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The Hong Zhang & Liya Liang Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Hong Zhang & Liya Liang 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.

$5k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$3k
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.

Philanthropy$372kEducation$57kHealth$3kArts & Culture$2kScience & Tech$1kCrime & Legal$100
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$2,250
Median grant
3
States reached
$902k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FESSENDEN SCHOOL$2,500
THE SOAR FOUNDATION$2,250
OVERLAKE SCHOOL$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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%MIDDLESEX SCHOOL: $1k → 8%TECH FOR GOOD: $1k → 16%THE HARKER SCHOOL: $35k → 8%THE SOAR FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%STONY BROOK FOUNDATION: $100k → 7%ELIC: $5k → 11%PEACH FOUNDATION: $63k → 9%FESSENDEN SCHOOL: $3k → 8%BE THE CHANGE FOUNDATION INC: $3k → 8%THE SOAR FOUNDATION: $1k → 10%STONY BROOK FOUNDATION: $60k → 7%ELIC: $5k → 11%PEACH FOUNDATION: $12k → 9%GROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $2k → 8%SANTA CLARA COUNTY PEACE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION: $100 → 8%STONY BROOK FOUNDATION: $60k → 7%ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE IN CHINA: $5k → 11%PEACH FOUNDATION: $7k → 9%STONY BROOK FOUNDATION: $60k → 7%PEACH FOUNDATION: $6k → 9%PEACH FOUNDATION: $2k → 9%PEACH FOUNDATION: $2k → 9%OVERLAKE SCHOOL: $500 → 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.
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$391k · 4 repeat orgs$45k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +22% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
6

Total granted

$391k
$42k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+22%
+17%

Still filing today

100%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k 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
EducationPhilanthropyInternationalHealthScience & TechOther
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

  • SB
    STONY BROOK FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2017–2024 · $280k · revenue +224%
  • PF
    PEACH FOUNDATION
    6× · 2018–2024 · $92k · revenue +22%
  • EL
    ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE IN CHINA
    2× · 2021–2023 · $15k · revenue -12%

Funded once

  • TH
    THE HARKER SCHOOL
    one grant, 2021 · $35k · revenue +17%
  • BT
    BE THE CHANGE FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $3k · revenue +80%
  • GH
    GROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY
    one grant, 2024 · $2k · revenue -39%
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 Stony Brook School

(see schedule o)the stony brook school is an independent college preparatory school (grades 7-12) that exists to challenge young men and women to know jesus christ as lord, to love others as themselves, and to grow in knowledge and skill,…

—
2
Solebury School

See schedule o.solebury school is a private independent school for students in grades 9 through 12. solebury school's mission is to create an environment of educational excellence that prepares students for success in college and beyond.…

—
3
South Kent School Corporation

South kent school is an independent, college-preparatory school for boys. since its founding, south kent has maintained ties with the episcopal church. three principles define the school: simplicity of life, self-reliance, and directness…

Education
4
Pembroke Hill School

A preschool through 12th grade, private, college preparatory school. the school's mission statement is "together, cultivating the best in each for the benefit of all."

Education
5
The Peak School

The peak school seeks to ignite a passion for learning, to develop students of diverse talents and backgrounds who think critically and act with integrity, and to graduate compassionate, confident, capable students who will embrace their…

Education
6
Darrow School

Darrow school is dedicated to serving students with diverse backgrounds and abilities, building on each student's talents and interests to inspire enduring confidence for success in college and life. this mission is accomplished through…

Education
7
The Oaks School

In an atmosphere of mutual respect and responsibility, the oaks school prepares students to meet the world with the combined wisdom of an intelligent mind, a skilled hand, and a compassionate heart.

Education
8
Lowell School

Lowell school (the school) provides educational services to approximately 314 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 8th grade. the school strives to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning environment, and offers a…

Education
9
San Francisco Girls' School

To educate and inspire girls to become innovators and leaders in stem.

—
10
Stoneleigh-Burnham School

Stoneleigh-burnham school is an academic community that fosters an international perspective. we inspire girls to pursue meaningful lives based on honor, respect, and intellectual curiosity. each student is challenged to discover her best…

Education
11
Phillips Exeter Academy

Unite goodness and knowledge and inspire youth from every quarter to lead purposeful lives. [text in quotations is taken from the academy's deed of gift, drafted in 1781] knowledge and goodness "above all, it is expected that the attention…

Education
12
The Hotchkiss School

The hotchkiss school seeks to inspire a diverse range of students who are committed to the betterment of self and society, and to cultivate in them at the highest standards of excellence (imagination and intellect, openness and personal…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Fessenden School; the most unlike its peers is Peach 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

12 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/12
Grantees still filing
7/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

STONY BROOK FOUNDATION INC: $280,000 · EducationSTONY BROOK FOUNDATION INCTHE HARKER SCHOOL: $35,000 · EducationTHE HARKER SCHOOL+4 more: $7,250 · EducationPEACH FOUNDATION: $92,250 · PhilanthropyPEACH FOUNDATIONENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE IN CHINA: $15,000 · InternationalBE THE CHANGE FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 · HealthGROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $2,000 · OtherSanta Clara County Peace Officers Association: $100 · OtherTECH FOR GOOD INC: $1,000 · Science & Tech
Education$322,250Philanthropy$92,250International$15,000Health$3,000Other$2,100Science & Tech$1,000

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 budgetSTONY BROOK FOUNDATION INC: $280,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPEACH FOUNDATION: $92,250 over 6y, 2.1% of budgetTHE HARKER SCHOOL: $35,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTITUTE IN CHINA: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SOAR FOUNDATION: $3,250 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBE THE CHANGE FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetTHE FESSENDEN SCHOOL: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $2,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetMIDDLESEX SCHOOL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE OVERLAKE SCHOOL: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSanta Clara County Peace Officers Association: $100 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.

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 Blackbaud Giving …Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Blackbaud Giving FundSC11.3× affinity5 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Hong Zhang & Liya Liang Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Hong Zhang & Liya Liang Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    1report 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 12 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

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    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