89,500Health$85,000Human Services$57,085Public Benefit$50,000

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 budgetTHE LAGRANT FOUNDATION: $110,000 over 3y, 4.6% of budgetEXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL: $60,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPROJECT SUNSHINE INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetFoundation for Public Relations Research and Educa: $42,500 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetAMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $36,670 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUnited States Association for UNHCR: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ECONOMIC CLUB OF NEW YORK: $30,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetBRAZIL FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGOD'S LOVE WE DELIVER INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTURKISH PHILANTHROPY FUNDS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLiteracy Partners Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCITYMEALS-ON-WHEELS: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNYU LANGONE HOSPITALS: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER NEW YORK: $13,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCOLUMBUS CITIZENS FOUNDATION INC: $12,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetJAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER INC: $10,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF METRO NEW YORK AND WESTERN NEW YORK: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPALESTINIAN AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSTRIVE INTERNATIONAL INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE VOICES PROJECT USA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE MAYOR'S FUND TO ADVANCE NEW YORK CITY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY SERVICE SOCIETY OF NEW YORK: $5,585 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTREVOR PROJECT INC: $4,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNINA VACA FOUNDATION: $3,500 over 1y, 47% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWAGNER COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEVERY ORG: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBEYOND HUNGER: $300 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 tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Ayco Charitable F…The Goldman Sachs Cha…Jewish Communal FundMorgan Stanley Global…The Blackbaud Giving …Synchrony FoundationImpactassetsincNational Philanthropi…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The Bank of America C…Silicon Valley Commun…
The Ayco Charitable FoundationNY19.9× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Ayco Charitable Foundation · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Jewish Communal Fund · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Synchrony Foundation · Impactassetsinc · National Philanthropic Trust · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Silicon Valley Community 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 Harold Burson Foundation (FKA John W Hill Hill and Knowlton Foundation) funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Harold Burson Foundation (FKA John W Hill Hill and Knowlton Foundation). Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Americares Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 Harold Burson Foundation (FKA John W Hill Hill and Knowlton Foundation)?

Find your warmest path to The Harold Burson Foundation (FKA John W Hill Hill and Knowlton 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 52 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 Harold Burson Foundation (FKA John W Hill Hill and Knowlton Foundation)’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