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The Zeckhauser Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Zeckhauser 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.

$453k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$200k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$1.6MEducation$763kHealth$659kScience & Tech$168kArts & Culture$68kEnvironment$25kFood & Nutrition$2kInternational$2kOther$0
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $8k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $55k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $390k
$30,347
Median grant
4
States reached
$5.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND$200,000
VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY$100,000
BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S HOSPITAL$90,000
WINSOR SCHOOL$30,347
HARVARD COLLEGE$25,000
BEACON COMMUNITIES CHARITABLE FUND$7,000
NORTON MUSEUM OF ARTS INC$300
MUSEM OF SCIENCE$250
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 9%. 88% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: $95k → 16%BRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $45k → 10%WESTOVER SCHOOL: $30k → 12%CONSERVATION FUND: $10k → 7%FIDELITY CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $600k → 11%BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: $90k → 16%BRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $35k → 10%HOBE SOUND NATURE CENTER: $10k → 10%WESTOVER SCHOOL: $20k → 12%BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: $85k → 16%BRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $30k → 10%WESTOVER SCHOOL: $15k → 12%BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: $78k → 16%BRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $10k → 10%WESTOVER SCHOOL: $10k → 12%HARVARD COLLEGE: $60k → 8%BRIGHAM & WOMEN'S HOSPITAL: $73k → 16%WESTOVER SCHOOL: $10k → 12%HARVARD COLLEGE: $35k → 8%BRIGHAM WOMENS HOSPITAL: $50k → 16%HARVARD COLLEGE: $30k → 8%DANA FARBER HOSPITAL: $15k → 16%HARVARD COLLEGE: $25k → 8%BRIGHAM WOMENS HOSPITAL: $10k → 16%HARVARD COLLEGE: $25k → 8%HARVARD COLLEGE: $15k → 8%GROTON SCHOOL: $25k → 8%COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL: $95k → 16%GROTON SCHOOL: $10k → 8%COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL: $52k → 16%LYRIC STAGE: $30k → 16%BELMONT DAY SCHOOL: $13k → 8%COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL: $26k → 16%THE LYRIC STATE COMPANY OF BOSTON: $16k → 16%THE LYRIC STATE COMPANY OF BOSTON: $14k → 16%COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL: $10k → 16%BETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL: $45k → 16%WINSOR SCHOOL: $37k → 16%BETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL - ROBERT STERN FUND: $35k → 16%WINSOR SCHOOL: $30k → 16%DANA-FARBER HOSPITAL: $25k → 16%DANA FARBER CANCER CENTER: $25k → 16%WINSOR SCHOOL: $20k → 16%BETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL: $20k → 16%WINSOR SCHOOL: $20k → 16%WINSOR SCHOOL: $10k → 16%WINSOR SCHOOL: $10k → 16%WINSOR SCHOOL: $10k → 16%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
NY
MA
OH
PA
CT
RI
CA
KY
VA
TN
GA
TX
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.

94%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.6M · 25 repeat orgs$106k to everyone else

25 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 19 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
33

Total granted

$1.6M
$99k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+44%

Still filing today

60%
61%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $7k 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
EducationArts & CultureEnvironmentHealthRecreation & SportsReligionOther
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

  • TC
    THE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL INC
    4× · 2017–2021 · $183k · revenue +32%
  • THE WINSOR SCHOOL
    8× · 2017–2025 · $147k · revenue +46%
  • BM
    BRYN MAWR COLLEGE
    4× · 2017–2021 · $120k · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • LS
    LYRIC STAGE
    one grant, 2019 · $30k
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Incgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +95%
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
    one grant, 2017 · $15k
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
Boston Architectural College

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

—
2
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
3
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
4
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
5
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
6
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
7
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
8
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
9
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
10
Harvard Conservation Trust

To preserve the unique character and natural resources of harvard.

Environment
11
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
12
Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation

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

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Belmont Day School Inc; the most unlike its peers is Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 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

38 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. 38 of the 61 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
38/38
Grantees still filing
29/38
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $1,574,500 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUNDMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORATED: $421,666 · OtherMASS GENERAL BRIGHAM INCORPORA…HARVARD COLLEGE: $195,100 · OtherHARVARD COLLEGEBETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL: $65,000 · OtherBETH ISRAEL HOSPITALBRIGHAM WOMENS HOSPITAL: $60,000 · OtherBRIGHAM WOMENS HOSPITALDANA-FARBER HOSPITAL: $51,000 · OtherDANA-FARBER HOSPITALBETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL - ROBERT STERN FUND: $36,000 · OtherLYRIC STAGE: $30,000 · Other+24 more: $29,930 · OtherTHE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL INC: $182,500 · EducationTHE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL …THE WINSOR SCHOOL: $147,014 · EducationTHE WINSOR SCHOOLVanderbilt University: $130,000 · EducationVanderbilt UniversityBRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $120,000 · EducationBRYN MAWR COLLEGEWESTOVER SCHOOL INC: $85,000 · EducationWESTOVER SCHOOL INCGROTON SCHOOL: $35,000 · Education+4 more: $18,500 · EducationLyric Stage Company of Boston Inc: $29,440 · Arts & CultureRAYMOND F KRAVIS CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $5,000 · Arts & Culture+8 more: $2,660 · Arts & CultureDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $25,000 · Health+1 more: $600 · HealthHOBE SOUND NATURE CENTER INC: $14,250 · EnvironmentTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $10,000 · Environment+3 more: $775 · EnvironmentBEACON COMMUNITIES CHARITABLE FUND INC: $7,000 · PhilanthropyCombined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc: $1,000 · Philanthropy
Community Improvement$1,574,500Other$888,696Education$718,014Arts & Culture$37,100Health$25,600Environment$25,025Philanthropy$8,000

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 budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $1,574,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL INC: $182,500 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetTHE WINSOR SCHOOL: $147,014 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetVanderbilt University: $130,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetBRYN MAWR COLLEGE: $120,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWESTOVER SCHOOL INC: $85,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetGROTON SCHOOL: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetLyric Stage Company of Boston Inc: $29,440 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetDana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBELMONT DAY SCHOOL INC: $15,350 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHOBE SOUND NATURE CENTER INC: $14,250 over 3y, 2.7% of budgetTHE CONSERVATION FUND A NONPROFIT CORPORATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBEACON COMMUNITIES CHARITABLE FUND INC: $7,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetRAYMOND F KRAVIS CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetASHOKA: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMILTON ACADEMY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCommunity Concepts Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCombined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRESH AIR FUND: $750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNORTON MUSEUM OF ART INC: $750 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJUPITER ISLAND MEDICAL CLINIC INC: $600 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $515 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM INC: $480 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJUPITER ISLAND GARDEN CLUBINC: $450 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHILLEL FOUNDATION OF CAMBRIDGE INC: $350 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGAINING GROUND INC: $280 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBOSTON HARBOR NOW INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHUNTINGTON THEATRE CO INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSPORTS HUMANITARIAN GROUP INC: $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budget122 EAST 66TH STREET FOUNDATION INC: $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCODE FOR AMERICA LABS INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRAR-MA INC: $150 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJUPITER ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $150 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF NEWPORT COUNTY: $115 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIVE PLANT TRUST INC: $75 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.

Boston Foundation IncFidelity FoundationJohn & Weezie Gates C…The David and Elizabe…Nivin and Duncan Macm…St Clair Charitable T…Legatus FoundationCMB FoundationEthel D Colket Founda…Colket Family Foundat…Combined Jewish Phila…Eastern Bank Foundati…
Boston Foundation IncMA21.1× affinity9 shared granteesties to 8 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Boston Foundation Inc · Fidelity Foundation · John & Weezie Gates Charitable Trust · The David and Elizabeth Long Foundation · Nivin and Duncan Macmillan Foundation · St Clair Charitable Trust · Legatus Foundation · CMB Foundation · Ethel D Colket Foundation · Colket Family Foundation · Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Inc · Eastern Bank 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 Zeckhauser Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Zeckhauser Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 130%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →median 4%
  • Boston Harbor Now Inc: 45% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Gaining Ground Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Huntington Theatre Co Inc: 4% of income from government
  • Native Plant Trust Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Peabody Essex Museum Inc: 3% of income from government
  • Museum of Science: 0% of income from government
  • Milton Academy: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
13get 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
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
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 Zeckhauser Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Zeckhauser 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 61 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 Zeckhauser’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