· Private foundation
The Helena Foundation Inc
Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2023.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE DOVANA FOUNDATION INC | $1,330,140 |
| THE MHE FOUNDATIONINC | $1,330,140 |
| THE BLUE WATERS FOUNDATION INC | $1,330,140 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 32% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
42 repeat relationships — 0 still active in FY2023, 42 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.0M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
- LHLUMINIS HEALTH ANNE ARUNDEL MEDICAL CENTER INC6× · 2017–2022 · $2.4M · revenue +40%
- HAHISTORIC ANNAPOLIS INC6× · 2017–2022 · $1.4M · revenue +144%
- EPENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY6× · 2017–2022 · $1.3M · revenue +37%
Funded once
- TETHE EARL FAMILY CHARITABLE FUNDone grant, 2022 · $101k
- HHHAMMOND-HARWOOD HOUSEone grant, 2022 · $25k
- AFAMERICAN FRIENDS OF HUMBOLDT FOUNDATIONone grant, 2018 · $5k
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
The annapolis maritime museum educates youth and adults about the annapolis areas rich maritime heritage and the ecology of the chesapeake bay through programs, exhibits, and community events. continued on schedule o
Classic Theatre of Marylands mission is to produce bold re-imagined entertaining and accessible interpretations of classical works contemporary plays and musicals with a core commitment to the works of Shakespeare and other major…
Opera baltimore creates a thrilling, meaningful shared experience between our audience and our artists. our streamlined format focuses on the primary element of opera: the unamplified human voice. featuring top flight professional opera…
See schedule o.inspired by our home city, baltimore center stage acts as a cultural catalyst for all communities to access theater in every form and engage in compelling conversations. programming: capture the collective imagination and…
To restore the quality of baltimore's rivers, streams and harbor to foster a healthy environment, a strong economy, and thriving communities.
Potomac conservancy safeguards the land and waters of the potomac river and its tributaries and connects people to this national treasure.
Our mission is to inspire young artists and ensure an everlasting love of dance. GAB provides a healthy and nourishing environment with a strong focus on classical ballet, while exploring other techniques to shape well-rounded dancers. We…
The mission of maryland opera, inc is (1) the promotion, production and performance in a variety of venues, of live opera experiences to audiences of all ages and backgrounds, (11) the creation and continuation of opera education and…
Chesapeake bay trust is a public, nonprofit grant-making organization created to promote public awareness of and participation in the restoration and protection of the chesapeake bay and its tributaries. (see schedule o for continuation)…
Shriver hall concert series's mission is to enrich the baltimore community through outstanding chamber music and recital experiences.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Forever Maryland Inc and the most unlike its peers is The Blue Waters Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
Your grantees are a median of 42 years old; the field is 19. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.
The field is 20% startups (under 5 years old) — 0% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.
The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 12% of the field you don’t fund.
Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.
30 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 30 of the 49 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds LUMINIS HEALTH ANNE ARUNDEL MEDICAL CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds Massachusetts Institute of Technology ↗
- Who funds HISTORIC ANNAPOLIS INC ↗
- Who funds THE BLUE WATERS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds THE DOVANA FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY OF BALTIMORE CITY ↗
- Who funds WHEELOCK COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND ↗
- Who funds CHESAPEAKE CONSERVANCY INC ↗
- Who funds EASTERN SHORE LAND CONSERVANCY INC ↗
- Who funds ANNAPOLIS OPERA COMPANY ↗
- Who funds SCENIC RIVERS LAND TRUST INC ↗
- Who funds ST JOHN'S COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds ANNAPOLIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA INC ↗
- Who funds ARTS COUNCIL OF ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY INC ↗
- Who funds FOREVER MARYLAND INC ↗
- Who funds THE SEVERN RIVER ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds FOUNDRY GALLERY LTD ↗
- Who funds Ballet Theatre of Maryland Inc ↗
- Who funds LAND TRUST ALLIANCE INC ↗
- Who funds CHESAPEAKE ARTS CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds CREATING COMMUNITIES CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds Lyric Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds CHESAPEAKE LEGAL ALLIANCE INC ↗
- Who funds MARYLAND FEDERATION OF ART INC ↗
- Who funds EXPLORATION SCHOOL INC ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Community Foundation of Anne Arundel Co · Arts Council of Anne Arundel County Inc · Norman J Fisher and Doris Fisher Foundation · The Jm Kaplan Fund Inc · Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation · The Mhe Foundation Inc · The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment Inc · Schuh Family Foundation Inc · Dea Code Family Foundation Inc · The Dealy Foundation Inc · Chesapeake Bay Trust · Land Trust Alliance Inc
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization The Helena Foundation Inc funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal, a single department, or state — and drag the year to watch it move.
- Eastern Shore Land Conservancy Inc — 100% of income from government
- Seeds 4 Success Inc — 48% of income from government
- Historic Annapolis Inc — 45% of income from government
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology — 35% of income from government
- Arts Council of Anne Arundel County Inc — 33% of income from government
- Chesapeake Conservancy Inc — 27% of income from government
- Chesapeake Arts Center Inc — 7% of income from government
- Ballet Theatre of Maryland Inc — 6% of income from government
- Lyric Foundation Inc — 6% of income from government
- Chesapeake Bay Foundation Inc — 2% of income from government
- St John's College — 2% of income from government
- Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center Inc — 0% of income from government
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.