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Three Sisters Foundation Bessemer Trust Company of Delaware at a glance

· Private foundation

Three Sisters Foundation Bessemer Trust Company of Delaware

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.

$12M
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$11M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

International$16MHealth$10MEducation$7.0MPhilanthropy$500kEnvironment$130kCivil Rights$51kSocial Science$25k
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $50k–250k2 grants · $250k
  • $250k+2 grants · $12M
$250,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$74M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE$11,300,000
HAMILTON COLLEGE$250,000
INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE$200,000
CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS$50,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: $10.0M → 16%SWARTHMORE COLLEGE: $500k → 10%LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%BREAKTHROUGH COLLABORATIVE: $150k → 10%URBAN SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO: $1.0M → 10%HAMILTON COLLEGE: $488k → 16%CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: $50k → 17%VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGR: $200k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $1.0M → 14%LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN: $130k → 10%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%BREAKTHROUGH COLLABORATIVE: $100k → 10%URBAN SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO: $515k → 10%HAMILTON COLLEGE: $250k → 16%CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS: $1k → 17%VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM: $200k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $500k → 14%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $25k → 8%BREAKTHROUGH COLLABORATIVE: $100k → 10%URBAN SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO: $10k → 10%HAMILTON COLLEGE: $250k → 16%INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: $11.3M → 17%VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM: $100k → 7%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $500k → 14%STANFORD INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH: $25k → 8%BREAKTHROUGH COLLABORATIVE: $200 → 10%UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SAN FRANCISCO: $100k → 10%HAMILTON COLLEGE: $250k → 16%INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: $1.0M → 17%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $320k → 14%STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $20k → 8%HAMILTON COLLEGE: $125k → 16%INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: $800k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $220k → 14%STANFORD UNIVERSITY: $20k → 8%HAMILTON COLLEGE: $125k → 16%INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: $750k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $200k → 14%INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: $680k → 17%UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: $200k → 14%INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: $550k → 17%INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: $350k → 17%INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: $300k → 17%INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: $200k → 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.
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.

66%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$21M · 5 repeat orgs$11M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +69% since the first grant, against +12% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
5

Total granted

$21M
$11M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+69%
+12%

Still filing today

100%
40%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
EducationInternationalCivil RightsArts & CultureOther
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

  • IR
    International Rescue Committee INC
    8× · 2017–2025 · $16M · revenue +81%
  • University of Chicago
    7× · 2017–2023 · $2.9M · revenue +56%
  • US
    URBAN SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO
    3× · 2017–2019 · $1.5M · revenue +40%

Funded once

  • MG
    MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
    one grant, 2023 · $10M
  • SWARTHMORE COLLEGE
    one grant, 2021 · $500k · revenue +5%
  • LC
    LEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC
    one grant, 2024 · $130k · revenue +12%
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
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
2
Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & clark is a premier private higher education institution offering an exceptional education in an inclusive environment. by fostering critical thinking, innovation, creativity, civic engagement, and leadership, both inside and…

Education
3
William Marsh Rice University

As a leading research university with a distinctive commitment to undergraduate education, Rice University aspires to path breaking research, unsurpassed teaching, and contributions to the betterment of our world. It seeks to fulfill this…

Education
4
University of Southern California

The central mission of the university of southern california is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. the principal means by which our mission is…

Education
5
Western New England University

Western new england university, a comprehensive private institution with a tradition of excellence in teaching and scholarship and a commitment to service, awards undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees in various departments from…

Education
6
Bentley University

Organization's mission bentley university believes good business can impact more than the bottom line - it can change the world. bentley is a community of future business leaders who will deliver value in the marketplace and lasting…

Education
7
Albright College

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

Education
8
Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania

The trustees of the university of pennsylvania (the "university") sees itself as having a public service mission. in such regard, the university aims to provide a rich and diverse educational environment for its students; to pioneer…

Education
9
New York University

Nyu is a private university with approximately 60,000 matriculating students in 20 schools and institutes. nyu's primary missions are education, research and scholarship, and patient care.

Education
10
Trustees of Boston College

Mission strengthened by more than a century and a half of dedication to academic excellence, boston college commits itself to the highest standards of teaching and research in undergraduate, graduate and professional programs and to the…

Education
11
Pomona College

Throughout its history, pomona college has educated men and women of exceptional promise. we gather individuals, regardless of financial circumstances, into a small residential community that is strongly rooted in southern california yet…

Education
12
Institute for Advanced Study - Louis Bamberger & Mrs Felix Fuld Foundation

The institute for advanced study (the institute) is one of the world's leading centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. see schedule o.

Science & Tech
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Chicago; the most unlike its peers is International Rescue Committee 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

10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 13 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
10/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

International Rescue Committee INC: $15,930,000 · InternationalInternational Rescue Committee INCMASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL: $10,000,000 · OtherMASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL+2 more: $125,000 · OtherUniversity of Chicago: $2,940,000 · EducationUniversity of ChicagoURBAN SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO: $1,540,000 · EducationURBAN SCHOOL OF SAN FRA…Trustees of Hamilton College: $1,487,500 · EducationTrustees of Hamilton Co…SWARTHMORE COLLEGE: $500,000 · EducationSWARTHMORE COLLEGETHE BREAKTHROUGH COLLABORATIVE: $350,200 · Education+1 more: $115,000 · EducationVANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM: $500,000 · PhilanthropyLEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC: $130,000 · Arts & CultureTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $51,000 · Civil Rights
International$15,930,000Other$10,125,000Education$6,932,700Philanthropy$500,000Arts & Culture$130,000Civil Rights$51,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetInternational Rescue Committee INC: $15,930,000 over 8y, 0.9% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $2,940,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetURBAN SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO: $1,540,000 over 3y, 4.4% of budgetTrustees of Hamilton College: $1,487,500 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetVANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM: $500,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSWARTHMORE COLLEGE: $500,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BREAKTHROUGH COLLABORATIVE: $350,200 over 4y, 3.3% of budgetLEAHY CENTER FOR LAKE CHAMPLAIN INC: $130,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $115,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS INC: $51,000 over 2y, 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Three Sisters Foundation Bessemer Trust Company of Delaware funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Three Sisters Foundation Bessemer Trust Company of Delaware. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 13 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 Three Sisters Foundation Bessemer Trust Company of Delaware’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