· Private foundation
The Orbit Fund
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE PRUNO FUND | $2,500 |
| THE RENAISSANCE SOCIETY | $2,500 |
| SOCIETY FOR CONTEMPORARY ART | $2,000 |
| LATITUDE | $1,500 |
| ACRE PROJECTS | $1,500 |
| WESTSIDE FOUNDATION | $1,000 |
| PRIMARY INFORMATION | $1,000 |
| ELMHURST ART COLLEGE | $500 |
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 (FY25–25, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-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 +17% since the first grant, against -37% for those funded once.
12 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 2 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, 68% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SFSociety for Contemporary Art C-O The Art Institute of Chicago5× · 2021–2025 · $15k · revenue +17%
- PIPRIMARY INFORMATION INC3× · 2023–2025 · $5k · revenue +71%
- TETHE EXPERIMENTAL STATION2× · 2021–2022 · $3k · revenue +5%
Funded once
- RCROOTS & CULTURE CONTEMPORARY ARTCENTERone grant, 2023 · $500 · revenue -37%
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.
Catalyst and forum for advancing,developing and understanding contemporary art. educate culturally and artistically diverse students of all ages. provide opportunities for viewers and artists thruough exhibitions. educate the public about…
To provide a vibrant, contemporary cultural center through arts education, exhibitions and community outreach that will inspire creativity and enhance people's lives
A center for exhibitions, information, and documentation about living artists since 1977, which continues to be a place of experimentation and a hub of new art and new ideas.
To promote armenian contemporary experimental art
To support contemporary arts through exhibitions, education and cultural programming and serve as an anchor for artistic activity and community. Granary Arts supports and exhibits regional and international artists, provides educational…
CAMH presents extraordinary and thought-provoking arts programming and exhibitions.
Dedicated to the creation, presentation and advancement of contemporary art through its exhibitions, educational programming and studio art program.
How this is measured
9 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. 9 of the 15 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 Society for Contemporary Art C-O The Art Institute of Chicago ↗
- Who funds HYDE PARK ART CENTER ↗
- Who funds PRIMARY INFORMATION INC ↗
- Who funds THE EXPERIMENTAL STATION ↗
- Who funds The Pruno Fund Inc ↗
- Who funds ELMHURST ART MUSEUM ↗
- Who funds SKIDMORE COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds VASSAR COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds ROOTS & CULTURE CONTEMPORARY ARTCENTER ↗
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: Metzner Family Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Orbit Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Orbit Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Orbit’s filings →