New York · Nonprofit
Project Kesher
Project Kesher (New York) receives grants from 110 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,975,973 to it, the largest being THE KOUM FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,730,000). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 110
- Grants received
- $9.0M
- Net assets
- $1.2M
What Project Kesher does
Mission
Project Keshers mission is to build Jewish community and advance civil society by developing and empowering women leaders. Vision: Project Kesher will expand and deepen a sustainable, global network of women leaders who are steeped in Jewish values and work to improve the quality of their lives and their societies. Values: The values that drive Project Kesher today and into the future are based on: - Judaism: a deep commitment to tzedek, the pursuit of social justice; gemilut chasadim, loving kindness; the truth that all people are BtzelemElohim, created in the image of G-d; an embrace of Klal Yisroel, Jewish peoplehood; and a belief that Jewish education and learning should inform all of our activities. - Feminism: a deep commitment to gender equality; a recognition of womens unique ability to nurture and education one another and empower ourselves; a recognition that womens philanthropy can address the issues women prioritize. - Pluralism: a deep commitment to foster religious and et
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Project Kesher (PK) continued to invest in the empowerment of women and girls and supported grassroots networks of Jewish women leaders in Ukraine and Israel as they advocated for Jewish life, the advancement of women's rights, and promotion of civil society. Founded in 1989, PK helped incorporate affiliated, independent nonprofit organizations in Ukraine and Israel. In partnership for over 30 years, PK raises resources, cultivates relationships, and generates awareness for the organizations and women in our network. Annual flagship programs have included womens leadership training, Jewish education and holiday celebrations, health advocacy, and economic empowerment.With more than 30 years experience and a fully operational team in Ukraine, Project Kesher Ukraine (PKU) was able to shift and respond when Russia escalated the war in February 2022. PKU has firsthand knowledge of the humanitarian and mental health needs of women in Ukraine because its longtime activists are in Ukraine and have extensive experience with this demographic. Through trusted wartime partners and historic allies, PKU leaders know where food and supplies are needed in the larger society and ensure that they…
$2,344,875 spentof which $2,113,053 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $2,344,875.
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 2021 to 2022, from $652k to $1.4M (+113%).
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: 2021 5% · 2022 2%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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.
Chief executive
Karyn Gershon
CEO
Board chair
Barbara Glickstein
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 25 funders to 39 funders, grant income rose $270k → $1.3M.
23 of 110 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 Project Kesher’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 110 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
Project Kesher has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
59% 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 Project Kesher.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 41% · 2019 24% · 2020 28% · 2021 33% · 2022 23% · 2023 25% — broadly stable.
“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
36% of Project Kesher's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% 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
52% of Project Kesher'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 $4.3M that is directly attributable, 64% of it comes from funders outside New York, across 17 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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 Project Kesher
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
80% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Project Kesher: 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 Project Kesher?
- Project Kesher (New York) receives grants from 110 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,975,973 to it, the largest being THE KOUM FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,730,000). 59 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Project Kesher have?
- IRS filings report 110 organizations giving $8,975,973 in grants to Project Kesher, 59 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Project Kesher?
- THE KOUM FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,730,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Project Kesher 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 Project Kesher →
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 110 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