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The Posse Foundation Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Posse Foundation Inc

The posse foundation, founded in 1989, identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes.

$2.9M
Granted FY2024still arriving
19
Grants FY2024still arriving
15
States reached
$300k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$8.7MArts & Culture$700kYouth Development$300kCrime & Legal$250kHealth$100k
02FY2024 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 19 grants below total $2,300,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $2,877,608 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $577,608 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $50k–250k18 grants · $2.0M
  • $250k+1 grant · $300k
$100,000
Median grant
15
States reached
$189M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY$300,000
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY$200,000
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY$200,000
WHITMAN COLLEGE$100,000
DAVIDSON COLLEGE$100,000
ST OLAF COLLEGE$100,000
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY$100,000
VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY$100,000
HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES$100,000
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA$100,000
PURDUE UNIVERSITY$100,000
BARD COLLEGE$100,000
WILLIAM & MARY$100,000
RUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY$100,000
CORNELL COLLEGE$100,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 74% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $100k → 8%SMITH COLLEGE: $100k → 12%ST OLAF COLLEGE: $100k → 11%MACALESTER COLLEGE: $100k → 14%FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL: $100k → 9%BRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $100k → 10%LEHIGH UNIVERSITY: $100k → 11%SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY: $100k → 8%CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $500k → 14%BARD COLLEGE: $100k → 9%HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES: $100k → 10%TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: $100k → 22%CORNELL COLLEGE: $250k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $100k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON: $100k → 10%LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: $250k → 12%RHODES COLLEGE: $250k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS: $100k → 15%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $100k → 19%WHITMAN COLLEGE: $100k → 13%RUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY: $100k → 8%UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $100k → 8%MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE: $100k → 9%CENTRE COLLEGE: $100k → 15%BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $100k → 8%SMITH COLLEGE: $100k → 12%ST OLAF COLLEGE: $100k → 11%MACALESTER COLLEGE: $100k → 14%FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL: $100k → 9%BRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $100k → 10%LEHIGH UNIVERSITY: $100k → 11%POMONA COLLEGE: $100k → 14%BARD COLLEGE: $100k → 9%TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: $100k → 22%CORNELL COLLEGE: $100k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $100k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON: $100k → 10%LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: $100k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS: $100k → 15%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $100k → 19%RUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY: $100k → 8%MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE: $100k → 9%CENTRE COLLEGE: $100k → 15%VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY: $100k → 10%LEHIGH UNIVERSITY: $100k → 11%TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: $300k → 22%CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $200k → 17%CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $175k → 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

VT
WA
ID
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CA
KY
VA
TN
NC
DC
LA
TX
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$8.2M · 27 repeat orgs$1.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +42% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

27 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2024, 13 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

27
2

Total granted

$8.2M
$750k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+12%

Still filing today

74%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 74% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $600k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’24
EducationArts & CultureOther
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

  • CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
    7× · 2018–2024 · $675k · revenue +44%
  • Davidson College
    6× · 2017–2024 · $500k · revenue +42%
  • LU
    LEHIGH UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2018–2022 · $500k · revenue +53%

Funded once

  • CI
    CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS
    one grant, 2021 · $500k · revenue +12%
  • RC
    Rhodes College
    one grant, 2021 · $250k · revenue -20%
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
Endicott College

Endicott college offers students a vibrant academic environment that remains true to its founding principle of integrating professional and liberal arts with experiential learning. for more information see schedule o.

Education
2
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
3
Dickinson College

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

Education
4
The Trustees of Grinnell College

To educate students in the liberal arts through free inquiry and the open exchange of ideas.when grinnell college framed its charter in the iowa territory of the united states in 1846, it set forth a mission to educate its students "for…

Education
5
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
6
Hillsdale College

Hillsdale college is a private liberal arts college with approximately 1,500 students. founded in 1844, the college remains, in the words of its articles of association, "grateful to god for the inestimable blessings resulting from the…

Education
7
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
8
Boston Architectural College

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

—
9
Mcdaniel College Inc

Mcdaniel college is a diverse student-centered community committed to excellence in the liberal arts & sciences and professional studies with careful mentoring and attention to the individual. mcdaniel changes lives. we challenge students…

Education
10
St Marys University of Minnesota

Enriched by the lasallian catholic heritage, saint mary's university of minnesota awakens, nurtures, and empowers learners to ethical lives of service and leadership.

Education
11
Trustees of Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College educates the most promising students and prepares them for a lifetime of learning and of responsible leadership, through a faculty dedicated to teaching and the creation of knowledge.

Education
12
Wesleyan University

Wesleyan university is dedicated to providing an education in liberal arts by building a diverse, energetic community of students, faculty, and staff who value independence of mind and generosity of spirit. see additional description in…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Macalester College; the most unlike its peers is Pomona College. 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

28 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. 28 of the 36 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/28
Grantees still filing
23/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $675,000 · EducationCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITYDavidson College: $500,000 · EducationDavidson CollegeLEHIGH UNIVERSITY: $500,000 · EducationLEHIGH UNIVERSITYVILLANOVA UNIVERSITY: $400,000 · EducationVILLANOVA UNIVERSITYWellesley College: $375,000 · EducationILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $375,000 · EducationCORNELL COLLEGE: $350,000 · EducationLEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: $350,000 · EducationMOLLOY UNIVERSITY: $300,000 · EducationTHE UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND: $300,000 · EducationUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $300,000 · EducationThe George Washington University: $300,000 · EducationRhodes College: $250,000 · Education+13 more: $2,300,000 · Education+13 moreTEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY: $500,000 · OtherTEXAS A&M UNIVERSITYWILLIAM & MARY: $350,000 · OtherWILLIAM & MARYREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $300,000 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY…TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $250,000 · OtherTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVER…RUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERSITY: $200,000 · OtherRUTGERS THE STATE UNIVERS…TRUSTEES OF PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $200,000 · OtherTRUSTEES OF PURDUE UNIVER…University of Wisconsin Madison: $200,000 · OtherUniversity of Wisconsin M…UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS: $200,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROL…RECTOR & VISITORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $100,000 · OtherCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $500,000 · Arts & Culture
Education$7,275,000Other$2,300,000Arts & Culture$500,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $675,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS: $500,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetDavidson College: $500,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetLEHIGH UNIVERSITY: $500,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetVILLANOVA UNIVERSITY: $400,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetWellesley College: $375,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $375,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCORNELL COLLEGE: $350,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetLEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: $350,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMOLLOY UNIVERSITY: $300,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND: $300,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $300,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe George Washington University: $300,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $250,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetRhodes College: $250,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBARD COLLEGE: $200,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBRANDEIS UNIVERSITY: $200,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMACALESTER COLLEGE: $200,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPOMONA COLLEGE: $200,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $200,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE: $200,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Middlebury College: $200,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetST OLAF COLLEGE: $200,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetVanderbilt University: $200,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $200,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES: $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBOARD OF TRUSTEES OF WHITMAN COLLEGE: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds Davidson College ↗
  • Who funds LEHIGH UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Wellesley College ↗
  • Who funds ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds CORNELL COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds MOLLOY UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND ↗
  • Who funds University of Notre Dame du Lac ↗
  • Who funds The George Washington University ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Rhodes College ↗
  • Who funds BARD COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MACALESTER COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds POMONA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds BRYN MAWR COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds FRANKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Middlebury College ↗
  • Who funds ST OLAF COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Vanderbilt University ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds PRESIDENT-BOARD OF TRUSTEES SANTA CLARA COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES ↗
  • Who funds BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF WHITMAN COLLEGE ↗

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.

The Ayco Charitable F…Morgan Stanley Global…Donor Advised Charita…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Ayco Charitable FoundationNY12.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Ayco Charitable Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation 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 Posse Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Posse Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Brandeis University: 8% of income from government
  • Lewis & Clark College: 2% of income from government
  • Wellesley College: 1% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Middlebury College: 0% of income from government
  • The Trustees of the Smith College: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
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 36 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 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 Posse’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