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The Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

The Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation Inc

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.

$50k
Granted FY2024still arriving
3
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$440kEducation$71kInternational$5kAnimals$2kHealth$2kFood & Nutrition$2kReligion$2kCivil Rights$1kOther$0
02FY2024 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$20,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FOUNDATION FOR CONTEMPORARY ART$20,000
ST ANN'S SCHOOL$20,000
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN$10,000
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 (FY20–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%ADDISON GALLERY OF AMERICAN ART: $1k → 10%NOONDAY FARM INC: $1k → 11%ADIRONDACK LAND TRUST: $500 → 13%SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK: $15k → 13%FOUNDATION FOR CONTEMPORARY ART: $20k → 17%ST ANN'S SCHOOL: $20k → 20%MADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART: $375k → 10%RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $10k → 14%UVM MEDICAL CENTER: $1k → 10%DEPOT THEATRE: $500 → 13%SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK: $15k → 13%CITY HARVEST: $1k → 17%ST ANN'S SCHOOL: $20k → 20%WESTPORT LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $500 → 13%BARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTER: $5k → 17%NORTH COUNTRY SPCA INC: $1k → 13%COVENANT HOUSE NEW YORK: $1k → 17%PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA (PPFA): $1k → 17%AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME: $5k → 17%PUBLIC ART FUND: $1k → 17%STUDIO IN THE SCHOOL: $1k → 17%NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: $20k → 17%THE ANIMAL MEDICAL CENTER: $1k → 17%CITIZENS' COMMITTEE FOR CHILDREN: $1k → 17%92ND STREET Y: $1k → 17%NY PUBLIC RADIO: $1k → 17%ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART: $1k → 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.
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 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
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
2
Museum of the City of New York

The museum of the city of new york fosters understanding of the distinctive nature of urban life in the world's most influential metropolis. it engages visitors by celebrating, documenting, and interpreting the city's past, present, and…

Arts & Culture
3
The Neue Galerie New York
Arts & Culture
4
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The metropolitan museum of art collects, studies, conserves, and presents significant works of art across all times and cultures in order to connect people to creativity, knowledge, and ideas.

Arts & Culture
5
The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences

The mission of the brooklyn institute of arts and sciences, d/b/a brooklyn museum (the "museum") is to bring people together through art and experiences that inspire celebration, compassion, courage, and the will to act. (see schedule o).

Arts & Culture
6
New Museum of Contemporary Art

A center for exhibitions, information, and documentation about living artists since 1977, which continues to be a place of experimentation and a hub of new art and new ideas.

Arts & Culture
7
Municipal Art Society of New York

The municipal art society of new york (mas) lifts up the voices of the people in the debates that shape new york's built environment and leads the way to a more livable city from sidewalk to skyline. mas envisions a future in which all new…

Arts & Culture
8
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute

Munson-williams-proctor arts institute (mwpai) is a fine arts center dedicated to serving diverse audiences by advancing the appreciation, understanding, and enjoyment of the arts. the art institute aims to promote interest and…

Arts & Culture
9
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
10
New York Public Radio

To make the mind more curious, the heart more open, and the spirit more joyful through excellent audio programming that is deeply rooted in new york.

Arts & Culture
11
New York Academy of Art

The new york academy of art is a unique graduate school that combines intensive technical training in the fine arts with active critical discourse. we believe that rigorously trained artists are best able to realize their artistic vision.…

—
12
Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan school of music is deeply committed to excellence in education, performance, and creative activity; to the humanity of the school's environment; and to the cultural enrichment of the larger community. a premiere international…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Public Art Fund Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Depot Theatre 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

18 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. 18 of the 26 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
16/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART INC: $375,000 · Arts & CultureMADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART INCFOUNDATION FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS INC: $20,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $5,000 · Arts & CultureST ANN'S SCHOOL: $40,000 · OtherST ANN'S SCH…BARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTER INC: $5,000 · OtherBARYSHNIKOV …+14 more: $12,500 · Other+14 moreSOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK INC: $30,000 · Community ImprovementNew York University: $20,000 · EducationRHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $10,000 · EducationAMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME: $5,000 · InternationalTHE ANIMAL MEDICAL CENTER: $1,000 · AnimalsNORTH COUNTRY SPCA INC: $1,000 · AnimalsCITY HARVEST INC: $1,000 · Food & Nutrition
Arts & Culture$400,000Other$57,500Community Improvement$30,000Education$30,000International$5,000Animals$2,000Food & Nutrition$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 budgetMADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART INC: $375,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetSOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK INC: $30,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetNew York University: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetRHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LITTLE OPERA THEATER OF NY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetBARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPUBLIC ART FUND INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ANIMAL MEDICAL CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH COUNTRY SPCA INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCITIZENS COMMITTEE FOR CHILDREN OF NEW YORK INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCITY HARVEST INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT MEDICAL CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE YOUNG MEN'S AND YOUNG WOMEN'S HEBREW ASSOCIATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetADIRONDACK LAND TRUST INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWESTPORT LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE DEPOT THEATRE INC: $500 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

National Philanthropi…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
National Philanthropic TrustPA7.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · 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 Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • The University of Vermont Medical Center: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
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.
04Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to The Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan Foundation Inc 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 26 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 Joel Shapiro and Ellen Phelan’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