The Fine Fund
Pittsburgh, PA · EIN 26-0697144. Reported 111 grants totalling $1,091,583 to 49 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
Does this foundation accept applications?
Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. The Fine Fund did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,500 and $15,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $30,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sustainable Markets Foundation | New York, NY | $120,000 | 5 | 3 | 2024 |
| Coming Clean | Brattleboro, VT | $80,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Essential Information | Washington, DC | $70,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| University of California San Francisco | San Francisco, CA | $70,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Center for Political Ecology | Santa Cruz, CA | $60,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| New World Foundation | New York, NY | $50,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| Orion Society | Northampton, MA | $41,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Toxic Free Future | Seattle, WA | $40,500 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| Deployus | Boston, MA | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Silent Spring Institute | Newton, MA | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| West Virginia Rivers Coalition | Charleston, WV | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Rachel's Network | Washington, DC | $37,500 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| New Venture Fund | Baltimore, MD | $35,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Clean Futures Project (sponsor Sustainable Markets Foundation) | New York, NY | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Defend Our Health | Portland, ME | $30,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Healthy Building Network | Washington, DC | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Court Accountability | Alexandria, VA | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Program for Preserving the Natural World | Boston, MA | $20,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Public Democracy America | Great Falls, VA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Global Impact | Alexandria, VA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh, PA | $13,333 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Generation Common Good | Washington, DC | $13,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Virginia Organizing | Charlottesville, VA | $10,250 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Croatan Institute | Durham, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Environmental Health Strategy Center | Portland, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Habitable | Washington, DC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Health Care Without Harm | Reston, VA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Healthcare Without Harm | Reston, VA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Just Transition Alliance | San Diego, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Pesticide Action Network North America | Berkeley, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Potential Energy Coalition | Bronx, NY | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Proteus Fund | Amherst, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Proteus Fund Piper Fund | Amherst, MA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Community Foundation of Jackson Hole | Jackson, WY | $7,500 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Conservation Law Foundation | Boston, MA | $7,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Environmental Health Sciences | Bozeman, MT | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Breast Cancer Prevention Partners | San Francisco, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Environmental League of Massachusetts | Boston, MA | $5,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Northeast Wilderness Trust | Montpelier, VT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| People for the American Way Foundation | Washington, DC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Women's Voices for the Earth | Missoula, MT | $3,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Carnegie Museums | Pittsburgh, PA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Environmental Health Trust | Teton Village, WY | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Mothers Out Front | Boston, MA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Sevak Solutions | Oakland, CA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Bunker Projects | Pittsburgh, PA | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Community Action Works | Boston, MA | $1,500 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| East Quabbin Land Trust | Hardwick, MA | $1,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Invest for Better | Oakland, CA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
23 of 49 (47%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.
Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 61%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.
- Sustainable Markets Foundation
ECO-ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT - University of California San Francisco
PROGRAM ON REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT - Coming Clean
COMING CLEAN GENERAL SUPPORT - Center for Political Ecology
GLOBAL CENTER FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE - New Venture Fund
FOR THE ISRC EDUCATION FUND - Orion Society
COMBATTING CLIMATE MISINFORMATION
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 93 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 30 | $264,667 | $6,833 |
| 2022 | 31 | $295,166 | $10,000 |
| 2023 | 25 | $249,500 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 25 | $282,250 | $10,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. The Fine Fund has 3 of them, worth $45,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back -- and it also tells you how much of the next year's budget is already spoken for.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| University of California San Francisco | San Francisco, CA | $25,000 |
| Orion Society | Northampton, MA | $10,000 |
| Deployus | Boston, MA | $10,000 |
Where its money goes
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 19% of this one's giving went to organizations in New York. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal 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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in New York.
- Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
- Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Fine Fund's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: One Ppg Place 1670, Pittsburgh, PA, 15222. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.
EIN 26-0697144 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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