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The Ithaka Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Ithaka Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$146k
Granted FY2024still arriving
18
Grants FY2024still arriving
12
States reached
$35k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$483kSocial Science$190kEducation$121kEnvironment$118kAnimals$108kInternational$85kPublic Safety & Disaster$8kCommunity Improvement$5kOther$0
02FY2024 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k11 grants · $24k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $123k
$5,000
Median grant
12
States reached
$1.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE$35,000
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS$25,000
MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE$15,000
REVELS INC$15,000
GLESSNER HOUSE MUSEUM$12,500
PESTALOZZI USA CHILDRENS CHARITY$10,000
THE ASPEN INSTITUTE$10,000
THE PUTNEY SCHOOL$5,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
MUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC$3,750
NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER$2,500
CATHEDRAL CHORAL SOCIETY$2,500
MILLENIA MUSIC INC$1,000
SMITH COLLEGE$1,000
MADISON HOUSE AUTISM FOUNDATION$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 48% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%REVELS INC: $10k → 8%PESTALOZZI USA CHILDREN'S CHARITY: $23k → 17%REVELS HOUSTON INC: $10k → 16%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE: $50k → 14%GLESSNER HOUSE MUSEUM: $13k → 14%WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $70k → 6%BLACKROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $23k → 8%JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $15k → 19%REVELS INC: $15k → 8%PESTALOZZI USA CHILDRENS CHARITY: $10k → 17%REVELS HOUSTON INC: $8k → 16%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE: $10k → 14%WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE: $45k → 6%BLACKROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $8k → 8%JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $10k → 19%PESTALOZZI USA CHILDRENS CHARITY: $10k → 17%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE: $10k → 14%WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE: $35k → 6%PESTALOZZI USA CHILDRENS CHARITY: $10k → 17%WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE: $25k → 6%PESTALOZZI USA CHILDREN'S CHARITY: $8k → 17%WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $25k → 6%PESTALOZZI USA CHILDREN'S CHARITY: $8k → 17%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE: $50k → 14%WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $25k → 6%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE: $40k → 14%WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $25k → 6%PESTALOZZI USA CHILDREN'S CHARITY: $8k → 17%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE: $15k → 14%WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $10k → 6%THE ASPEN INSTITUTE: $15k → 14%THE POTOMAC SCHOOL: $22k → 6%PESTALOZZI USA CHILDREN'S CHARITY: $8k → 17%LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: $25k → 14%THE POTOMAC SCHOOL: $20k → 6%EXPERIENTIAL ORCHESTRA: $18k → 17%LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: $25k → 14%LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: $25k → 14%WASHINGTON REVELS INC: $20k → 8%WASHINGTON REVELS INC: $10k → 8%WASHINGTON REVELS INC: $9k → 8%MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE: $25k → 8%MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE: $20k → 8%MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE: $15k → 8%MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE: $15k → 8%MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE: $15k → 8%MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE: $15k → 8%MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE: $10k → 8%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
ND
IL
NY
MA
PA
CT
CO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DC
TX
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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 24 repeat orgs$67k to everyone else

24 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2024, 13 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
11

Total granted

$1.1M
$51k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+79%

Still filing today

67%
73%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $16k 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 & CultureEducationSocial SciencePublic BenefitPhilanthropyInternationalOther
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

  • THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $190k · revenue +243%
  • WT
    WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
    5× · 2017–2021 · $155k · revenue +54%
  • MC
    MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $115k · revenue +30%

Funded once

  • EO
    Experiential Orchestra Inc
    one grant, 2023 · $18k · revenue -63%
  • WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $8k · revenue ×15
  • HB
    Harvard Business School Interactive Incgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $5k · revenue +863%
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
Williams College

Williams College strives to achieve educational excellence by fostering a community of learning in collaboration with students, faculty, staff, devoted alumni and parents.

Education
2
Bowdoin International Music Festival

The mission of the Bowdoin International Music Festival is to provide gifted young musicians from around the world with an opportunity to study with world-class artists, and to provide audiences with classical music performed to the…

Arts & Culture
3
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
4
Wheaton College

Wheaton college provides a transformative liberal arts education, combining theory and practice, for intellectually curious students within a collaborative and vibrant extended community and network that values and strives to create an…

Education
5
Boston Architectural College

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

—
6
Music Institute of Chicago

The music institute of chicago ("music institute") leads people toward a lifelong engagement with music, by providing widely accessible resources for high quality music teaching, performing, and service activities.

Arts & Culture
7
Washington Performing Arts Society

Washington performing arts champions the arts as a unifying force. through collaborations with artists, educators, community leaders, and institutional partners, we bring wide-ranging artistic programs to stages, schools, and neighborhoods…

Arts & Culture
8
Trustees of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens

The broad mission of the ASCSA has remained constant over its distinguished history: teaching research archaeological exploration publication and dissemination of research. Founded in 1881 the ASCSA provides graduate students and scholars…

Arts & Culture
9
The Washington Conservatory of Music

The washington conservatory of music provides exceptional musical learning & listening experiences for students and the community. its vision is a community inspired and informed by the experience of music.

Arts & Culture
10
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
11
The Philadelphia School

The philadelphia school educates children for a future that is impossible to know but not impossible to shape. learn here. go anywhere.

—
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts; the most unlike its peers is Food and Environment Reporting Network 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 42 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/28
Grantees still filing
24/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE: $105,000 · OtherWOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THEFRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: $75,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRES…BLACKROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $46,500 · OtherBLACKROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTSREVELS HOUSTON INC: $30,000 · OtherREVELS HOUSTON INCJOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $25,000 · OtherJOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY+17 more: $53,500 · Other+17 moreWOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $155,000 · Arts & CultureWOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PER…WASHINGTON REVELS INC: $48,750 · Arts & CultureWASHINGTON REVELS INCGLESSNER HOUSE MUSEUM: $41,500 · Arts & CultureGLESSNER HOUSE MUSEUMREVELSINC: $27,000 · Arts & CultureREVELSINCExperiential Orchestra Inc: $17,500 · Arts & CultureExperiential Orchestra IncWALLINGFORD SYMPHONY SOCIETY INC: $15,000 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $18,000 · Arts & Culture+6 moreTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $190,000 · Social ScienceTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE…MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE INC: $115,000 · Public BenefitMONTGOMERY …PESTALOZZI US CHILDRENS CHARITY INC: $85,224 · PhilanthropyThe Potomac School: $60,000 · EducationCHOATE ROSEMARY HALL FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $5,500 · EducationHarvard Business School Interactive Inc: $5,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $4,000 · EducationWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $7,500 · International
Other$335,000Arts & Culture$322,750Social Science$190,000Public Benefit$115,000Philanthropy$85,224Education$74,500International$7,500

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 budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $190,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetWOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $155,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE INC: $115,000 over 7y, 4.8% of budgetPESTALOZZI US CHILDRENS CHARITY INC: $85,224 over 8y, 5.6% of budgetThe Potomac School: $60,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON REVELS INC: $48,750 over 5y, 2.9% of budgetGLESSNER HOUSE MUSEUM: $41,500 over 7y, 1.5% of budgetREVELSINC: $27,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetExperiential Orchestra Inc: $17,500 over 1y, 12% of budgetWALLINGFORD SYMPHONY SOCIETY INC: $15,000 over 4y, 19% of budgetPUTNEY SCHOOL INC: $10,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BARNESVILLE SCHOOL INC: $10,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOUNTRY DANCE AND SONG SOCIETY INC: $7,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetCHOATE ROSEMARY HALL FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $4,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetThe Metropolitan Opera Guild Inc: $3,750 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC: $3,750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOWL MOON RAPTOR CENTER INC: $2,500 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetPINEWOODS CAMP INC: $1,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMADISON HOUSE AUTISM FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHarvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum Inc: $1,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHERITAGE TOURISM ALLIANCE OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY INC: $500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFOOD AND ENVIRONMENT REPORTING NETWORK INC: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER WASHINGTON EDUCATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS ASSOCIATION INC: $500 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.

  • Who funds THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS ↗
  • Who funds MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE INC ↗
  • Who funds PESTALOZZI US CHILDRENS CHARITY INC ↗
  • Who funds The Potomac School ↗
  • Who funds WASHINGTON REVELS INC ↗
  • Who funds GLESSNER HOUSE MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds REVELSINC ↗
  • Who funds Experiential Orchestra Inc ↗
  • Who funds WALLINGFORD SYMPHONY SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds PUTNEY SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds THE BARNESVILLE SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC ↗
  • Who funds COUNTRY DANCE AND SONG SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL FOUNDATION INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds Harvard Business School Interactive Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds The Metropolitan Opera Guild Inc ↗
  • Who funds MUSIC ASSOCIATES OF ASPEN INC ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL CONSTITUTION CENTER ↗
  • Who funds OWL MOON RAPTOR CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds PINEWOODS CAMP INC ↗
  • Who funds MADISON HOUSE AUTISM FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds HERITAGE TOURISM ALLIANCE OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY 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.

T Rowe Price Program …Greater Washington Co…Ibm International Fou…The Chicago Community…Gs Donor Advised Phil…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…American Endowment Fo…National Philanthropi…Morgan Stanley Global…Network for GoodAmerican Online Givin…
T Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving IncMD13.1× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: T Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving Inc · Greater Washington Community Foundation · Ibm International Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Endowment Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Network for Good · American Online Giving 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 Ithaka Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ithaka Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Washington Revels Inc: 9% of income from government
  • Revelsinc: 1% of income from government
  • The Trustees of the Smith College: 1% of income from government
  • Choate Rosemary Hall Foundation Incorporated: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 42 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 Ithaka’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