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The Herbert and Patricia Lessow Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Herbert and Patricia Lessow Charitable 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.

$129k
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$65k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0191% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Philanthropy$135kHealth$67kYouth Development$65kHuman Services$32kInternational$23kEducation$19kFood & Nutrition$12kCommunity Improvement$4kOther$0
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k12 grants · $23k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $42k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $65k
$3,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$3k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LEOPOLD SCHEPP FOUNDATION$65,000
MVP BASKETBALL CAMP$18,500
PARENTS CENTER$12,000
JOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR INDIGENOUS$11,000
HEARTS AND HOMES FOR REFUGEES$5,000
WESTCHESTER YOUTH ALLIANCE$3,010
Individual grant recipient$3,000
PFIC$3,000
KEEP$2,205
PROJECT DARAJA$2,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA$1,000
UNION STREET SETTLEMENT HOUSE$1,000
WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE$1,000
FURNITURE SHAREHOUSE$1,000
KEEWAYDIN FOUNDATION$500
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 (FY20–25, $28k) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 11% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%SUNRISE ASSOCIATION: $4k → 6%RIP MEDICAL DEBT: $1k → 13%SUNRISE ASSOCIATION: $3k → 6%FURNITURE SHAREHOUSE: $500 → 9%PROJECT DARAJA: $2k → 13%SUNRISE ASSOCIATION: $2k → 6%SUNRISE ASSOCIATION: $1k → 6%HEARTS AND HOMES FOR REFUGEES: $5k → 9%HEARTS AND HOMES FOR REFUGEES: $5k → 9%HEARTS AND HOMES FOR REFUGEES: $2k → 9%FURNITURE SHAREHOUSE: $1k → 9%AFYA FOUNDATION: $2k → 9%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

ME
IL
NY
MA
NJ
CT
CA
VA
MD
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

80%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$399k · 15 repeat orgs$102k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

15 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
25

Total granted

$399k
$79k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+1%

Still filing today

67%
52%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 82% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $23k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesHealthPhilanthropyEducationCrime & LegalRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • LS
    Leopold Schepp Foundation
    6× · 2019–2025 · $175k · revenue +37%
  • PC
    PARENTS CENTER INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $27k · revenue +7%
  • MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $21k · revenue +20%

Funded once

  • JL
    JACOB L AND LEWIS FOX FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2019 · $15k · revenue -9%
  • UF
    UCSC FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $10k
  • C
    CITYMEALS-ON-WHEELS
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue -25%
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
Management Sciences for Health Inc

(msh) saves lives and improves the health of the world's poorest (see schedule o) and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.

International
2
Target Als Foundation Inc

Our mission is to break down barriers to als research to find effective treatments. by uniting academia, the pharma and biotech industry, government, venture capital, related nonprofits, and the als community, we aim to overcome the…

Education
3
New York Genome Center Inc

Operate a state-of-the-art, world-class genomic research center that creates and uses advanced genomics to understand the genetic basis of disease. for more information, see schedule o.

Health
4
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Leadership in the prevention, treatment, and cure of cancer through excellence, vision and cost effectiveness in patient care, outreach programs, research, and education.

Health
5
Jobsfirstnyc

Jobsfirstnyc's mission is to create and advance solutions that break down barriers and transform the systems supporting young adults and their communities in the pursuit of economic opportunities.

Youth Development
6
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
7
Justice Innovation Inc

The center for justice innovation is a non-profit organization that works to create a fair, effective, and humane justice system and build strong, thriving communities.

Crime & Legal
8
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc

The mission of dfci is to provide expert, compassionate, and equitable care to children, adults, and their families, while advancing the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of cancer and related diseases. we train new…

Health
9
Aim At Melanoma

Aim at melanoma (aim) is globally engaged and locally invested in advancing the battle against melanoma through innovative research, legislative reform, education, and patient and caregiver support. founded in 2004, aim at melanoma is the…

Health
10
Life Camps Incorporated

Provide youth and families, impacted by violence, tools to launch sustainable careers, avert incarceration, & optimize talent so that historically marginalized communities can make a social impact that improves life for our fellow global…

Crime & Legal
11
Brightfocus Foundation

Brightfocus foundation funds exceptional research worldwide to defeat alzheimer's disease, macular degeneration, and glaucoma and provides expert information on these heartbreaking diseases. please refer to schedule o for a complete…

Health
12
Movember Foundation

Please refer to schedule o

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Doe Fund Inc; the most unlike its peers is Leopold Schepp Foundation. 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

27 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. 27 of the 49 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/27
Grantees still filing
15/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MVP Basketball Camps Inc: $73,500 · OtherMVP Basketball Camps IncJOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR AMERICAN: $45,500 · OtherJOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR AMERICANJACOB L AND LEWIS FOX FOUNDATION: $15,000 · OtherJACOB L AND LEWIS FOX FOUNDATIONJOHNS HOPKINS CENTER FOR INDIGENOUS: $11,000 · OtherUCSC FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherFOX FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherWESTCHESTER YOUTH ALLIANCE INC: $9,010 · Other+27 more: $49,755 · Other+27 moreLeopold Schepp Foundation: $175,000 · PhilanthropyLeopold Schepp Foundation+1 more: $2,500 · PhilanthropyPARENTS CENTER INC: $27,000 · Crime & LegalPangea Legal Services: $2,000 · Crime & LegalHEARTS AND HOMES FOR REFUGEES: $12,000 · Human ServicesSUNRISE DAY CAMPS ASSOCIATION INC: $9,500 · Human ServicesPROJECT DARAJA: $2,000 · Human ServicesTHE AFYA FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $2,000 · Human ServicesFURNITURE SHAREHOUSE INC: $1,500 · Human ServicesMEDICAL DEBT RESOLUTION INC: $1,000 · Human ServicesMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $20,500 · InternationalSALUD Y CARINO INC: $5,000 · HealthAmerican Liver Foundation: $5,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $2,000 · HealthCITYMEALS-ON-WHEELS: $10,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$223,765Philanthropy$177,500Crime & Legal$29,000Human Services$28,000International$20,500Health$12,000Food & Nutrition$10,000

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 budgetLeopold Schepp Foundation: $175,000 over 6y, 6.1% of budgetMVP Basketball Camps Inc: $73,500 over 5y, 6.4% of budgetPARENTS CENTER INC: $27,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $20,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJACOB L AND LEWIS FOX FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetHEARTS AND HOMES FOR REFUGEES: $12,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetCITYMEALS-ON-WHEELS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSUNRISE DAY CAMPS ASSOCIATION INC: $9,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWESTCHESTER YOUTH ALLIANCE INC: $9,010 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetWESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSALUD Y CARINO INC: $5,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetAmerican Liver Foundation: $5,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCARNEGIE HILL NEIGHBORS INC: $4,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPROJECT DARAJA: $2,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetTHE AFYA FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPangea Legal Services: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE DOE FUND INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFURNITURE SHAREHOUSE INC: $1,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBACKYARD SPORTS CARES INC: $1,300 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMEDICAL DEBT RESOLUTION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPER SCHOLAS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE KEEWAYDIN FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAGAWAM COUNCIL: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetONEGOAL: $500 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.

National Philanthropi…Vanguard Charitable E…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
National Philanthropic TrustPA9.8× affinity7 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Herbert and Patricia Lessow Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Herbert and Patricia Lessow Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Wesleyan University: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
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.

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 49 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 Herbert and Patricia Lessow’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