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Theobald Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Theobald Foundation

Its FY2023 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$5.6M
Granted FY2023
50
Grants FY2023
12
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2023.

Philanthropy$2.8MEducation$2.7MArts & Culture$293kRecreation & Sports$130kHealth$81kHuman Services$42kAnimals$37kFood & Nutrition$33kOther$0
02FY2023 · 50 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2023

  • Under $10k37 grants · $79k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $55k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $230k
  • $250k+9 grants · $5.2M
$2,500
Median grant
12
States reached
$0
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE SUMMIT COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL$1,000,000
BIG SHOULDERS FUND$1,000,000
DEBORAH GOOD FUND$552,495
DAVID THEOBALD FUND$502,496
FIONA THEOBALD FUND$502,495
FIDELITY CHARITABLE$500,000
SCHWAB CHARITABLE FUND$500,000
WELLESLEY COLLEGE$410,000
DANIEL THEOBALD FUND$252,495
THOMAS THEOBALD FUND$229,685
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY$35,000
ARLINGTON FOOD ASSISTANCE CENTER$10,000
MISS PORTERS' SCHOOL$10,000
RISING GROUND$7,500
ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO$5,000
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, $46k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 83% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%COMMONWEAL: $2k → 8%RISING GROUND: $9k → 20%SKY'S THE LIMIT FUND: $1k → 8%COMMONWEAL: $2k → 8%RISING GROUND: $8k → 20%SKY'S THE LIMIT FUND: $1k → 8%COMMONWEAL: $2k → 8%RISING GROUND: $8k → 20%SKY'S THE LIMIT FUND: $1k → 8%RISING GROUND: $8k → 20%SKY'S THE LIMIT FUND: $500 → 8%PUPPIES BEHIND BARS: $2k → 17%PUPPIES BEHIND BARS: $1k → 17%SERVICE PROGRAM FOR OLDER PEOPLE: $1k → 17%SERVICE PROGRAM FOR OLDER PEOPLE: $1k → 17%SERVICE PROGRAM FOR OLDER PEOPLE: $1k → 17%SERVICE PROGRAM FOR OLDER PEOPLE: $800 → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
NY
MA
IA
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
CO
KY
VA
MD
SC
DC
AL
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.

40%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.1M · 52 repeat orgs$3.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +38% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

52 repeat relationships: 36 still active in FY2023, 16 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

52
41

Total granted

$2.1M
$70k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
+13%

Still filing today

73%
61%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 33% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.0M went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23
EducationArts & CultureAnimalsHuman ServicesHealthInternationalOther
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

  • BS
    Big Shoulders Fund
    4× · 2020–2023 · $1.1M · revenue +67%
  • WC
    Wellesley College
    4× · 2020–2023 · $450k · revenue +42%
  • Northwestern University
    4× · 2020–2023 · $130k · revenue +33%

Funded once

  • WS
    WESTOVER SCHOOL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +30%
  • MC
    Mercy Corps
    one grant, 2022 · $5k · revenue -11%
  • AR
    ANIMAL RESCUE FUND OF ARLINGTON
    one grant, 2020 · $5k
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
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
2
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
3
Boston Architectural College

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

—
4
Manhattanville University

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

Education
5
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
6
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
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
President and Fellows of Harvard College

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

Education
9
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
10
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
11
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
12
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
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Evidence Action; the most unlike its peers is Metropolitan Museum of Art. 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 108 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)
70/71
Grantees still filing
54/71
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SUMMIT COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL US CATHOLIC CONFERENCE: $1,000,000 · OtherSUMMIT COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL US CATHOLIC CONFERENCEDEBORAH GOOD FUND: $552,495 · OtherDEBORAH GOOD FUNDDAVID THEOBALD FUND: $502,496 · OtherDAVID THEOBALD FUNDFIONA THEOBALD FUND: $502,495 · OtherFIONA THEOBALD FUNDDANIEL THEOBALD FUND: $252,495 · OtherDANIEL THEOBALD FUNDTHOMAS THEOBALD FUND: $229,685 · OtherTHOMAS THEOBALD FUND+67 more: $289,400 · Other+67 moreBig Shoulders Fund: $1,130,000 · EducationBig Shoulders FundWellesley College: $450,000 · EducationWellesley College+19 more: $127,000 · Education+19 moreFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $500,000 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY …+2 more: $16,000 · Community ImprovementDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $500,000 · PhilanthropyDONOR ADV…+1 more: $1,000 · PhilanthropyNorthwestern University: $130,000 · Recreation & SportsRISING GROUND INC: $31,000 · Human ServicesCOMMONWEAL: $4,500 · Human ServicesSERVICE PROGRAM FOR OLDER PEOPLE INC: $3,800 · Human ServicesSKY'S THE LIMIT FUND: $3,500 · Human ServicesPUPPIES BEHIND BARS INC: $3,000 · Human ServicesArlington Food Assistance Center: $30,000 · Food & NutritionPhilabundance: $2,000 · Food & Nutrition+1 more: $1,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$3,329,066Education$1,707,000Community Improvement$516,000Philanthropy$501,000Recreation & Sports$130,000Human Services$45,800Food & Nutrition$33,000

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 budgetBig Shoulders Fund: $1,130,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $500,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC: $500,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWellesley College: $450,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNorthwestern University: $130,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMISS PORTER'S SCHOOL INC: $40,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetRISING GROUND INC: $31,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetArlington Food Assistance Center: $30,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO: $22,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $18,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN: $17,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetAnimal Welfare League of Arlington: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHonorable Order of Kentucky Colonels Inc: $11,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS: $10,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI: $8,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART FKA MEXICAN FINE ARTS CENTER MUSEUM: $8,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetREAD TO LEAD INC: $6,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART: $5,400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetWESTOVER SCHOOL INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND: $5,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMercy Corps: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $5,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE HOTCHKISS SCHOOL: $5,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE OLANA PARTNERSHIP: $5,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLiteracy Partners Inc: $5,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMONWEAL: $4,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMENTAL HEALTH AMERICA INC: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSERVICE PROGRAM FOR OLDER PEOPLE INC: $3,800 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSKY'S THE LIMIT FUND: $3,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE WOODHALL SCHOOL INC: $3,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMARVELWOOD SCHOOL INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMUTTVILLE: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe New York Public Library Astor Lenox and Tilden Foundations: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEARTHJUSTICE: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPUPPIES BEHIND BARS INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOpportunity Inc of Palm Beach County: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE LEARNING ALLIANCE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMuseum of Modern Art: $2,400 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetVERO BEACH MUSEUM OF ART INC: $2,100 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetONE ACRE FUND: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION OF COLUMBIA & GREENE COUNTIES INC: $2,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetPhilabundance: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAVE THE MANATEE CLUB INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPets In Need: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION OF ESSEX AND MORRIS INC: $2,000 over 3y, 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.

  • Who funds Big Shoulders Fund ↗
  • Who funds FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ↗
  • Who funds DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ↗
  • Who funds Wellesley College ↗
  • Who funds Northwestern University ↗
  • Who funds MISS PORTER'S SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds RISING GROUND INC ↗
  • Who funds Arlington Food Assistance Center ↗
  • Who funds THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO ↗
  • Who funds INDIAN RIVER HOSPITAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN ↗
  • Who funds Animal Welfare League of Arlington ↗
  • Who funds Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE CHICAGO COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS ↗
  • Who funds ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MEXICAN ART FKA MEXICAN FINE ARTS CENTER MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds READ TO LEAD INC ↗
  • Who funds METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART ↗
  • Who funds WESTOVER SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN INDIAN COLLEGE FUND ↗
  • Who funds Mercy Corps ↗
  • Who funds GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds THE HOTCHKISS SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds THE OLANA PARTNERSHIP ↗

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.

Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Chicago Community…The Hyde and Watson F…Fidelity FoundationIndian River Communit…The Bessemer Giving F…Ge Aerospace Foundati…Conrad N Hilton Found…The Pfizer Foundation…Community Foundation …The Goldman Sachs Cha…Ibm International Fou…
Jpmorgan Chase FoundationNY18.7× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · The Hyde and Watson Foundation · Fidelity Foundation · Indian River Community Foundation Inc · The Bessemer Giving Fund · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Conrad N Hilton Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Community Foundation of New Jersey · The Goldman Sachs Charitable Gift Fund · Ibm International 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 Theobald Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Theobald Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 100%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Mental Health Connecticut Inc: 82% of income from government
  • Mercy Corps: 47% of income from government
  • Music Haven Inc: 15% of income from government
  • Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Wellesley College: 1% of income from government
  • Curry College: 0% of income from government
  • Ballet Vero Beach Inc: 0% of income from government
  • The Learning Alliance Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
10get no government money at all
15report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely 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 108 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 2023, released 2023. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Theobald’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