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The Stare Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

The Stare Fund

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.

$585k
Granted FY2025still arriving
46
Grants FY2025still arriving
14
States reached
$105k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$1.7MEducation$789kHealth$681kInternational$415kFood & Nutrition$270kHuman Services$197kRecreation & Sports$161kEnvironment$151kOther$0
02FY2025 · 46 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k24 grants · $83k
  • $10k–50k20 grants · $347k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $155k
$8,000
Median grant
14
States reached
$14M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Chicago Jazz Orchestra Association$105,047
Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras$50,000
Santa Rosa Symphony Association$42,500
Northwestern University$40,000
ACLU$35,047
Jewish Family Service of Metrowest$25,000
Global Partners for Development$22,000
St Vincent de Paul Place$15,000
Hearthstone Village$15,000
LSU Foundation$15,000
Roosevelt University$14,000
Natick Service Council$13,000
Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology$13,000
Healdsburg Jazz Fest$12,500
Health Horizons International Foundation$12,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $99k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 89% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%HEARTHSTONE VILLAGE: $15k → 18%Hearthstone Village: $15k → 18%Hearthstone Village: $15k → 18%Hearthstone Village: $11k → 18%HEARTHSTONE VILLAGE: $10k → 18%HEARTHSTONE VILLAGE: $7k → 18%HEARTHSTONE VILLAGE: $5k → 18%HEARTHSTONE VILLAGE: $5k → 18%HEARTHSTONE VILLAGE: $5k → 18%Ceres Community Project: $2k → 9%Reach For Home: $5k → 9%Reach For Home: $3k → 9%REACH FOR HOME: $1k → 9%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

ME
VT
NH
MN
IL
WI
NY
MA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
VA
MD
DC
LA
AL
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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.6M · 71 repeat orgs$59k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +15% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

71 repeat relationships: 39 still active in FY2025, 32 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

71
11

Total granted

$4.6M
$42k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+15%
0%

Still filing today

62%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $18k 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
EducationHealthArts & CultureEnvironmentInternationalHuman ServicesOther
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

  • Northwestern University
    8× · 2018–2025 · $170k · revenue +33%
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $124k · revenue +79%
  • SR
    SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
    3× · 2023–2025 · $102k · revenue +19%

Funded once

  • RC
    REDWOOD CREDIT UNION COMMUNITY FUND INC
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue -96%
  • SC
    Sonoma County Library Foundation
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue -7%
  • TR
    TRADITIONAL RAGTIME AND DIXIELAND JAZZ APPRECIATION STRUTTERS SOCIET
    one grant, 2022 · $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
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

The organization's primary exempt purpose is to provide access to and conduct activities in furtherance of higher education.

—
2
Northeast College of Health Sciences

Northeast college of health sciences (the college) is committed to academic excellence, leadership, and professional best practices in the health sciences.

Education
3
The Northern Michigan University Foundation

The nmu foundation will establish and foster relationships to generate resources that benefit the strategic goals of northern michigan university.

Education
4
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
5
Ucsf Foundation Investment Company

The organization provides professional investment management services for endowed gifts and financial assets entrusted to the ucsf foundation.

Education
6
Wheaton College

Wheaton college provides a transformative liberal arts education, combining theory and practice, for intellectually curious students within a collaborative and vibrant extended community and network that values and strives to create an…

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
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
9
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
10
Bowdoin International Music Festival

The mission of the Bowdoin International Music Festival is to provide gifted young musicians from around the world with an opportunity to study with world-class artists, and to provide audiences with classical music performed to the…

Arts & Culture
11
Boston Architectural College

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

—
12
North Shore Health System Medical Faculty Group Practice

North shore health system medical faculty group practice (the corporation) functions as an extension of the northwell health hospitals by bringing medical care to community settings, providing care to medicare, medicaid, and other…

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Portland Maine Symphony Orchestra; the most unlike its peers is Maine Mobile Health Program Inc. 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

61 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. 61 of the 91 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
60/61
Grantees still filing
36/61
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHICAGO JAZZ ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $1,095,595 · OtherCHICAGO JAZZ ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATIONSANTA ROSA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $186,000 · OtherSANTA ROSA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATIONLOWN CARDIOVASCULAR RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $130,000 · OtherHARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DEPT OF NUTRITION: $109,726 · OtherMALTA HOUSE OF CARE FOUNDATION INC: $105,000 · OtherSt Vincent de Paul Place: $101,000 · OtherRoosevelt University: $97,909 · Other+44 more: $971,560 · Other+44 moreUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $124,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF…LSU FOUNDATION: $102,000 · EducationLSU FOUNDATIO…Career Technical Education Foundation Sonoma County: $70,000 · EducationCareer Techni…FRIEND MEMORIAL PUBLIC LIBRARY: $62,000 · EducationFRIEND MEMORI…BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CUMMINGS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $50,000 · EducationBENJAMIN FRAN…Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $45,000 · EducationMassachusetts…TRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY: $37,000 · EducationTRUSTEES OF P…HEALDSBURG EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $31,000 · EducationHEALDSBURG ED…KISMET ROCK FOUNDATION: $31,000 · EducationKISMET ROCK F…+2 more: $20,000 · EducationHEALTH HORIZONS INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION INC: $329,000 · HealthHEALTH HOR…NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $55,000 · HealthNATIONAL M…MALTA HOUSE OF CARE INC: $28,000 · HealthMALTA HOUS…+6 more: $51,863 · Health+6 moreGlobal Partners For Development: $329,000 · InternationalRURAL CALIFORNIA BROADCASTING CORPORATIO: $20,000 · International+1 more: $2,000 · InternationalSANTA ROSA SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $102,000 · Arts & CultureCHICAGO YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS: $100,000 · Arts & CultureHEALDSBURG JAZZ FESTIVAL INC: $27,500 · Arts & CultureODDFELLOWS PLAYHOUSE: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $13,506 · Arts & CultureNorthwestern University: $170,000 · Recreation & SportsBLUE HILL SOCIETY FOR AID TO CHILDREN INC: $57,300 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $4,000 · Recreation & SportsNEW ENGLAND GRASSROOTS ENVIRONMENT FUND INC: $50,000 · EnvironmentMaine Coast Heritage Trust: $26,000 · EnvironmentCITIZENS CLIMATE EDUCATION CORP: $17,000 · EnvironmentNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RAILROAD PASSENGERS: $15,000 · Environment+1 more: $2,500 · Environment
Other$2,796,790Education$572,000Health$463,863International$351,000Arts & Culture$268,006Recreation & Sports$231,300Environment$110,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCHICAGO JAZZ ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION: $1,095,595 over 9y, 75% of budgetGlobal Partners For Development: $329,000 over 9y, 4.6% of budgetHEALTH HORIZONS INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION INC: $329,000 over 9y, 25% of budgetNorthwestern University: $170,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $124,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetMALTA HOUSE OF CARE FOUNDATION INC: $105,000 over 6y, 2.8% of budgetSANTA ROSA SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $102,000 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetLSU FOUNDATION: $102,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS: $100,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetRoosevelt University: $97,909 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetHEARTHSTONE VILLAGE: $88,279 over 9y, 17% of budgetCareer Technical Education Foundation Sonoma County: $70,000 over 6y, 2.3% of budgetSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $68,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetFRIEND MEMORIAL PUBLIC LIBRARY: $62,000 over 9y, 3.7% of budgetBLUE HILL SOCIETY FOR AID TO CHILDREN INC: $57,300 over 9y, 4.2% of budgetNATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY: $55,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetNEW ENGLAND GRASSROOTS ENVIRONMENT FUND INC: $50,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetBENJAMIN FRANKLIN CUMMINGS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: $50,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNATICK SERVICE COUNCIL INC: $48,337 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetMassachusetts Institute of Technology: $45,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY: $37,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetHEALDSBURG EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $31,000 over 5y, 1.9% of budgetKISMET ROCK FOUNDATION: $31,000 over 6y, 4.0% of budgetSOUTH PARK INN INC: $30,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetMALTA HOUSE OF CARE INC: $28,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetHEALDSBURG JAZZ FESTIVAL INC: $27,500 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetMaine Coast Heritage Trust: $26,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetODDFELLOWS PLAYHOUSE: $25,000 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $23,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY LABOR UNITED INC: $20,725 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetRURAL CALIFORNIA BROADCASTING CORPORATIO: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBoston Foundation Inc: $18,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCITIZENS CLIMATE EDUCATION CORP: $17,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetDOROBO FUND FOR TANZANIA INC: $17,000 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetNORTHEAST WOODLAND CHARTERED PUBLIC SCHOOL: $16,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RAILROAD PASSENGERS: $15,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $12,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WINDOW DRESSERS INC: $10,000 over 2y, 8.6% of budgetTHE URBAN FARMING INSTITUTE OF BOSTONINC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetREDWOOD CREDIT UNION COMMUNITY FUND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSonoma County Library Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetREACH FOR HOME: $8,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetGILDA'S CLUB CHICAGO: $8,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMaine Mobile Health Program Inc: $8,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSanta Rosa Players DBA 6th Street Playhouse: $6,006 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMaine Community Foundation Inc: $6,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLUTHER BURBANK MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 6y, 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.

  • Who funds CHICAGO JAZZ ORCHESTRA ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Global Partners For Development ↗
  • Who funds HEALTH HORIZONS INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MALTA HOUSE OF CARE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds LSU FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS ↗
  • Who funds Roosevelt University ↗
  • Who funds HEARTHSTONE VILLAGE ↗
  • Who funds Career Technical Education Foundation Sonoma County ↗
  • Who funds SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds FRIEND MEMORIAL PUBLIC LIBRARY ↗
  • Who funds BLUE HILL SOCIETY FOR AID TO CHILDREN INC ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds NEW ENGLAND GRASSROOTS ENVIRONMENT FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CUMMINGS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ↗
  • Who funds NATICK SERVICE COUNCIL INC ↗
  • Who funds Massachusetts Institute of Technology ↗
  • Who funds TRUSTEES OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds HEALDSBURG EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds KISMET ROCK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SOUTH PARK INN INC ↗
  • Who funds MALTA HOUSE OF CARE INC ↗
  • Who funds HEALDSBURG JAZZ FESTIVAL INC ↗

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.

Sonoma County Communi…Maine Community Found…Anthony Crabb and Bar…Sonoma County Vintner…Marin Community Found…The San Francisco Fou…Exchange Bank Foundat…The Heck FoundationHarvard Pilgrim Healt…Elmina B Sewall Found…Eastern Bank Foundati…Agnes M Lindsay Trust
Sonoma County Community FoundationCA27.2× affinity11 shared granteesties to 7 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sonoma County Community Foundation · Maine Community Foundation Inc · Anthony Crabb and Barbara Grasseschi Foundation · Sonoma County Vintners Foundation · Marin Community Foundation · The San Francisco Foundation · Exchange Bank Foundation · The Heck Foundation · Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation Inc · Elmina B Sewall Foundation · Eastern Bank Foundation · Agnes M Lindsay Trust

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • South Park Inn Inc: 29% of income from government
  • Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology: 5% of income from government
  • The Urban Farming Institute of Bostoninc: 4% of income from government
  • Needham Community Council Inc: 2% of income from government
  • Community Labor United Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Boston Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
19report 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.

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 91 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 Stare’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