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The Zients Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Zients Family 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.

$905k
Granted FY2024still arriving
31
Grants FY2024still arriving
8
States reached
$333k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Public Benefit$1.0MEducation$526kRecreation & Sports$268kHealth$260kInternational$232kEmployment$211kCommunity Improvement$161kArts & Culture$112kOther$0
02FY2024 · 31 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k15 grants · $73k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $190k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $310k
  • $250k+1 grant · $333k
$10,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$6.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OBAMA FOUNDATION$333,333
WOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL$100,000
PARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC SERVICES$100,000
AMER FRIENDS OF PARENTS CIRCLE$60,000
CITY YEAR SA$50,000
URBAN ALLIANCE$45,000
AFRICAN LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION$30,000
BROWN UNIVERSITY$25,000
J STREET EDUCATION FUND$15,000
BREAST CARE FOR WASHINGTON$12,500
RIPPLES OF HOPE$12,000
DAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION$10,000
LEARN SERVE INTERNATIONAL$10,000
N STREET VILLAGE$10,000
SESAME WORKSHOP$10,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–23, $25k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%EDUCARE: $5k → 14%WASHINGTON AREA WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $10k → 14%WASHINGTON AREA WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $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
NY
MA
PA
NJ
RI
CA
VA
MD
DC
LA
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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.6M · 39 repeat orgs$595k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against +10% for those funded once.

39 repeat relationships: 23 still active in FY2024, 16 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

39
51

Total granted

$2.6M
$465k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+10%

Still filing today

72%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $130k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’23’24
EducationArts & CultureInternationalPhilanthropyHealthYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION
    3× · 2020–2024 · $917k · revenue +22%
  • Northwestern University
    2× · 2020–2021 · $267k · revenue +33%
  • MS
    MARET SCHOOL INC
    3× · 2020–2023 · $170k · revenue +29%

Funded once

  • BG
    BRIDGESPAN GROUP
    one grant, 2020 · $100k
  • PF
    PEACE FOR DC
    one grant, 2023 · $50k
  • THE ASPEN INSTITUTE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +193%
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
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
2
Boston Architectural College

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

—
3
Manhattanville University

To educate students to be ethical and socially responsible leaders in a global community.

Education
4
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.

—
5
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
6
Harvard Club of Washington Dc

To inform and enrich the intellectual lives of 20,000 alumni of harvard university in the washington, dc area and to assist harvard university with respect to applicants and undergraduates from the dc area.

Education
7
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
8
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
9
International Women's Forum Inc

The mission of the international women's forum is to advance women's leadership worldwide. iwf takes direct action to achieve our mission in three important ways. connect: our convenings provide networking and cutting-edge content…

Education
10
Institute for Experiential Learning Inc

The mission of the washington internship institute is to foster students' intellectual, personal, and professional development through individually tailored, quality internships and challenging academic coursework that take full advantage…

Education
11
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
12
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Shared Interest Inc; the most unlike its peers is South African American Organization 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

71 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. 71 of the 99 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)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
71/71
Grantees still filing
46/71
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $916,666 · Arts & CultureTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATIONSESAME WORKSHOP: $40,000 · Arts & Culture+5 more: $44,000 · Arts & CultureCITY YEAR INC: $150,000 · OtherCITY YEAR INCBRIDGESPAN GROUP: $100,000 · OtherBRIDGESPAN GROUPAMER FRIENDS OF PARENTS CIRCLE: $85,000 · OtherAMER FRIENDS OF PARENTS CIRCLECHILDREN'S NATIONAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $55,000 · OtherPEACE FOR DC: $50,000 · OtherTHE MEDSTAR-GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER INC: $50,000 · OtherTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $50,000 · Other+59 more: $587,997 · Other+59 moreMARET SCHOOL INC: $170,000 · EducationMARET SCHOOL I…President and Fellows of Harvard College: $100,000 · EducationPresident and …AFRICAN LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION: $90,000 · EducationAFRICAN LEADER…Learnserve International: $45,000 · EducationLearnserve Int…+7 more: $30,000 · Education+7 moreTHE URBAN ALLIANCE FOUNDATION INC: $210,000 · EmploymentTHE URBAN …PARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC SERVICE INC: $100,000 · EmploymentPARTNERSHI…Northwestern University: $266,666 · Recreation & SportsWOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL: $110,000 · InternationalWORLD CONNECT INC: $30,000 · InternationalSHARED INTEREST INC: $15,000 · InternationalCOUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC: $10,000 · International+3 more: $15,010 · InternationalBROWN UNIVERSITY: $65,000 · Community ImprovementBUILDING BRIDGES ACROSS THE RIVER INC: $10,000 · Community ImprovementTHE MARSHALL PROJECT INC: $10,000 · Community ImprovementACT FOR ALEXANDRIA: $5,000 · Community Improvement+1 more: $1,000 · Community Improvement
Arts & Culture$1,000,666Other$1,127,997Education$435,000Employment$310,000Recreation & Sports$266,666International$180,010Community Improvement$91,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE BARACK OBAMA FOUNDATION: $916,666 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetNorthwestern University: $266,666 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE URBAN ALLIANCE FOUNDATION INC: $210,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetMARET SCHOOL INC: $170,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCITY YEAR INC: $150,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWOMEN FOR WOMEN INTERNATIONAL: $110,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $100,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPARTNERSHIP FOR PUBLIC SERVICE INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAFRICAN LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION: $90,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $65,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ASPEN INSTITUTE INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MEDSTAR-GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLearnserve International: $45,000 over 4y, 2.2% of budgetSESAME WORKSHOP: $40,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMary's Center for Maternal and Child Care Inc: $35,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetN STREET VILLAGE INC: $30,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetJ STREET EDUCATION FUND INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetWORLD CONNECT INC: $30,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetRIPPLES OF HOPE INC: $24,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetHIGHER ACHIEVEMENT PROGRAM INC: $20,005 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetDIDI HIRSCH PSYCHIATRIC SERVICE: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE PARENTS CIRCLE - FAMILIES FORUM: $20,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetVOLUNTEER LEGAL ADVOCATES: $20,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetWASHINGTON AREA WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetLATIN AMERICAN YOUTH CENTER: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetI AM ALS: $15,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetHORIZONS GREATER WASHINGTON INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetSHARED INTEREST INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetCHILDREN'SCHORUSOFWASHINGTON: $15,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetFood On The Stove Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetMARTHA'S TABLE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HISTORYMAKERS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF COMPASS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGREATER WASHINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBUILDING BRIDGES ACROSS THE RIVER INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ELLINGTON FUND: $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetAMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MARSHALL PROJECT INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetDAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION FOR CONSCIOUSNESS -BASED EDUCATION AND WORLD PEACE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPAN-MASSACHUSETTS CHALLENGE INC: $5,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetVILLAGE HEALTH WORKS: $5,010 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDUKE ELLINGTON SCHOOL OF THE ARTS PROJECTS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDREN'S LAW CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetECHOING GREEN INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEDUCARE DC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TAHIRIH JUSTICE CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Greater Washington Co…The Morris and Gwendo…Clark Charitable Foun…Philip L Graham Fund …Clark-Winchcole Found…ImpactassetsincOpen Society InstituteThe Rockefeller Found…The Annette M Lerner …Bainum Family Foundat…John D and Catherine …Eugene & Agnes E Meye…
Greater Washington Community FoundationDC30.8× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Washington Community Foundation · The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation · Clark Charitable Foundation Inc Dba a James & Alice B Clark Foundation · Philip L Graham Fund co Graham Holdings Company · Clark-Winchcole Foundation · Impactassetsinc · Open Society Institute · The Rockefeller Foundation · The Annette M Lerner and Theodore N Lerner Family Foundation Inc · Bainum Family Foundation · John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation · Eugene & Agnes E Meyer 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 Zients Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Zients Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • Boston Area Rape Crisis Center Inc: 82% of income from government
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
  • Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation: 7% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Pan-Massachusetts Challenge Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
18report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Zients Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Zients Family 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 99 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Zients Family’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