Skip to content
The Kenbe Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Kenbe 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.

$650k
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$200k
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, FY2019 to 2024.

Environment$1.5MEducation$540kPublic Benefit$100kInternational$100kFood & Nutrition$25k
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$200,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$2.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Cornell University$200,000
Natural Resources Defense Council$200,000
Earthjustice$150,000
American Rescue Project$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY19–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Earthjustice: $150k → 10%Cornell University: $200k → 16%Natural Resources Defense Council: $200k → 17%American Rescue Project: $100k → 14%The Nature Conservancy: $20k → 7%Earthjustice: $100k → 10%Cornell University: $100k → 16%Natural Resources Defense Council: $200k → 17%Voter Participation Center: $100k → 14%Earthjustice: $100k → 10%Cornell University: $100k → 16%Natural Resources Defense Council: $200k → 17%Earthjustice: $75k → 10%Cornell University: $100k → 16%Natural Resources Defense Council: $200k → 17%Cornell University: $40k → 16%Natural Resources Defense Council: $150k → 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 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.
$2.0M · 4 repeat orgs$225k to everyone else

4 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 1 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
2

Total granted

$2.0M
$125k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+66%
+96%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $100k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentEducationCivil RightsScience & TechFood & NutritionInternationalOther
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

  • NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC
    5× · 2019–2024 · $950k · revenue +37%
  • Cornell University
    5× · 2019–2024 · $540k · revenue +50%
  • EARTHJUSTICE
    4× · 2019–2024 · $425k · revenue +66%

Funded once

  • TV
    THE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTERgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $100k · revenue +96%
  • AP
    A PLACE AT THE TABLE INC
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue -35%
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
Western Environmental Law Center

Public interest law firm - the western environmental law center uses the power of the law to foster thriving, resilient western u.s. lands, waters, wildlife, and communities in the face of a changing climate. we envision a thriving west,…

—
2
Washington Forest Law Center

Dedicated to protecting the world's natural environment on behalf of the public by serving as a public interest law firm. refer to schedule o, part iii, line 4a, for list of litigated cases or advocacy work.

—
3
New Mexico Environmental Law Center

To protect new mexico's communities and their air, land and water in the fight for environmental justice. the law center's effective legal advocacy and representation on environmental and environmental justice issues will protect new…

Environment
4
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
5
Ocean Conservancy

Ocean conservancy unites science, people, and policy to protect our ocean, today and for generations to come.

Environment
6
Third Way

To research and develop centrist policy ideas.

Civil Rights
7
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
8
Conservation Law Foundation Inc

Conservation law foundation, inc. (clf) protects new england's environment for the benefit of all people and future generations. we use the law, science, and markets to create solutions that preserve and restore our natural resources,…

Environment
9
National Council for Air and Stream Improvement Inc

To provide technical information and scientific research to the forest products industry needed to achieve environmental goals and principles.

—
10
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
11
Climate Institute

The climate institute is organized for the purpose of educating the general public and policy makers as to the gravity of potential climate change, exploring the policy implications of the latest scientific findings on climate modelling…

Environment
12
Environment Now
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Nature Conservancy; the most unlike its peers is A Place At the Table 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

8 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
8/8
Grantees still filing
6/8
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $950,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INCEARTHJUSTICE: $425,000 · EnvironmentEARTHJUSTICECornell University: $540,000 · EducationCornell UniversityTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $100,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN RESCUE PROJECT: $100,000 · InternationalAMERICAN SALTWATER GUIDES ALLIANCE INC: $80,000 · Science & TechA PLACE AT THE TABLE INC: $25,000 · Food & NutritionTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $20,000 · Other
Environment$1,375,000Education$540,000Civil Rights$100,000International$100,000Science & Tech$80,000Food & Nutrition$25,000Other$20,000

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 budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $950,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCornell University: $540,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetEARTHJUSTICE: $425,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICAN RESCUE PROJECT: $100,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetAMERICAN SALTWATER GUIDES ALLIANCE INC: $80,000 over 2y, 20% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $20,000 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The Kenbe Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Kenbe Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 8 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 Kenbe’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