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· Private foundation

The Helen Gurley Brown 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.

$9.8M
Granted FY2024still arriving
31
Grants FY2024still arriving
12
States reached
$1.5M
Largest
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 2024.

Education$45MArts & Culture$23MHealth$14MCrime & Legal$3.0MEnvironment$2.5MYouth Development$2.0MScience & Tech$1.1MHousing & Shelter$437kOther$0
02FY2024 · 31 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $148k
  • $50k–250k15 grants · $2.1M
  • $250k+10 grants · $7.5M
$149,335
Median grant
12
States reached
$96M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CARDINAL HAYES HIGH SCHOOL$1,510,000
DANA-FARBER CANCER CENTER$1,385,323
NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY$1,260,652
SCHOOL SEED FOUNDATION$857,743
NATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY$624,198
IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS (IJC)$525,669
MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE$403,793
STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION$389,428
NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY$286,200
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY$283,333
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEWARK$247,500
NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY$222,000
THE BELL INC$200,000
Individual grant recipient$187,355
ALYS SMITH AT MARSHALL UNIVERSITY$150,000
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 68% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%DANA FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE INC: $2.4M → 16%ITHACA COLLEGE: $1.8M → 16%CARDINAL HAYES HIGH SCHOOL: $1.9M → 28%THE MENNINGER CLINIC: $6.0M → 16%UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT: $1.2M → 9%UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT: $1.8M → 11%SCHOOL SEED FOUNDATION: $949k → 17%NATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY(NCWIT): $999k → 12%RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEWARK CAMPUS: $1.2M → 16%NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY: $1.9M → 9%MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE: $1.2M → 9%COLBY-SAWYER COLLEGE: $1.6M → 7%DANA FARBER CANCER CENTER: $1.9M → 16%COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE: $1.8M → 14%ITHACA COLLEGE: $1.2M → 16%COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: $1.1M → 17%CARDINAL HAYES HIGH SCHOOL: $1.9M → 28%UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT: $1.2M → 11%SCHOOL SEED FOUNDATION: $858k → 17%NATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (NCWIT): $913k → 12%RUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEWARK CAMPUS: $1.2M → 16%NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY: $1.9M → 9%MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE: $1.2M → 9%COLBY-SAWYER COLLEGE: $1.2M → 7%DANA-FARBER CANCER CENTER: $1.4M → 16%COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE: $1.2M → 14%ITHACA COLLEGE: $1.2M → 16%CARDINAL HAYES HIGH SCHOOL: $1.5M → 28%SCHOOL SEED FOUNDATION: $840k → 17%NATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: $624k → 12%NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY: $1.9M → 9%COLBY-SAWYER COLLEGE: $1.2M → 7%DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE: $1.4M → 16%COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE: $1.2M → 14%ITHACA COLLEGE: $1.1M → 16%CARDINAL HAYES HIGH SCHOOL: $1.4M → 28%NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY: $1.4M → 9%CARDINAL HAYES HIGH SCHOOL: $1.3M → 28%NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY: $1.4M → 9%CARDINAL HAYES HIGH SCHOOL: $1.1M → 28%NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY: $1.3M → 9%NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY: $690k → 9%AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $3.0M → 17%AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATIONAL HISTORY (AMNH): $1.1M → 17%AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $1.1M → 17%AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $1.1M → 17%IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS: $1.4M → 17%IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS (IJC): $654k → 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

VT
NH
WA
NY
MA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
WV
VA
TN
DC
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.
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 9% of The Helen Gurley Brown Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 39% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 30%.

The Helen Gurley Brown Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 11% 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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$77M · 19 repeat orgs$9.9M to everyone else

19 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

19
51

Total granted

$77M
$9.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+8%
+77%

Still filing today

63%
10%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $852k 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
EducationArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyCrime & LegalAnimalsOther
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

  • NS
    NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY
    7× · 2017–2024 · $15M · revenue +227% · 43% of their budget
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc
    4× · 2018–2024 · $7.0M · revenue +123%
  • TM
    THE MENNINGER CLINIC
    2× · 2017–2018 · $6.5M · revenue +14%

Funded once

  • IJ
    IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $1.4M · revenue +115%
  • AM
    AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATIONAL HISTORY
    one grant, 2020 · $1.1M
  • NC
    NATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
    one grant, 2022 · $913k
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
Manhattanville University

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

Education
2
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
3
Western New England University

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…

Education
4
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
5
Cornell University

Education, research, medical services and other public services.

Education
6
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
7
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
8
Boston Architectural College

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

—
9
DePauw University

Depauw university develops leaders the world needs through an uncommon commitment to the liberal arts. depauw's diverse and inclusive learning and living experience, distinctive in its rigorous intellectual engagement and its global and…

Education
10
Seton Hall University

Seton hall university is a catholic institution of higher education

—
11
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
12
University of Miami

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

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of New Haven; the most unlike its peers is Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc. 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

24 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. 24 of the 82 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
24/24
Grantees still filing
17/24
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CARDINAL HAYES HIGH SCHOOL: $9,020,862 · OtherCARDINAL HAYES HIGH SCHOOLUNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT: $4,303,085 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUTRUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEWARK CAMPUS: $2,358,750 · OtherRUTGERS UNIVERSITY-NEWARK CAMPUSTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $2,313,642 · OtherTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATI…IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS (IJC): $1,355,340 · OtherAMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATIONAL HISTORY (AMNH): $1,134,762 · Other+55 more: $7,965,758 · Other+55 moreITHACA COLLEGE: $5,279,572 · EducationITHACA COLLEGETHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $4,689,483 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVE…President and Fellows of Middlebury College: $4,362,856 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Middl…THE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE: $4,219,901 · EducationTHE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSEColby-Sawyer College: $4,190,135 · EducationColby-Sawyer CollegeTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $1,744,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE L…+6 more: $447,551 · EducationNORTHERN STAGE COMPANY: $15,244,395 · Arts & CultureNORTHERN STAGE COMPANYAmerican Museum of Natural History: $5,252,280 · Arts & CultureAmerican Museum of Natur…Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $7,020,646 · HealthDana-Farber Canc…THE MENNINGER CLINIC: $6,536,154 · HealthTHE MENNINGER CL…SchoolSeed Foundation: $2,847,487 · Philanthropy+1 more: $25,000 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: $1,623,193 · Youth DevelopmentIMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS INC: $1,350,000 · Crime & LegalOPEN DOOR LEGAL: $150,000 · Crime & Legal
Other$28,452,199Education$24,933,498Arts & Culture$20,496,675Health$13,556,800Philanthropy$2,872,487Youth Development$1,623,193Crime & Legal$1,500,000

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 budgetNORTHERN STAGE COMPANY: $15,244,395 over 7y, 43% of budgetDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $7,020,646 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE MENNINGER CLINIC: $6,536,154 over 2y, 10% of budgetITHACA COLLEGE: $5,279,572 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetAmerican Museum of Natural History: $5,252,280 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $4,689,483 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Middlebury College: $4,362,856 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetTHE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE: $4,219,901 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetColby-Sawyer College: $4,190,135 over 6y, 2.3% of budgetSchoolSeed Foundation: $2,847,487 over 4y, 26% of budgetTHE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $2,313,642 over 7y, 1.2% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $1,744,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: $1,623,193 over 2y, 15% of budgetIMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS INC: $1,350,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $216,950 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INC: $175,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetOPEN DOOR LEGAL: $150,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetThe George Washington University: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARSHALL PROJECT INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetRensselaer Polytechnic Institute: $38,872 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of New Haven: $36,088 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetADELPHI UNIVERSITY: $33,670 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAL STATE FULLERTON PHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSIENA UNIVERSITY: $21,971 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.

  • Who funds NORTHERN STAGE COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE MENNINGER CLINIC ↗
  • Who funds ITHACA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds American Museum of Natural History ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Middlebury College ↗
  • Who funds THE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE ↗
  • Who funds Colby-Sawyer College ↗
  • Who funds SchoolSeed Foundation ↗
  • Who funds THE STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL CENTER FOR WOMEN AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ↗
  • Who funds IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS INC ↗
  • Who funds ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI ↗
  • Who funds WILDLIFE CONSERVATION NETWORK INC ↗
  • Who funds OPEN DOOR LEGAL ↗

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.

Vanguard Charitable Endowment ProgramPA12.8× affinity8 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Helen Gurley Brown Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Helen Gurley Brown Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Northern Stage Company: 5% of income from government
  • University of New Haven: 2% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Middlebury College: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
5report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Helen Gurley Brown Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Helen Gurley Brown 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 82 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

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