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The Sye Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

The Sye 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.

$264k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$149k
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.

Food & Nutrition$994kHealth$91kYouth Development$51kEducation$35kEnvironment$29kPublic Benefit$10k
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $18k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $40k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $205k
$10,088
Median grant
5
States reached
$8.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MAD FOUNDATION INC$149,264
MAD FOUNDATION INC$56,088
NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE ALUMNI$10,088
PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA INC$10,088
826DC INC$10,088
OUR BIG KITCHEN LOS ANGELES$10,088
ZERO FOODPRINT$8,088
CORNING DAY PROGRAMS INC CORNING$5,088
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY$5,088
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 17%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 92% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA INC: $10k → 11%DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN INC: $10k → 22%CIVIL EATS: $5k → 9%PERENNIAL FARMING INITIATIVE: $2k → 10%ZERO FOODPRINT: $8k → 10%OUR BIG KITCHEN LOS ANGELES: $10k → 14%SOUL FIRE FARM INSTITUTE INC: $5k → 11%CORNING DAY PROGRAMS INC CORNING: $5k → 13%SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $5k → 14%THE JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION INC: $10k → 17%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $181k → 20%826DC INC: $10k → 14%REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN College of: $10k → 14%NEW LONDON EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $10k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD: $2k → 11%NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE ALUMNI: $10k → 7%NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE ALUMNI: $15k → 14%BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA: $5k → 6%HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $15k → 8%ZERO FOODPRINT: $8k → 10%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $103k → 17%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $93k → 20%826DC INC: $10k → 14%NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE ALUMNI: $10k → 7%NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE ALUMNI: $10k → 14%ZERO FOODPRINT: $8k → 10%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $88k → 17%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $76k → 20%826DC INC: $10k → 14%NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE ALUMNI: $5k → 14%ZERO FOODPRINT: $5k → 10%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $47k → 17%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $25k → 20%826DC INC: $10k → 14%NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE ALUMNI: $5k → 14%PERENNIAL FARMING INITIATIVE: $4k → 10%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $44k → 17%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $24k → 20%826DC INC: $5k → 14%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $20k → 17%PROJECT AKILAH INC: $3k → 14%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $149k → 17%DC GREENS INC: $25k → 14%MAD FOUNDATION INC: $56k → 17%DC GREENS INC: $25k → 14%PLANNED PARENTHOOD ASSOCIATION OF METROPOLITAN WAS: $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

IL
MI
NY
PA
NJ
CT
CA
DC
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.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 5 repeat orgs$116k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against +2% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
11

Total granted

$1.1M
$85k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+2%

Still filing today

100%
82%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationFood & NutritionHealthCommunity ImprovementYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyOther
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

  • TM
    THE MAD FOUNDATION INC
    7× · 2017–2025 · $907k · revenue +53% · 31% of their budget
  • 8I
    826DC INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $45k · revenue +17%
  • ZF
    ZERO FOODPRINT
    6× · 2017–2025 · $35k · revenue ×51

Funded once

  • HM
    HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2022 · $15k
  • TD
    THE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN INC
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +5%
  • TJ
    THE JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +26%
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
Foodshot Global Inc

Accelerate the transformation to a healthy, sustainable and equitable food system.

Food & Nutrition
2
Eat Real Certified Inc

We empower food service programs and school districts to make food delicious, nourishing, and responsible through our evidence-based certification program. We provide education and support that inspires students, schools, and communities…

Public Benefit
3
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
4
Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation

Through philanthropy, empower current and future food and nutrition practitioners to optimize global health.

Health
5
New Roots Institute

New Roots Institute is a nonprofit empowering the next generation with knowledge and training to end factory farming.

Food & Nutrition
6
Open New York Education Inc

Open new york education, inc. supports public education, awareness, and engagement around housing issues to help build a movement for a more abundant and inclusive new york.

Housing & Shelter
7
Fielding Graduate University

We provide exemplary interdisciplinary programs for a community of scholar-practitioners within a distributed learning model grounded in student-driven inquiry and leading to enhanced knowledge.

—
8
Food & Water Watch

Food & water watch conducts extensive research and public education to ensure the food and water we consume is safe, accessible and sustainably produced. so we can all enjoy and trust in what we eat and drink, we help people take charge of…

Food & Nutrition
9
New Jersey Food Council Inc

To provide vision and leadership to advance the interest of the food industry in new jersey.

—
10
Bioindustrial Manufacturing and Design Ecosystem Inc

Biomade's mission is to enable domestic bioindustrial manufacturing at all scales, develop technologies to enhance u.s. bioindustrial competitiveness, de-risk investment in relevant infrastructure, and expand the biomanufacturing workforce…

Community Improvement
11
American Culinary Federation Education Foundation Inc

To provide for education, scholarships and other charitable purposes related to the culinary profession

—
12
Common Future

Common future is a network of pioneering leaders across the u.s. and canada who work deeply within their communities to create alternative approaches to business, philanthropy, and investing. we envision an economy that has transitioned…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Soul Fire Farm Institute Inc; the most unlike its peers is The James Beard Foundation 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

18 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. 18 of the 20 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
9/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE MAD FOUNDATION INC: $907,496 · EducationTHE MAD FOUNDATION INC+4 more: $27,176 · EducationNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE ALUMNI FOUNDATION: $55,616 · OtherNATIONAL …HACKENSACK MERIDIAN HEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $15,088 · OtherHACKENSAC…THE JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION INC: $10,088 · OtherTHE JAMES…REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN College of: $10,088 · OtherREGENTS O…MONMOUTH COUNCIL INC BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA: $5,088 · OtherCORNING DAY PROGRAMS INC: $5,088 · OtherZERO FOODPRINT: $35,440 · Food & NutritionOUR BIG KITCHEN LOS ANGELES: $10,088 · Food & NutritionCivil Eats: $5,088 · Food & NutritionSOUL FIRE FARM INSTITUTE INC: $5,088 · Food & NutritionDC Greens Inc: $50,176 · Community Improvement826DC INC: $45,440 · Youth DevelopmentPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WESTERN PA INC: $10,088 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON DC INC: $10,088 · HealthPROJECT AKILAH INC: $2,500 · Philanthropy
Education$934,672Other$101,056Food & Nutrition$55,704Community Improvement$50,176Youth Development$45,440Health$20,176Philanthropy$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 MAD FOUNDATION INC: $907,496 over 7y, 31% of budgetNATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGE ALUMNI FOUNDATION: $55,616 over 5y, 39% of budgetDC Greens Inc: $50,176 over 2y, 0.6% of budget826DC INC: $45,440 over 5y, 1.4% of budgetZERO FOODPRINT: $35,440 over 6y, 1.9% of budgetTHE DAILY PENNSYLVANIAN INC: $10,088 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetTHE JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION INC: $10,088 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF WESTERN PA INC: $10,088 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON DC INC: $10,088 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNEW LONDON EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetCivil Eats: $5,088 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSOUL FIRE FARM INSTITUTE INC: $5,088 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMONMOUTH COUNCIL INC BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA: $5,088 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCORNING DAY PROGRAMS INC: $5,088 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: $5,088 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPROJECT AKILAH INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD: $2,000 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.

Vanguard Charitable E…National Philanthropi…American Endowment Fo…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Vanguard Charitable Endowment ProgramPA10.6× affinity8 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · National Philanthropic Trust · American Endowment Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving 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 Sye Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Sye Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • University of Hartford: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 20 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 Sye’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