Skip to content
The Helis Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Helis Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$2.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
62
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$554k
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 2024.

Arts & Culture$9.8MPhilanthropy$655kHealth$434kFood & Nutrition$356kPublic Benefit$220kYouth Development$199kEnvironment$188kRecreation & Sports$155kOther$0
02FY2024 · 62 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k16 grants · $54k
  • $10k–50k32 grants · $619k
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $913k
  • $250k+2 grants · $808k
$18,500
Median grant
6
States reached
$83M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art$554,486
New Orleans Museum of Art$254,000
US Biennial Inc$150,000
United Way of Southeast Louisiana$125,000
Arts Council of New Orleans$110,000
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Foundation$109,500
Louisiana Children's Museum$60,000
Friends of WWOZ Inc$55,000
Preservation Resource Center$53,500
Ochsner Clinic Foundation$50,000
WWNO 899$50,000
The National World War II Museum$50,000
Second Harvester of Greater NO & Acadiana$50,000
Rivers Institute for Contemporary & Thought$50,000
Newcomb Art Museum$40,000
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 (FY20–24, $50k) land where the poverty rate runs at 23%, against an area that typically sits at 14%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 14%Urban League of Greater New Orleans: $10k → 23%Urban League of Louisiana: $10k → 23%Urban League of Greater New Orleans: $10k → 23%Urban League of Louisiana: $10k → 23%Urban League of Greater New Orleans: $10k → 23%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

IL
NY
PA
NJ
CT
CO
LA
MS
TX
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$12M · 63 repeat orgs$470k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +25% since the first grant, against +19% for those funded once.

63 repeat relationships: 50 still active in FY2024, 13 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

63
27

Total granted

$12M
$358k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+19%

Still filing today

75%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $112k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHealthEducationCrime & LegalInternationalCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • OM
    OGDEN MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN ART
    5× · 2020–2024 · $3.7M · revenue +35% · 26% of their budget
  • NO
    NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +22%
  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA
    5× · 2020–2024 · $638k · revenue +23%

Funded once

  • KA
    Kemper and Lelia Williams Foundation
    one grant, 2020 · $75k
  • CC
    Catholic Charities of Southeast Louisiana
    one grant, 2020 · $50k
  • CP
    CITY PARK CONSERVANCY
    2× · 2023–2024 · $50k · revenue +14%
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
Louisiana Alliance for Nonprofits

To strengthen, promote, and build the capacity of louisiana's nonprofit sector through education, advocacy, and member services.

Philanthropy
2
University of New Orleans Foundation

The University of New Orleans Foundation's mission is to promote the well-being and advancement of the University of New Orleans and all the colleges, schools, departments, and divisions comprising it, and to develop, expand, and improve…

Education
3
New Orleans Public Library Foundation

Support of the city of new orleans library system and city wide literacy efforts through parnter organizations, community organizations and initiatives including fundraising and expending funds to supplement library operations.

Education
4
Lsu Health Foundation New Orleans

The mission of the foundation is to inspire donors to invest in the lsu health sciences center - new orleans ("hsc-no") and its future, to properly steward those contributions, and to help meet the ever evolving needs of the lsuhsc-no by…

Health
5
University of New Orleans Research and Technology Foundation Inc

-To support any and all programs, facilities, research, and educational opportunities offered by the University of New Orleans and the University of Louisiana System.-To encourage teaching, research, scholarship, and services, and increase…

Health
6
Invest in Louisiana

To provide sound analysis of state fiscal issues to promote economic prosperity, a rising standard of living, and the opportunity for all citizens to reach their highest potential.

Public Benefit
7
Lsu Research Foundation
Community Improvement
8
New Orleans Startup Fund Inc

The new orleans startup fund is a seed capital fund established by the greater new orleans businesses and financial leaders to accelerate the growth of early-stage, innovative businesses into venture-ready companies. the startup funds'…

Community Improvement
9
Greater New Orleans Development Foundation

To foster regional economic development and create quality jobs within the metropolitan new orleans area.

Community Improvement
10
Us Biennial Inc

Prospect New Orleans is a citywide contemporary art triennial. Every three years, we bring new art to an old city by inviting artists from all over the world to create projects in a wide variety of venues spread throughout New Orleans.…

Arts & Culture
11
Lsu Foundation

The lsu foundation cultivates and invests in philanthropic partnerships to support and advance lsu's academic priorities.

Education
12
Loyola University

Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit and Catholic institution of higher education, welcomes students of diverse backgrounds and prepares them to lead meaningful lives with and for others; to pursue truth, wisdom, and virtue; and to work…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities; the most unlike its peers is The National World War Ii Museum 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

65 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. 65 of the 103 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)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
64/65
Grantees still filing
42/65
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

OGDEN MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN ART: $3,667,367 · Arts & CultureOGDEN MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN ARTNEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART: $1,296,053 · Arts & CultureNEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ARTLOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES: $439,049 · Arts & CultureLOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIESArts Council of New Orleans: $410,000 · Arts & CultureContemporary Arts Center: $355,680 · Arts & CultureLOUISIANA CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $313,200 · Arts & CultureNEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL AND FOUNDATION INC: $279,000 · Arts & Culture+18 more: $1,381,160 · Arts & Culture+18 moreUS Biennial Inc: $577,500 · OtherUS Biennial IncSecond Harvester of Greater NO & Acadiana: $400,000 · OtherSecond Harvester of Greater …Preservation Resource Center: $264,500 · OtherPreservation Resource CenterWWNO 899: $200,000 · OtherWWNO 899NEW ORLEANS BOTANICAL GARDEN FOUNDATION: $178,079 · OtherNEW ORLEANS BOTANICAL GARDEN…Rivers Institute for Contemporary & Thought: $155,000 · OtherBUREAU OF GOVERNMENTAL RESEARCH INC: $125,000 · OtherYOUNG ASPIRATIONS YOUNG ARTISTS INC: $110,000 · Other+47 more: $1,232,000 · Other+47 moreUNITED WAY OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA: $637,500 · PhilanthropyCATHOLIC FOUNDATION OF SOUTH LOUISIANA: $50,000 · Philanthropy+1 more: $17,500 · PhilanthropyOCHSNER CLINIC FOUNDATION: $150,000 · HealthBRIDGE HOUSE CORPORATION: $115,574 · HealthMARY BIRD PERKINS CANCER CENTER: $40,000 · HealthNATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $40,000 · HealthCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL INC: $37,920 · HealthTOURO INFIRMARY FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Health+4 more: $4,600 · HealthLIBERTY'S KITCHEN INC: $50,000 · EducationUNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND INC: $50,000 · EducationTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $10,000 · EducationTHE POSSE FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · EducationYOUNG LEADERSHIP COUNCIL INC: $5,000 · EducationCrimestoppers Inc: $50,000 · Crime & LegalNEW ORLEANS POLICE AND JUSTICE FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · Crime & LegalCOURT WATCH NOLA: $9,000 · Crime & LegalPELICAN INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY: $50,000 · Public BenefitPUBLIC AFFAIRS RESEARCH COUNCIL OF ICIC A: $20,000 · Public Benefit
Arts & Culture$8,141,509Other$3,242,079Philanthropy$705,000Health$408,094Education$125,000Crime & Legal$84,000Public Benefit$70,000

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 budgetOGDEN MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN ART: $3,667,367 over 5y, 26% of budgetNEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART: $1,296,053 over 5y, 3.3% of budgetUNITED WAY OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA: $637,500 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetLOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES: $439,049 over 5y, 5.1% of budgetArts Council of New Orleans: $410,000 over 5y, 6.6% of budgetContemporary Arts Center: $355,680 over 5y, 4.6% of budgetLOUISIANA CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $313,200 over 5y, 2.1% of budgetNEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL AND FOUNDATION INC: $279,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetTHE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM INC: $255,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNEW ORLEANS BOTANICAL GARDEN FOUNDATION: $178,079 over 5y, 20% of budgetNEW ORLEANS CENTER FOR CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION: $178,000 over 5y, 2.1% of budgetNew Orleans Ballet Association: $175,000 over 5y, 3.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF WWOZ INC: $175,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetOCHSNER CLINIC FOUNDATION: $150,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBUREAU OF GOVERNMENTAL RESEARCH INC: $125,000 over 4y, 4.7% of budgetBRIDGE HOUSE CORPORATION: $115,574 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetYOUNG ASPIRATIONS YOUNG ARTISTS INC: $110,000 over 5y, 5.4% of budgetYoung Audiences of Louisiana Inc: $92,500 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetTennessee WilliamsNew Orleans Literary Festival: $91,500 over 5y, 7.2% of budgetKID SMART: $89,250 over 5y, 2.2% of budgetFRENCH QUARTER FESTIVALS INC: $87,410 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetDANCING GROUNDS: $75,000 over 5y, 3.5% of budgetNEW ORLEANS AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF ART CULTURE AND HISTORY: $65,000 over 4y, 4.3% of budgetJunior Achievement of Greater New Orleans Inc: $62,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetARC ATHENS INC: $60,000 over 4y, 12% of budgetLIBERTY'S KITCHEN INC: $50,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetCATHOLIC FOUNDATION OF SOUTH LOUISIANA: $50,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetCITY PARK CONSERVANCY: $50,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetPELICAN INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY: $50,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetURBAN LEAGUE OF LOUISIANA: $50,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCrimestoppers Inc: $50,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetUNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND INC: $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF CITY PARK: $45,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetMARY BIRD PERKINS CANCER CENTER: $40,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $40,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ELLA PROJECT: $40,000 over 4y, 5.5% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL INC: $37,920 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA TRUST FUND #214: $33,500 over 5y, 4.3% of budgetNEW ORLEANS POLICE AND JUSTICE FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetCOMMITTEE FOR A BETTER NEW ORLEANS: $25,000 over 4y, 9.3% of budgetMETROPOLITAN CRIME COMMISSION INC: $25,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetTHE VAIL JAZZ FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 4y, 11% of budgetThe Louisiana Museum Foundation: $25,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetPUBLIC AFFAIRS RESEARCH COUNCIL OF ICIC A: $20,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetTOURO INFIRMARY FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetSHARE OUR STRENGTH: $20,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE GREATER NEW ORLEANS FOUNDATION: $17,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMISTAD RESEARCH CENTER: $11,000 over 2y, 0.7% 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 OGDEN MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN ART ↗
  • Who funds NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA ↗
  • Who funds LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES ↗
  • Who funds Arts Council of New Orleans ↗
  • Who funds Contemporary Arts Center ↗
  • Who funds LOUISIANA CHILDRENS MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL AND FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW ORLEANS BOTANICAL GARDEN FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NEW ORLEANS CENTER FOR CREATIVE ARTS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds New Orleans Ballet Association ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF WWOZ INC ↗
  • Who funds OCHSNER CLINIC FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BUREAU OF GOVERNMENTAL RESEARCH INC ↗
  • Who funds BRIDGE HOUSE CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds YOUNG ASPIRATIONS YOUNG ARTISTS INC ↗
  • Who funds Young Audiences of Louisiana Inc ↗
  • Who funds Tennessee WilliamsNew Orleans Literary Festival ↗
  • Who funds KID SMART ↗
  • Who funds FRENCH QUARTER FESTIVALS INC ↗
  • Who funds DANCING GROUNDS ↗
  • Who funds NEW ORLEANS AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF ART CULTURE AND HISTORY ↗
  • Who funds Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans Inc ↗
  • Who funds ARC ATHENS INC ↗
  • Who funds LIBERTY'S KITCHEN INC ↗
  • Who funds CATHOLIC FOUNDATION OF SOUTH LOUISIANA ↗
  • Who funds CITY PARK CONSERVANCY ↗

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.

Goldring Family Found…Baptist Community Min…Eugenie & Joseph Jone…Keller Family Foundat…The Greater New Orlea…Patrick F Taylor Foun…Gayle and Tom Benson …Ella West Freeman Fou…Gustaf Westfeldt McIl…The Usdin-Weil Founda…Woldenberg FoundationLouise H Moffett Fami…
Goldring Family FoundationLA69.4× affinity31 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Goldring Family Foundation · Baptist Community Ministries · Eugenie & Joseph Jones Family Foundation · Keller Family Foundation · The Greater New Orleans Foundation · Patrick F Taylor Foundation · Gayle and Tom Benson Charitable Foundation · Ella West Freeman Foundation · Gustaf Westfeldt McIlhenny Family Founda · The Usdin-Weil Foundation · Woldenberg Foundation · Louise H Moffett Family 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 Helis Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Helis Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Shatterproof a Nonprofit Corporation: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
16report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 Helis Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Helis 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 103 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

Play a game based on Helis’ 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