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The Hershey Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Hershey Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$563k
Granted FY2024still arriving
24
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$300k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$5.7MArts & Culture$648kEnvironment$140kHuman Services$128kAnimals$105kHealth$105kRecreation & Sports$104kInternational$100kOther$0
02FY2024 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k14 grants · $58k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $155k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
  • $250k+1 grant · $300k
$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$13M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HERSHEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL$300,000
MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS$50,000
HOLDEN FORESTS & GARDENS$25,000
CLEVELAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY$25,000
RUFFING MONTESSORI SCHOOL$25,000
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY$20,000
CLEVELAND COUNCIL ON WORLD AFFAIRS$20,000
CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC$20,000
CLEVELAND FOUNDRY$10,000
CLEVELAND METROPARKS$10,000
FOOTPATH FOUNDATION$5,000
SHOES AND CLOTHES FOR KIDS$5,000
FUND FOR THE FUTURE OF HEIGHTS LIBRARIES$5,000
UNIVERSITY CIRCLE INC$5,000
RE SOURCE CLEVELAND$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.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $743k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 53% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $250k → 6%MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $100k → 6%FAMILY CONNECTIONS OF NORTHEAST OHIO: $3k → 17%REFUGEE RESPONSE: $10k → 17%RE SOURCE CLEVELAND: $5k → 17%MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $75k → 17%MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $75k → 17%MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $50k → 17%MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $50k → 17%MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $42k → 17%MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $28k → 17%SHOES AND CLOTHES FOR KIDS: $5k → 17%MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $50k → 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.
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.2M · 37 repeat orgs$987k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against -2% for those funded once.

37 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2024, 22 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

37
32

Total granted

$6.2M
$945k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
-2%

Still filing today

76%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $42k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesEnvironmentReligionOther
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

  • HM
    HERSHEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL
    8× · 2017–2024 · $4.0M · revenue +343%
  • CM
    CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
    8× · 2017–2024 · $160k · revenue +31%
  • CZ
    CLEVELAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
    4× · 2018–2024 · $105k · revenue +68%

Funded once

  • MD
    MONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPSSTONEBROOK MONTESSORI
    one grant, 2019 · $500k
  • M
    MDP
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • GS
    GROSS SCHECHTER DAY SCHOOLgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +48%
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
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
2
Cleveland Leadership Center

The mission of cleveland leadership center (the organization) is to build a continuum of civic leaders committed to our community's excellence by serving as a catalyst for civic engagement. the organization achieves its mission by…

Education
3
Center for Arts-Inspired Learning

Cal champions creative learning, drives educational innovation, and transforms lives through collaborative efforts involving teaching artists, students, educators, and communities.

Education
4
The City Club of Cleveland

The city club of cleveland's mission is to create conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive. we do this in pursuit of our vision of strong, informed individuals and communities that prize freedom of speech and civil, civic…

Education
5
Fuchs Mizrachi Schools

The mission of fuchs mizrachi school is to educate each child in the orthodox jewish religious zionist tradition, imbued with the love of g-d, torah, people and the land of israel.

—
6
Hebrew Academy of Cleveland

The mission of the hebrew academy is to imbue all students with a love of god, torah and eretz yisroel and to prepare them to achieve excellence in torah and general knowledge based on successful cooperation among family, judaic and…

—
7
Ballet Metropolitan Inc

Balletmet will celebrate dance by engaging the community through quality performances, instruction, education programs, and creation of new work.

Arts & Culture
8
Hope for Cleveland's Children
—
9
Cleveland Pops Orchestra

The cleveland pops orchestra, led by conductor carl topilow, performs the highest quality symphonic pops music to entertain and enrich a wide and diverse audience and provides educational programs to develop an enduring appreciation of…

Arts & Culture
10
Community Learning Center Institute

Clci facilitates the ongoing engagement of the greater cincinnati community to promote the development of all schools as community learning centers, each with a set of financially self-sustaining, co-located community partners.

Education
11
Literary Cleveland

Literary Cleveland assists writers and readers at all stages of development, promotes new and existing literature of the highest quality, and advances Northeast Ohio as a vital center of diverse voices and visions.

Education
12
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Inc

Born from the collision of rhythm & blues, country, and gospel, rock & roll is a spirit that is inclusive and ever-changing. the rock & roll hall of fame celebrates the sound of youth culture and honors the artists whose music connects us…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Family Connections of Northeast Ohio; the most unlike its peers is International Montessori Training Institute of Ohio. 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

56 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. 56 of the 79 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
55/56
Grantees still filing
30/56
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HERSHEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $3,960,000 · OtherHERSHEY MONTESSORI SCHOOLMONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPSSTONEBROOK MONTESSORI: $500,000 · OtherMONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPSSTONEBROOK MONTESSORI+46 more: $1,065,000 · Other+46 moreMONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $720,000 · Human ServicesMONTESSORI …+3 more: $22,500 · Human ServicesCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $160,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF CLEVELAND: $78,000 · Arts & CultureThe Musical Arts Association: $35,000 · Arts & CultureCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART: $15,000 · Arts & CultureThe Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage: $15,000 · Arts & CultureCITYMUSIC CLEVELAND INC: $13,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $29,500 · Arts & CultureCLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC: $60,000 · EducationRUFFING MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $50,000 · EducationHAWKEN SCHOOL: $30,000 · EducationCLEVELAND MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $25,000 · EducationFRIENDS OF BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS: $25,000 · EducationCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $15,000 · EducationEDWINS LEADERSHIP & RESTAURANT INSTITUTE: $15,000 · EducationCLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Education+2 more: $10,500 · EducationCLEVELAND BOTANICAL GARDEN: $50,000 · EnvironmentSHAKER LAKES REGIONAL NATURE CENTER DBA NATURE CENTER AT SHAKER LAKES: $35,000 · EnvironmentWESTERN RESERVE LAND CONSERVANCY: $30,000 · EnvironmentCONSERVANCY FOR CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL PARK: $5,000 · EnvironmentCLEVELAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $105,000 · AnimalsCLEVELAND COUNCIL ON WORLD AFFAIRS: $100,000 · International
Other$5,525,000Human Services$742,500Arts & Culture$345,500Education$240,500Environment$120,000Animals$105,000International$100,000

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 budgetHERSHEY MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $3,960,000 over 8y, 23% of budgetMONTESSORI DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIPS: $720,000 over 6y, 40% of budgetCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $160,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetCLEVELAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $105,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCLEVELAND COUNCIL ON WORLD AFFAIRS: $100,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF CLEVELAND: $78,000 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetIDEASTREAM: $60,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC: $60,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL MONTESSORI TRAINING INSTITUTE OF OHIO: $60,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetFLYING HORSE FARMS: $50,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetRUFFING MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $50,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetCLEVELAND BOTANICAL GARDEN: $50,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetELEANOR B RAINEY MEMORIAL INSTITUTE: $42,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetPROVIDENCE HOUSE INC: $40,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetUNIVERSITY CIRCLE INCORPORATED: $38,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetThe Musical Arts Association: $35,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSHAKER LAKES REGIONAL NATURE CENTER DBA NATURE CENTER AT SHAKER LAKES: $35,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CLEVELAND: $30,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetHAWKEN SCHOOL: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWESTERN RESERVE LAND CONSERVANCY: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetYOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF CLEVELAND OHIO: $30,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetGROSS SCHECHTER DAY SCHOOL: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MONTESSORI SCHOOL: $25,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetURBAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFRIENDS OF BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLUTHERAN METROPOLITAN MINISTRY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRESOURCE CLEVELAND: $15,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetEDWINS LEADERSHIP & RESTAURANT INSTITUTE: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCITYMUSIC CLEVELAND INC: $13,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetCLEVELAND FOUNDRY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetBECK CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetGIRL SCOUTS OF NORTH EAST OHIO: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFAMICOS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT: $9,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCLEVELAND KIDS' BOOK BANK: $5,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF NORTHEAST OHIO: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHATTIE LARLHAM FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCONSERVANCY FOR CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL PARK: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHOES AND CLOTHES FOR KIDS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAPOLLO'S FIRE BAROQUE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDIVERSITY CENTER OF NORTHEAST OHIO: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFOOTPATH FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetNATIONAL CENTER FOR FAMILY PHILANTHROPY INC: $5,000 over 5y, 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 Char and Chuck Fo…The George Gund Found…Jewish Federation of …Dominion Energy Chari…The Reinberger Founda…Higley Fund of the Cl…Martha Holden Jenning…Treu Mart FundThe Abington Foundati…Thomas H White Fdn TaThe Louise H & David …
The Cleveland FoundationOH65.7× affinity33 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Cleveland Foundation · The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation · The George Gund Foundation · Jewish Federation of Cleveland · Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation · The Reinberger Foundation · Higley Fund of the Cleveland Foundation · Martha Holden Jennings Foundation · Treu Mart Fund · The Abington Foundation · Thomas H White Fdn Ta · The Louise H & David S Ingalls Fdn

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 Hershey Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Hershey Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    26report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 Hershey Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Hershey 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 79 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 Hershey’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