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The Thornton Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Thornton 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.

$163k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$96k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

59% of The Thornton Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Myriad Usa Inc, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 3 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Organizations named directly on the return

1
’17
4
’19
4
’20
4
’21
3
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

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.

International$172kArts & Culture$115kEducation$91kRecreation & Sports$5k
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k3 grants · $66k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $96k
$25,745
Median grant
2
States reached
$411k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MYRIAD USA$96,274
THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM$25,745
AFRICAN MISSION HEALTHCARE$20,645
DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS$19,977
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 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 68% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%INTERCOLLEGIATE TENNIS ASSOCIATION: $5k → 11%THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM: $26k → 17%AFRICAN MISSION HEALTHCARE: $21k → 12%PIERREPONT SCHOOL: $61k → 9%AFRICAN MISSION HEALTHCARE: $10k → 15%THE NATIONAL POETRY SERIES: $16k → 11%THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM: $6k → 17%PIERREPONT SCHOOL: $30k → 9%THE NATIONAL POETRY SERIES: $15k → 11%THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM: $6k → 17%THE NATIONAL POETRY SERIES: $15k → 11%DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: $20k → 17%FINANCIAL SERVICES VOLUNTEER CORPS: $25k → 17%MAGNUM FOUNDATION: $10k → 17%MAGNUM FOUNDATION: $10k → 17%MAGNUM FOUNDATION: $10k → 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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$236k · 5 repeat orgs$50k to everyone else

5 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
2

Total granted

$236k
$30k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+14%
+131%

Still filing today

100%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 70% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’19’20’21’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’19’20’21’25
InternationalEducationArts & CultureRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • PS
    PIERREPONT SCHOOL INC
    2× · 2019–2021 · $91k · revenue +14%
  • NP
    NATIONAL POETRY SERIES INC
    3× · 2019–2021 · $46k · revenue +19%
  • TP
    The Pierpont Morgan Library
    3× · 2019–2025 · $38k · revenue +53%

Funded once

  • FS
    Financial Services Volunteer Corps Incgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +131%
  • IT
    Intercollegiate Tennis Association Inc
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue -1%
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
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
2
Kadist Collection Manager Inc
Arts & Culture
3
Berggruen Institute
Education
4
Columbia University Press

Enhance Columbia University's education mission by acquiring and publishing outstanding original works by scholars and others that contribute to an understanding of global human concerns. Columbia University Press became part of the…

Arts & Culture
5
American National Standards Institute

To enhance both the global competitiveness of u.s. business and the u.s. quality of life by promoting and facilitating voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems, and safeguarding their integrity.

Public Benefit
6
National Press Photographers Association Inc

The national press photographers association is dedicated to the advancement of visual journalism, its creation, practice, training, editing and distribution, in all news media and works to promote its role as a vital public service.

—
7
Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation

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

Arts & Culture
8
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
9
Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics

The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…

Social Science
10
San Diego Museum of Art

To inspire, educate and cultivate curiosity through great works of art.

Arts & Culture
11
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
12
Medtech Innovator

Medtech innovator organizes and runs a global competition and virtual accelerator for medical device, digital health, and diagnostic startup companies.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Myriad Usa Inc; the most unlike its peers is National Poetry Series 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

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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
6/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MYRIAD USA INC: $96,274 · InternationalMYRIAD USA INCAfrican Mission Healthcare Foundation: $30,645 · InternationalAfrican Mission Healthcare FoundationFinancial Services Volunteer Corps Inc: $24,884 · InternationalFinancial Services Volunteer Corps IncMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $19,977 · InternationalMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INCPIERREPONT SCHOOL INC: $90,796 · EducationPIERREPONT SCHOOL INCThe Pierpont Morgan Library: $38,026 · EducationThe Pierpont Morgan LibraryNATIONAL POETRY SERIES INC: $45,807 · OtherNATIONAL POET…MAGNUM CULTURAL FOUNDATION: $30,692 · Arts & CultureMAGNUM CU…Intercollegiate Tennis Association Inc: $5,021 · Recreation & Sports
International$171,780Education$128,822Other$45,807Arts & Culture$30,692Recreation & Sports$5,021

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPIERREPONT SCHOOL INC: $90,796 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetNATIONAL POETRY SERIES INC: $45,807 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetThe Pierpont Morgan Library: $38,026 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMAGNUM CULTURAL FOUNDATION: $30,692 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetAfrican Mission Healthcare Foundation: $30,645 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFinancial Services Volunteer Corps Inc: $24,884 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetIntercollegiate Tennis Association Inc: $5,021 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

National Philanthropi…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…
National Philanthropic TrustPA9.2× affinity4 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: National Philanthropic Trust · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%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
    3get no government money at all
    1report 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 9 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 Thornton’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