New York · Nonprofit
FRESH AIR FUND
FRESH AIR FUND (New York) receives grants from 661 organizations whose IRS filings report $30,411,850 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($6,118,411). 455 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $21M
- Funders on record
- 661
- Grants received
- $30M
- Net assets
- $144M
What Fresh Air Fund does
Mission
To provide nyc children from low-income families with cultural, recreational, and educational experiences at its camps and with volunteer host families and through year-round academic programs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The Fresh Air Fund's camping programs take place year-round on the fund's sharpe reservation and during the summer at harriman state park. In the summer, 3,500 new york city children learn and grow through immersive outdoor experiences. Campers swim and row boats on the lake, stargaze, hike nature trails and learn about animals and where their food comes from at the camp farm and nutrition center. Campers return home with more confidence, new skills and new friends. During the school year, campers are invited to participate in year-round leadership and educational program through tutoring and mentoring programs. The fund's academic enrichment and leadership programs provide students with a strong network of support on their academic journey through its career awareness program, the college connections programs and its teen leadership programs.
$10,592,707 spentof which $38,363 as grants59% of program spendingThe Fresh Air Fund's sharpe reservation in fishkill, ny, has over 2,000 acres of beautiful land with lakes, ponds, streams and hiking trails through the woods. During the school year, over 10,000 people from community and school groups in the tristate region participate in our environmental educational programs. We offer student, and community group hands-on, interactive, experience to learn about the the environment and explore nature. Groups visit the sharpe environmental center, the gustafson planetarium, our high and low ropes courses, and the numerous nature trails across the reservation. Our programs are customized to meet the unique needs of each group. We focus on environmental education and outdoor learning through team-building, problem solving, critical thinking, and effective communication along with rich learning on caring for the environment.
$3,404,759 spent$2,676,206 earned by the program19% of program spendingApproximately 2,000 fresh air children visit rual, suburban and small-town communities along the east coast and southern canada, called friendly towns, during the summer. During the one or two week visits with volunteer host families, children and their hosts form bonds of friendship by sharing personal, day-to-day experiences. Children travel to a new place, develop independence, make new friends, learn new skills, and gain a new perspective, all while making memories and having fun. Every host family goes through a rigorous screening process including a home visit, interview, references and a background check. Many fresh air children are re-invited to stay with the same host family year after year and form friendships that last a lifetime. Children on first-time visits are seven to 13 years old. Reinvited children may continue through age 18 and may enjoy extended trips.
$2,554,930 spentof which $9,253 as grants14% of program spendingThe Fresh Air Fund enrichment programs provide students with a strong network of support on their academic journey. From tutoring and mentoring to college tours and job shadowings our students learn and grow with fresh air by their side. Fresh air career awareness program, college connections program, young women's giving circle, circle of brotherhood, fresh air teen programs, fresh air family wellness and fresh air summer spaces. All programming is connected to the fund's positive youth development framework to develop inner strength; build relationships and support networks; expand perspectives and set goals; and take on challenges and learn life skills.
$1,327,512 spentof which $367,589 as grants7% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $17,879,908.
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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $158M to $135M (−14%).
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: 2017 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 6% · 2021 9% · 2022 9% · 2023 8% · 2024 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
82% of FRESH AIR FUND’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (11% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 8 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.
Chief executive
Lisa Gitelson
Chief executive officer
Board chair
William P Lauder
Chairman
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 210 funders to 278 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $4.0M.
41 of 661 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 39% 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 FRESH AIR FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 661 funders by total. 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
FRESH AIR FUND has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
44% 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 FRESH AIR FUND.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 21% · 2019 23% · 2020 13% · 2021 31% · 2022 23% · 2023 24% — 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
46% of FRESH AIR FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
59% of FRESH AIR FUND's grant income comes from New York funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $12M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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.
Against its field
FRESH AIR FUND's funding base is broadening — from 210 funders to 278 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 303 recreation & sports nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like FRESH AIR FUND
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 New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 36 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FRESH AIR FUND: 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 FRESH AIR FUND?
- FRESH AIR FUND (New York) receives grants from 661 organizations whose IRS filings report $30,411,850 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($6,118,411). 455 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRESH AIR FUND have?
- IRS filings report 661 organizations giving $30,411,850 in grants to FRESH AIR FUND, 455 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRESH AIR FUND?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $6,118,411 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRESH AIR FUND find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. 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 Fresh Air →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 661 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing