California · Nonprofit
FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION
FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,532,394 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($4,400,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $46M
What Fannie and John Hertz Foundation does
Mission
The hertz foundation is committed to advancing american scientific and technological leadership. For nearly 70 years, the hertz foundation identified and empowered the nation's most exceptional innovators in science and technology, fueling a lifelong community dedicated to solving our most pressing problems.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The hertz fellowship is the nation's most competitive doctoral fellowship in the applied sciences, engineering and mathematics. The largest expense category is the fellowship award which includes tuition and stipend for each student in school. In fy '25, this supported 71 students and represented 43% of the total expense budget. The amount needed for tuition and stipend was lower than anticipated for a very positive reason: many students also won other prizes/awards which partially replaced the need for support from the hertz foundation. The recent investment in fundraising has been quick to show success and is growing annually, supporting the foundation's operations and adding to the endowment for the first time in 20 years. The foundation does not yet have the endowment level to support 25 new fellowships each year, but is steadily increasing and expanding its donor base to achieve this goal.
$2,208,110 spentof which $2,208,110 as grants41% of program spendingSelection and mentoring of in-school fellows: the foundation's process for selecting fellowship recipients is the most rigorous in the us. More than 1,000 applications were received and reviewed by the selection committee, comprised of leading scientists, engineers, and mathematicians, many of them alumni fellows. Following two rounds of in-person interviews, the foundation awards fellowships to a group of 15 or more candidates. The progress of in-school fellows is monitored in a variety of ways, including discussions with fellows and reports.
$1,707,157 spent32% of program spendingThe foundation supports a lifelong, interdisciplinary network of more than 1,300 hertz fellows worldwide, collectively responsible for some of the most significant scientific and technological progress of the past century. The annual summer workshop, topical forums and partnerships with influential organizations have led to significant breakthroughs and delivered innovations that impact millions of lives across the nation and the world. The foundation also facilitates mentoring relationships among fellows to support their professional growth and works with fellows to build tailored internship experiences. A large portion of these expenses are offset by restricted donor gifts. The foundation has established several awards to highlight early-career fellows who are making an accelerated impact with their work: the hertz thesis prize, the newman galas entrepreneurial prize, and the robbee baker kosak leadership prize.
$1,490,367 spentof which $25,000 as grants28% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,405,634.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $41M to $49M (+18%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2022 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Stephen Fantone
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $613k → $2.0M.
12 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 30% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
65% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 28% · 2018 59% · 2019 30% · 2020 56% · 2021 61% · 2022 56% · 2023 41% — growing more concentrated.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
57% of FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
57% of FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $6.2M that is directly attributable, 77% of it comes from funders outside California, across 7 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 10 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
46%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 37 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION?
- FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION (California) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,532,394 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($4,400,000). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $14,532,394 in grants to FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION?
- GATES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,400,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FANNIE AND JOHN HERTZ FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Fannie and John Hertz →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 24 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing