Skip to content
The James Family Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The James Family Charitable Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$10M
Granted FY2024still arriving
67
Grants FY2024still arriving
20
States reached
$7.3M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$37MArts & Culture$9.8MEducation$8.0MAnimals$7.0MEnvironment$5.0MRecreation & Sports$3.4MHealth$1.3MPublic Benefit$1.3MOther$0
02FY2024 · 67 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k25 grants · $83k
  • $10k–50k22 grants · $513k
  • $50k–250k16 grants · $1.3M
  • $250k+4 grants · $8.5M
$20,000
Median grant
20
States reached
$224M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE JAMES FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST$7,325,000
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY$600,000
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART$325,000
THE MONTANA COUNCIL OF TROUT UNLIMI$260,000
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON CVI$200,000
TREY WHITFIELD SCHOOL$150,000
ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT$103,000
FABRETTO CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION$100,000
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY$75,650
LIGHTHOUSE WORKS$75,000
THE GRADUATE CENTER$75,000
THE MONTANA LAND RELIANCE$70,000
OCEAN CONSERVANCY$65,000
SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL$65,000
ALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE$60,000
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, $385k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 83% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%FRONTSTREAM GLOBAL FUND: $10k → 9%READING-WEST WINDSOR FOOD SHELF INC: $1k → 9%HOME OF THE INNOCENTS: $25k → 15%KIEVE WAVUS EDUCATION: $5k → 9%HEROES AND HORSES: $50k → 10%READING-WEST WINDSOR FOOD SHELF INC: $500 → 9%HOME OF THE INNOCENTS: $1k → 15%OUR CHILDREN: $50k → 13%READING-WEST WINDSOR FOOD SHELF INC: $500 → 9%HOUR CHILDREN INC: $1k → 13%LENOX HILL NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE INC: $73k → 17%LENOX HILL NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE INC: $60k → 17%LENOX HILL NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE INC: $32k → 17%CRIME VICTIMS TREATMENT CENTER: $22k → 17%CRIME VICTIMS TREATMENT CENTER: $3k → 17%CRIME VICTIMS TREATMENT CENTER: $3k → 17%HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT: $5k → 17%HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT: $5k → 17%HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT: $5k → 17%HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT: $4k → 17%HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT: $3k → 17%HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT: $400 → 17%ARTISTS AND MOTHERS: $25k → 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

ME
VT
WA
MT
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
TN
NC
SC
DC
AL
GA
TX
FL
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.
$70M · 120 repeat orgs$4.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +41% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

120 repeat relationships: 36 still active in FY2024, 84 since wound down; 30 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

120
158

Total granted

$70M
$3.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+14%

Still filing today

71%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.1M 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 & CultureEnvironmentEducationHealthInternationalAnimalsOther
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

  • WC
    Wildlife Conservation Society
    7× · 2017–2024 · $6.3M · revenue +59%
  • CP
    CENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $3.3M · revenue +76%
  • PF
    PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION ADVANCEMENT INC
    3× · 2018–2023 · $1.9M · revenue ×49 · 100% of their budget

Funded once

  • WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC
    one grant, 2020 · $500k · revenue +21%
  • MO
    Museum of Modern Artgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $500k · revenue +38%
  • MN
    MIT NANO DIRECTOR DISCRETIONARY FUN
    one grant, 2023 · $250k
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
Boston Architectural College

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

—
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
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
4
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
5
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
6
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
7
World Wildlife Fund Inc

Wwf's mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on earth. (continued on schedule o)

Environment
8
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…

Science & Tech
9
New York School of Interior Design

New york school of interior design provides the most innovative, immersive, and transformative interior design education in the world, demonstrating the impact of professionally designed interiors on the health, happiness, and well-being…

Education
10
The Roosevelt Institute

To create a nation where everyone enjoys a fair share of our collective prosperity.

Education
11
The Paris Review Foundation Inc

The mission of the organization is to foster the development of creative individuals as writers and artists and to promote public appreciation of excellence in the literary and graphic arts by publishing a magazine containing fiction,…

Education
12
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Children's Museum of Manhattan; the most unlike its peers is Bissell Pet 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

199 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 199 of the 318 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
22
Early backer (in before they grew)
194/199
Grantees still filing
134/199
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE JAMES FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST: $34,325,123 · PhilanthropyTHE JAMES FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUSTNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $2,400,000 · PhilanthropyNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST+3 more: $83,500 · PhilanthropyWOODS HOLE INSTITUTE: $3,251,000 · OtherWOODS HOLE INSTITU…THE GRADUATE CENTER FOUNDATION INC: $688,000 · OtherTHE GRADUATE CENTE…WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $500,000 · OtherTHE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL: $465,000 · Other+120 more: $7,594,845 · Other+120 moreWildlife Conservation Society: $6,263,040 · AnimalsWildlife Con…TROUT UNLIMITED INC: $1,734,245 · AnimalsTROUT UNLIMI…+4 more: $484,500 · Animals+4 morePARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION ADVANCEMENT INC: $1,918,000 · EducationPARTNERSH…GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL INC: $1,726,100 · EducationGARRISON …AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT: $935,875 · EducationAMERICAN …CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $430,000 · EducationCHOATE RO…The New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations: $276,500 · EducationCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $265,000 · EducationThe New School: $250,000 · Education+15 more: $933,250 · Education+15 moreBALLET THEATRE FOUNDATION INC: $2,352,500 · Arts & CultureBALLET TH…THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $1,202,000 · Arts & CultureTHE BARAC…METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $1,188,431 · Arts & CultureMETROPOLI…Museum of Modern Art: $500,000 · Arts & CultureMuseum of…DECORDOVA AND DANA MUSEUM & PARK: $251,000 · Arts & Culture+17 more: $1,210,385 · Arts & Culture+17 moreCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $3,335,900 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $10,000 · Recreation & SportsENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT: $679,214 · EnvironmentENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $318,127 · EnvironmentTHE MONTANA LAND RELIANCE: $230,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $175,544 · EnvironmentALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE: $158,500 · EnvironmentOCEAN CONSERVANCY: $155,000 · EnvironmentEARTHJUSTICE: $103,050 · EnvironmentLittle Traverse Conservancy Inc: $77,888 · Environment+11 more: $271,504 · Environment
Philanthropy$36,808,623Other$12,498,845Animals$8,481,785Education$6,734,725Arts & Culture$6,704,316Recreation & Sports$3,345,900Environment$2,168,827

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE JAMES FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST: $34,325,123 over 5y, 27% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $6,263,040 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetCENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $3,335,900 over 8y, 2.2% of budgetNATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST: $2,400,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBALLET THEATRE FOUNDATION INC: $2,352,500 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetPARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION ADVANCEMENT INC: $1,918,000 over 3y, 100% of budgetTROUT UNLIMITED INC: $1,734,245 over 7y, 0.5% of budgetGARRISON FOREST SCHOOL INC: $1,726,100 over 6y, 4.4% of budgetTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $1,202,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $1,188,431 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT: $935,875 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE GRADUATE CENTER FOUNDATION INC: $688,000 over 4y, 2.9% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT: $679,214 over 7y, 3.3% of budgetWORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC: $500,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $500,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL: $465,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCHOATE ROSEMARY HALL FOUNDATION INCORPORATED: $430,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $400,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetRICHARD HAMPTON JENRETTE FOUNDATION: $375,000 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED: $318,127 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetRAINFOREST TRUST: $278,000 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetThe New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations: $276,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHIRD WAY: $275,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $265,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetDECORDOVA AND DANA MUSEUM & PARK: $251,000 over 3y, 7.0% of budgetCENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: $250,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetThe New School: $250,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE: $250,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetNETWORK FOR GOOD: $233,125 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MONTANA LAND RELIANCE: $230,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetPIONEER WORKS ART FOUNDATION: $221,220 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetBONEFISH & TARPON TRUST INC: $202,500 over 6y, 2.8% of budget4TH WALL THEATRE COMPANY: $200,000 over 7y, 8.0% of budgetTHE MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART D/B/A THE AFRICA CENTER: $195,000 over 3y, 7.2% of budgetDefenders of Wildlife: $182,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetWellesley College: $180,750 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $175,544 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetLENOX HILL NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE INC: $165,290 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetAmerican Museum of Natural History: $160,765 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetALASKA WILDERNESS LEAGUE: $158,500 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetOCEAN CONSERVANCY: $155,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTREY WHITFIELD SCHOOL: $150,250 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetTHE SECOND STAGE THEATRE INC: $145,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS INC: $129,022 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetCOLLEGIATE SCHOOL INC: $105,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetEARTHJUSTICE: $103,050 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetFABRETTO CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetTHEODORE ROOSEVELT CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP INC: $85,000 over 6y, 0.3% 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 JAMES FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST ↗
  • Who funds Wildlife Conservation Society ↗
  • Who funds CENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY INC ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ↗
  • Who funds BALLET THEATRE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION ADVANCEMENT INC ↗
  • Who funds TROUT UNLIMITED INC ↗
  • Who funds GARRISON FOREST SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT ↗
  • Who funds THE GRADUATE CENTER FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN INC ↗
  • Who funds Museum of Modern Art ↗
  • Who funds THE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL ↗
  • Who funds CHOATE ROSEMARY HALL FOUNDATION INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds RICHARD HAMPTON JENRETTE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds RAINFOREST TRUST ↗
  • Who funds The New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations ↗
  • Who funds THIRD WAY ↗
  • Who funds CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds DECORDOVA AND DANA MUSEUM & PARK ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS ↗
  • Who funds The New School ↗
  • Who funds ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds NETWORK FOR GOOD ↗
  • Who funds THE MONTANA LAND RELIANCE ↗
  • Who funds PIONEER WORKS ART FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BONEFISH & TARPON TRUST INC ↗
  • Who funds 4TH WALL THEATRE COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds THE MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART D/B/A THE AFRICA CENTER ↗

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 James Family Char…The Goldman Sachs Cha…The New York Communit…Petoskey-Harbor Sprin…The Bessemer Giving F…The Ford FoundationJewish Communal FundCharles Stewart Mott …The Offield Family Fo…Anna-Maria and Stephe…The Hyde and Watson F…Hillman Family Founda…
The James Family Charitable TrustPA26.3× affinity10 shared granteesties to 6 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The James Family Charitable Trust · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · The New York Community Trust · Petoskey-Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation · The Bessemer Giving Fund · The Ford Foundation · Jewish Communal Fund · Charles Stewart Mott Foundation · The Offield Family Foundation · Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation Inc C/O Joel E Sammet & Co LLP · The Hyde and Watson Foundation · Hillman Family Foundations

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 120%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Shatterproof a Nonprofit Corporation: 2% of income from government
  • Vermont Studio Center Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Wellesley College: 1% of income from government
  • Year Up Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Choate Rosemary Hall Foundation Incorporated: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
12get no government money at all
37report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 318 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 James Family’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