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The Samuel Epstein Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Samuel Epstein 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.

$138k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$14k
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 2025.

Health$367kEducation$244kInternational$244kPhilanthropy$215kReligion$90kCivil Rights$51kEnvironment$10k
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$13,785
Median grant
3
States reached
$3.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM$13,785
AMERICAN COMM FOR SHAARE ZEDEK$13,785
NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH$13,785
JEWISH FEDERATION OF N AMERICA$13,785
JEWISH NATIONAL FUND$13,785
YESHIVA UNIVERSITY$13,785
HILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGH$13,785
ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND$13,785
BOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FDN OF AMER$13,785
KEREN-OR INC$13,785
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 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%HILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGH: $15k → 11%AMERICAN COMM FOR SHAARE ZEDEK: $18k → 17%NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $15k → 12%BOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FDN OF AMER: $15k → 11%HILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGH: $15k → 11%AMERICAN COMM FOR SHAARE ZEDEK: $15k → 17%NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $15k → 12%BOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FDN OF AMER: $14k → 11%HILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGH: $14k → 11%AMERICAN COMM FOR SHAARE ZEDEK: $14k → 17%NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $14k → 12%HILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGH: $14k → 11%AMERICAN COMM FOR SHAARE ZEDEK: $14k → 17%NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $14k → 12%HILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGH: $14k → 11%JEWISH NATIONAL FUND: $15k → 17%NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $14k → 12%JEWISH NATIONAL FUND: $15k → 17%JEWISH NATIONAL FUND: $14k → 17%JEWISH NATIONAL FUND: $14k → 17%JEWISH NATIONAL FUND: $14k → 17%KEREN-OR INC: $15k → 17%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $15k → 17%BOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FDN OF AMER: $15k → 17%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $15k → 17%KEREN-OR INC: $15k → 17%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $14k → 17%KEREN-OR INC: $14k → 17%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $14k → 17%KEREN-OR INC: $14k → 17%BOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FDN OF AMER: $14k → 17%KEREN-OR INC: $14k → 17%AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $14k → 17%AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR: $14k → 17%BOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FDN OF AMER: $14k → 17%YESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $15k → 17%YESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $15k → 17%YESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $14k → 17%YESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $14k → 17%YESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $14k → 17%ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND: $15k → 17%ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND: $15k → 17%ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND: $14k → 17%ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND: $14k → 17%JEWISH FEDERATION OF N AMERICA: $15k → 17%JEWISH FEDERATION OF N AMERICA: $15k → 17%JEWISH FEDERATION OF N AMERICA: $14k → 17%JEWISH FEDERATION OF N AMERICA: $14k → 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.
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.

100%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$977k · 10 repeat orgs$0 to everyone else

10 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
0

Total granted

$977k
$0

Still filing today

70%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
EducationInternationalHealthPhilanthropyOther
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

  • HA
    HILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGH
    9× · 2017–2025 · $122k · revenue +21%
  • AF
    AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM
    9× · 2017–2025 · $122k · revenue +206%
  • IC
    ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $122k · revenue +52%

Funded once

    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
    Sherit Isroel
    —
    2
    Yeshiva Ohr Yisroel
    Philanthropy
    3
    Keren Yaakov Ben Menachen Tzvi Foundation
    Philanthropy
    4
    The Jerusalem Connection
    —
    5
    University of Judaism Foundation
    —
    6
    Idf Memorial Foundation
    Philanthropy
    7
    Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

    To prepare students for the rabbinate and to issue the traditional certificate of ordination in connection therewith. the seminary is authorized to confer the degree of master of hebrew literature (m.h.l.), doctor of hebrew literature…

    Education
    8
    Zichron Avrohom Yosef
    Philanthropy
    9
    Bar Ilan University in Israel Inc

    Biu produces students who excel in the sciences, humanities, law, engineering, business & the arts.

    —
    10
    Eastern European Jewish Heritage Foundation
    Philanthropy
    11
    Hadassah the Women's Zionist Org of America Inc

    Hadassah, the women's zionist organization of america, inc., a new york not-for-profit corporation ("hwzoa") enhances the health and lives of people in israel, the united states and worldwide through education, advocacy, women's…

    Community Improvement
    12
    Bronfman Youth Fellowships to Israel in Inc
    Youth Development
    How this is measured
    The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Jewish Federations of North America Inc; the most unlike its peers is Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh. 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

    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 12 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)
    1
    Early backer (in before they grew)
    9/9
    Grantees still filing
    9/9
    Grew since first funded

    Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

    HILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGH: $122,179 · EducationHILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGHKEREN OR INC: $122,179 · EducationKEREN OR INCYESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $122,179 · EducationYESHIVA UNIVERSITYISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND INC: $122,179 · OtherISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FU…AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR: $61,128 · OtherAMERICAN ASSOCIATION FORAMERICAN COMM FOR SHAARE ZEDEK: $61,061 · OtherAMERICAN COMM FOR SHAARE …BOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FDN OF AMER: $28,889 · OtherBOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FDN O…JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $122,179 · InternationalJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (…AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $122,179 · InternationalAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MA…THE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA INC: $122,179 · PhilanthropyTHE JEWISH FEDERATI…BOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $93,290 · PhilanthropyBOYS TOWN JERUSALEM…NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $122,179 · HealthNATIONAL JE…
    Education$366,537Other$273,257International$244,358Philanthropy$215,469Health$122,179

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

    25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetHILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGH: $122,179 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetJEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC: $122,179 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM: $122,179 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND INC: $122,179 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetKEREN OR INC: $122,179 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetNATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH: $122,179 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetYESHIVA UNIVERSITY: $122,179 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTHE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA INC: $122,179 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetBOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $93,290 over 7y, 0.3% 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 HILLEL ACADEMY OF PITTSBURGH ↗
    • Who funds JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC ↗
    • Who funds AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM ↗
    • Who funds ISRAEL CANCER RESEARCH FUND INC ↗
    • Who funds KEREN OR INC ↗
    • Who funds NATIONAL JEWISH HEALTH ↗
    • Who funds YESHIVA UNIVERSITY ↗
    • Who funds THE JEWISH FEDERATIONS OF NORTH AMERICA INC ↗
    • Who funds BOYS TOWN JERUSALEM FOUNDATION OF AMERICA ↗

    How much its grantees rely on government

    Each dot is one organization The Samuel Epstein Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Samuel Epstein Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

    2024
    ’20’21’22’23’24’25
    no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
      no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
      0get no government money at all
      2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
      0rely on government for over half their income
      ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
      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 12 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

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      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