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The Pershing Square Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Pershing Square Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$11M
Granted FY2024still arriving
56
Grants FY2024still arriving
9
States reached
$750k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Health$38MEducation$29MPhilanthropy$27MArts & Culture$13MSocial Science$6.9MScience & Tech$4.0MPublic Safety & Disaster$4.0MCrime & Legal$3.5MOther$0
02FY2024 · 56 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $8k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $185k
  • $50k–250k12 grants · $2.2M
  • $250k+31 grants · $8.6M
$250,000
Median grant
9
States reached
$415M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE BROAD INSTITUTE OF MIT AND HARVARD$750,000
AMCHAI$500,000
THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY$300,000
CORNELL UNIVERSITY$250,000
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY$250,000
MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER$250,000
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY$250,000
THE BROAD INSTITUTE OF MIT AND HARVARD$250,000
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO$250,000
MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER$250,000
TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK$250,000
ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE$250,000
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO$250,000
MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER$250,000
THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS$250,000
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 (FY20–23, $1.3M) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 92% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Redeemer Center for Life: $10k → 11%CONNECTSAFELY INC: $100k → 8%CHALLENGED ATHLETES FOUNDATION: $50k → 11%Challenged Athletes Inc: $25k → 11%NEIGHBORS LINK: $100k → 9%Willing Heart Community Care Center Inc: $20k → 16%INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $1.0M → 17%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

ME
NH
WA
MN
IL
NY
MA
IA
IN
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
VA
MD
DE
DC
GA
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 20% of The Pershing Square Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 62% of the giving stays in NY; by stated purpose, 59%.

The Pershing Square Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 6.2% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

56%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$62M · 42 repeat orgs$48M to everyone else

42 repeat relationships: 17 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

42
77

Total granted

$62M
$46M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+18%
+31%

Still filing today

69%
77%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.6M went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
EducationHealthArts & CultureHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsInternationalOther
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

  • VC
    VASSAR COLLEGE
    2× · 2020–2021 · $4.0M · revenue +43%
  • TR
    THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2020–2024 · $3.5M · revenue +1%
  • CS
    COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY
    4× · 2020–2024 · $2.2M · revenue +26%

Funded once

  • TM
    THE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITALgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $21M · revenue +31%
  • SN
    SHED NYC INC
    one grant, 2021 · $8.0M · revenue -32%
  • FI
    FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND - FIDELITY DAF
    one grant, 2022 · $4.0M
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
New York Genome Center Inc

Operate a state-of-the-art, world-class genomic research center that creates and uses advanced genomics to understand the genetic basis of disease. for more information, see schedule o.

Health
2
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
3
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.

—
4
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
5
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

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

Health
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
Boston Architectural College

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

—
8
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
9
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
10
Stony Brook Surgical Associates University Faculty Practice Corporation

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

Health
11
New York School of Interior Design

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…

Education
12
Stony Brook Urology University Faculty Practice Corporation

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

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fund for Public Housing Inc; the most unlike its peers is Metastasis Research Society Inc H Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. 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

103 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. 103 of the 138 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
15
Early backer (in before they grew)
103/103
Grantees still filing
75/103
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: $6,925,426 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF OXFORDMemorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center: $6,799,522 · OtherMemorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer CenterFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND - FIDELITY DAF: $4,000,000 · OtherFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FU…VASSAR COLLEGE: $4,000,000 · OtherVASSAR COLLEGEIndividual grant recipient: $2,000,000 · OtherRECIDIVIZ INC: $2,000,000 · OtherCOLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $2,232,542 · Other+64 more: $20,345,131 · Other+64 moreTHE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL: $20,504,426 · HealthTHE MOUNT SINAI HOS…The Broad Institute Inc: $1,750,000 · HealthThe Broad Institute…+12 more: $987,500 · HealthPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $5,705,219 · EducationPresident and Fello…THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $3,700,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COL…THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $3,549,808 · EducationTHE ROCKEFELLER UNI…Cornell University: $1,930,000 · EducationCornell UniversityNew York University: $1,792,000 · EducationNew York UniversityICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $1,605,000 · EducationICAHN SCHOOL OF MED…DALTON SCHOOLS INC: $1,300,727 · EducationDALTON SCHOOLS INC+16 more: $3,653,000 · Education+16 moreNEW VENTURE FUND: $13,750,000 · EnvironmentNEW VENTURE…+1 more: $10,000 · EnvironmentROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $12,100,000 · PhilanthropyROBIN HOOD…AMCHAI INC: $500,000 · Philanthropy+4 more: $166,000 · PhilanthropySHED NYC INC: $8,000,000 · Arts & CultureSHED NYC I…SIGNATURE THEATRE COMPANY INC: $3,255,219 · Arts & CultureSIGNATURE …LINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $1,000,182 · Arts & CultureLINCOLN CE…+10 more: $505,000 · Arts & CultureGlobal Impact: $1,300,000 · InternationalINSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION INC: $552,000 · InternationalONE ACRE FUND: $250,000 · InternationalMATI USA - THE JERUSALEM BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER INC: $250,000 · InternationalPOLARIS PROJECT: $250,000 · InternationalALEPH SOCIETY INC: $187,383 · International+3 more: $60,000 · International
Other$48,302,621Health$23,241,926Education$23,235,754Environment$13,760,000Philanthropy$12,766,000Arts & Culture$12,760,401International$2,849,383

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 budgetTHE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL: $20,504,426 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $13,750,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetROBIN HOOD FOUNDATION: $12,100,000 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetSHED NYC INC: $8,000,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $5,705,219 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetVASSAR COLLEGE: $4,000,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $3,700,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY: $3,549,808 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetSIGNATURE THEATRE COMPANY INC: $3,255,219 over 3y, 15% of budgetCOLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY: $2,232,542 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetRECIDIVIZ INC: $2,000,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetCornell University: $1,930,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNew York University: $1,792,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetThe Broad Institute Inc: $1,750,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI: $1,605,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC FOUNDATION: $1,325,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetDALTON SCHOOLS INC: $1,300,727 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetGlobal Impact: $1,300,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetLINCOLN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $1,000,182 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE INNOCENCE PROJECT INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $750,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJUNIOR TENNIS CHAMPIONS CENTER INC: $700,000 over 2y, 6.2% of budgetAMERICAN ALUMNI OF GLASGOW UNIVERSITY: $600,000 over 3y, 14% of budgetLANKENAU INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH: $600,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetINSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION INC: $552,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetVERA INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE INC: $500,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAMCHAI INC: $500,000 over 1y, 76% of budgetHARLEM ACADEMY: $500,000 over 1y, 5.1% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $500,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $500,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetJOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: $500,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE: $475,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $293,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetONE ACRE FUND: $250,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetREVIVE & RESTORE: $250,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetCitizens' Alliance Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 85% of budgetMATI USA - THE JERUSALEM BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER INC: $250,000 over 1y, 41% of budgetPOLARIS PROJECT: $250,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetROW NEW YORK INC: $200,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetNEW YORK JUNIOR TENNIS LEAGUE INC: $200,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSAIL TO PREVAIL: $200,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetThe Research Foundation for The State University of New York: $200,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetALEPH SOCIETY INC: $187,383 over 1y, 15% of budgetNYC FIRST Inc: $150,000 over 1y, 7.5% of budgetGREENWAVE ORGANIZATION CORP: $150,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetSILK ROAD PROJECT INC: $150,000 over 1y, 7.2% of budgetChildren's Hospital Corporation: $125,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIDEAS IN ACTION INC: $125,000 over 1y, 16% 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.

Jewish Communal FundThe New York Communit…The Goldman Sachs Cha…Gs Donor Advised Phil…Silicon Valley Commun…National Philanthropi…Jewish Community Fede…California Community …The Ayco Charitable F…Boston Foundation IncThe Chicago Community…Marin Community Found…
Jewish Communal FundNY33.7× affinity28 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Communal Fund · The New York Community Trust · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · California Community Foundation · The Ayco Charitable Foundation · Boston Foundation Inc · The Chicago Community Trust · Marin Community 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 Pershing Square Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Pershing Square Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 130%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 10%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • The Broad Institute Inc: 19% of income from government
  • Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology: 14% of income from government
  • Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
  • Children's Hospital Corporation: 10% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research: 7% of income from government
  • Silk Road Project Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Year Up Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
13get no government money at all
16report 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 Pershing Square Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Pershing Square 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 138 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Pershing Square’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