Skip to content
The Skylark Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Skylark 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.

$25k
Granted FY2023
1
Grants FY2023
1
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2023.

Arts & Culture$401kEducation$103kHealth$55kFood & Nutrition$10kAnimals$10kEnvironment$5kReligion$4kInternational$3kOther$0
02FY2023 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION$25,000
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 (FY17–23) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 97% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%WORD THEATRE: $3k → 14%THOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT FOUNDATION: $10k → 7%MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $500 → 17%DESERT ACADEMY OF SANTA FE: $12k → 12%HOMESCHOOL CLASSROOM: $10k → 18%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $15k → 16%SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY: $5k → 14%WALLOWA HISTORY CENTER: $10k → 12%ART CENTER EAST: $10k → 15%PROVIDENCE DAY SCHOOL: $3k → 10%THE CARTER CENTER INC: $3k → 14%PROJECT ANGEL FOOD: $5k → 14%DESERT ACADEMY OF SANTA FE: $5k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $10k → 16%THE ORDER OF ST JOHN: $25k → 14%WALLOWA HISTORY CENTER: $5k → 12%PROVIDENCE DAY SCHOOL: $2k → 10%PROJECT ANGEL FOOD: $5k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $25k → 16%THE ORDER OF ST JOHN: $25k → 14%WALLOWA HISTORY CENTER: $3k → 12%PROVIDENCE DAY SCHOOL: $2k → 10%MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $350k → 14%CHRIST CHURCH CHARLOTTE: $3k → 10%GIVING ARTIST AGENCY: $4k → 14%CHRIST CHURCH CHARLOTTE: $2k → 10%GIVING ARTIST AGENCY: $500 → 14%PUEBLO NUEVO EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT GROUP: $500 → 14%MAK CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHITECTURE: $5k → 14%FRENCH LOS ANGELES EXCHANGE: $3k → 14%FLAX FOUNDATION: $3k → 14%VENICE ARTS: $3k → 14%THE TREVOR PROJECT: $3k → 14%MADE OUT OF WHAT: $5k → 14%OUR HOUSE GRIEF SUPPORT CENTER: $3k → 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
OR
OH
CA
VA
NM
NC
SC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

30%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$178k · 10 repeat orgs$415k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +46% since the first grant, against +40% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2023, 9 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
18

Total granted

$178k
$415k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+46%
+40%

Still filing today

60%
72%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’23
Arts & CultureEducationHealthInternationalCivil RightsAnimalsOther
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

  • PI
    PRIORY IN THE USA OF THE MOST VENERABLE ORDER OF THE HOSP / ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM
    2× · 2018–2020 · $50k · revenue +46%
  • University of South Carolina Educational Foundation
    3× · 2018–2023 · $50k · revenue +21%
  • PA
    PROJECT ANGEL FOOD
    2× · 2019–2021 · $10k · revenue +273%

Funded once

  • TM
    THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES
    one grant, 2019 · $350k · revenue +14%
  • TR
    THOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2021 · $10k · revenue +14%
  • HC
    HOMESCHOOL CLASSROOM
    one grant, 2018 · $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
California Institute of Contemporary Art
—
2
Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is a private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of New York Department of Education in 1929 to foster public awareness of modern and contemporary art. (Continued in Schedule O)

Arts & Culture
3
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
4
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
5
California College of the Arts

California college of the arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. benefitting from its san francisco bay area location, the college prepares…

Education
6
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
7
The Trustees of the Smith College

Smith college educates women of promise for lives of distinction and purpose. a college of and for the world, smith college links the power of the liberal arts to excellence in research and scholarship, developing leaders for society's…

Education
8
Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation

Committed to innovation, the solomon r. guggenheim foundation (the "foundation") collects, (continued on schedule o)

Arts & Culture
9
International Academy of Fine Art

The florence acadamy of art was founed in 1991 by daniel graves (see schedule o for details).

International
10
Rhode Island School of Design

The mission of rhode island school of design, through its college and museum,is to educate its students and the public in the creation and (see schedule o)appreciation of works of art and design, to discover and transmit knowledge and to…

Education
11
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute

Munson-williams-proctor arts institute (mwpai) is a fine arts center dedicated to serving diverse audiences by advancing the appreciation, understanding, and enjoyment of the arts. the art institute aims to promote interest and…

Arts & Culture
12
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

See schedule osfmoma believes the art of our time is vital and shares it with passion and purpose, and that art and the creative process can open minds and help build a better world. for that reason, we assemble unparalleled collections,…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles; the most unlike its peers is Wordtheatre. 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

20 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. 20 of the 28 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/20
Grantees still filing
17/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $350,000 · Arts & CultureTHE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELESWALLOWA HISTORY CENTER INC: $17,500 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $13,000 · Arts & CultureDESERT ACADEMY AT SANTA FE: $17,280 · OtherDESERT ACADEM…VIRGINIA EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $12,500 · OtherVIRGINIA EPIS…HOMESCHOOL CLASSROOM: $10,000 · OtherHOMESCHOOL CL…ART CENTER EAST: $10,000 · OtherART CENTER EA…MADE OUT OF WHAT: $5,000 · OtherMADE OUT OF W…CHRIST CHURCH CHARLOTTE: $4,000 · OtherCHRIST CHURCH…Individual grant recipient: $4,000 · OtherIndividual gr…FRENCH LOS ANGELES EXCHANGE: $2,500 · OtherFLAX FOUNDATION: $2,500 · OtherWORDTHEATRE: $2,500 · Other+2 more: $1,400 · OtherUniversity of South Carolina Educational Foundation: $50,000 · EducationUniversity o…Foxcroft School: $7,000 · EducationFoxcroft Sch…PROVIDENCE DAY SCHOOL INC: $6,000 · EducationPROVIDENCE D…+1 more: $500 · EducationPRIORY IN THE USA OF THE MOST VENERABLE ORDER OF THE HOSP / ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM: $50,000 · HealthPRIORY IN T…PROJECT ANGEL FOOD: $10,000 · HealthPROJECT ANG…OUR HOUSE GRIEF SUPPORT CENTER: $2,500 · HealthTHOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 · AnimalsTHE CARTER CENTER INC: $2,500 · InternationalTREVOR PROJECT INC: $2,500 · Civil Rights
Arts & Culture$380,500Other$71,680Education$63,500Health$62,500Animals$10,000International$2,500Civil Rights$2,500

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 MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LOS ANGELES: $350,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetPRIORY IN THE USA OF THE MOST VENERABLE ORDER OF THE HOSP / ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM: $50,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetUniversity of South Carolina Educational Foundation: $50,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetDESERT ACADEMY AT SANTA FE: $17,280 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetPROJECT ANGEL FOOD: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHOROUGHBRED RETIREMENT FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetFoxcroft School: $7,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPROVIDENCE DAY SCHOOL INC: $6,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMADE OUT OF WHAT: $5,000 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetMAK CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHITECTURE LA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTHE CARTER CENTER INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVENICE ARTS: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTREVOR PROJECT INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOUR HOUSE GRIEF SUPPORT CENTER: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPUEBLO NUEVO EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT G: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHabitat For Humanity Of The Charlotte Region: $400 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 US Charitable Gif…National Philanthropi…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The US Charitable Gift TrustMA12× affinity4 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The US Charitable Gift Trust · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Skylark Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Skylark Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    6report 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 Skylark Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Skylark 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 28 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2023, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Skylark’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