The Fine Fund
Pittsburgh, PA · EIN 26-0697144. Reported 133 grants totalling $1,320,183 to 61 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. 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 $40,000. 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. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sustainable Markets Foundation | New York, NY | $120,000 | 5 | 3 | 2024 |
| Coming Clean | Brattleboro, VT | $100,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| New World Foundation | New York, NY | $75,000 | 3 | 2 | 2025 |
| 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 |
| Silent Spring Institute | Newton, MA | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Rachel's Network | Washington, DC | $46,500 | 10 | 5 | 2025 |
| West Virginia Rivers Coalition | Charleston, WV | $45,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Toxic Free Future | Seattle, WA | $42,000 | 9 | 5 | 2025 |
| Orion Society | Northampton, MA | $41,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Center for the Study of Public Policy | Somerville, MA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Deployus | Boston, MA | $40,000 | 4 | 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 | $25,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Habitable | Washington, DC | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Orion Magazine | Great Barrington, MA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Public Democracy America | Great Falls, VA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Stanford University | Stanford, CA | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Global Center for Climate Justice | Santa Cruz, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| 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 |
| Community Foundation of Jackson Hole | Jackson, WY | $10,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Croatan Institute | Durham, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Environmental Health Strategy Center | Portland, ME | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| 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 |
| Safer States | Seattle, WA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Story of Stuff Project | Berkeley, CA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Conservation Law Foundation | Boston, MA | $7,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Environmental Health Sciences | Bozeman, MT | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Million Marker Research Institute (mmri) | Oakland, CA | $5,350 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Breast Cancer Prevention Partners | San Francisco, CA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Center for International Environmental Law | Washington, DC | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Environmental League of Massachusetts | Boston, MA | $5,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Free Speech for People | Austin, TX | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Friends of the Earth | Merrifield, VA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| 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 |
| Health and Environmental Funders Network | Laurel, MD | $2,750 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| 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 |
| Slingshot | Boston, MA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| 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 |
25 of 61 (41%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 56%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
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 - Orion Magazine
FOUR-PART SERIES ON PUBLIC DISCOURSE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CRISIS - Center for Political Ecology
GLOBAL CENTER FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE - New Venture Fund
FOR THE ISRC EDUCATION FUND
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 108 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.
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 |
| 2025 | 22 | $228,600 | $6,425 |
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.
| 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
19% of its giving went to organizations in Massachusetts. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Massachusetts.
- 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 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.
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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