Dan and Ellen Zelman Family Foundation
Cleveland, OH · EIN 38-3876650. Reported 98 grants totalling $4,231,500 to 29 organizations across tax years 2020-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
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:
- What kind of organization it is. For Dan and Ellen Zelman Family Foundation, the IRS classifies it as a fundraising and fund-distribution organization (NTEE T12).
- How spread out its giving is. 29 distinct organizations, with 41% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is concentrated. Most of the money has a settled destination, and the remainder is what is realistically in play.
- How much its list changes. 82% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 4 year-to-year transitions. That is well above the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and above the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $11,250. Half of what it reported fell between $9,000 and $20,000; the smallest was $6,000 and the largest $492,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jewish Federation of Cleveland | Cleveland, OH | $1,724,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| University Hospitals Health System Inc | Shaker Hts, OH | $325,000 | 4 | 4 | 2023 |
| Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Inc | Cleveland, OH | $312,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Greater Cleveland Food Bank Inc | Cleveland, OH | $310,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life | Oxford, OH | $272,500 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| The Cleveland Clinic Foundation | Independence, OH | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Park Synagogue | Pepper Pike, OH | $160,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland Ohio | Pepper Pike, OH | $134,500 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| National Council of Jewish Women Incorporated | Cleveland, OH | $110,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| American Jewish Committee | New York, NY | $81,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio | Akron, OH | $60,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage | Beachwood, OH | $55,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| College Now Greater Cleveland Inc | Cleveland, OH | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Facing History & Ourselves Inc | Boston, MA | $45,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Menorah Park Foundation | Beachwood, OH | $40,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| World Ort Inc | New York, NY | $38,000 | 5 | 5 | 2024 |
| Young Womens Christian Association of Cleveland Ohio | Cleveland, OH | $36,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life | Kent, OH | $35,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| The Mandel Jewish Community Center of Cleveland | Beachwood, OH | $30,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Healthnetwork Foundation | Pepper Pike, OH | $27,500 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| University Settlement Inc | Cleveland, OH | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Rainey Institute | Cleveland, OH | $23,500 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Legal Aid Society of Cleveland | Cleveland, OH | $22,500 | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Menorah Park Center for Senior Living | Winter Park, FL | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Anti-Defamation League | New York, NY | $12,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Jewish Family Experience | Cleveland, OH | $12,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Recovery Resources Dba 407- Recovery Resources | Cleveland, OH | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Cleveland Hillel Foundation Inc | Cleveland, OH | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| United Way of Greater Cleveland | Cleveland, OH | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
22 of 29 (76%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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.
- Jewish Federation of Cleveland
CLEVELAND STANDS WITH ISRAEL, COMMUNITY SECURITY INITIATIVE, SPONSORSHIP, ISRAEL @ 75, CAMPAIGN - Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN, GENERAL SUPPORT - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Inc
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN: DRUM STUDIO, GENERAL SUPPORT - Cleveland Clinic Foundation
CENTER FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS - University Hospitals Health Systems Inc
FERTILITY CENTER: EXPANDING ACCESS TO IVF - Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland Ohio
FORWARD FOCUS, PHILANTHROPIC FUND, GENERAL SUPPORT
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 21 of 29 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 20 | $608,500 | $11,000 |
| 2021 | 20 | $774,000 | $10,500 |
| 2022 | 21 | $594,500 | $11,500 |
| 2023 | 19 | $1,689,500 | $12,000 |
| 2024 | 18 | $565,000 | $10,000 |
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
95% of its giving went to organizations in Ohio. 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.
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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 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 grantmaker
- 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.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $11,250 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Ohio.
- 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.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Dan and Ellen Zelman Family Foundation's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 0 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 18 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: 25701 Science Park Drive, Cleveland, OH, 44122.
EIN 38-3876650 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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