· Private foundation
The Zelnak Private 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
- $50k–250k3 grants · $220k
- $250k+1 grant · $320k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| NCSU FOUNDATION | $320,000 |
| RALEIGH POLICE DEPARTMENT FTN | $100,000 |
| CAROLINA BALLET | $60,000 |
| HAYES BARTON BAPTIST CHURCH | $60,000 |
| GEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 34% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
6 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 1 since wound down.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- NCNORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC8× · 2017–2025 · $1.8M · revenue +232%
CAROLINA BALLET INC9× · 2017–2025 · $1.1M · revenue +43%
GEORGIA TECH FOUNDATION INC4× · 2020–2025 · $220k · revenue +214%
Funded once
- HTHOLY TRINITY ANGLICAN CHURCHone grant, 2018 · $250k
- HTHOLY TRINITY CHURCHone grant, 2020 · $50k
- GTGEORGIA TECH ROLL CALLone grant, 2023 · $10k
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.
4 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. 4 of the 9 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
Open a dossier: Triangle Community Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Zelnak Private Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Zelnak Private Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Zelnak Private’s filings →