Skip to content
The Holborn Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Holborn 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.

$383k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$1.4MArts & Culture$917kEnvironment$350kCrime & Legal$245kHealth$170kPublic Benefit$164kHuman Services$130kFood & Nutrition$104kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $88k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $295k
$50,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$5.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FRIENDS OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS AND BETTER EDUCATION$100,000
EXODUS TRANSITIONAL COMMUNITY$75,000
THE GROUP 1 ACTING COMPANY$70,000
LITERACY INC$50,000
SUMMER SEARCH$30,000
BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM$25,000
THE LITTLE ORCHESTRA SOCIETY$20,000
THE RURAL EDUCATION ACTION PROJECT$12,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 55% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%REPRESENTUS EDUCATION FUND: $41k → 12%THE ACTING COMPANY: $213k → 14%EXODUS TRANSITIONAL COMMUNITY: $75k → 9%GOOD SHEPARD SERVICES: $25k → 20%SUMMER SEARCH: $30k → 28%GREENPEACE FUND INC: $30k → 14%TRINITY COLLEGE FUND: $1.1M → 11%FRIENDS OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS AND BETTER EDUCATION: $100k → 9%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $45k → 7%CENTER FOR AN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY: $30k → 12%REPRESENTUS EDUCATION FUND: $34k → 12%THE ACTING COMPANY: $25k → 14%GOOD SHEPARD SERVICES: $25k → 20%GREENPEACE FUND INC: $30k → 14%TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL FUND: $40k → 11%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $30k → 7%CENTER FOR AN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY: $30k → 12%REPRESENTUS EDUCATION FUND: $25k → 12%THE ACTING COMPANY: $23k → 14%TRINITY COLLEGE SCHOOL FUND: $25k → 11%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $30k → 7%REPRESENTUS EDUCATION FUND: $18k → 12%WNET DEPOSITORY: $25k → 17%THE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $20k → 7%WNET DEPOSITORY: $25k → 17%BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $25k → 20%NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: $20k → 14%BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $25k → 20%NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: $20k → 14%WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL: $50k → 17%BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $20k → 20%LITERACY INC: $50k → 17%LITERACY INC: $20k → 17%NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO INC: $30k → 17%EXODUS TRANSITIONAL COMMUNITY: $63k → 17%NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO INC: $30k → 17%EXODUS TRANSITIONAL COMMUNITY: $50k → 17%NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO INC: $18k → 17%EXODUS TRANSITIONAL COMMUNITY: $31k → 17%EXODUS TRANSITIONAL COMMUNITY: $26k → 17%THE GROUP 1 ACTING COMPANY: $70k → 17%GROUP I ACTING COMPANY INC: $58k → 17%GROUP I ACTING COMPANY INC: $40k → 17%THE LITTLE ORCHESTRA SOCIETY: $25k → 17%THE LITTLE ORCHESTRA SOCIETY: $23k → 17%THE LITTLE ORCHESTRA SOCIETY: $20k → 17%GROUP I ACTING COMPANY INC: $20k → 17%THE LITTLE ORCHESTRA SOCIETY: $19k → 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

VT
WA
MT
ND
NY
MA
OR
PA
CT
CA
VA
MD
DC
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.

64%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.3M · 34 repeat orgs$1.3M to everyone else

34 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 27 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

34
11

Total granted

$2.3M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+28%
+72%

Still filing today

65%
27%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 74% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $100k 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 & CultureEnvironmentEducationFood & NutritionCommunity ImprovementCrime & LegalOther
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

  • GI
    GROUP I ACTING COMPANY INC
    4× · 2020–2025 · $188k · revenue +67%
  • NY
    NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO
    5× · 2020–2024 · $113k · revenue +4%
  • BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION
    6× · 2020–2025 · $110k · revenue +88%

Funded once

  • TC
    TRINITY COLLEGE FUND
    one grant, 2023 · $1.1M
  • WM
    WEILL MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CORNELL
    one grant, 2023 · $50k
  • TC
    THE CENTER FOR AN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY AND VERMONT FOOD VENTURE CENTER
    one grant, 2020 · $13k
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
Vermont Public Co

Vermont public informs, educates, and entertains through public service journalism and enlightening content rooted in vermont. our storytelling enriches lives and fosters community connection and understanding.

Arts & Culture
2
Native Plant Trust Inc

The organization's mission is to conserve and promote new england's native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes.

Environment
3
Western Electricity Coordinating Council

To effectively and efficiently mitigate risks to the reliability and security of the western interconnection's bulk power system.

Public Benefit
4
Eastern National

Eastern national promotes the public's understanding and support of america's national parks and other public trust partners by providing quality educational experiences, products and services.

Recreation & Sports
5
Vermont Electric Cooperative Inc

Vermont electric cooperative is a member owned not-for-profit whose mission is to provide safe, affordable, and reliable energy services to its members.

—
6
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
7
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
8
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
9
Environmental Investigation Agency

To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.

International
10
The Union of Concerned Scientists Inc

The union of concerned scientists puts rigorous, independent science into action, developing solutions and advocating for a healthy, safe, and just future.

International
11
Oregon Agricultural Trust

Oregon agricultural trust partners with farmers and ranchers to protect agricultural lands for the benefit of oregons economy, communities, and landscapes.

Environment
12
The Water Research Foundation

The purpose of the water research foundation (wrf) is a definitive research organization to advance the science of all things water to better meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. to engage exclusively in…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is 1000 Friends of Oregon; the most unlike its peers is Aha Abenaki Helping Abenaki 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 48 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/28
Grantees still filing
22/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TRINITY COLLEGE FUND: $1,100,000 · OtherTRINITY COLLEGE FUNDACTING COMPANY INC: $260,700 · OtherACTING COMPANY INCTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $140,000 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCYIndividual grant recipient: $97,500 · OtherGOOD SHEPARD SERVICES: $85,000 · OtherMEDECINES SANS FRONTIERS USA INC: $75,000 · Other+22 more: $382,000 · Other+22 moreGROUP I ACTING COMPANY INC: $187,550 · Arts & CultureGROUP I ACTING COMP…THE LITTLE ORCHESTRA SOCIETYORPHEON INC: $117,000 · Arts & CultureTHE LITTLE ORCHESTR…NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO: $113,000 · Arts & CultureNEW YORK PUBLIC RAD…BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION: $110,000 · Arts & CultureBROOKLYN CHILDREN'S…NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: $80,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL PUBLIC RAD…+3 more: $28,500 · Arts & CultureGREENPEACE FUND INC: $105,000 · EnvironmentCENTER FOR AN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY INC: $60,000 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $60,000 · Environment1000 FRIENDS OF OREGON: $23,000 · EnvironmentGLOBAL JUSTICE ECOLOGY PROJECT INC: $20,000 · EnvironmentEXODUS TRANSITIONAL COMMUNITY INC: $244,500 · Crime & LegalFRIENDS OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS AND BETTER EDUCATION: $100,000 · EducationLITERACY INC: $70,000 · EducationMIDDLESEX SCHOOL: $30,000 · EducationRURAL EDUCATION ACTION PROJECT: $27,500 · EducationRepresentUs Education Fund: $133,000 · Public BenefitSUMMER SEARCH: $85,000 · Employment
Other$2,140,200Arts & Culture$636,050Environment$268,000Crime & Legal$244,500Education$227,500Public Benefit$133,000Employment$85,000

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 budgetACTING COMPANY INC: $260,700 over 3y, 21% of budgetEXODUS TRANSITIONAL COMMUNITY INC: $244,500 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetGROUP I ACTING COMPANY INC: $187,550 over 4y, 6.2% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $140,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetRepresentUs Education Fund: $133,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetTHE LITTLE ORCHESTRA SOCIETYORPHEON INC: $117,000 over 6y, 3.2% of budgetNEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO: $113,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION: $110,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetGREENPEACE FUND INC: $105,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS AND BETTER EDUCATION: $100,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetSUMMER SEARCH: $85,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetNATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC: $80,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLITERACY INC: $70,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetCENTER FOR AN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $60,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMIDDLESEX SCHOOL: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRURAL EDUCATION ACTION PROJECT: $27,500 over 4y, 3.1% of budget1000 FRIENDS OF OREGON: $23,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetHARDWICK AREA FOOD PANTRY INC: $22,500 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetTHE VERMONT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGLOBAL JUSTICE ECOLOGY PROJECT INC: $20,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetOREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING: $18,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetOpen Primaries Education Fund: $11,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetAWARE INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHIGH DESERT MUSEUM: $5,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCENTRAL OREGON LANDWATCH: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetVERMONT FARM-TO-SCHOOL INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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 ACTING COMPANY INC ↗
  • Who funds EXODUS TRANSITIONAL COMMUNITY INC ↗
  • Who funds GROUP I ACTING COMPANY INC ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds RepresentUs Education Fund ↗
  • Who funds THE LITTLE ORCHESTRA SOCIETYORPHEON INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW YORK PUBLIC RADIO ↗
  • Who funds BROOKLYN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds GREENPEACE FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS AND BETTER EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds SUMMER SEARCH ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO INC ↗
  • Who funds LITERACY INC ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR AN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY INC ↗
  • Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds MIDDLESEX SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds RURAL EDUCATION ACTION PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds 1000 FRIENDS OF OREGON ↗
  • Who funds HARDWICK AREA FOOD PANTRY INC ↗
  • Who funds THE VERMONT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds GLOBAL JUSTICE ECOLOGY PROJECT INC ↗
  • Who funds OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING ↗
  • Who funds Open Primaries Education Fund ↗
  • Who funds AWARE INC ↗

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 Vermont Community…High Meadows Fund IncLintilhac Foundation …Pinkerton FoundationBen & Jerry's Foundat…Jewish Communal FundCharities Aid Foundat…Vanguard Charitable E…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…The Bank of America C…
The Vermont Community FoundationVT17× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Vermont Community Foundation · High Meadows Fund Inc · Lintilhac Foundation Inc · Pinkerton Foundation · Ben & Jerry's Foundation Inc · Jewish Communal Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • Aha Abenaki Helping Abenaki Inc: 16% of income from government
  • Center for an Agricultural Economy Inc: 12% of income from government
  • High Desert Museum: 11% of income from government
  • Vermont Farm-to-School Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Oregon Public Broadcasting: 1% of income from government
  • The Vermont Community Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Holborn Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Holborn 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 48 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 Holborn’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