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The Michelson Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Michelson Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$961k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
7
States reached
$453k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$4.9MArts & Culture$2.1MHealth$1.9MRecreation & Sports$400kInternational$310kSocial Science$285kPhilanthropy$140kHuman Services$60kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k4 grants · $75k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $100k
  • $250k+2 grants · $786k
$50,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$15M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Vanderbilt University Blair Community Scholars Pr$453,140
The Better Angels Society Inc$333,333
Individual grant recipient$50,000
Child Mind Institute Inc$50,000
Eagles Autism Foundation$30,000
Teach for America$25,000
Kukio Ho'omana Fund$10,000
LIBERTAS COLLEGE PREPARATORY$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 (FY22–22, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Good Tidings Foundation: $5k → 7%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

MT
MN
NY
MA
IN
PA
CA
MO
VA
MD
AZ
TN
NC
DC
HI
AL
GA
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.

68%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$6.3M · 21 repeat orgs$2.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against -3% for those funded once.

21 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

21
41

Total granted

$6.3M
$2.1M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
-3%

Still filing today

57%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 12% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $846k 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
EducationArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropySocial ScienceEnvironmentOther
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

  • BM
    BRYN MAWR COLLEGE
    4× · 2017–2022 · $2.6M · revenue +37%
  • Vanderbilt University
    3× · 2017–2019 · $1.5M · revenue +74%
  • AE
    AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
    6× · 2019–2024 · $210k · revenue +47%

Funded once

  • CM
    COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER
    one grant, 2019 · $500k · revenue +10%
  • FP
    Francisco Park Conservancy
    one grant, 2019 · $350k · revenue -94%
  • TG
    THE GEN NEXT FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2019 · $300k · revenue -74% · 30% of their budget
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
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
2
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
3
Boston Architectural College

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

—
4
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
5
Internet Society Foundation

At the internet society foundation, we focus on funding initiatives that strengthen the internet in function and reach so that it can effectively serve all people. our work advances the vision of the internet society (isoc): the internet…

International
6
American Association for the Advancement of Science

Advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all. the world's largest multidisciplinary scientific society and a leading publisher of cutting-edge research through its science family of journals,…

Science & Tech
7
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
8
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
9
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
10
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
11
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
12
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Team Impact Inc; the most unlike its peers is Francisco Park Conservancy. 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

41 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. 41 of the 68 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
41/41
Grantees still filing
24/41
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $2,600,013 · EducationBRYN MAWR COLLEGEVanderbilt University: $1,500,600 · EducationVanderbilt University+6 more: $127,500 · EducationBetter Angels Society - The American Revolution: $499,999 · OtherBetter Angels Society - The A…Vanderbilt University Blair Community Scholars Pr: $453,140 · OtherVanderbilt University Blair C…THE METROPOLITAN OPERA: $407,499 · OtherTHE METROPOLITAN OPERATHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL (PLEDGE PMT): $380,050 · OtherTHOMAS JEFFERSON UNIVERSITY H…Individual grant recipient: $125,000 · Other+34 more: $856,161 · Other+34 moreMAYO CLINIC: $1,050,000 · HealthMAYO CLINICEAGLES AUTISM CHALLENGE INC: $90,000 · HealthEAGLES AUTISM …THE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH: $50,000 · HealthCHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC: $50,000 · Health+3 more: $47,500 · HealthCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $500,000 · Arts & CultureCOMMUNITY MU…THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY INC: $333,333 · Arts & CultureTHE BETTER A…Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Inc: $250,000 · Arts & CultureMemphis Broo…+4 more: $45,550 · Arts & CultureTHE GEN NEXT FOUNDATION INC: $300,000 · Social ScienceAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $210,000 · Social ScienceFrancisco Park Conservancy: $350,000 · Recreation & SportsHAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $37,500 · PhilanthropyKUKIO HOOMANA FUND: $20,000 · PhilanthropySAN FRANCISCO FIRST TEE: $7,500 · PhilanthropyTEAM IMPACT INC: $5,000 · Philanthropy
Education$4,228,113Other$2,721,849Health$1,287,500Arts & Culture$1,128,883Social Science$510,000Recreation & Sports$350,000Philanthropy$70,000

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 budgetBRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $2,600,013 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetVanderbilt University: $1,500,600 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMAYO CLINIC: $1,050,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER: $500,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetFrancisco Park Conservancy: $350,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetTHE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY INC: $333,333 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetTHE GEN NEXT FOUNDATION INC: $300,000 over 1y, 30% of budgetMemphis Brooks Museum of Art Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $210,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCITY YEAR INC: $90,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetEAGLES AUTISM CHALLENGE INC: $90,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $37,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCONQUER CANCER FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY: $35,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetIMPACT PHILANTHROPY GROUP: $25,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL CHURCHILL SOCIETY: $24,500 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetKUKIO HOOMANA FUND: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSPONSORS FOR EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTEAM RUBICON INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDESCANSO GARDENS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLIBERTAS COLLEGE PREPARATORY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSAN FRANCISCO FIRST TEE: $7,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGOOD TIDINGS FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTEAM IMPACT INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE YOUNG MEN'S AND YOUNG WOMEN'S HEBREW ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJONES-GORDON FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHypopara Research Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 7.4% of budgetNATIONAL MUSEUM OF FOREST SERVICE HISTORY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSPRINGFIELD AREA EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetABILITYPATH: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE: $1,667 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTransgender Law Center: $1,667 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BAIL PROJECT INC: $1,667 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHARVARD MAGAZINE INC: $1,050 over 7y, 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.

  • Who funds BRYN MAWR COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Vanderbilt University ↗
  • Who funds MAYO CLINIC ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Francisco Park Conservancy ↗
  • Who funds THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds THE GEN NEXT FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Inc ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH ↗
  • Who funds CITY YEAR INC ↗
  • Who funds EAGLES AUTISM CHALLENGE INC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE MICHAEL J FOX FOUNDATION FOR PARKINSON'S RESEARCH ↗
  • Who funds CHILD MIND INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
  • Who funds HAWAII COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CONQUER CANCER FOUNDATION OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY ↗
  • Who funds IMPACT PHILANTHROPY GROUP ↗
  • Who funds INTERNATIONAL CHURCHILL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds KUKIO HOOMANA FUND ↗
  • Who funds SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ↗

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 Community Fede…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Silicon Valley Commun…Morgan Stanley Global…Marin Community Found…The Goldman Sachs Cha…National Philanthropi…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…The Bank of America C…Fidelity Investments …
Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & SonomaCA18.7× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Marin Community Foundation · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
3report 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 Michelson Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Michelson 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 68 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 Michelson’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