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The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$231k
Granted FY2023
14
Grants FY2023
4
States reached
$41k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2023.

Arts & Culture$425kHealth$298kEducation$277kCommunity Improvement$234kCrime & Legal$134kPhilanthropy$119kYouth Development$48kAnimals$30kOther$0
02FY2023 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k5 grants · $25k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $207k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LE PETIT THEATRE DU VIEUX CARRE$41,000
GREATER NEW ORLEANS FOUNDATION$38,500
NEW ORLEANS STARTUP FUND INC$38,500
PLANNED PARENTHOOD GULF COAST INC$28,500
LOUISE S MCGEHEE SCHOOL$15,000
LOUISIANA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA$15,000
BRIDGE HOUSE CORPORATION$10,000
FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES SE LA$10,000
COURT WATCH NOLA$10,000
NC SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND MATH FDN$6,000
THE BRIGHT SCHOOL$5,000
MAKE MUSIC NOLA$5,000
LA CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS$5,000
ROOTED ONES$3,500
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 (FY19–22, $11k) land where the poverty rate runs at 19%, against an area that typically sits at 15%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 15%STEM LIBRARY LAB: $5k → 15%RISING FOUNDATIONS: $6k → 23%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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.3M · 24 repeat orgs$245k to everyone else

24 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2023, 13 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
37

Total granted

$1.3M
$230k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+30%

Still filing today

75%
76%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 92% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23
EducationArts & CultureCrime & LegalHealthCommunity ImprovementFood & 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

  • PP
    Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Inc
    7× · 2017–2023 · $211k · revenue +3%
  • NO
    NEW ORLEANS STARTUP FUND INC
    6× · 2018–2023 · $180k · revenue +33%
  • LP
    LE PETIT THEATRE DU VIEUX CARRE
    4× · 2020–2023 · $153k · revenue +29%

Funded once

  • CD
    COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
    one grant, 2017 · $25k
  • OH
    ODYSSEY HOUSE LOUISIANA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $20k · revenue +300%
  • FOUNDATION FOR LOUISIANA
    one grant, 2022 · $15k · revenue -10%
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
Ecole Bilingue De La Nouvelle Orleans

The mission of ecole bilingue is to develop globally literate students through a rigorous bilingual french-american curriculum, set in a nurturing and multicultural community. we guide our students to excel academically, foster their…

Education
2
Louisiana Alliance for Nonprofits

To strengthen, promote, and build the capacity of louisiana's nonprofit sector through education, advocacy, and member services.

Philanthropy
3
Arts Council of New Orleans

The Arts Council of New Orleans dba Arts New Orleans is a private, nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) status dedicated to supporting arts and culture in the city.

Arts & Culture
4
Renew - Reinventing Education

The renew charter management organization will transform underperforming schools into academically rigorous schools that prepare students for the next level of achievement, including high school, college, and career.

Education
5
University of New Orleans Foundation

The University of New Orleans Foundation's mission is to promote the well-being and advancement of the University of New Orleans and all the colleges, schools, departments, and divisions comprising it, and to develop, expand, and improve…

Education
6
New Harmony High Institute

New Harmony High School empowers each student to actively direct their own learning. As our name suggests, students will work to find new harmonies in order to restore balance that has been lost in our coastal communities, finding new ways…

Education
7
Lycee Francais De La Nouvelle Orleans

Provide free, public french immersion education and prepare students to matriculate in the finest colleges of the world.

Education
8
Louisiana Charter School Alliance

The mission of GNOCCS is to strengthen and support charter schools across Greater New Orleans by fostering collaboration, building capacity, and advocating for policies that enhance student achievement. Its most significant activities…

Education
9
New Orleans Educational Telecommunications Consortium

Delivery of higher educational services to the public.

—
10
Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools

Rethink's mission is to support black youth in becoming thoughtful leaders, capable of critically rethinking their experiences, and taking action to create and sustain transformative systemic change.

Youth Development
11
Community Academies of New Orleans Inc

Community academies' mission is to cultivate schools that nurture students' character and critical thinking ability in responsive learning environments, thereby equipping them to be impactful community leaders.

Education
12
Isidore Newman School

Newman inspires individual growth and academic excellence within an inclusive community committed to strong relationships and high expectations.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kid Smart; the most unlike its peers is Merrie-Woode Foundation 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

52 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. 52 of the 65 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
49/52
Grantees still filing
35/52
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LE PETIT THEATRE DU VIEUX CARRE: $153,000 · OtherLE PETIT THEATRE DU VIEUX CARRETHE LOUISE S MCGEHEE SCHOOL: $105,000 · OtherTHE LOUISE S MCGEHEE SCHOOLLE PETIT THEATER: $95,550 · OtherLE PETIT THEATERNEXUSCITY: $52,370 · OtherNEXUSCITYCOUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $25,000 · OtherBRIDGE HOUSE GRACE HOUSE: $25,000 · OtherNC SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND MATH FDN: $24,000 · OtherAudubon Nature Institute Inc: $30,000 · Other+21 more: $161,500 · Other+21 morePlanned Parenthood Gulf Coast Inc: $210,500 · HealthPlanned Parenthood…BRIDGE HOUSE CORPORATION: $30,000 · HealthBRIDGE HOUSE CORPO…ODYSSEY HOUSE LOUISIANA INC: $20,000 · HealthODYSSEY HOUSE LOUI…+1 more: $2,000 · HealthNEW ORLEANS STARTUP FUND INC: $179,500 · Community ImprovementNEW ORLEANS …+1 more: $2,500 · Community ImprovementTHE LOUISIANA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA: $125,000 · Arts & CultureTHE LOUISIA…MAKE MUSIC NOLA: $26,000 · Arts & CultureMAKE MUSIC …PRESERVATION HALL FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · Arts & CulturePRESERVATIO…+4 more: $5,700 · Arts & CultureCOURT WATCH NOLA: $90,000 · Crime & LegalNEW ORLEANS POLICE AND JUSTICE FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 · Crime & LegalYOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT: $10,000 · Crime & LegalLOUISIANA CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $5,000 · Crime & LegalJUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY CENTER OF LOUISIANA: $5,000 · Crime & Legal+1 more: $3,000 · Crime & LegalMETAIRIE PARK COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $20,000 · EducationKIPP OF NEW ORLEANS INC: $15,000 · EducationDILLARD UNIVERSITY: $12,500 · EducationXAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA: $12,500 · EducationSTART THE ADVENTURE IN READING INC: $12,000 · EducationBRIGHT SCHOOL INC: $8,000 · EducationCORE ELEMENT GREATER NEW ORLEANS STEM I: $5,000 · EducationABEONA HOUSE CHILD DISCOVERY CENTER: $5,000 · EducationEDUCARE NEW ORLEANS: $5,000 · EducationTHE POSSE FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · EducationNew Orleans Airlift: $5,000 · EducationCOLLEGE TRACK: $4,000 · Education+3 more: $7,200 · EducationTHE GREATER NEW ORLEANS FOUNDATION: $101,500 · Philanthropy+1 more: $2,000 · Philanthropy
Other$671,420Health$262,500Community Improvement$182,000Arts & Culture$166,700Crime & Legal$128,000Education$116,200Philanthropy$103,500

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 budgetPlanned Parenthood Gulf Coast Inc: $210,500 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetNEW ORLEANS STARTUP FUND INC: $179,500 over 6y, 13% of budgetLE PETIT THEATRE DU VIEUX CARRE: $153,000 over 4y, 6.8% of budgetTHE LOUISIANA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA: $125,000 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetTHE LOUISE S MCGEHEE SCHOOL: $105,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetTHE GREATER NEW ORLEANS FOUNDATION: $101,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCOURT WATCH NOLA: $90,000 over 7y, 8.7% of budgetNEXUSCITY: $52,370 over 2y, 30% of budgetBRIDGE HOUSE CORPORATION: $30,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAudubon Nature Institute Inc: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMAKE MUSIC NOLA: $26,000 over 7y, 3.3% of budgetMETAIRIE PARK COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetODYSSEY HOUSE LOUISIANA INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMerrie-Woode Foundation Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR LOUISIANA: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNEW ORLEANS POLICE AND JUSTICE FOUNDATION INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetKIPP OF NEW ORLEANS INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDILLARD UNIVERSITY: $12,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetXAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA: $12,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTART THE ADVENTURE IN READING INC: $12,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetGROW DAT YOUTH FARM: $11,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetPRESERVATION HALL FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetYOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECT: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBRIGHT SCHOOL INC: $8,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK GREATER NEW ORLEANS AND ACADIANA: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe First 72: $6,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetFRIENDS OF CITY PARK: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetRECONCILE NEW ORLEANS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPEOPLES HOUSING INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCORE ELEMENT GREATER NEW ORLEANS STEM I: $5,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetABEONA HOUSE CHILD DISCOVERY CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetEDUCARE NEW ORLEANS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLOUISIANA CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY CENTER OF LOUISIANA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTHE POSSE FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTEM LIBRARY LAB: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNew Orleans Airlift: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCOLLEGE TRACK: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetReEntry Mediation Institute of Louisiana: $3,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetYOUTH RUN NOLA INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetLIBERTY'S KITCHEN INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMARKETUMBRELLAORG: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCATHEDRAL MONTESSORI SCHOOL INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBirdfoot Chamber Music Festival: $2,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetBRAIN INJURY ASSOCIATION LOUISIANA CHAPTER: $2,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetLOYOLA UNIVERSITY: $1,700 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER NEW ORLEANS YOUTH ORCHESTRA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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 Greater New Orlea…Baptist Community Min…Goldring Family Found…Eugenie & Joseph Jone…Keller Family Foundat…The Usdin-Weil Founda…United Way of Southea…Shell USA Company Fou…Ella West Freeman Fou…New Orleans Community…Woldenberg FoundationLuther and Zita Templ…
The Greater New Orleans FoundationLA68× affinity33 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Greater New Orleans Foundation · Baptist Community Ministries · Goldring Family Foundation · Eugenie & Joseph Jones Family Foundation · Keller Family Foundation · The Usdin-Weil Foundation · United Way of Southeast Louisiana · Shell USA Company Foundation · Ella West Freeman Foundation · New Orleans Community Support Foundation · Woldenberg Foundation · Luther and Zita Templeman 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 Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Mary Freeman Wisdom 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%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    22report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Mary Freeman Wisdom Foundation 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 65 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.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record but names no grant recipient in the published copy, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Mary Freeman Wisdom’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
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    $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