New York · Private foundation
The Waterwheel 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.
- $1.3M
- Granted FY2022
- 78
- Grants FY2022
- 78
- Organizations funded FY2022
- 59%
- First-time grantees FY2022
Read this first · the figures below need context
67% of The Waterwheel Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to The Vermont Community Foundation, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 50 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2022, the last year The Waterwheel Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 63 organizations, $1M. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
- Median grant, FY2022
- $10,342
- Largest grant, FY2022
- $70,907
- Organizations funded a year
- 51 to 78
- FY2017 to FY2022
- States reached, FY2022
- 22
- Total assets, FY2022
- $16M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2022, 59% of the organizations The Waterwheel Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 44% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2022, 56% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $591k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2022 | 78 | $1.3M | 59% |
| FY2021 | 53 | $852k | 58% |
| FY2020 | 55 | $2.6M | 65% |
| FY2019 | 59 | $732k | 54% |
| FY2018 | 51 | $660k | 75% |
| FY2017 | 53 | $661k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Divided Sky Foundation Corporation | $1,433,617 | 3 | 3% |
| Steps to End Domestic Violence Inc | $424,082 | 8 | 5% |
| Burlington City Arts Foundation Inc | $332,500 | 8 | 7% |
| The Mockingbird Foundation | $204,900 | 5 | 27% |
| Conservation Law Foundation Inc | $202,899 | 6 | 0% |
| Hunger Free America Inc | $177,160 | 7 | 1% |
| Vermont Parks Forever Inc | $153,500 | 8 | 11% |
| Kiin Beh Education Center Foundation Inc | $150,000 | 2 | 16% |
| Kids on the Ball Inc | $141,000 | 8 | 8% |
| Intervale Center Inc | $140,000 | 7 | 2% |
Show all 215 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 107 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.9M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
The Waterwheel Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 5 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 194 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: The Vermont Community Foundation · Ben & Jerry's Foundation Inc · The Windham Foundation Inc · National Life Group Charitable Foundation Inc · Patagoniaorg · Lintilhac Foundation Inc · George W Mergens Foundation · Vermont Council on the Arts Inc · The Onda Foundation Inc · RUTH & PETER METZ FAMILY FOUNDATION co THOMAS PHELAN · Antonio B and Rita M Pomerleau Foundation Inc · Vermont Afterschool Inc
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Waterwheel Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Waterwheel 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.
About The Waterwheel Foundation
- How much does The Waterwheel Foundation give?
- The Waterwheel Foundation reported 78 grants totaling $1,336,994 in its FY2022 IRS filing. It funded between 51 and 78 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2022.
- What does The Waterwheel Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Philanthropy (30%), Health (15%), Arts & Culture (9%).
- Who are The Waterwheel Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: The Divided Sky Foundation Corporation ($1.4M), Steps to End Domestic Violence Inc ($424k), Burlington City Arts Foundation Inc ($333k).
- Does The Waterwheel Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2022, 59% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Waterwheel Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as The Waterwheel Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Vermont Community Foundation, Ben & Jerry's Foundation Inc, The Windham Foundation Inc.
- Where is The Waterwheel Foundation based?
- The Waterwheel Foundation is based in NY.
Play a game based on Waterwheel’s filings →