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The Herman Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Herman 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.

$168k
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2025.

Youth Development$329kHealth$220kHuman Services$144kAnimals$130kCivil Rights$90kArts & Culture$75kPublic Safety & Disaster$75kEducation$64kOther$0
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $50k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $118k
$5,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$1.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
American Red Cross$30,000
Elisabethstift$23,836
Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now$23,790
World Central Kitchen Inc$15,000
Team Prime Time Inc$15,000
CASA of Los Angeles$10,000
First Star$5,000
School on Wheels Inc$5,000
A Sense of Home$5,000
Mr Holland's Opus Foundation$5,000
Giraffe Conservation Foundation$5,000
ALS Association Golden West Chapter$5,000
Puppies Behind Bars$5,000
Canine Companions for Independence$5,000
RedRover dba of United Animal Natio$5,000
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.

US giving: 72% of grant dollars ($848k). The need read here covers only this US portion; the 28% that went abroad ($330k) is mapped below.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $294k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 81% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%NEADS Inc: $5k → 11%ALDEA INC: $10k → 9%Canine Companions for Independence: $5k → 9%Puppies Behind Bars: $5k → 17%Natl Education for Assistance Dog S: $5k → 11%ALDEA INC: $10k → 9%Canine Companions for Independence: $5k → 9%Puppies Behind Bars: $5k → 17%Natl Education for Assistance Dog S: $5k → 11%ALDEA INC: $5k → 9%Canine Companions for Independence: $5k → 9%Puppies Behind Bars: $5k → 17%American Red Cross: $30k → 14%Natl Education for Assistance Dog S: $5k → 11%ALDEA INC: $5k → 9%Puppies Behind Bars: $5k → 17%American Red Cross: $15k → 14%Natl Education for Assistance Dog S: $5k → 11%ALDEA INC: $5k → 9%Puppies Behind Bars: $5k → 17%Natl Education for Assistance Dog S: $5k → 11%ALDEA INC: $5k → 9%Puppies Behind Bars: $5k → 17%Natl Education for Assistance Dog S: $5k → 11%Puppies Behind Bars: $5k → 17%Puppies Behind Bars: $5k → 17%Puppies Behind Bars: $5k → 17%A Sense of Home: $5k → 14%A Sense of Home: $5k → 14%A Sense of Home: $5k → 14%Canine Companions for Independence: $5k → 14%Canine Companions for Independence: $5k → 14%Canine Companions for Independence: $5k → 14%Canine Companions for Independence: $5k → 14%Canine Companions for Independence: $5k → 14%Canine Companions for Independence: $5k → 14%Lange Foundation: $5k → 14%Covenant House California: $5k → 14%Union Station Homeless Services: $5k → 14%Guide Dogs of America: $5k → 14%Guide Dogs of America: $5k → 14%Guide Dogs of America: $5k → 14%Guide Dogs of America: $5k → 14%Guide Dogs of America: $5k → 14%First Star: $5k → 14%First Star: $5k → 14%First Star: $5k → 14%First Star: $5k → 14%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.

Beyond the US: 28% of all-years giving ($330k)

1 country, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore
Germany$330k · 18 grants
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. International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same 990 filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain.
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 42% of The Herman Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 55% of the giving stays in CA; by stated purpose, 31%.

The Herman Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 21% 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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 24 repeat orgs$100k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +41% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

24 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
16

Total granted

$1.1M
$95k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+13%

Still filing today

83%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationHealthAnimalsYouth DevelopmentArts & CultureOther
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

  • TP
    TEAM PRIME TIME INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $135k · revenue +486%
  • CO
    CASA OF LOS ANGELES
    9× · 2017–2025 · $90k · revenue +131%
  • AN
    ALS Network
    9× · 2017–2025 · $45k · revenue +210%

Funded once

  • MU
    MAUI UNITED WAYgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue +188%
  • MAUI FOOD BANK INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $15k · revenue +138%
  • US
    UNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICESgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue +40%
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
Pet Orphans of Southern California

In addition to rescue and adoption, pet orphans provides a wide range of services including education, medical/financial, spay/neuter, and training assistance.

Animals
2
Marin Humane Society

Marin humane transforms lives through exceptional animal care, humane education, and advocacy. every day, marin humane inspires compassion and positive relationships between people and animals.

Animals
3
Los Angeles Conservation Corps

The la conservation corps creates equitable opportunities for young people to build resilience in themselves, their communities and the environment through a program of work, education and support.

Employment
4
La's Best

La's best provides free supervised before and after-school activities to over 15,000 children at 200 schools in los angeles unified school district (lausd).

Education
5
Mary's Shelter

Believing in the value of every life, mary's path empowers vulnerable teen mothers in foster care and their babies to create lives of dignity, hope and self-sufficiency.

Human Services
6
Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Spcala is dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to animals through education, law enforcement, intervention and advocacy.

Animals
7
Communities in Schools of Los Angeles Inc

To surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. we work with public school systems, establishing relationship with superintendents, principals, educators, and community partners to…

Youth Development
8
Los Angeles Youth Network

Youth Emerging Stronger (YES) empowers young people, between ages of 12 and 24 within Los Angeles County, including but not limited to run-away and homeless youth. YES mission is to end homelessness one youth at a time to become…

Human Services
9
Friends Outside in Los Angeles County

Assist prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families with the immediate and long-termeffects of incarceration and provide services for successful re-entry.

—
10
Santa Barbara Humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Santa barbara humane operates two campuses located in santa barbara and santa maria providing care for community-owned and homeless animals. both campuses offer affordable high quality veterinary care, compassionate behavior training…

Animals
11
The California Channel

To distribute public affairs and other educational information in order to create an electronic bridge between californians and their public officials, and, in the process educate a new generation of voting citizens and civic leaders who…

—
12
Los Angeles Regional Food Bank

The organization's mission is to mobilize resources to fight hunger in our community. to fulfill its mission, the food bank:* sources and acquires nutritious food and other products and distribute them to people experiencing nutrition…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Friends of the Children; the most unlike its peers is Last Chance for Animals. 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

36 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. 36 of the 41 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/36
Grantees still filing
26/36
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Elisabethstift: $165,072 · OtherElisabethstiftYehudi Menuhin Live Music Now: $165,054 · OtherYehudi Menuhin Live Music Now+13 more: $129,000 · Other+13 moreCANINE COMPANIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE INC: $45,000 · Human ServicesCANINE COMPANIONS FOR INDEPE…American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $45,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross …PUPPIES BEHIND BARS INC: $45,000 · Human ServicesPUPPIES BEHIND BARS INCALDEA INC: $40,000 · Human ServicesALDEA INCNEADS INC: $35,000 · Human ServicesNEADS INCInternational Guiding Eyes Inc DBA Guide Dogs of America: $25,000 · Human ServicesInternational Guiding Eyes I…FIRST STAR INC: $24,000 · Human ServicesFIRST STAR INCA SENSE OF HOME: $15,000 · Human Services+4 more: $20,000 · Human Services+4 moreTEAM PRIME TIME INC: $135,000 · Youth DevelopmentTEAM PRIME TI…HEART OF LOS ANGELES YOUTH INC: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentSCHOOL ON WHEELS INC: $45,000 · EducationSCHOOL ON …THE MR HOLLAND'S OPUS FOUNDATION: $40,000 · EducationTHE MR HOL…Coalition for Engaged Education: $10,000 · EducationCoalition …Harmony Project: $5,000 · EducationSCHOLARMATCH INC: $5,000 · Education9 DOTS COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER: $4,000 · EducationMY STUFF BAGS FOUNDATION: $4,000 · EducationCASA OF LOS ANGELES: $90,000 · Civil RightsALS Network: $45,000 · HealthA Light of Hope Support Center: $5,000 · HealthThe Other Bar Foundation: $2,000 · HealthWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $30,000 · International
Other$459,126Human Services$294,000Youth Development$140,000Education$113,000Civil Rights$90,000Health$52,000International$30,000

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 budgetTEAM PRIME TIME INC: $135,000 over 9y, 1.3% of budgetCASA OF LOS ANGELES: $90,000 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetALS Network: $45,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetCANINE COMPANIONS FOR INDEPENDENCE INC: $45,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $45,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPUPPIES BEHIND BARS INC: $45,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetSCHOOL ON WHEELS INC: $45,000 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetALDEA INC: $40,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE MR HOLLAND'S OPUS FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetNEADS INC: $35,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetInternational Guiding Eyes Inc DBA Guide Dogs of America: $25,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFIRST STAR INC: $24,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetA SENSE OF HOME: $15,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetMAUI UNITED WAY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetMAUI FOOD BANK INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPS ARTS: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED ANIMAL NATIONS DBA REDROVER: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCoalition for Engaged Education: $10,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTHE GENTLE BARN FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetDOGS FOR THE DEAF INC DBA DOGS FOR BETTER LIVES: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLOS ANGELES CONSERVANCY: $10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBEYOND BLINDNESS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHarmony Project: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSCHOLARMATCH INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLANGE FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLast Chance for Animals: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE WOODEN FLOOR FOR YOUTH MOVEMENT: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetA Light of Hope Support Center: $5,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetUNITED FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHEART OF LOS ANGELES YOUTH INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget9 DOTS COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER: $4,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMY STUFF BAGS FOUNDATION: $4,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Other Bar Foundation: $2,000 over 1y, 3.9% 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.

California Community …The Ahmanson Foundati…Weingart FoundationThe Annenberg Foundat…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Rose Hills Founda…The Ralph M Parsons F…Liberty Hill Foundati…Marin Community Found…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Morgan Stanley Global…American Endowment Fo…
California Community FoundationCA15.8× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: California Community Foundation · The Ahmanson Foundation · Weingart Foundation · The Annenberg Foundation · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Rose Hills Foundation · The Ralph M Parsons Foundation · Liberty Hill Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · American Endowment 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 Herman Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Herman Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Neads Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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 41 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 Herman’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