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The Koch Ellis Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

The Koch Ellis Fund

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$411k
Granted FY2024still arriving
72
Grants FY2024still arriving
11
States reached
$150k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$1.3MPhilanthropy$297kScience & Tech$102kHealth$93kReligion$73kArts & Culture$44kFood & Nutrition$23kSocial Science$18kOther$0
02FY2024 · 72 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k65 grants · $92k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $117k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $201k
$1,000
Median grant
11
States reached
$1.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOLLINS UNIVERSITY$150,000
BERKELEY DIVINITY SCHOOL OF YALE$51,100
UNITED WAY OF GREATER NEW HAVEN$44,500
HARLEM ACADEMY$25,000
YALE NEW HAVEN HOSPITAL$20,100
TRINITY CHURCH ON THE GREEN$17,750
FAIR HAVEN COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE$10,000
ORANGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH$7,500
NEW HAVEN READS$6,000
THE FOOTE SCHOOL$5,500
PALM BEACH DRAMAWORKS$5,000
THE MARFAN FOUNDATION$3,000
MCGILL UNIVERSITY$3,000
DUKE UNIVERSITY$3,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA$2,500
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 (FY22–24, $17k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%FRIENDS CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $500 → 12%ARTISANS ASYLUM: $500 → 16%ARTISANS ASYLUM: $500 → 16%CALVIN HILL DAY CARE CENTER: $2k → 12%CALVIN HILL DAY CARE CENTER: $2k → 12%CONNECTICUT VOICES FOR CHILDREN: $1k → 12%MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM: $10k → 17%CONNECTICUT VOICES FOR CHILDREN: $250 → 12%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

NH
NY
MA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
KY
VA
MD
AZ
NC
DC
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 5% of The Koch Ellis Fund’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 52% of the giving stays in CT; by stated purpose, 47%.

The Koch Ellis Fundlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 6.1% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 69 repeat orgs$313k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +34% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

69 repeat relationships: 55 still active in FY2024, 14 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

69
32

Total granted

$1.7M
$211k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
+17%

Still filing today

68%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $102k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationArts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthInternationalFood & NutritionOther
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

  • HU
    HOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $784k · revenue +37%
  • UNITED WAY OF GREATER NEW HAVEN INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $297k · revenue +58%
  • WI
    WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH
    2× · 2021–2023 · $101k · revenue +128%

Funded once

  • BD
    BERKELEY DIVITY SCHOOL OF YALE
    one grant, 2023 · $100k
  • YU
    YALE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2020 · $50k
  • MS
    MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM INC
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +17%
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
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
2
Boston Architectural College

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

—
3
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
4
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
5
University of Hartford

Dedicated to learning, personal growth, knowledge creation, and the betterment of society. the university engages students in aquiring the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to thrive in and contribute to a pluralistic, complex world.

Education
6
Manhattanville University

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

Education
7
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
8
Mitchell College

Mitchell college educates students through a highly individualized educational approach that brings forward each student's potential, reveals their strengths, and fosters personal growth.

Education
9
Fordham University

Fordham university, the jesuit university of new york, is committed to the discovery of wisdom and the transmission of learning, through research and through education of the highest quality. for more information, see schedule o.

Education
10
Wentworth Institute of Technology Inc

Wentworth institute of technology is a nationally recognized private coeducational and residential university of higher education with a mission to empower, inspire and innovate through experiential learning with a core purpose of career…

Education
11
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
12
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Nightingale-Bamford School; the most unlike its peers is Lost in New Haven Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

72 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. 72 of the 119 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
71/72
Grantees still filing
53/72
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $784,000 · EducationHOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION+28 more: $160,331 · Education+28 moreBERKELEY DIVINITY SCHOOL AT YALE: $125,000 · OtherBERKELEY DIVINITY SCHOOL AT YAL…BERKELEY DIVITY SCHOOL OF YALE: $100,000 · OtherBERKELEY DIVITY SCHOOL OF YALEBERKELEY DIVINITY SCHOOL OF YALE: $51,100 · OtherBERKELEY DIVINITY SCHOOL OF YAL…YALE UNIVERSITY: $50,000 · OtherYALE UNIVERSITYTRINITY CHURCH: $40,000 · OtherTRINITY CHURCHORANGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH: $28,000 · Other+58 more: $175,175 · Other+58 moreUNITED WAY OF GREATER NEW HAVEN INC: $296,950 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF GR…+1 more: $250 · PhilanthropyWHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: $101,000 · HealthYALE NEW HAVEN HOSPITAL: $37,300 · HealthFAIR HAVEN COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC INC: $10,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD LEAGUE OF MASSACHUSETTS INC: $7,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $5,500 · HealthPALM BEACH DRAMAWORKS INC: $7,500 · Arts & CultureCONNECTICUT NEWS PROJECT INC: $7,000 · Arts & CultureWNET: $5,000 · Arts & CulturePEN AMERICAN CENTER INC: $2,500 · Arts & CultureCONNECTICUT PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC: $2,400 · Arts & CultureRAYMOND F KRAVIS CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $2,000 · Arts & CultureNORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC: $1,850 · Arts & CultureLOST IN NEW HAVEN INC: $1,250 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $2,500 · Arts & CultureBROOKLINE FOOD PANTRY INC: $12,000 · Food & NutritionNEW YORK COMMON PANTRY: $6,500 · Food & NutritionMOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesCALVIN HILL DAY CARE CENTER INC: $4,000 · Human ServicesCONNECTICUT VOICES FOR CHILDREN INC: $1,250 · Human ServicesBRIDGES OUTREACH INC: $1,000 · Human ServicesARTISAN'S ASYLUM INC: $1,000 · Human Services+1 more: $500 · Human Services
Education$944,331Other$569,275Philanthropy$297,200Health$160,800Arts & Culture$32,000Food & Nutrition$18,500Human Services$17,750

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 budgetHOLLINS UNIVERSITY CORPORATION: $784,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetUNITED WAY OF GREATER NEW HAVEN INC: $296,950 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetWHITEHEAD INSTITUTE FOR BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH: $101,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetYALE NEW HAVEN HOSPITAL: $37,300 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHARLEM ACADEMY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE FOOTE SCHOOL ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED: $18,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBROOKLINE COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER INC DBA THE BROOKLINE CENTER: $14,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $13,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNEW HAVEN CHORALE INC: $13,000 over 5y, 1.8% of budgetBROOKLINE FOOD PANTRY INC: $12,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNEW HAVEN READS COMMUNITY BOOK BANK INC: $11,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetFAIR HAVEN COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKIMBALL UNION ACADEMY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBROOKLINE HIGH SCHOOL PTO: $10,000 over 4y, 4.0% of budgetBROOKLINE EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetNUS AMERICA FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC: $9,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NIGHTINGALE-BAMFORD SCHOOL: $7,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPALM BEACH DRAMAWORKS INC: $7,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD LEAGUE OF MASSACHUSETTS INC: $7,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT NEWS PROJECT INC: $7,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetNEW YORK COMMON PANTRY: $6,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY: $6,431 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARFAN FOUNDATION INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $5,600 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $5,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWNET: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF WESTMINSTER SCHOOL INC: $5,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCOUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC: $5,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NORFOLK ACADEMY: $5,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $4,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCALVIN HILL DAY CARE CENTER INC: $4,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSave The Children Federation Inc: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT FOODSHARE INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCES: $2,750 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $2,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetEDGERTON PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $2,500 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetVoices Boston Inc: $2,500 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetPEN AMERICAN CENTER INC: $2,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCONNECTICUT PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC: $2,400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $2,300 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBEREA COLLEGE: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLEILA DAY NURSERIES INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRAYMOND F KRAVIS CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGRACE BASED FILMS INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC: $1,850 over 2y, 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.

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 Community Foundat…Seedlings FoundationThe Daniel & Sharon M…Newalliance Foundatio…Yale UniversityRoslyn Milstein Meyer…Eder Family Foundatio…The Risc Foundation I…William Caspar Graust…Fidelity FoundationThe Sassafras Foundat…Waring & Carmen Partr…
The Community Foundation for Greater New HavenCT35.3× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven · Seedlings Foundation · The Daniel & Sharon Milikowsky Family Foundation · Newalliance Foundation Inc · Yale University · Roslyn Milstein Meyer and Jerome Meyer Foundation R&J Meyer Trustees · Eder Family Foundation Inc · The Risc Foundation Inc · William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund · Fidelity Foundation · The Sassafras Foundation · Waring & Carmen Partridge Foundation (Fka Partridge 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 Koch Ellis Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Koch Ellis Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 130%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 5%
  • United Way of Greater New Haven Inc: 42% of income from government
  • Open Communities Alliance Inc: 39% of income from government
  • Save the Children Federation Inc: 30% of income from government
  • Bridges Outreach Inc: 25% of income from government
  • Friends Center for Children Inc: 21% of income from government
  • Fair Haven Community Health Clinic Inc: 18% of income from government
  • New Haven Reads Community Book Bank Inc: 13% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: 7% of income from government
  • Connecticut Foodshare Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Calvin Hill Day Care Center Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Voices Boston Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts Inc: 3% of income from government
  • American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 3% of income from government
  • Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc: 3% of income from government
  • New Haven Chorale Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Leila Day Nurseries Inc: 1% of income from government
  • The Connecticut Players Foundation Inc D/B/a Long Wharf Theatre: 1% of income from government
  • Yale New Haven Hospital: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
13get no government money at all
14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 Koch Ellis Fund?

Find your warmest path to The Koch Ellis Fund 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 119 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 Koch Ellis’ 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