Funding search · EIN 223692921 · New York, NY

Wellspring Philanthropic Fund

Name: Wellspring Philanthropic Fund grants, 2021–2023
Creator: PaperOrbit
License: https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/exempt-organization-public-disclosure-and-availability-requirements

A private foundation (files IRS Form 990-PF). Most private foundations do not take unsolicited applications; the route in is usually a program officer.

3,156
grants reported: $888.9M
total given: 2021–2023
filing years: $197,345
median grant

Based on grants this organization reported to the IRS for tax years 2021–2023. This is what they filed, not a complete record of their giving, and recent years may be incomplete because filings lag.

What they fund

rights advancing women justice reproductive gender violence human

Funder website ↗Full IRS filings ↗How this is built Report an error

Funding pattern

What this funder pays for, at what size, and how to position adjacent work. Read from their filings, with every number checked against the record.

Where the money goes

Civic engagement, voting rights, and state-level electoral infrastructure
International human rights, transitional justice, and civil liberties defense
LGBTQI, women's, and reproductive rights, US and globally
Racial justice organizing and formerly incarcerated people's movements
Global children's rights, girls' education, and gender-based violence prevention
Economic opportunity research: workforce soft skills, poverty evidence

Typical grant

The median grant is $197,345, with the middle half between $100,000 and $300,000, so a first ask in the $150,000 to $300,000 range fits the pattern. The seven-figure checks go to intermediaries and regranting vehicles (NEO Philanthropy, New Venture Fund, Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, Borealis) and to long-standing anchor institutions like American Jewish World Service, Human Rights Watch, and the ACLU. With 3,156 grants to 1,143 recipients over three years, most grantees are funded repeatedly, often multiple grants in the same year for different program lines.

Their words

Phrases from their own grant descriptions, worth speaking back to them.

“GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT”
“ADVANCING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT”
“ADVANCING HUMAN RIGHTS”
“EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY”
“CORE AND POLICY SUPPORT”

Positioning adjacent work

Frame research as evidence for movements, echoing the MIT and Innovations for Poverty Action soft-skills consolidation work.
Ask $200,000 to $800,000 for a named center or initiative rather than a single study.
Name the theme explicitly: civic engagement, racial justice, LGBTQI rights, children's rights, or economic opportunity.
Show Global South partners or co-leads; they fund Nairobi, Pretoria, Kampala, and Accra directly.

Worth knowing: Money concentrates hard in New York and Washington, DC, with California third, and a sizable share flows through fiscal sponsors and regranting intermediaries rather than to endpoint organizations. University grants exist (MIT, Georgetown, UC Berkeley, Toronto Metropolitan, Pretoria) but read as relationship-driven support for established policy centers, not open competition, so a warm introduction through an existing grantee matters more than a strong proposal alone.

4 grants matching “decriminalizing” · $500,000

$184,000
Sero Project · Milford, PA · 2022
Health not prisons hiv decriminalization state campaign support
$66,000
Movement Strategy Center · Oakland, CA · 2022
Positive women's network: health not prisons hiv decriminalization state campaign support
$184,000
Sero Project · Milford, PA · 2021
Health not prisons hiv decriminalization state campaign support
$66,000
Movement Strategy Center · Oakland, CA · 2021
Positive women's network: health not prisons hiv decriminalization state campaign support

Top recipients

Repeat recipients are the strongest signal of whether a funder has an open door or quietly re-funds the same organizations.

American Jewish World Service8 grants · $33.9M
New Venture Fund48 grants · $29.6M
Neo Philanthropy38 grants · $22.7M
Human Rights Watch6 grants · $16.4M
Borealis Philanthropy17 grants · $10.1M
Massachusetts Institute of Technology14 grants · $8.8M
Fund for Global Human Rights3 grants · $8.6M
Innovations for Poverty Action a Nonprofit Corporation11 grants · $8.3M
Tides Center26 grants · $7.8M
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation4 grants · $7.7M

Giving over time

$287.9M

2021

$275.9M

2022

$325.1M

2023

Grant history

The 100 largest of 3,156 grants.

$11.1M
American Jewish World Service · New York, NY · 2021
Programmatic and institutional support for 2022
$11.0M
American Jewish World Service · New York, NY · 2022
Programmatic and institutional support
$9.8M
American Jewish World Service · New York, NY · 2023
Programmatic and institutional support
$6.5M
Neo Philanthropy · New York, NY · 2023
Advancing civic engagement
$5.6M
Human Rights Watch · New York, NY · 2021
Operating support and program support
$5.4M
Human Rights Watch · New York, NY · 2022
General operating support and program support
$4.9M
Human Rights Watch · New York, NY · 2023
Advancing human rights
$4.7M
Gdi Solutions · Washington, DC · 2022
Pooled fund on human agency
$3.5M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2021
Center for secure and modern elections
$3.0M
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Naacp) Empowerm · Baltimore, MD · 2023
Advancing civic engagement
$3.0M
Fund for Global Human Rights · Washington, DC · 2021
Latin america justice and children's rights program and global initiative
$3.0M
Windward Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
Advancing civic engagement and expanding economic opportunity
$2.9M
Gdi Solutions · Washington, DC · 2021
Pooled fund on human agency
$2.8M
Fund for Global Human Rights · Washington, DC · 2022
General operations, latin america justice, children's rights program and civic futures
$2.7M
Fund for Global Human Rights · Washington, DC · 2023
General operations, latin america justice, children's rights program and civic futures
$2.5M
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation · New York, NY · 2023
General operating support and program support for voting, lgbt, and women's rights
$2.5M
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation · New York, NY · 2022
General operating support and program support for voting, lgbt, and women's rights
$2.5M
The Agency Fund · San Francisco, CA · 2023
General operating support
$2.5M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2021
Fair representation in redistricting initiative
$2.4M
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation · New York, NY · 2021
Operating and program support
$2.3M
State Voices · Washington, DC · 2021
Operating support
$2.3M
Innovations for Poverty Action a Nonprofit Corporation · Washington, DC · 2023
Epsd program - evidence consolidation on soft-skills in workforce development
$2.3M
Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Cambridge, MA · 2023
Jobs and opportunity initiative - soft skills consolidation research
$2.0M
Gdi Solutions · Washington, DC · 2023
Strengthening economic development
$2.0M
Accelerate Change · Boston, MA · 2023
General operating support
$2.0M
Alliance for Youth Organizing · Washington, DC · 2023
General operating support
$2.0M
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Expanding economic opportunity
$2.0M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
Advancing civic engagement
$2.0M
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation · Washington, DC · 2022
Buildus
$2.0M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2022
Center for secure and modern elections
$2.0M
Alliance for Open Society International · New York, NY · 2021
Ukraine democracy fund
$2.0M
Center On Budget and Policy Priorities · Washington, DC · 2021
Support for regranting
$2.0M
Common Cause Education Fund · Washington, DC · 2021
Election protection state field program
$1.9M
Neo Philanthropy · New York, NY · 2021
Four freedoms fund
$1.8M
Center On Budget and Policy Priorities · Washington, DC · 2021
Operating support
$1.7M
The Agency Fund · San Francisco, CA · 2023
General operating support
$1.7M
Neo Philanthropy · New York, NY · 2023
Advancing civic engagement
$1.5M
Neo Philanthropy · New York, NY · 2023
Advancing civic engagement
$1.5M
Southern Partners Fund · Atlanta, GA · 2023
General operating support
$1.5M
Neo Philanthropy · New York, NY · 2022
State infrastructure fund
$1.5M
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Naacp) Empowerm · Baltimore, MD · 2021
Voter protection program
$1.5M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2021
Trusted elections fund
$1.5M
Busara Center for Behavioral Economics · Ewing, NJ · 2022
Community messaging and civic participation: phase 4
$1.4M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2021
Ignite philanthropy: cross-sector collaboration and investment to end violence in schools
$1.4M
Public Citizen Foundation · Washington, DC · 2021
Campaign for democracy and accountability
$1.4M
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development · Washington, DC · 2021
Gender innovation lab socio-emotional skills studies
$1.4M
Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York · New York, NY · 2021
Tax-exempt activities of cpc learning network
$1.3M
Amnesty International Limited · 2023
Advancing human rights
$1.3M
Planned Parenthood Federation of America · New York, NY · 2022
Advancing reproductive rights in latin america and east africa
$1.3M
Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund · 2023
Advancing transitional justice in africa
$1.3M
The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy · Washington, DC · 2023
General operating support
$1.3M
American Oversight · Washington, DC · 2021
Operating support
$1.3M
Planned Parenthood Federation of America · New York, NY · 2021
Advancing reproductive rights in latin america and east africa
$1.3M
Southern Coalition for Social Justice · Durham, NC · 2021
Voting rights program
$1.2M
The Global Fund for Women · San Francisco, CA · 2023
Advancing women's rights
$1.2M
Borealis Philanthropy · Minneapolis, MN · 2023
Advancing lgbtqi rights
$1.2M
Progress Now Education · Earlysville, VA · 2023
Voting & elections state communications hubs
$1.2M
State Leadership Project · Raleigh, NC · 2023
General operating support
$1.2M
Neo Philanthropy · New York, NY · 2022
Youth engagement fund
$1.2M
Zizi Afrique Foundation · 2022
Regional education learning initiative (reli) kenya
$1.1M
Workmoney Foundation · Milwaukee, WI · 2023
General operating support
$1.1M
Disability Rights Fund · Boston, MA · 2022
General operating support
$1.1M
International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region · New York, NY · 2022
Reproductive rights advocacy and technical assistance in latin america and east africa
$1.1M
Civlegacy Foundation Limited · 2023
General operating support
$1.1M
Busara Center for Behavioral Economics · Ewing, NJ · 2023
Community messaging and civic participation: phase 4
$1.1M
Amnesty International Limited · 2022
General operating support, crisis response, international justice in africa, and amnesty tech
$1.1M
Amalgamated Charitable Foundation · Washington, DC · 2023
Advancing human rights
$1.1M
Crisis Action · New York, NY · 2023
General operating support
$1.1M
Disability Rights Fund · Boston, MA · 2023
General operating support
$1.1M
Innovations for Poverty Action a Nonprofit Corporation · Washington, DC · 2023
Core and policy support
$1.1M
Neo Philanthropy · New York, NY · 2023
Advancing civic engagement, racial justice, and lgbtqi rights
$1.1M
Planned Parenthood Federation of America · New York, NY · 2023
Advancing reproductive rights in latin america and east africa
$1.1M
Peace Direct · 2022
General operating support and rapid funding for local atrocity prevention and response
$1.1M
Svri Npc · 2022
Advancing equitable knowledge building to end gender-based violence
$1.0M
African Population Health and Research Center · 2022
Regional education learning initiative africa
$1.0M
Action Center On Race and the Economy Institute · Chicago, IL · 2022
General operating support
$1.0M
Alliance for Youth Organizing · Washington, DC · 2022
General operating support
$1.0M
Aapi Civic Engagement Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
Advancing civic engagement
$1.0M
All Voting Is Local · Washington, DC · 2023
General operating support
$1.0M
Common Cause Education Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
Project activities
$1.0M
Economic Policy Institute · Washington, DC · 2023
General operating support
$1.0M
League of Conservation Education Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
Advancing civic engagement
$1.0M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2023
Advancing civic engagement
$1.0M
Nextgen Education Fund · San Francisco, CA · 2023
General operating support
$1.0M
Organizing Empowerment Fund · McFarland, WI · 2023
General operating support
$1.0M
Peace Direct · 2023
General operating support and rapid funding for local atrocity prevention and response
$1.0M
Powerswitch Action · Oakland, CA · 2023
General operating support
$1.0M
Social Impact Fund · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
Advancing public education
$1.0M
Svri Npc · 2023
Advancing equitable knowledge building to end gender-based violence
$1.0M
Tides Center · Los Angeles, CA · 2023
Expanding economic opportunity
$1.0M
Childrens Rights and Violence Prevention Fund (Crvpf) · 2022
General operating support
$1.0M
Common Cause Education Fund · Washington, DC · 2022
Election protection state field program
$1.0M
Economic Policy Institute · Washington, DC · 2022
General operating support
$1.0M
Innovations for Poverty Action a Nonprofit Corporation · Washington, DC · 2022
Core and policy support
$1.0M
New Venture Fund · Washington, DC · 2022
Fair representation in redistricting initiative
$1.0M
Powerswitch Action · Oakland, CA · 2022
General operating support
$1.0M
Southern Partners Fund · Atlanta, GA · 2022
Voting rights in the rural south program
$1.0M
The Foundation for City College · New York, NY · 2022
Leadership center for democracy and social justice
$1.0M
The Global Fund for Women · San Francisco, CA · 2022
Black feminist fund
$1.0M
Accelerate Change · Boston, MA · 2021
Digital civic engagement innovation and research project

View all 3,156 grants →

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Source: IRS Form 990-PF, Part XV, as filed by the foundation. These are grants already paid — a record of what this funder backs, not an open call.