Novo Foundation

The NoVo Foundation, co-led by Peter and Jennifer Buffett since 2006, operates from a premise that distinguishes it from virtually every major funder of comparable size: grants are a relationship first, a transaction never. With $937.8 million in assets as of fiscal year 2024 and $190.3 million in annual giving, NoVo ranks among the most significant private foundations in the U.S. — yet all grantmaking is by invitation only, with no unsolicited proposals considered.

The foundation's giving philosophy centers on power-shifting rather than service delivery. NoVo consistently favors organizations led by those most directly affected by injustice: Black, brown, and Indigenous women; LGBTQ+ communities; immigrants; and formerly incarcerated people. This is not rhetorical positioning — it shapes every grant relationship in the database. The Tides Foundation, NoVo's primary fiscal sponsor relationship (receiving $303 million total across 831 grants), functions largely as a pass-through for dozens of grassroots groups that NoVo backs but cannot fund directly as operating grantees.

A 2020 strategic restructuring eliminated distinct program silos in favor of a single interconnected theory of change. The five nodes of this framework — Indigenous communities and ways of knowing, regenerative food systems, child development, community organizing, and bioregional place-based economies — are not sequential priorities but a web. NoVo wants partners who can articulate where they sit in that web and how their work connects to adjacent nodes.

First-time applicants must understand that the front door is closed to outside approaches. Program staff conduct active field scanning, attending conferences, reading field publications, and mapping the networks of existing grantees. The most reliable pathway for organizations new to NoVo is a relationship with a current grantee — particularly Tides Foundation, Movement Strategy Center, MADRE, or Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples — who can surface your organization through trusted channels.

Relationship timelines at NoVo are measured in years, not cycles. Organizations appearing in the top 50 grantees have histories stretching 5 to 12 years with the foundation. Initial grants in the $75,000–$150,000 range are characteristic of new relationships; multi-year general operating support at deeper stages averages $300,000+. Demonstrate organizational longevity, grassroots leadership, and a genuine commitment to shifting power before expecting an invitation to the table.

NoVo Foundation operates at substantial scale relative to its peer group. Across 3,651 tracked grants totaling $1.215 billion in the database, the median grant is $150,000 — a meaningful operating contribution for community-based organizations — while the average ($332,970) is pulled higher by multi-million-dollar institutional and intermediary grants. The documented range runs from $5,000 to $27.5 million, with the largest single awards concentrated in institutional intermediaries and major capital projects.

Annual giving has fluctuated considerably, reflecting both investment performance and strategic rebalancing: $128.1 million in 2020, rebounding to $273.2 million in 2022, then settling to $190.3 million in fiscal year 2024. This volatility is not a sign of withdrawal — net investment income hit a record $472.9 million in 2024, and total assets have nearly doubled from $453.2 million (2020) to $937.8 million (2024). The driver is Warren Buffett's annual contributions: contributions received in 2024 alone totaled $426 million, meaning the foundation can give at high rates without depleting principal.

Geographically, New York dominates with 1,897 of 3,651 grants — reflecting both the foundation's Hurley, NY headquarters and its deep Kingston investment strategy. California is second (410 grants), followed by Washington D.C. (121), Massachusetts (119), New Mexico (99), Washington State (94), Minnesota (92), South Dakota (78), Montana (66), and Arizona (49). The mountain West and Southwest presence reflects Indigenous-led organizations and food sovereignty work in those regions.

By recipient type, intermediary organizations absorb the largest share of dollars: Tides Foundation alone accounts for over 25% of total tracked grant dollars ($303 million). Direct grantee clusters include: women's and gender justice organizations, Indigenous-led groups, sustainable food systems (Hudson Valley Farm Hub LLC: $30.5 million), fiscal intermediaries (RSF Social Finance: $10.1 million), and movement infrastructure (Movement Strategy Center: $8.9 million across 12 grants). The Women Building Up Inc. received a single $20 million capital grant, the largest direct organizational grant in the database. New grantees should expect first-relationship grants in the $75,000–$150,000 range; established multi-year partners regularly receive $300,000–$2 million in general operating support.

The five peer foundations selected by asset size — all in the $920–$951 million range — illustrate sharply different philosophies and access models:

NoVo distinguishes itself in two critical ways. First, its annual giving rate — $190.3 million against $937.8 million in assets, or roughly 20% — is extraordinarily high for a private foundation. Peers at similar asset levels typically give at 5–8% annually to satisfy minimum distribution requirements. NoVo's rate reflects the ongoing Warren Buffett contribution stream, which allows aggressive grantmaking without principal erosion.

Second, NoVo's ideological framework is unlike any asset-comparable peer. Where Hearst funds journalism and the arts and Commonwealth Fund publishes health policy research, NoVo explicitly seeks to shift power to marginalized communities and dismantle extractive systems. Organizations that would receive polite declines from every other peer on this list — particularly Indigenous-led, movement-building, and transformative justice organizations — are precisely NoVo's target partners.

The most consequential structural development in NoVo's recent history is the creation of the Ishkode Fund, an Indigenous-led and -governed entity to which NoVo is formally transferring its Indigenous grantmaking decisions. Peter Buffett announced the initiative stating it is "time to deepen NoVo's commitment to Indigenous communities by creating this fund and transitioning the grantmaking decisions over Indigenous-led work into Indigenous hands." The fund will initially provide continued stable funding to the majority of Indigenous partners currently receiving NoVo grants, then expand to new grantmaking over time. This represents a meaningful structural shift — NoVo removing itself as the decision-maker in a significant portion of its portfolio.

In Kingston, NY, NoVo's place-based strategy moved into capital investment phase in 2025-2026. The Metro, a 70,000-square-foot community learning hub built from a former furniture factory, is scheduled to open in 2026. Additional Kingston investments include The Broadway Bubble (a laundromat and community space in Midtown Kingston) and Greenkill House (a youth education center for ages 16–24 partnering with the Boys & Girls Club of Ulster County). The Hudson Valley Farm Hub LLC, which received $30.5 million total across two grants, continues operations on its 1,600-acre regenerative agriculture site.

At the leadership level, 990 filings document Julianne Schrader Ortega succeeding Brooke Pickering-Cole as Managing Director of the Farm Hub as of April 1, 2024. Matthew Tye joined as a new Managing Director at $375,000 annual compensation, overseeing program areas designated NIK, MILL, and CROP SHO in 990 filings — likely shorthand for new internal thematic tracks. CFO Kimberly McLain's compensation rose from $347,551 to $400,488 between 2022 and 2024, reflecting organizational growth and complexity. No public leadership departures were identified in available sources.

The single most important fact about NoVo Foundation is that the front door is locked to outside approaches. No unsolicited proposals, letters of inquiry, or concept notes are reviewed. The website contact form (info@novofoundation.org, 212-808-5400) handles non-funding inquiries only. With this constraint, here is how sophisticated grant seekers actually enter the NoVo ecosystem.

Make yourself discoverable through field presence, not persistence. NoVo's program staff conduct active field scanning. Organizations that publish thought leadership, present at conferences on Indigenous rights, food sovereignty, gender justice, or Hudson Valley community development, and appear in the networks of current grantees are how the foundation finds new partners. Tides Foundation, Movement Strategy Center, MADRE, and Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples are connective tissue — relationships within these organizations can surface your work to NoVo staff.

Use the power-shifting language precisely. NoVo responds to organizations where leadership and decision-making authority rests with affected communities — not organizations that serve those communities from outside. Do not frame your work as service delivery. Frame it as movement infrastructure, community-led, or systems change work where the people most impacted hold power.

Understand the interconnected framework. The current theory of change connects five nodes: Indigenous communities and ways of knowing, regenerative food systems, child development, community organizing, and bioregional place-based economies. The strongest proposals touch at least two of these nodes and articulate the relationship between them. Single-issue pitches aligned with only one node carry less weight.

Hudson Valley organizations have an explicit pathway. NoVo in Kingston (novoinkingston.org) operates as a semi-autonomous community development initiative with its own local engagement process. Organizations in Ulster County and the broader Hudson Valley should approach through this initiative rather than the national foundation.

Set realistic grant size expectations for first contact. Initial relationship grants typically run $75,000–$150,000. Multi-year general operating support at established relationship stages averages $300,000+. The $20 million Women Building Up Inc. capital grant and $30.5 million Farm Hub investment are outliers from decade-long relationships. Do not calibrate your first ask to those figures.