Massachusetts · Private foundation
The Michael & Helen Schaffer 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.
- $369k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 18
- Grants FY2025
- 10
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 50%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $20,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $50,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 10 to 16
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 5
- Total assets, FY2025
- $5.0M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 50% of the organizations The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 37% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 63% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $80k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 17 | $349k | 53% |
| FY2024 | 10 | $217k | 50% |
| FY2023 | 13 | $187k | 38% |
| FY2022 | 12 | $202k | 33% |
| FY2021 | 16 | $218k | 38% |
| FY2020 | 16 | $172k | 38% |
| FY2019 | 12 | $215k | 25% |
| FY2018 | 14 | $240k | 64% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Museum of Science | $356,997 | 8 | 0% |
| WGBH Educational Foundation | $200,000 | 5 | 0% |
| Ransom Everglades School Inc | $125,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Lehrman Community Day School Inc | $115,090 | 6 | 0% |
| The Sobe Room Inc | $75,000 | 5 | 20% |
| Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation Inc | $70,000 | 7 | 0% |
| Long Island Alzheimers and Dementia Center Inc | $70,000 | 7 | 1% |
| White Plains Hospital Medical Center | $60,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Wnet | $50,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation | $50,000 | 2 | 0% |
Show all 43 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 21 recipients with no EIN on record ($535k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 36 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: Stuart a Miller Family Foundation Inc · The Ford Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Jewish Communal Fund · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Charities Aid Foundation America
How this is measured
Compare The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation with peer funders
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Michael & Helen Schaffer 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.
About The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation
- How much does The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation give?
- The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation reported 18 grants totaling $369,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 10 and 16 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Health (23%), Education (18%), Science & Tech (16%).
- Who are The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Museum of Science ($357k), WGBH Educational Foundation ($200k), Ransom Everglades School Inc ($125k).
- Does The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Stuart a Miller Family Foundation Inc, The Ford Foundation, Mightycause Charitable Foundation.
- Where is The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation based?
- The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation is based in MA.
Play a game based on Michael & Helen Schaffer’s filings →