Skip to content
The Onward and Upward Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Onward and Upward Charitable 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.

$85k
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

International$153kEducation$101kHealth$74kYouth Development$56kPublic Safety & Disaster$42kEnvironment$20kHousing & Shelter$11kArts & Culture$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k12 grants · $45k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $40k
$5,170
Median grant
8
States reached
$2.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NANTUCKET CONSERVATION FOUNDATION INC$10,100
FEEDING THE ORPHANS$10,000
HALFTHESTORY$10,000
OPEN HEARTS FOR ORPHANS INC$10,000
BAPTIST HEALTH SOUTH FLORIDA FOUNDATION INC$7,500
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF THE BAY AREA$6,000
NANTUCKET COTTAGE HOSPITAL$6,000
AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS$5,170
THE OPEN DOOR SHELTER INC$5,000
BLOOD CANCER UNITED INC$5,000
DOCS INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND RESCUE ALLIANCE LTD$5,000
TEAM RUBICON$2,500
IMPACT 100 PALM BEACH COUNTY INC$1,100
WOOFGANG AND CO$1,000
MARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION$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 (FY21–25, $41k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 37% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $500 → 6%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $5k → 11%OPEN HEARTS FOR ORPHANS INC: $10k → 11%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $21k → 9%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $5k → 9%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

NY
MA
PA
CT
CA
VA
TN
DC
GA
TX
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 6% of The Onward and Upward Charitable Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Onward and Upward Charitable 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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$438k · 16 repeat orgs$41k to everyone else

16 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

16
8

Total granted

$438k
$20k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+6%
+123%

Still filing today

81%
88%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $21k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
HealthEducationHuman ServicesInternationalEnvironmentHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • FA
    FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $100k · revenue +36%
  • AMERICARES FOUNDATION INC
    5× · 2018–2023 · $83k · revenue +77%
  • FT
    FEEDING THE ORPHANS INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $48k · revenue +6%

Funded once

  • AT
    AMERICAN THEATRE WING INC
    one grant, 2023 · $10k · revenue -10%
  • MS
    MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $5k
  • NF
    NRF FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $2k · revenue +130%
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 Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Fdn Group

Susan g. komen 's mission is to save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities & investing in breakthrough research to prevent & cure breast cancer.

—
2
The Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Inc

Susan g. komen has an unmatched, comprehensive 360-degree approach to fighting breast cancer across all fronts and supporting millions of people in the u.s. and in countries worldwide. we advocate for policies to protect patients, drive…

Health
3
Target Als Foundation Inc

Our mission is to break down barriers to als research to find effective treatments. by uniting academia, the pharma and biotech industry, government, venture capital, related nonprofits, and the als community, we aim to overcome the…

Education
4
Mass General Brigham Incorporated & Affiliates Group Return

Mass general brigham incorporated is developing an integrated health care delivery system throughout the region that offers patients a continuum of coordinated, high-quality care.

Health
5
Project Hope - the People-to-People Health Foundation Inc

To conduct and support programs and activities aimed at solving some of the world's greatest public health challenges, with a specific focus on enabling health workers to have the greatest possible impact on the health of the people they…

International
6
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc

The mission of dfci is to provide expert, compassionate, and equitable care to children, adults, and their families, while advancing the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of cancer and related diseases. we train new…

Health
7
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Fred hutch cancer center ("fred hutch") unites innovative research and compassionate care to prevent and eliminate cancer and infectious disease. continued on schedule o

Health
8
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Leadership in the prevention, treatment, and cure of cancer through excellence, vision and cost effectiveness in patient care, outreach programs, research, and education.

Health
9
Management Sciences for Health Inc

(msh) saves lives and improves the health of the world's poorest (see schedule o) and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.

International
10
Lung Cancer Research Foundation

The mission of the lung cancer research foundation is to improve lung cancer outcomes by funding research for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure of lung cancer.

Health
11
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
12
Breakthrough T1D

Breakthrough t1d is the leading global t1d organization working to accelerate life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent, and treat t1d and its complications.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of Connecticut Inc; the most unlike its peers is Docs International Health and Rescue Alliance Ltd. 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

26 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 26 of the 30 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/26
Grantees still filing
15/26
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $82,990 · InternationalAMERICARES FOUNDATION INCFEEDING THE ORPHANS INC: $48,000 · InternationalFEEDING THE ORPHANS INCHALFTHESTORY: $35,000 · HealthHALFTHESTORYBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $25,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INCBaptist Health South Florida Foundation Inc: $15,000 · HealthBaptist Health South Flo…MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT INC: $15,000 · HealthMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION O…DOCS INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND RESCUE ALLIANCE LTD: $10,000 · HealthDOCS INTERNATIONAL HEALT…+3 more: $1,985 · HealthFLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 · EducationFLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERS…+2 more: $1,500 · EducationFUTURES-CT INC DBA WOOFGANG AND CO: $14,500 · OtherFUTURES-CT INC D…AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $11,000 · OtherAMERICAN NATIONA…NANTUCKET COTTAGE HOSPITAL: $11,000 · OtherNANTUCKET COTTAG…Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area: $6,000 · OtherBig Brothers Big…MEMORIAL SLOAN-KETTERING CANCER CENTER: $5,000 · OtherMEMORIAL SLOAN-K…AMERICAN THEATRE WING INC: $10,000 · OtherAMERICAN THEATRE…NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC: $5,000 · OtherNAACP LEGAL DEFE…IMPACT 100 PALM BEACH COUNTY INC: $3,250 · OtherTEAM RUBICON INC: $2,500 · Other+3 more: $3,500 · OtherAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $30,851 · Human ServicesAmerican …OPEN HEARTS FOR ORPHANS INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesOPEN HEAR…+1 more: $500 · Human ServicesNANTUCKET CONSERVATION FOUNDATION INC: $20,100 · EnvironmentTHE OPEN DOOR SHELTER INC: $11,000 · Housing & Shelter
International$130,990Health$101,985Education$101,500Other$71,750Human Services$41,351Environment$20,100Housing & Shelter$11,000

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 budgetFLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $100,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAMERICARES FOUNDATION INC: $82,990 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFEEDING THE ORPHANS INC: $48,000 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetHALFTHESTORY: $35,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $30,851 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $25,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNANTUCKET CONSERVATION FOUNDATION INC: $20,100 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBaptist Health South Florida Foundation Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF CONNECTICUT INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE OPEN DOOR SHELTER INC: $11,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetOPEN HEARTS FOR ORPHANS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetAMERICAN THEATRE WING INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetDOCS INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND RESCUE ALLIANCE LTD: $10,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetBig Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area: $6,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNAACP LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUC FUND INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetIMPACT 100 PALM BEACH COUNTY INC: $3,250 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNRF FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SOUTHAMPTON FRESH AIR HOME: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLACK GIRLS CODE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTEAM WOOFGANG & CO INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNATIONAL BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION INC: $510 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSMILE TRAIN INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHIRE HEROES USA INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBREASTCANCERORG: $475 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.

Morgan Stanley Global…The Blackbaud Giving …Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust IncIN9.8× affinity5 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Onward and Upward Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Onward and Upward Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • The Open Door Shelter Inc: 14% of income from government
  • Nantucket Conservation Foundation Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Americares Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–30%
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.

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 30 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 Onward and Upward’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