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William & Karen Tell Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

William & Karen Tell 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.

$97k
Granted FY2025still arriving
91
Grants FY2025still arriving
18
States reached
$11k
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, FY2020 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$356kReligion$228kEducation$83kAnimals$68kHealth$42kHuman Services$16kScience & Tech$16kRecreation & Sports$13kOther$0
02FY2025 · 91 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k88 grants · $66k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $31k
$450
Median grant
18
States reached
$3.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NEW DOMINION CHORALE INC$11,000
INTERNATIONAL PRINTING MUSEUM FOUNDATION$10,000
HOUSTON SYMPHONY SOCIETY$10,000
ALL SAINTS CHURCH$9,500
THE THADDEUS STEVENS SCHOOL INC$5,000
COMMENTARY INC$3,000
MONTGOMERY COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC$2,500
AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE INC$2,500
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK LATINOS ISBL$2,000
ACADEMY FOUNDATION$2,000
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK LATINOS ISBL$2,000
TORRANCE ROSE FLOAT ASSOCIATION INC$2,000
MUSEUM ASSOCIATES$1,300
THEATRE LAB$1,290
ARMAND HAMMER MUSEUM OF ART AND CULTURAL CENTER IN$1,250
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 (FY20–25, $20k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 49% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%CHILDHELP INC: $100 → 11%FREEDOM READS: $500 → 12%SOMALI BANTU COMMUNITY LEWISTON OF MAINE: $500 → 13%CHILDHELP INC: $100 → 11%INTERNET ARCHIVE: $500 → 10%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%ARTISANS ASYLUM INC: $2k → 16%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%HOMEFRONT INC: $500 → 9%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%SECOND CHANCES INC: $1k → 8%ARTISANS ASYLUM INC: $2k → 8%ADVENTIST COMMUNITY SERVICES OF GREATER WASHINGTON: $1k → 8%TOMMYS PANTRY INC: $450 → 8%MIDNIGHT MISSION: $3k → 14%MIDNIGHT MISSION: $1k → 14%MIDNIGHT MISSION: $1k → 14%MIDNIGHT MISSION: $1k → 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

ME
NH
WA
MT
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
TN
NC
DC
OK
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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$891k · 93 repeat orgs$81k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against +9% for those funded once.

93 repeat relationships: 55 still active in FY2025, 38 since wound down; 32 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

93
71

Total granted

$891k
$67k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
+9%

Still filing today

87%
76%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $14k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureAnimalsEducationEnvironmentHuman ServicesReligionOther
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

  • PB
    PALM BEACH OPERA INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $100k · revenue +69%
  • ND
    NEW DOMINION CHORALE INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $52k · revenue +56%
  • TP
    THE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SOCIETY INC
    2× · 2020–2021 · $50k · revenue +90%

Funded once

  • TC
    THE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +32%
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION-DENVER CAMPUS
    one grant, 2020 · $5k
  • CF
    CENTER FOR ORANGUTAN AND CHIMPANZEE CONSERVATION I
    one grant, 2023 · $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
The Pierpont Morgan Library

The Morgan Library & Museum celebrates and shares the history and process of human creativity from antiquity to the present day through the preservation, study, and interpretation of a dynamic and growing collection.

Education
2
American Museum of Natural History

The museum's mission statement is: "to discover, interpret, and disseminate - through scientific research and education - knowledge about human cultures, the natural world, and the universe."

Arts & Culture
3
Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is a private, non-profit institution chartered by the State of New York Department of Education in 1929 to foster public awareness of modern and contemporary art. (Continued in Schedule O)

Arts & Culture
4
National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.

Arts & Culture
5
Washington Monthly Institute

Dedicated to increasing public knowledge through washington monthly magazine and website www.washingtonmonthly.com published since 1969, the print magazine is the country's most important watchdog of american government, focusing on what's…

Social Science
6
American Academy of Arts & Sciences

Founded in 1780, the american academy of arts and sciences honors excellence and convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together "to…

Social Science
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
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

The Television Academy is dedicated to celebrating excellence, innovation and the advancement of the telecommunications arts and sciences through recognition, education and leadership, while fostering a diverse, inclusive and accessible…

—
9
Metropolitan Museum of Art

The metropolitan museum of art collects, studies, conserves, and presents significant works of art across all times and cultures in order to connect people to creativity, knowledge, and ideas.

Arts & Culture
10
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

See schedule osfmoma believes the art of our time is vital and shares it with passion and purpose, and that art and the creative process can open minds and help build a better world. for that reason, we assemble unparalleled collections,…

Arts & Culture
11
Proprietors of the Boston Athenaeum

The mission of the boston athenaeum is to engage all who seek knowledge by making accessible our library's collections and spaces, thereby inspiring reflection, discourse, creative expression, and joy.

Education
12
The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences

The mission of the brooklyn institute of arts and sciences, d/b/a brooklyn museum (the "museum") is to bring people together through art and experiences that inspire celebration, compassion, courage, and the will to act. (see schedule o).

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is South Florida Public Media Group Inc; the most unlike its peers is Internet Archive. 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

168 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. 168 of the 201 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
21
Early backer (in before they grew)
165/168
Grantees still filing
105/168
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

PALM BEACH OPERA INC: $100,000 · Arts & CulturePALM BEACH OPERA INCNEW DOMINION CHORALE INC: $52,250 · Arts & CultureNEW DOMINION CHORALE INCTHE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SOCIETY INC: $50,250 · Arts & CultureTHE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SOCIETY INCMetropolitan Opera Association Inc: $50,000 · Arts & CultureMetropolitan Opera Association IncHouston Symphony Society: $20,500 · Arts & CultureINTERNATIONAL PRINTING MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $20,500 · Arts & CultureThe Society of the Four Arts Inc: $20,000 · Arts & Culture+41 more: $82,165 · Arts & Culture+41 moreALL SAINTS CHURCH: $41,000 · OtherALL SAINTS CHURCHST LUKE SCHOOL: $33,500 · OtherST LUKE SCHOOLHOLY TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH: $17,250 · OtherHOLY TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCHSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $10,000 · OtherTORRANCE ROSE FLOAT ASSOCIATION INC: $15,000 · OtherTORRANCE ROSE FLOAT ASSOCIATI…Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Charitable Service Trust: $10,500 · Other+88 more: $126,925 · Other+88 moreBODHIVASTU FOUNDATION FOR ENLIGHTENED ACTIVITY: $115,000 · ReligionBODHIVASTU FOUNDAT…DRIKUNG MEDITATION CENTER INC: $27,000 · ReligionDRIKUNG MEDITATION…COMMENTARY INC: $15,500 · ReligionCOMMENTARY INC+6 more: $6,400 · ReligionCenter for Orangutan & Chimpanzee Conservation Inc: $33,500 · AnimalsMONTGOMERY COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $17,000 · AnimalsTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC: $4,000 · AnimalsLUCKY DOG ANIMAL RESCUE: $3,500 · AnimalsYOUR DOG'S FRIEND: $2,500 · Animals+13 more: $7,900 · AnimalsSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $13,500 · EducationINTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF BLACK LATINOS: $8,000 · EducationTHE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL INC: $5,000 · EducationThaddeus Stevens School: $5,000 · EducationHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $4,000 · EducationTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA: $4,000 · EducationRHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $3,500 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $3,000 · Education+10 more: $4,850 · EducationKATIE JOHNSON FELLOWSHIP INC: $23,000 · Civil RightsINSTITUTE ON RELIGION & DEMOCRACY INC: $4,750 · Civil RightsFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $2,000 · Civil RightsSecond Chances Inc: $6,000 · Human ServicesTHE MIDNIGHT MISSION: $6,000 · Human ServicesARTISAN'S ASYLUM INC: $4,000 · Human ServicesADVENTIST COMMUNITY SERVICES OF GREATER WASHINGTON: $1,000 · Human Services+6 more: $2,650 · Human Services
Arts & Culture$395,665Other$254,175Religion$163,900Animals$68,400Education$50,850Civil Rights$29,750Human Services$19,650

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%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBODHIVASTU FOUNDATION FOR ENLIGHTENED ACTIVITY: $115,000 over 2y, 34% of budgetPALM BEACH OPERA INC: $100,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetNEW DOMINION CHORALE INC: $52,250 over 6y, 14% of budgetTHE PALM BEACH SYMPHONY SOCIETY INC: $50,250 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetMetropolitan Opera Association Inc: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCenter for Orangutan & Chimpanzee Conservation Inc: $33,500 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetDRIKUNG MEDITATION CENTER INC: $27,000 over 4y, 8.8% of budgetKATIE JOHNSON FELLOWSHIP INC: $23,000 over 4y, 53% of budgetHouston Symphony Society: $20,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL PRINTING MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $20,500 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetThe Society of the Four Arts Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMONTGOMERY COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $17,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMENTARY INC: $15,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTORRANCE ROSE FLOAT ASSOCIATION INC: $15,000 over 4y, 5.0% of budgetSTEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION: $13,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE: $13,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDisabled American Veterans (DAV) Charitable Service Trust: $10,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF SCIENCE: $10,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE THEATRE LAB INC: $7,080 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetTIBETAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE: $6,000 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetSecond Chances Inc: $6,000 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetKCRW FOUNDATION INC: $6,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NORA SCHOOL: $6,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $6,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MIDNIGHT MISSION: $6,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetALLIANCE TO PROTECT NANTUCKET SOUND INC: $5,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetST MARY'S FOUNDATION: $5,500 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetCHARITIES AID FOUNDATION AMERICA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE COMMONWEALTH SCHOOL INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThaddeus Stevens School: $5,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetINSTITUTE ON RELIGION & DEMOCRACY INC: $4,750 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: $4,300 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $4,200 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetChildren International: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetARTISAN'S ASYLUM INC: $4,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCROSSROADS JOBS INC: $4,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetTHE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC: $4,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM ASSOCIATES: $3,900 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLUCKY DOG ANIMAL RESCUE: $3,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetRHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFine Arts Radio Inc: $3,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetMANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetACADEMY FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $2,500 over 2y, 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.

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.

The Morris and Gwendo…Greater Washington Co…United Way of the Nat…Nora Roberts Foundati…Sanford and Doris Sla…Crimsonbridge Foundat…Clark-Winchcole Found…Analog Devices Founda…Lilly Endowment IncImpactassetsincGlobal ImpactT Rowe Price Program …
The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz FoundationDC20× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation · Greater Washington Community Foundation · United Way of the National Capital Area · Nora Roberts Foundation · Sanford and Doris Slavin Foundation Inc · Crimsonbridge Foundation Inc · Clark-Winchcole Foundation · Analog Devices Foundation · Lilly Endowment Inc · Impactassetsinc · Global Impact · T Rowe Price Program for Charitable Giving Inc

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 William & Karen Tell Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from William & Karen Tell Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 210%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Epilepsy Foundation of America: 22% of income from government
  • Anacostia Watershed Society Inc: 15% of income from government
  • Freedom Reads Inc: 12% of income from government
  • Delaware Art Museum Inc: 8% of income from government
  • Round House Theatre Inc: 5% of income from government
  • Masonic Education & Charity Trust: 2% of income from government
  • Museum of Science: 0% of income from government
  • The Palm Beach Symphony Society Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Americares Foundation Inc: 0% of income from government
  • Shriners Hospitals for Children: 0% of income from government
  • South Florida Pbs Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
21get no government money at all
24report 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 201 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 William & Karen Tell’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