Skip to content
Thomas W Smith Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Thomas W Smith Foundation Inc

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.

$9.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
55
Grants FY2025still arriving
20
States reached
$1.1M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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.

Education$33MPublic Benefit$23MArts & Culture$6.3MCivil Rights$5.2MSocial Science$2.8MRecreation & Sports$2.2MCommunity Improvement$1.6MCrime & Legal$1.4MOther$0
02FY2025 · 55 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k5 grants · $120k
  • $50k–250k39 grants · $5.1M
  • $250k+11 grants · $4.3M
$150,000
Median grant
20
States reached
$24M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MANHATTAN INSTITUTE$1,101,936
TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION$575,000
REAL CLEAR FOUNDATION$400,000
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME$350,000
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FDTN - THE MERCATUS CENTER$300,000
VMTS EDUCATION INC$300,000
NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES ALLIANCE$300,000
PACIFIC RESEARCH INSTITUTE$270,000
FDRLST MEDIA FOUNDATION$250,000
HETERODOX ACADEMY$250,000
THE GRADUATE CENTER FOUNDATION INC$250,000
UNLEASH PROSPERITY INC$230,000
THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY$210,000
AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE$200,000
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY$200,000
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 (FY17–23, $186k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%WORLD CHILDHOOD FOUNDATION INC: $1k → 17%CENTER FOR FAMILY SVCS OF PBC: $50k → 11%CENTER FOR FAMILY SVCS OF PBC: $50k → 11%CENTER FOR FAMILY SVCS OF PBC: $50k → 11%CENTER FOR FAMILY SVCS OF PBC: $35k → 11%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

VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
UT
MO
WV
VA
DE
AZ
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
AL
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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$66M · 137 repeat orgs$6.5M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +49% since the first grant, against +27% for those funded once.

137 repeat relationships: 45 still active in FY2025, 92 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

137
93

Total granted

$66M
$5.7M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+27%

Still filing today

65%
63%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $855k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CulturePublic BenefitSocial ScienceCivil RightsPhilanthropyOther
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

  • MI
    MANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH INC
    7× · 2017–2025 · $8.3M · revenue +38%
  • IF
    Institute for Humane Studies
    6× · 2017–2024 · $2.4M · revenue +18%
  • AT
    AMERICAN TRANSPARENCY
    6× · 2017–2024 · $2.1M · revenue +35% · 35% of their budget

Funded once

  • MU
    MIAMI UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM
    one grant, 2017 · $556k
  • WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITYgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $320k · revenue +30%
  • MC
    Mercatus Center Incgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $300k · revenue +63%
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
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
Foreign Policy Research Institute

The foreign policy research institute (frpi) is dedicated to producing the highest quality scholarship and nonpartisan policy analysis focused on crucial foreign policy and national security challenges facing the united states. we educate…

International
4
Peter G Peterson Institute for International Economics

The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…

Social Science
5
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
6
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.

—
7
Wilson College

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

Education
8
Manhattanville University

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

Education
9
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
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
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
12
Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Wpi transforms lives, turns knowledge into action to confront global challenges, and revolutionizes stem through distinctive and inclusive education, projects and research. (http://www.wpi.edu/about/mission.html)

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Patricia Blanco Animal Foundation 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

167 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. 167 of the 246 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.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
35
Early backer (in before they grew)
163/167
Grantees still filing
125/167
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

REAL CLEAR FOUNDATION: $2,450,000 · OtherREAL CLEAR FOUNDATIONInstitute for Humane Studies: $2,415,000 · OtherInstitute for Humane StudiesCLEMSON UNIVERSITY: $1,541,250 · OtherGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FDTN - THE MERCATUS CENTER: $1,425,000 · OtherGRADUATE SCHOOL FOUNDATION-CUNY: $1,352,757 · OtherGEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY FDTN: $1,250,000 · OtherAEI: $1,175,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LAW SCHOOL: $1,135,000 · OtherARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: $1,125,000 · OtherCALVIN COOLIDGE PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION INC: $1,070,000 · Other+91 more: $15,783,460 · Other+91 moreUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $2,198,453 · EducationUniversity of Notre Dame d…AMERICAN TRANSPARENCY: $2,125,000 · EducationAMERICAN TRANSPARENCYThe Trustees of Princeton University: $1,820,000 · EducationThe Trustees of Princeton …KENYON COLLEGE: $1,311,000 · EducationKENYON COLLEGENew York University: $1,173,000 · EducationNew York UniversityHETERODOX ACADEMY: $1,050,000 · EducationHETERODOX ACADEMYINTERCOLLEGIATE STUDIES INSTITUTE INC: $950,000 · EducationPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $900,000 · EducationDUKE UNIVERSITY: $768,500 · Education+35 more: $6,333,478 · Education+35 moreMANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH INC: $8,277,272 · Public BenefitMANHATTAN INSTITUTE …FDRLST MEDIA FOUNDATION: $1,200,000 · Public BenefitFDRLST MEDIA FOUNDAT…TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION: $1,175,000 · Public BenefitTEXAS PUBLIC POLICY …AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL: $1,100,000 · Public BenefitAMERICAN LEGISLATIVE…UNLEASH PROSPERITY INC: $1,040,000 · Public BenefitUNLEASH PROSPERITY I…+9 more: $1,609,500 · Public Benefit+9 moreNew Civil Liberties Alliance: $1,882,666 · Arts & CultureVMTS EDUCATION INC: $1,500,000 · Arts & CultureFOUNDATION FOR CULTURAL REVIEW: $725,000 · Arts & CultureTHE DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION: $525,000 · Arts & Culture+15 more: $789,889 · Arts & CultureSTATE POLICY NETWORK: $1,118,600 · Civil RightsINSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: $1,050,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN WATCHDOGS INC: $990,000 · Civil RightsGOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY INSTITUTE: $950,000 · Civil RightsFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $650,000 · Civil RightsIndependent Women's Forum: $325,000 · Civil RightsDEFENDING EDUCATION: $200,000 · Civil Rights+1 more: $100,000 · Civil RightsPacific Research Institute For Public Policy: $1,180,000 · PhilanthropyDonors Trust Inc: $975,000 · PhilanthropyTHE COLLEGE FOUNDATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: $100,000 · Philanthropy+2 more: $75,000 · PhilanthropyCenter for American Greatness Inc: $550,000 · Social ScienceAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $350,000 · Social ScienceThe Foundation for the Constitution: $325,000 · Social ScienceMercatus Center Inc: $300,000 · Social ScienceTHE FOUNDATION FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT INC: $200,000 · Social ScienceAMERICAN INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH: $100,000 · Social Science+3 more: $105,000 · Social Science
Other$30,722,467Education$18,629,431Public Benefit$14,401,772Arts & Culture$5,422,555Civil Rights$5,383,600Philanthropy$2,330,000Social Science$1,930,000

Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.

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 budgetMANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH INC: $8,277,272 over 7y, 8.7% of budgetInstitute for Humane Studies: $2,415,000 over 6y, 3.5% of budgetUniversity of Notre Dame du Lac: $2,198,453 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN TRANSPARENCY: $2,125,000 over 6y, 35% of budgetNew Civil Liberties Alliance: $1,882,666 over 6y, 9.2% of budgetThe Trustees of Princeton University: $1,820,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetVMTS EDUCATION INC: $1,500,000 over 5y, 15% of budgetKENYON COLLEGE: $1,311,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetFDRLST MEDIA FOUNDATION: $1,200,000 over 5y, 14% of budgetPacific Research Institute For Public Policy: $1,180,000 over 6y, 3.5% of budgetTEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION: $1,175,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetNew York University: $1,173,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetSTATE POLICY NETWORK: $1,118,600 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetAMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL: $1,100,000 over 6y, 2.7% of budgetCALVIN COOLIDGE PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION INC: $1,070,000 over 7y, 4.8% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: $1,050,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetHETERODOX ACADEMY: $1,050,000 over 5y, 6.7% of budgetUNLEASH PROSPERITY INC: $1,040,000 over 5y, 7.9% of budgetAMERICAN WATCHDOGS INC: $990,000 over 7y, 100% of budgetDonors Trust Inc: $975,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetGOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY INSTITUTE: $950,000 over 5y, 5.9% of budgetINTERCOLLEGIATE STUDIES INSTITUTE INC: $950,000 over 6y, 2.8% of budgetTHE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES: $900,000 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $900,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetDUKE UNIVERSITY: $768,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR CULTURAL REVIEW: $725,000 over 5y, 5.1% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $650,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $600,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCenter for American Greatness Inc: $550,000 over 4y, 14% of budgetTHE CLAREMONT INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF STATESMANSHIP & POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY: $550,000 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetTHE DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION: $525,000 over 4y, 6.3% of budgetCO2 COALITION: $500,000 over 5y, 15% of budgetTrustees of Dartmouth College: $500,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPROPERTY AND ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CENTER: $475,000 over 5y, 4.1% of budgetBROWN UNIVERSITY: $450,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetASHLAND UNIVERSITY: $430,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetRhodes College: $420,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTRUSTEES OF BOSTON COLLEGE: $383,600 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetThe Abigail Adams Institute Inc: $375,000 over 6y, 9.6% of budgetBEACON CENTER OF TENNESSEE: $350,000 over 6y, 3.2% of budgetAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $350,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetThe Foundation for the Constitution: $325,000 over 2y, 66% of budgetIndependent Women's Forum: $325,000 over 7y, 1.1% of budgetWAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY: $320,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRANKLIN NEWS FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 2y, 5.5% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMercatus Center Inc: $300,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetSTUDENT FREE PRESS ASSOCIATION: $250,000 over 6y, 6.5% 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 MANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH INC ↗
  • Who funds Institute for Humane Studies ↗
  • Who funds University of Notre Dame du Lac ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN TRANSPARENCY ↗
  • Who funds New Civil Liberties Alliance ↗
  • Who funds The Trustees of Princeton University ↗
  • Who funds VMTS EDUCATION INC ↗
  • Who funds KENYON COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds FDRLST MEDIA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Pacific Research Institute For Public Policy ↗
  • Who funds TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds New York University ↗
  • Who funds STATE POLICY NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds CALVIN COOLIDGE PRESIDENTIAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE ↗
  • Who funds HETERODOX ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds UNLEASH PROSPERITY INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN WATCHDOGS INC ↗
  • Who funds Donors Trust Inc ↗
  • Who funds GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds INTERCOLLEGIATE STUDIES INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES ↗
  • Who funds President and Fellows of Harvard College ↗
  • Who funds DUKE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds FOUNDATION FOR CULTURAL REVIEW ↗
  • Who funds FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC ↗

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.

Donors Trust IncBradley Impact Fund I…The Lynde and Harry B…Charles Koch Foundati…Sarah Scaife Foundati…The Searle Freedom Tr…Triad Foundation IncAtlas Economic Resear…The Dunn FoundationBeth and Ravenel Curr…Charles Koch InstituteJohn William Pope Fou…
Donors Trust IncVA81.9× affinity43 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donors Trust Inc · Bradley Impact Fund Inc · The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc · Charles Koch Foundation · Sarah Scaife Foundation Incorporated · The Searle Freedom Trust · Triad Foundation Inc · Atlas Economic Research Foundation · The Dunn Foundation · Beth and Ravenel Curry Foundation · Charles Koch Institute · John William Pope 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 Thomas W Smith Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thomas W Smith Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 190%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 35% of income from government
  • The Lord's Place Inc: 12% of income from government
  • The Trustees of Princeton University: 11% of income from government
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • University of Miami: 5% of income from government
  • Trustees of Boston College: 3% of income from government
  • Shatterproof a Nonprofit Corporation: 2% of income from government
  • Wellesley College: 1% of income from government
  • Palm Beach County Food Bank Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Assumption University: 0% of income from government
  • Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
19get no government money at all
13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely 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 246 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 Thomas W Smith’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