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The Robert and Karen Sobel Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Robert and Karen Sobel Charitable 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.

$68k
Granted FY2024still arriving
13
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$25k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$888kPhilanthropy$259kHealth$128kCrime & Legal$100kReligion$38kHuman Services$9kRecreation & Sports$7kFood & Nutrition$7kOther$0
02FY2024 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k11 grants · $33k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $35k
$3,600
Median grant
3
States reached
$302k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UJA FEDERATION OF NEW YORK$25,000
CMC FOUNDATION FOR CHANGE$10,000
BLYTHEDALE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL$8,500
FIDF$5,000
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY$5,000
THE 1898 FOUNDATION$3,600
TEMPLE SHOLOM$3,600
COMMUNITY ACCESS$2,500
JCCA$1,800
HARLEM CHILDRENS ZONE$1,250
CHRON'S & COLITIS FOUNDATION OF AMERICA$1,000
JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROWEST NJ$360
THANC FOUNDATION$180
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 (FY20–24, $11k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 29% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%OLD PINE COMMUNITY CENTER: $2k → 22%EAST END HOSPICE: $2k → 7%SUNRISE DAY CAMP: $6k → 7%HARLEM CHILDRENS ZONE: $1k → 17%COVENANT HOUSE: $374 → 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

MT
MN
NY
PA
NJ
CT
LA
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$656k · 12 repeat orgs$178k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
25

Total granted

$656k
$163k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+16%

Still filing today

67%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 77% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
HealthHuman ServicesEducationRecreation & SportsEnvironmentArts & 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

  • UJ
    UNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC
    7× · 2017–2024 · $250k · revenue +39%
  • TA
    THE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND
    5× · 2017–2022 · $165k · revenue +72%
  • RC
    RYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
    2× · 2017–2018 · $90k · revenue +26%

Funded once

  • FL
    FORDHAM LAW SCHOOL
    one grant, 2021 · $100k
  • TO
    THE ORPHAN DISEASE PATHWAY PROJECT
    one grant, 2020 · $13k · revenue -29%
  • CC
    COLEL CHABAD
    one grant, 2019 · $10k
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 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
2
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
3
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

We educate the next generation of leaders to improve the health of our society.

Education
4
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
5
The Graduate Center Foundation Inc

The graduate center foundation is committed to promoting and safe-guarding the success of the graduate center by raising funds and managing and investing donations for use by the graduate center. the board of trustees of the foundation…

—
6
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Sanford burnham prebys medical discovery institute's mission is to advance the biomedical sciences by cultivating the next generation of scientific leaders, providing meaningful opportunities for researchers of all backgrounds to learn,…

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
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
9
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
10
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
11
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
12
The Johns Hopkins Hospital

For more than 125 years, the mission of the johns hopkins hospital has been to lead the world in the diagnosis and treatment of disease and to train tomorrow's great physicians, nurses and scientists. above all, we aim to provide the…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Access Inc; the most unlike its peers is American Museum of Natural History. 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

31 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. 31 of the 47 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
31/31
Grantees still filing
24/31
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $442,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORKTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $165,475 · EducationTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUNDTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $164,060 · EducationTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIARYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $90,000 · EducationRYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL+1 more: $26,100 · EducationUNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $250,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED JEWISH APPEAL…YELLOWSTONE CLUB COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $9,000 · PhilanthropyFORDHAM LAW SCHOOL: $100,000 · OtherFORDHAM LAW SC…JCCH: $23,000 · OtherJCCHColumbia University - Babies Heart Fund: $16,600 · OtherColumbia Unive…COLEL CHABAD: $10,000 · OtherCOLEL CHABAD+20 more: $37,170 · Other+20 moreCMC FOUNDATION FOR CHANGE: $50,000 · HealthBLYTHEDALE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $21,000 · HealthTHE ORPHAN DISEASE PATHWAY PROJECT: $12,500 · Health+5 more: $8,480 · HealthSUNRISE DAY CAMPS ASSOCIATION INC: $6,000 · Human ServicesEast End Hospice Inc: $1,800 · Human ServicesOLD PINE COMMUNITY CENTER: $1,500 · Human ServicesHARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE INC: $1,250 · Human ServicesCOVENANT HOUSE: $374 · Human ServicesTHE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $6,700 · Public Safety & DisasterBIG SKY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION: $5,000 · EnvironmentLOUISIANA ABORTION FUND: $200 · Environment
Education$887,635Philanthropy$259,000Other$186,770Health$91,980Human Services$10,924Public Safety & Disaster$6,700Environment$5,200

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 TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $442,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED JEWISH APPEAL-FEDERATION OF JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES OF NEW YORK INC: $250,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ADMINISTRATORS OF THE TULANE EDUCATIONAL FUND: $165,475 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: $164,060 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRYE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL: $90,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCMC FOUNDATION FOR CHANGE: $50,000 over 5y, 2.2% of budget1898 FOUNDATION INC: $26,100 over 5y, 8.0% of budgetBLYTHEDALE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $21,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ORPHAN DISEASE PATHWAY PROJECT: $12,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetYELLOWSTONE CLUB COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $9,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHE BREAST CANCER RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $6,700 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSUNRISE DAY CAMPS ASSOCIATION INC: $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBIG SKY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFEEDING WESTCHESTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCROHN'S & COLITIS FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY ACCESS INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEast End Hospice Inc: $1,800 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLETS WIN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $1,800 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetOLD PINE COMMUNITY CENTER: $1,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHARLEM CHILDREN'S ZONE INC: $1,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMOVING TRADITIONS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCITY PARKS FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSHATTERPROOF A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSWISS INSTITUTE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Museum of Natural History: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTREETSQUASH INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBREAKING GROUND HOUSING DEVELOPMENT FUND CORPORATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE: $374 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLOUISIANA ABORTION FUND: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE THANC FOUNDATION INC: $180 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.

The Goldman Sachs Cha…Jewish Communal FundGs Donor Advised Phil…National Philanthropi…Boston Foundation IncMorgan Stanley Global…Vanguard Charitable E…American Endowment Fo…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …American Online Givin…Amazonsmile Foundation
The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift FundNY18.4× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Jewish Communal Fund · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Boston Foundation Inc · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Endowment Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Robert and Karen Sobel Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Robert and Karen Sobel Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Shatterproof a Nonprofit Corporation: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
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 Robert and Karen Sobel Charitable Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Robert and Karen Sobel Charitable 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 47 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 Robert and Karen Sobel’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