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The Howard and Nancy Marks Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Howard and Nancy Marks 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.

$11M
Granted FY2025still arriving
38
Grants FY2025still arriving
9
States reached
$2.4M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2025.

Philanthropy$11MArts & Culture$5.9MEducation$4.2MHealth$2.8MCrime & Legal$2.2MEnvironment$1.3MCivil Rights$860kInternational$654kOther$0
02FY2025 · 38 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $19k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $162k
  • $50k–250k18 grants · $1.9M
  • $250k+10 grants · $8.7M
$100,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$17M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST$2,435,000
NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN FUND$2,000,000
SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS$1,100,000
GUILD HALL OF EAST HAMPTON$1,000,000
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND$500,000
DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY TV CENTER$400,000
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART$385,000
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO$300,000
PECONIC LAND TRUST$300,000
ALLIANCE FOR DECISION EDUCATION$250,000
EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY$200,000
MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING$200,000
NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION$200,000
FOUNDATION TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM$200,000
WORLD JEWISH CONGRESS AMERICAN SECTION INC$100,000
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 (FY23–25, $57k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 88% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%ISRAELI AMERICAN COUNCIL: $50k → 14%ELENORE WHITMORE EARLY CHILDHOOD: $7k → 7%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

IL
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
VA
MD
DC
GA
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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$15M · 32 repeat orgs$4.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +12% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

32 repeat relationships: 25 still active in FY2025, 7 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

32
23

Total granted

$15M
$1.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+12%
0%

Still filing today

81%
74%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 65% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.9M went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationInternationalPhilanthropyCivil RightsCrime & 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

  • SA
    SUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $2.6M · revenue +31%
  • GH
    GUILD HALL OF EAST HAMPTON INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $2.0M · revenue +201%
  • CENTURION MINISTRIES INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $1.5M · revenue +72% · 60% of their budget

Funded once

  • TB
    THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
    one grant, 2024 · $500k · revenue -10%
  • KS
    KIPP SOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS
    one grant, 2024 · $150k · revenue +6%
  • JV
    JEWISH VOTERS UNITED INC
    one grant, 2024 · $150k
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 Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
2
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
3
Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics

The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…

Social Science
4
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
5
American Israel Public Affairs Committee

To strengthen and expand the u.s.-israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the united states and israel.

International
6
Foundation for Jewish Philanthropies Inc

See schedule othe organization is a not-for-profit, public charity established in 1911 to provide for the quality and continuity of jewish life in western new york and around the world through private philanthropy. the foundation seeks,…

Philanthropy
7
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

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
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
10
National Public Radio Inc

National public radio, inc. ("npr") works collaboratively with member public radio station licensees ("member stations") to create a more informed public, one that is challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of…

Arts & Culture
11
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
12
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Philanthropic Trust; the most unlike its peers is The J Paul Getty Trust. 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

57 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. 57 of the 71 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
57/57
Grantees still filing
34/57
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $10,605,000 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST+5 more: $339,000 · PhilanthropyGUILD HALL OF EAST HAMPTON INC: $2,000,000 · Arts & CultureGUILD HALL OF EAST H…METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $1,125,490 · Arts & CultureMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM …DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY TELEVISION CENTER INC: $600,000 · Arts & CultureDOWNTOWN COMMUNITY T…THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: $500,000 · Arts & CultureTHE BROOKLYN INSTITU…NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $400,000 · Arts & CultureNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION…Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies: $300,000 · Arts & CultureFoundation for Art a…+8 more: $685,000 · Arts & Culture+8 moreSUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS INC: $2,600,000 · EducationSUCCESS ACADEM…University of Chicago: $725,000 · EducationUniversity of …RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $300,000 · EducationRUTGERS UNIVER…KIPP SOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $150,000 · Education+4 more: $192,000 · EducationCENTURION MINISTRIES INC: $1,500,000 · OtherCENTURION MINISTRIES …MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING: $600,000 · OtherMEMORIAL SLOAN KETTER…BABY2BABY: $400,000 · OtherBABY2BABYLYNNE COHEN FOUNDATION: $302,285 · OtherKING CHARLES III CHARITABLE FUND: $200,000 · OtherFOUNDATION TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM INC: $600,000 · OtherFOUNDATION TO COMBAT …AMERICAN FRIENDS OF ISRAELI NAVY SEALS INC: $225,000 · OtherWORLD JEWISH CONGRESS (AMERICAN SECTION) INC: $300,000 · OtherALLIANCE FOR DECISION EDUCATIONINC: $250,000 · Other+26 more: $1,447,000 · Other+26 moreNEW YORK-PRESBYTERIAN FUND INC: $2,000,000 · Health+2 more: $90,000 · HealthENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $1,000,000 · EnvironmentPECONIC LAND TRUST INC: $300,000 · EnvironmentEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $600,000 · Crime & LegalBHPOA BENEVOLENT FUND: $52,500 · Crime & Legal+1 more: $20,000 · Crime & Legal
Philanthropy$10,944,000Arts & Culture$5,610,490Education$3,967,000Other$5,824,285Health$2,090,000Environment$1,300,000Crime & Legal$672,500

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 budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $10,605,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSUCCESS ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOLS INC: $2,600,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetGUILD HALL OF EAST HAMPTON INC: $2,000,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetCENTURION MINISTRIES INC: $1,500,000 over 2y, 60% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $1,125,490 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $1,000,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $725,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION TO COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM INC: $600,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetDOWNTOWN COMMUNITY TELEVISION CENTER INC: $600,000 over 2y, 8.1% of budgetEVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY SUPPORT FUND INC: $600,000 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetTHE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: $500,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $400,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetBABY2BABY: $400,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetRUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFoundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies: $300,000 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetWORLD JEWISH CONGRESS (AMERICAN SECTION) INC: $300,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF ISRAELI NAVY SEALS INC: $225,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetCHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA: $184,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKIPP SOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $150,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNational Gallery of Art: $150,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE STUDIO MUSEUM IN HARLEM: $150,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetEDGE AND CENTER INC THE CHURCH: $125,000 over 2y, 4.5% of budgetThe Frick Collection: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE J PAUL GETTY TRUST: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF AMERICAN FINANCE: $100,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetFRIENDS OF UNITED HATZALAH INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTRINITY EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE GEANCO FOUNDATION INC: $95,000 over 2y, 4.6% of budgetCONNECTICUT PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC: $75,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGIRLS WHO INVEST INC: $75,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetBHPOA BENEVOLENT FUND: $52,500 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetAMERICANS FOR THE ISRAELI THIRD WAYINC: $50,000 over 1y, 9.9% of budgetCHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPACIFIC COUNCIL ON INTERNATIONAL POLICY: $50,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetTURKISH PHILANTHROPY FUNDS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE DOE FUND INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE IDI FOUNDATION INC FKA AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEMOC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetISRAELI-AMERICAN COUNCIL: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPARTNERSHIP TO END ADDICTION: $40,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetYOUTH IMPROVING NON-PROFITS FOR CHILDREN: $37,500 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTHE JEWISH MUSEUM: $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPACKER COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FOUNDATION: $28,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOHR HATZAFUN PRODUCTIONS D/B/A HIDDEN LIGHT INSTITUTE: $25,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetUNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNEW YORK CITY POLICE FOUNDATION INC: $20,000 over 3y, 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.

Jewish Communal FundThe Goldman Sachs Cha…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…The New York Communit…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Blackbaud Giving …Renaissance Charitabl…Jewish Community Foun…The Ford FoundationBaird Foundation Inc
Jewish Communal FundNY22.8× affinity12 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Communal Fund · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · The New York Community Trust · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc · Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles · The Ford Foundation · Baird 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 Howard and Nancy Marks Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Howard and Nancy Marks Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Rutgers University Foundation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
11report 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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Howard and Nancy Marks Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Howard and Nancy Marks 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 71 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 Howard and Nancy Marks’ 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