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The Robertson Powell Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Robertson Powell 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.

$171k
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$90k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Health$429kInternational$369kEducation$125kPublic Benefit$42kPhilanthropy$33kCivil Rights$10kEnvironment$9kFood & Nutrition$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k12 grants · $20k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $60k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $90k
$2,500
Median grant
6
States reached
$2.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION$90,450
THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS OF CAL$15,000
J DAVID GLADSTONE INSTITUTES$15,000
ACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA$10,000
VITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP INC$10,000
WOMENS FUND OF SANTA BARBARA$10,000
CLIMATE CHANGE FOR ALL EDUCATORS INC$5,000
THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS OF CALIFORNI$5,000
FOODBANK OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY$2,500
SANTA BARBARA CNTY IMMIGRANT LEGAL DEFENSE CENTER$2,500
KASIGAU STUDENT EDUCATION FUND$1,250
GANNA WALSKA LOTUSLAND$1,200
CHESAPEAKE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY$1,000
PROJECT SLEEP$500
WASHINGTON DOUGLASS CHORALE$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WAKE UP NARCOLEPSY INC: $500 → 11%MOVEMENT VOTER FUND: $3k → 12%THE GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC: $3k → 16%MARCH FOURTH: $1k → 11%KASIGAU STUDENT EDUCATION FUND: $1k → 9%J DAVID GLADSTONE INSTITUTES: $15k → 10%ACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $10k → 14%WOMENS FUND OF SANTA BARBARA: $11k → 14%REEF RENEWAL FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL: $2k → 9%PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $5k → 17%THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB JOURNALISM INSTITUTE INC: $125k → 14%CLIMATE CHANGE FOR ALL EDUCATORS INC: $5k → 9%LILLIANS LIST FOUNDATION: $4k → 8%COOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE & RELIEF EVERYWHERE inc: $5k → 13%HYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION: $145k → 14%DEAR JACK FOUNDATION INC: $1k → 8%STRONGMINDS INC: $10k → 16%CHESAPEAKE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: $1k → 19%BATTERY FOUNDATION: $2k → 10%PROJECT SLEEP: $500 → 14%WOMENS FUND OF SANTA BARBARA: $10k → 14%RAINBOW RAILROAD USA INC: $3k → 17%LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY INC: $500 → 14%LILLIANS LIST FOUNDATION: $2k → 8%HYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION: $100k → 14%STRONGMINDS INC: $10k → 16%CHESAPEAKE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: $1k → 19%THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS OF CAL: $15k → 10%GANNA WALSKA LOTUSLAND: $1k → 14%ZACHARY AND ELIZABETH M FISHER CENTER FOR: $5k → 17%ROCK THE VOTE: $3k → 14%HYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION: $90k → 14%STRONGMINDS INC: $5k → 16%CHESAPEAKE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: $1k → 19%COMMONWEALTH CLUB OF CALIFORNIA: $10k → 10%WOMENS FUND OF SANTA BARBARA: $10k → 14%POPULATION SERVICES INTERNATIONAL: $100k → 14%HYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION: $25k → 14%THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS OF CALIFORNI: $5k → 10%GANNA WALSKA LOTUSLAND: $1k → 14%POPULATION SERVICES INTERNATIONAL: $100k → 14%HYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION: $10k → 14%FOODBANK OF SANTA BARBARA COUNTY: $3k → 14%POPULATION SERVICES INTERNATIONAL: $100k → 14%HYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%SANTA BARBARA CNTY IMMIGRANT LEGAL DEFENSE CENTER: $3k → 14%VITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP INC: $50k → 14%VITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP INC: $10k → 14%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
NJ
CT
CA
CO
MD
NC
DC
GA
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 22% of The Robertson Powell Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

The Robertson Powell Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 30% 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.

80%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$820k · 11 repeat orgs$209k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +14% since the first grant, against +1% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
12

Total granted

$820k
$156k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
+1%

Still filing today

100%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $53k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
HealthInternationalPhilanthropyCivil RightsEducationArts & 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

  • HF
    HYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION INC
    6× · 2019–2025 · $375k · revenue +249%
  • WF
    WOMEN'S FUND OF SANTA BARBARA
    3× · 2023–2025 · $31k · revenue +14%
  • SI
    STRONGMINDS INC
    4× · 2019–2024 · $26k · revenue +76%

Funded once

  • TN
    THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB JOURNALISM INSTITUTE INC
    one grant, 2021 · $125k · revenue -5%
  • COOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $5k · revenue +34%
  • ZA
    ZACHARY AND ELIZABETH M FISHER CENTER FOR
    one grant, 2019 · $5k
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
International Aids Vaccine Initiative Inc

A nonprofit scientific research organization that develops vaccines and antibodies for hiv, tuberculosis, and emerging infectious diseases.

International
2
The Water Research Foundation

The purpose of the water research foundation (wrf) is a definitive research organization to advance the science of all things water to better meet the evolving needs of its subscribers and the water sector. to engage exclusively in…

Environment
3
Public Knowledge

Public knowledge promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communications tools and creative works. we work to shape policy on behalf of the public interest.

Public Benefit
4
Foundation for Women's Cancer

To support and empower all affected by gynecologic cancers through education, research, and public awareness.

Health
5
Women Donors Network

Women donors network advances a just, equitable, and sustainable world through the power of philanthropy, women's leadership, and collective and individual action.

Philanthropy
6
World Resources Institute

Wri is committed to creating change that improves people's lives and ensures the natural world can thrive. (see schedule o)wri's bold vision requires a formula for success we call "count it. change it. scale it.":- count it: our work is…

International
7
Kqed Inc

See schedule okqed serves the people of northern california with a community-supported alternative to commercial media, providing the knowledge needed to make informed decisions; convening community dialogue; bringing the arts to everyone;…

Arts & Culture
8
California Forward

Ca fwd drives action to identify solutions that can be taken to scale to meet the challenges the state is facing. the organization is driven by the belief that regional solutions across the state will help ensure economic, environmental,…

Public Benefit
9
Fuller Project for International Reporting Inc

The fuller project is the global newsroom dedicated to groundbreaking reporting that catalyzes positive change for women.

International
10
Womens Funding Network

Our mission as a global alliance is to provide strategies, research, and resources that support the critical agency and influence of women's foundations and gender justice funders in the movement for equality, justice, and power for all.

Education
11
World Coffee Research

World coffee research unites the global coffee industry to drive science-based agricultural solutions to urgently secure a diverse and sustainable supply of quality coffee today and for generations to come. our mission is to grow, protect,…

International
12
Climate Breakthrough Inc

To launch breakthrough climate mitigation efforts by identifying, supporting, and unleashing innovative leaders with transformative strategies.

Human Services
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Movement Voter Fund; the most unlike its peers is Washington Douglas Chorale. 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

30 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. 30 of the 33 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
29/30
Grantees still filing
15/30
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION INC: $375,450 · EducationHYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION INCTHE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB JOURNALISM INSTITUTE INC: $125,000 · EducationTHE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB JOURNALISM INSTITUTE INCPOPULATION SERVICES INTERNATIONAL: $300,000 · OtherPOPULATION SERVICES INTERNATIONALTHE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS OF CAL: $15,000 · OtherTHE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS OF CALIFORNIA: $15,000 · Other+10 more: $22,950 · Other+10 moreVITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP INC: $60,000 · InternationalVITAL VOI…STRONGMINDS INC: $25,500 · InternationalSTRONGMIN…COOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $5,000 · InternationalCOOPERATI…WOMEN'S FUND OF SANTA BARBARA: $31,000 · PhilanthropyRAINBOW RAILROAD USA INC: $2,500 · PhilanthropyTHE BATTERY FOUNDATION: $2,000 · PhilanthropyTHE J DAVID GLADSTONE INSTITUTES: $15,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $5,000 · HealthDEAR JACK FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 · HealthWake Up Narcolepsy Inc: $850 · Health+3 more: $1,400 · HealthACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $10,000 · Civil RightsLillian's List Foundation: $6,500 · Civil RightsROCK THE VOTE: $2,500 · Civil RightsCLIMATE CHANGE FOR ALL EDUCATORS: $5,000 · EnvironmentREEF RENEWAL FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL: $2,000 · Environment
Education$500,450Other$352,950International$90,500Philanthropy$35,500Health$23,250Civil Rights$19,000Environment$7,000

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 budgetHYPERSOMNIA FOUNDATION INC: $375,450 over 6y, 17% of budgetPOPULATION SERVICES INTERNATIONAL: $300,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB JOURNALISM INSTITUTE INC: $125,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetVITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetWOMEN'S FUND OF SANTA BARBARA: $31,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetSTRONGMINDS INC: $25,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetTHE COMMONWEALTH CLUB - WORLD AFFAIRS OF CALIFORNIA: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetACLU FOUNDATION OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLillian's List Foundation: $6,500 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetCOOPERATIVE FOR ASSISTANCE AND RELIEF EVERYWHERE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHESAPEAKE SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRAINBOW RAILROAD USA INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMOVEMENT VOTER FUND: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetROCK THE VOTE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFoodbank of Santa Barbara County Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGANNA WALSKA LOTUSLAND: $2,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetREEF RENEWAL FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL: $2,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTHE BATTERY FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDEAR JACK FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWake Up Narcolepsy Inc: $850 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWASHINGTON DOUGLAS CHORALE: $500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKLEINE-LEVIN SYNDROME FOUNDATION INC: $400 over 2y, 0.5% 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 FundImpactassetsincAmerican Heart Associ…Community Foundation …Gs Donor Advised Phil…National Philanthropi…The Chicago Community…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…Morgan Stanley Global…Network for GoodPaypal Charitable Giv…
Jewish Communal FundNY16.2× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jewish Communal Fund · Impactassetsinc · American Heart Association Inc · Community Foundation of New Jersey · Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · The Chicago Community Trust · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Network for Good · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund

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 Robertson Powell Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Robertson Powell Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 22%
  • Greater Boston Food Bank Inc: 22% of income from government
  • Chesapeake Shakespeare Company: 16% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get 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 · 0–75%
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 33 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 Robertson Powell’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