GrantmakersMaryland

Cordes Foundation

Bethesda, MD · EIN 25-1926063. Reported 54 grants totalling $1,142,759 to 25 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

25organizations funded
$20,000median reported grant
$1,142,759granted, 2021-2024
83%of grantees funded again the next year
14%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. For Cordes Foundation, the IRS classifies it as a private independent foundation (NTEE T22).
  2. How spread out its giving is. 25 distinct organizations, with 14% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 83% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% private foundations manage. This list is close to settled, so a newcomer has to displace someone rather than fill a gap.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $20,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $25,000; the smallest was $6,500 and the largest $70,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
5 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
26 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
19 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
4 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Nest IncNew York, NY$155,000332024
RemakeSan Francisco, CA$131,000442024
Sakena FundDearborn, MI$120,000442024
Sponsors for Educational Opportunity IncNew York, NY$87,500332024
Indego Africa ProjectNew York, NY$70,000442024
Women Forward InternationalWashington, DC$56,000332024
Transparentem LtdNew York, NY$50,000222023
Womens Microfinance Initiative CorporationBethesda, MD$50,000112023
ConprmetidosSan Juan, PR$42,160332024
Fuller Project for International Reporting IncBethesda, MD$35,000222024
Giving Back Fund IncBoston, MA$34,000332024
Lynn University IncBoca Raton, FL$33,000222024
Eaa FoundationSeattle, WA$25,650112024
BeadforlifeNiwot, CO$25,000112021
Global Fund to End Modern SlaveryWashington, DC$25,000112021
Guitars Over Guns Operation IncMiami, FL$25,000112024
Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center IsaicDetroit, MI$25,000112021
Nova UkrainePalo Alto, CA$25,000222023
Hueman TvAtlanta, GA$24,999332024
Mce Social CapitalSan Francisco, CA$23,450222024
Central Park Conservancy IncNew York, NY$20,000222024
Confluence Philanthropy IncNew York, NY$20,000222024
Women Moving Millions IncNew York, NY$20,000222024
Model AllianceNew York, NY$10,000112024
Xslaves OrgRcho Santa Fe, CA$10,000112024

17 of 25 (68%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 23 of 25 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

International Affairs
7 orgs
Human Services
3 orgs
Education
3 orgs
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 orgs
Community Improvement
2 orgs
Diseases & Disorders
1 org
Youth Development
1 org
Arts & Culture
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202110$310,000$25,000
20227$123,333$15,000
202318$373,493$15,000
202419$335,933$12,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

38% of its giving went to organizations in New York. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

New York
$432K
California
$189K
Michigan
$145K
Maryland
$85K
District of Columbia
$81K
Florida
$58K
Puerto Rico
$42K
Massachusetts
$34K

Down to the city

New York, NY
$432K
San Francisco, CA
$154K
Dearborn, MI
$120K
Bethesda, MD
$85K
Washington, DC
$81K
San Juan, PR
$42K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Impactassetsinc23 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund17 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc15 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc15 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust12 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program10 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $20,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in New York.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding international affairs in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding human services in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in New YorkEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding international affairs in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Cordes Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 19 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 0 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 4340 East West Highway 210, Bethesda, MD, 20814.

EIN 25-1926063 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.