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The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation at a glance

· 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 FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$50k
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 2025.

Health$516kEducation$410kScience & Tech$357kArts & Culture$350kPhilanthropy$136kHuman Services$125kCommunity Improvement$95kYouth Development$51kOther$0
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k17 grants · $319k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$20,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$5.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
RANSOM EVERGLADES SCHOOL$50,000
MAKE A WISH SOUTHERN FLORIDA FOUNDATION$43,000
JEWISH LEARNING CENTER$35,000
AMERICAN ISRAEL DEMOCRACY COALITION$25,000
LEHRMAN COMMUNITY DAY SCHOOL$25,000
THE SOBE ROOM INC$20,000
PASADENA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$20,000
STYLE SAVES INC$20,000
SAG HARBOR CINEMA ARTS CENTER$20,000
FALMOUTH SERVICE CENTER$15,000
BOLD BEAUTY PROJECT$15,000
THE ANEURYSM AND AVM FOUNDATION$15,000
PLUM ISLAND FOUNCATION$15,000
BOCA RATON REGIONAL HOSPITAL$11,000
LONG ISLAND ALZHEIMERS & DEMENTIA CENTER$10,000
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 (FY24–25, $30k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 67% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL: $10k → 7%STYLE SAVES INC: $20k → 15%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

MN
IL
NY
MA
PA
CA
UT
CO
KY
VA
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 10% of The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 39% of the giving stays in MA; by stated purpose, 37%.

The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
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.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 24 repeat orgs$472k to everyone else

24 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 16 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

24
31

Total granted

$1.7M
$311k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+13%
+27%

Still filing today

75%
48%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 54% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $161k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
HealthArts & CultureEducationCommunity ImprovementYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesOther
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

  • RE
    RANSOM EVERGLADES SCHOOL INC
    3× · 2023–2025 · $125k · revenue +18%
  • LC
    LEHRMAN COMMUNITY DAY SCHOOL INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $115k · revenue +136%
  • TS
    THE SOBE ROOM INC
    5× · 2020–2025 · $75k · revenue +29%

Funded once

  • GM
    GREATER MIAMI JEWISH FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $45k
  • O
    Oceana
    one grant, 2017 · $25k
  • ME
    MASS EYE AND EAR FEWKES FUND OF DERMATOLOGY RESEARCH
    one grant, 2021 · $20k
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
The Boston Foundation for Sight Inc

Our mission is to improve quality of life by transforming the understanding, treatment, and care of the ocular surface.

Human Services
2
American Academy of Neurology

The Academy's mission is to enhance member career fulfillment and promote brain health for all.

Community Improvement
3
City of Hope

City of Hope's mission is to make hope a reality for all touched by cancer and diabetes. PLEASE SEE SCHEDULE O FOR A CONTINUATION OF OUR MISSION

Health
4
Metropolitan Jewish Health System Inc

Mjhs health system is a charitable not-for-profit established to support the activities of affiliated organizations. mjhs is built on the core values of compassion, dignity and respect, first established by the four brooklyn ladies in…

Health
5
Boston Harbor Now Inc

Our mission is to ensure that the people of greater boston benefit from a vibrant, resilient, and inclusive waterfront, harbor, and islands; these spaces are equitable, accessible, and adapted to climate change; and to ensure our public,…

Environment
6
Neurology Associates of Stony Brook University Faculty Practice Corp

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
7
Brighton Marine Inc

Brighton marine, inc. provides military and veteran families with comprehensive campus-based quality health care, as well as affordable and supportive housing for at-risk veterans and their families.

Health
8
Children's Hospital Corporation

Provider of pediatric healthcare, education, research & community service

Health
9
Physician Affiliate Group of New York Pc

To provide accountable, responsive quality care with the highest degree of sensitivity to the needs of our diverse, multilingual population while fulfilling the professional and educational needs of our members.

Health
10
Alzheimer's Foundation of America Inc

The mission of the alzheimer's foundation of america (afa) is to provide support, services, and education to individuals, families and caregivers affected by alzheimer's disease and related dementias nationwide, and fund research for…

Health
11
The Lieber Institute Inc

The mission of the institute is to translate basic genetic and molecular mechanisms of schizophrenia and related developmental brain disorders into clinical advances that change the lives of affected individuals. it is catalyzing a new…

Health
12
City of Hope National Medical Center

City of Hope National Medical Center's mission is to make hope a reality for all touched by cancer and diabetes. PLEASE SEE SCHEDULE O FOR A CONTINUATION OF OUR MISSION

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Esplanade Association Inc; the most unlike its peers is Social Service League of Cohasset 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

43 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. 43 of the 66 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
42/43
Grantees still filing
26/43
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $356,997 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF SCIENCEWGBH Educational Foundation: $200,000 · Arts & CultureWGBH Educational FoundationWNET: $50,000 · Arts & CultureWNET+7 more: $76,000 · Arts & Culture+7 moreFidelity Charitable Gift: $250,000 · OtherFidelity Charitable GiftMAKE A WISH SOUTHERN FLORIDA FOUNDATION: $53,000 · OtherMAKE A WISH SOUTHERN FLORIDA FOUNDATIO…GREATER MIAMI JEWISH FOUNDATION: $45,000 · OtherGREATER MIAMI JEWISH FOUNDATIONJEWISH LEARNING CENTER INC: $35,000 · OtherHEALING HEARTS WITH HORSES MA INC: $30,000 · OtherAmerican Friends of Jamaica Inc: $32,500 · Other+28 more: $312,006 · Other+28 moreLong Island Alzheimers and Dementia Center Inc: $70,000 · HealthLong Island Al…White Plains Hospital Medical Center: $60,000 · HealthWhite Plains H…HAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION: $50,000 · HealthHAZELDEN BETTY…THE ANEURYSM FOUNDATION: $25,000 · HealthTHE ANEURYSM F…Boca Raton Regional Hospital Inc: $11,000 · HealthMission Brain Foundation: $10,000 · HealthRICHARD J CARON FOUNDATION: $10,000 · HealthCHILDREN'S TUMOR FOUNDATION: $10,000 · HealthTHE PHOENIX LIFE PROJECT INC: $10,000 · HealthSocial Service League of Cohasset Inc: $10,000 · HealthHAYMAKERS FOR HOPE INC: $10,000 · HealthMASSACHUSETTS EYE & EAR INFIRMARY: $10,000 · HealthRANSOM EVERGLADES SCHOOL INC: $125,000 · EducationRANSOM EVERG…LEHRMAN COMMUNITY DAY SCHOOL INC: $115,090 · EducationLEHRMAN COMM…Jewish Culture High School Inc: $10,000 · EducationTHE SOBE ROOM INC: $75,000 · Community ImprovementBoca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation Inc: $70,000 · Community ImprovementSOUTH FLORIDA AFTER-SCHOOL ALL STARS INC: $40,000 · Youth DevelopmentLyric Foundation Inc: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentAMERICA ISRAEL DEMOCRACY COALITION: $25,000 · PhilanthropyPasadena Community Foundation: $20,000 · PhilanthropyCORAL GABLES COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · Philanthropy
Arts & Culture$682,997Other$757,506Health$286,000Education$250,090Community Improvement$145,000Youth Development$50,000Philanthropy$50,000

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 budgetMUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $356,997 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetWGBH Educational Foundation: $200,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetRANSOM EVERGLADES SCHOOL INC: $125,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLEHRMAN COMMUNITY DAY SCHOOL INC: $115,090 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetTHE SOBE ROOM INC: $75,000 over 5y, 20% of budgetBoca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation Inc: $70,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetLong Island Alzheimers and Dementia Center Inc: $70,000 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetWhite Plains Hospital Medical Center: $60,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetWNET: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTH FLORIDA AFTER-SCHOOL ALL STARS INC: $40,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetAmerican Friends of Jamaica Inc: $32,500 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetHEALING HEARTS WITH HORSES MA INC: $30,000 over 3y, 88% of budgetTHE ANEURYSM FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 2y, 7.2% of budgetHARMONY FOUNDATION INC: $22,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetPasadena Community Foundation: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMIAMI CITY BALLET INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBOLD BEAUTY PROJECT INC: $15,000 over 1y, 48% of budgetFALMOUTH SERVICE CENTER INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBoca Raton Regional Hospital Inc: $11,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF OGDEN VALLEY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetCITY LORE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL ELWYN: $10,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetJewish Culture High School Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetRICHARD J CARON FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN'S TUMOR FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE PHOENIX LIFE PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 1y, 23% of budgetSocial Service League of Cohasset Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetHAYMAKERS FOR HOPE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCare Dimensions Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMASSACHUSETTS EYE & EAR INFIRMARY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLyric Foundation Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetOPERATION SMILE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJORGE M PEREZ ART MUSEUM OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRESCUING LEFTOVER CUISINE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCORAL GABLES COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $2,561 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetESPLANADE ASSOCIATION INC: $1,000 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.

Stuart a Miller Famil…The Ford FoundationMightycause Charitabl…Jewish Communal FundGs Donor Advised Phil…Silicon Valley Commun…The Pfizer Foundation…Morgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…Vanguard Charitable E…Charities Aid Foundat…
Stuart a Miller Family Foundation IncFL13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

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
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 Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 110%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Care Dimensions Inc: 14% of income from government
  • Wgbh Educational Foundation: 1% of income from government
  • Museum of Science: 0% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
11get no government money at all
8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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.
05Through Plinth

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.

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 66 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Michael & Helen Schaffer’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