· Private foundation
The Norman Olson Charitable Foundation Trust
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k5 grants · $28k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN | $50,000 |
| WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY | $9,000 |
| CONGREGATION RODEPH SHALOM | $7,835 |
| PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA | $5,000 |
| OLANA PARTNERSHIP | $3,000 |
| SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILA | $3,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–21, $10k) land where the poverty rate runs at 7%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +46% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.
12 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 25% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $58k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
CARING FOR FRIENDS4× · 2020–2024 · $40k · revenue +9%- PSPERKIOMEN SCHOOL3× · 2017–2019 · $28k · revenue +51%
- WUWESLEYAN UNIVERSITY4× · 2022–2025 · $20k · revenue +47%
Funded once
- JFJEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICESone grant, 2024 · $20k
- HOHUDSON OPERA HOUSE INCone grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue -55%
- TCTHOMAS COLE HISTORIC HOUSEone grant, 2021 · $5k · revenue +16%
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.
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.
Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
The cleveland institute of music's mission is to empower the world's most talented classical music students to fulfill their dreams and potential.
Provides innovative education in a dynamic urban setting. dedicated to academic excellence and community engagement,we prepare students of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skill,and experience to lead meaningful lives as informed…
Kaufman music center stimulates appreciation of and participation in music through music performance and education in ways that awaken creativity, advance innovation, and create a sense of wonder among performers, students, teachers, and…
See schedule ovision: the cooper union for the advancement of science and art is dedicated to peter cooper's radical commitment to diversity and his founding vision that fair access to an inspiring free education and forums for courageous…
Gettysburg college is a residential, undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences.
Germantown academy inspires students to be independent in thought; confident in expression; compassionate in spirit; collaborative in action; and honorable in deed. germantown academy is a private school educating students from pre-k…
Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship
New york school of interior design provides the most innovative, immersive, and transformative interior design education in the world, demonstrating the impact of professionally designed interiors on the health, happiness, and well-being…
The mission of the jewish museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret art and jewish culture. see schedule o for more information.
The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.
How this is measured
10 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. 10 of the 24 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 CARING FOR FRIENDS ↗
- Who funds PERKIOMEN SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds THE BALDWIN SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds JEWISH RELIEF AGENCY ↗
- Who funds HUDSON OPERA HOUSE INC ↗
- Who funds THE OLANA PARTNERSHIP ↗
- Who funds PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds THOMAS COLE HISTORIC HOUSE ↗
- Who funds CURTIS INSTITUTE OF MUSIC ↗
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: National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Norman Olson Charitable Foundation Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Norman Olson Charitable Foundation Trust. Bigger dots raise more.
- Wesleyan University: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Norman Olson Charitable Foundation Trust?
Find your warmest path to The Norman Olson Charitable Foundation Trust 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.
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