Skip to content
The Hermes Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Hermes Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$76k
Granted FY2025still arriving
27
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$29k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$157kReligion$49kCivil Rights$13kInternational$8kHealth$5kAnimals$4kFood & Nutrition$3kHousing & Shelter$3kOther$0
02FY2025 · 27 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k26 grants · $47k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $29k
$1,200
Median grant
7
States reached
$831k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART$29,000
ST PAUL'S CLEVELAND HEIGHTS$7,500
LITERARY CLEVELAND$5,000
LAMBDA LEGAL$5,000
Individual grant recipient$3,000
MED GLOBAL$3,000
NORTHEAST OHIO COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS$3,000
GREATER CLEVELAND FOOD BANK$2,500
GLBT HISTORICAL SOCIETY$2,000
ACLU FOUNDATION$2,000
ROYAL OAK FOUNDATION$1,500
IDEASTREAM$1,500
ST JAMES PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH$1,200
CLEVELAND CHAMBER CHOIR$1,200
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS USA$1,000
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 (FY20–25, $9k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CITY OF ASYLUM: $3k → 11%CITY OF ASYLUM: $3k → 11%NORTHEAST OHIO COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS: $3k → 17%HOSPICE OF THE WESTERN RESERVE: $100 → 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

MN
IL
NY
IA
OH
PA
CA
CO
VA
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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$219k · 23 repeat orgs$31k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against -1% for those funded once.

23 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 13 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
14

Total granted

$219k
$9k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
-1%

Still filing today

78%
29%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 71% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $22k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthEnvironmentCivil RightsPublic Safety & DisasterOther
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

  • CM
    CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART
    6× · 2020–2025 · $99k · revenue +23%
  • TR
    THE ROYAL OAK FOUNDATION INC
    3× · 2020–2025 · $22k · revenue +92%
  • LC
    Literary Cleveland
    4× · 2021–2025 · $8k · revenue +102%

Funded once

  • FO
    FRIENDS OF MUSIC ST PAUL'S CHURCH
    one grant, 2024 · $2k
  • LF
    LEAD FOR EARTH
    one grant, 2023 · $1k
  • LC
    LGBT CENTER OF GREATER CLEVELAND
    one grant, 2024 · $1k
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
The Musical Arts Association

The Cleveland Orchestra inspires and enriches lives by creating extraordinary musical experiences at the highest level of artistic excellence.

Arts & Culture
2
Akron Art Museum

To enrich lives through modern and contemporary art.

Arts & Culture
3
Western Reserve Historical Society

Western reserve historical society preserves and uses its collections, historic sites, and museums to inspire people to discover the american experience by exploring the tangible history of northeast ohio.

Arts & Culture
4
The Central European University

Ceu is committed to promoting the values of open society and self-reflective critical thinking. it aims at excellence in the mastery of established knowledge, courage to pursue the creation of new knowledge in the humanities, the social…

International
5
Dunham Tavern Museum & Gardens

To preserve, develop, and share historic dunham tavern and its campus as an educational and cultural resource. we aspire for dunham tavern as an institution to provide an urban green space in midtown cleveland, and to return the tavern to…

Arts & Culture
6
Shaker Museum and Library

Shaker museum elevates shaker material culture to animate shaker values and beliefs and inspire individuals and communities to deepen bonds and seek meaningful approaches to social, economic, environmental, and spiritual issues.

Arts & Culture
7
Cincinnati Museum Center

Cincinnati museum center inspires people of all ages to learn more about our world through science, regional history, and educational, engaging and meaningful experiences.

Arts & Culture
8
Cleveland Museum of Natural History

To inspire, through science and education, a passion for nature, the protection of natural diversity, the fostering of health, and leadership to a sustainable future.

Arts & Culture
9
The Architectural League of New York

The architectural league of new york supports critically transformative work in the allied fields that shape the built environment. as a vital, independent forum, the league stimulates thinking, debate, and action on today's (continued on…

—
10
The Jewish Museum

The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.

Arts & Culture
11
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
12
Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland

Moca's mission- art now, in progress - embodies our nature as a living, adaptive platform for artistic experimentation, public exchange, and civic connection. our vision - artists & art lead us to the unfamiliar, where we open and connect…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is City of Asylum; the most unlike its peers is Tappan Lake Volunteer Fire Department 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

28 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. 28 of the 50 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
27/28
Grantees still filing
17/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART: $99,000 · Arts & CultureCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ARTTHE ROYAL OAK FOUNDATION INC: $21,500 · Arts & CultureTHE ROYAL OAK FOUNDATION INCCLEVELAND CHAMBER CHOIR: $5,200 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $6,575 · Arts & CultureST PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH: $28,000 · OtherST PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCHST PAUL'S CLEVELAND HEIGHTS: $7,500 · OtherST PAUL'S CLEVELAND HEIGHTSTHE BISHOPS ANNUAL APPEAL: $6,500 · OtherTHE BISHOPS ANNUAL APPEALGay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society: $4,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $3,000 · OtherPEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS INC: $3,000 · OtherGREATER CLEVELAND FOOD BANK INC: $3,000 · Other+24 more: $20,610 · Other+24 moreLAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND INC: $10,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 · Civil RightsLiterary Cleveland: $8,000 · EducationJohn Carroll University: $1,000 · EducationCITY OF ASYLUM: $5,500 · Human ServicesNORTHEAST OHIO COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS: $3,000 · Human Services+1 more: $100 · Human ServicesMedGlobal Inc: $4,500 · HealthURSULINE PIAZZA: $3,500 · HealthIDEASTREAM: $5,200 · Youth Development
Arts & Culture$132,275Other$75,610Civil Rights$12,000Education$9,000Human Services$8,600Health$8,000Youth Development$5,200

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 budgetCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART: $99,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ROYAL OAK FOUNDATION INC: $21,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetLAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLiterary Cleveland: $8,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetCITY OF ASYLUM: $5,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCLEVELAND CHAMBER CHOIR: $5,200 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetIDEASTREAM: $5,200 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMedGlobal Inc: $4,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society: $4,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetURSULINE PIAZZA: $3,500 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetPEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CLEVELAND FOOD BANK INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCLEVELAND RESTORATION SOCIETY INC: $2,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMUSIC AND ART AT TRINITY CATHEDRAL INC: $2,100 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DECORATIVE ARTS TRUST: $1,050 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetJohn Carroll University: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHAKER LAKES REGIONAL NATURE CENTER DBA NATURE CENTER AT SHAKER LAKES: $750 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHAKER HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $425 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARGONAUT: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORWEGIAN-AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOC: $250 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.

The Cleveland Foundat…The George Gund Found…Higley Fund of the Cl…The Char and Chuck Fo…Charities Aid Foundat…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Cleveland FoundationOH20.8× affinity8 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Cleveland Foundation · The George Gund Foundation · Higley Fund of the Cleveland Foundation · The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation · Charities Aid Foundation America · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Hermes Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Hermes Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 50 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 Hermes’ 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