Skip to content
The Lynton Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Lynton Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$98k
Granted FY2023
9
Grants FY2023
2
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

71% of The Lynton Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to The Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 6 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2023, the last year The Lynton Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 5 organizations, $98k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

30
’19
34
’20
18
’21
7
’22
5
’23
3
’24
6
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Education$3.4MSocial Science$1.1MArts & Culture$570kCrime & Legal$499kPhilanthropy$352kPublic Benefit$347kHealth$273kHousing & Shelter$243kOther$0
02FY2023 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k6 grants · $23k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $25k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$10M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
JJ GUGENHEIM FOUNDATION$50,000
WORKING IN THE SCHOOLS$15,000
PLAYWRIGHT HORIZON$10,000
THE ASSOCIATION OF PANGASINENSES IN AMERICA FDN INC (APAFI)$5,500
ASSOCIATION TO BENEFIT CHILDREN$5,000
AVENUE FOR JUSTICE$5,000
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY$4,041
HOSPITAL FOR SPECIAL SURGERY$2,500
ST ADALBERT PARISH$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:

Its human-services grants (FY19–25, $163k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 74% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%GIVE FOUNDATION INC: $10k → 9%UPLIFT AFGHANISTAN FUND: $25k → 10%YOUNG EISNER SCHOLARS: $10k → 14%WESTCHESTER BOOK FESTIVAL: $8k → 9%SASHA BRUCE YOUTHWORK: $25k → 14%YOUNG EISNER SCHOLARS: $5k → 14%SNACK AND FRIENDS INC: $5k → 17%SNACK AND FRIENDS INC: $3k → 17%COVENANT HOUSE: $40k → 17%COVENANT HOUSE: $20k → 17%COVENANT HOUSE: $3k → 17%ASSOCIATION TO BENEFIT CHILDREN: $5k → 17%WOMEN IN NEED: $5k → 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

WA
IL
MI
NY
MA
PA
NJ
CA
KY
MD
AZ
NC
DC
LA
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.

65%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.4M · 28 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

28 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2023, 23 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call). Read against FY2023, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
55

Total granted

$3.4M
$1.8M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+31%

Still filing today

82%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 11% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $81k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationCivil RightsArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • TB
    THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
    3× · 2019–2021 · $420k · revenue +11%
  • The Rand Corporation
    2× · 2020–2021 · $400k · revenue +21%
  • MA
    MUSEUM ASSOCIATES
    2× · 2019–2020 · $400k · revenue +89%

Funded once

  • HH
    HARVARD - HBS
    one grant, 2021 · $350k
  • C
    CBPP
    one grant, 2022 · $200k
  • VI
    VERA INSTITUTE
    one grant, 2022 · $184k
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
Justice Innovation Inc

The center for justice innovation is a non-profit organization that works to create a fair, effective, and humane justice system and build strong, thriving communities.

Crime & Legal
2
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research Inc

The manhattan institute is a community of scholars, journalists, activists, and civic leaders dedicated to advancing opportunity, individual liberty, and the rule of law in america and its great cities.

Public Benefit
3
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
4
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
5
Manhattanville University

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

Education
6
Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University Inc

The Knight First Amendment Institute defends the freedoms of speech and the press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, public advocacy and public education. Our aim is to promote a system of free expression that is…

Education
7
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
8
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
9
The Architectural League of New York

The architectural league of new york supports critically transformative work in the allied fields that shape the built environment. as a vital, independent forum, the league stimulates thinking, debate, and action on today's (continued on…

—
10
Workforce Professionals Training Institute

Wpti's mission is to build the capacities of people, programs, and organizations that provide job training, placement, and career guidance for individuals and to advocate for policies that promote economic opportunities for all.

Employment
11
Council of Independent Colleges

The council of independent colleges is an association of nonprofit independent colleges and universities, state- based councils of independent colleges, and other higher education affiliates, that works to support college and university…

—
12
Public Media Nj Inc

To bring quality public television programs and resources to communities throughout new jersey and its tri-state neighbors. its content, both on-air and online, aims to reflect the diverse

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New Visions for Public Schools Inc; the most unlike its peers is Hand in Hand Daniel Boulud 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

63 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. 63 of the 96 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
62/63
Grantees still filing
43/63
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

EAST HARLEM TUTORIAL PROGRAM INC: $801,000 · OtherEAST HARLEM TUTORIAL PROGRAM INCHARVARD - HBS: $350,000 · OtherHARVARD - HBSCBPP: $200,000 · OtherCBPPVERA INSTITUTE: $184,333 · OtherVERA INSTITUTEHAND IN HAND DANIEL BOULUD FOUNDATION: $175,000 · OtherHAND IN HAND DANIEL BOULUD FOUNDATIONHARVARD - HUTCHINS CENTER: $115,000 · OtherBREAKING GROUND HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND CORPORATION: $175,000 · OtherBREAKING GROUND HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND CORPORAT…+58 more: $1,143,270 · Other+58 moreTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $1,086,283 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSIT…President and Fellows of Harvard College: $820,000 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard C…THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $100,000 · EducationNew York University: $75,000 · Education+5 more: $115,500 · EducationMUSEUM ASSOCIATES: $400,000 · Arts & CulturePLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureSEVENTH REGIMENT ARMORY CONSERVANCY INC: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $3,500 · Arts & CultureThe Rand Corporation: $400,000 · Public BenefitCenter on Budget and Policy Priorities: $30,000 · Public BenefitCITIZENS BUDGET COMMISSION INC: $17,000 · Public BenefitTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $420,000 · Social ScienceVERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC: $181,668 · Crime & LegalTHE BAIL PROJECT INC: $95,000 · Crime & LegalAVENUES FOR JUSTICE INC: $67,000 · Crime & LegalCOVENANT HOUSE: $62,500 · Human ServicesFOOTSTEPS INC: $35,000 · Human ServicesUplift Afghanistan Fund: $25,000 · Human ServicesSASHA BRUCE YOUTHWORK INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesYoung Eisner Scholars: $15,000 · Human ServicesGIVE FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesWESTCHESTER BOOK FESTIVAL INC: $7,500 · Human ServicesSNACK & FRIENDS INC: $7,500 · Human Services+2 more: $10,000 · Human Services
Other$3,143,603Education$2,196,783Arts & Culture$453,500Public Benefit$447,000Social Science$420,000Crime & Legal$343,668Human Services$197,500

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 TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $1,086,283 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $820,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEAST HARLEM TUTORIAL PROGRAM INC: $801,000 over 4y, 3.9% of budgetTHE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: $420,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetThe Rand Corporation: $400,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetVERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC: $181,668 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBREAKING GROUND HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND CORPORATION: $175,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetHAND IN HAND DANIEL BOULUD FOUNDATION: $175,000 over 2y, 76% of budgetTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE OSBORNE ASSOCIATION INC: $100,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE BAIL PROJECT INC: $95,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetGREATER NY FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 3y, 7.3% of budgetNew York University: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetVOTER REGISTRATION PROJECT: $75,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAVENUES FOR JUSTICE INC: $67,000 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE: $62,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetVerified Voting Foundation: $50,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetTHE VOTER PARTICIPATION CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFOOTSTEPS INC: $35,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetNEW VISIONS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS INC: $35,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEXT FOR AUTISM INC: $32,500 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetCenter on Budget and Policy Priorities: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetKIPP CHICAGO SCHOOLS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FORTUNE SOCIETY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetALLIANCE FOR A JUST SOCIETY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE HOPE PROGRAM INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetVOTEORG: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS INC: $25,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPA Alliance Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUplift Afghanistan Fund: $25,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetSASHA BRUCE YOUTHWORK INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWORKING IN THE SCHOOLS INC: $25,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetDemocracy North Carolina: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSEVENTH REGIMENT ARMORY CONSERVANCY INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCITIZENS BUDGET COMMISSION INC: $17,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetYoung Eisner Scholars: $15,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetARIZONA CENTER FOR EMPOWERMENT: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCOMIC RELIEF INC DBA COMIC RELIEF US: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARSHALL PROJECT INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPrison Policy Initiative: $15,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetGIVE FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWESTCHESTER BOOK FESTIVAL INC: $7,500 over 1y, 12% of budgetSNACK & FRIENDS INC: $7,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED MATH AND SCIENCE II: $5,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWOMEN IN NEED INC: $5,000 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.

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.

Jewish Communal FundThe Goldman Sachs Cha…The New York Communit…The Ford FoundationGs Donor Advised Phil…John D and Catherine …The ZelnickBelzberg C…The Jm Kaplan Fund IncThe Warburg Pincus Fo…The Hyde and Watson F…The San Francisco Fou…Tides Foundation
Jewish Communal FundNY25.2× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Communal Fund · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · The New York Community Trust · The Ford Foundation · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · The ZelnickBelzberg Charitable Trust · The Jm Kaplan Fund Inc · The Warburg Pincus Foundation · The Hyde and Watson Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Tides 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 Lynton Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Lynton Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
13report 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 96 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Lynton’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