About Zoom Foundation
The Zoom Foundation makes very large, highly concentrated grants and appears to operate largely as a funder that channels philanthropy through donor-advised vehicles. The vast majority of its giving is routed to Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund (suggesting use of a DAF or pass-through mechanism), while a single major direct grant supports environmental initiatives in Connecticut. The foundation’s public footprint is small — few grants, high-dollar amounts, and a clear interest in environmental work at the state level when it gives directly.
Focus Areas
Donor-advised fund/grantmaking via Fidelity Charitable (philanthropic pass-through)State-level environmental initiatives in ConnecticutStrategic large-scale, single-project funding
Who They Fund
nonprofit organizations in ConnecticutConnecticut communities / municipal entities
Giving Approach
Highly concentrated: very few grants of very large size, heavy use of a donor-advised fund vehicle (Fidelity Charitable) for distribution, and occasional one-off multimillion-dollar direct gifts to place-based environmental projects.
Funding Style
About Zoom Foundation
The Zoom Foundation’s clearest pattern is its use of very large pass-through grants: Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund received the foundation’s three biggest recent awards, including $63,196,700 in 2024, $58,488,000 in 2023, and $17,751,000 in 2025. That scale puts the foundation in a narrow category of highly concentrated funders, with a public footprint built around a small number of outsized grants rather than a broad portfolio. Its direct grantmaking shows a different side of the portfolio, including $12,000,000 to The Connecticut Project Inc for environmental initiatives and smaller Connecticut awards to civic and charitable organizations. The foundation’s stated priorities center on environment, education, and democracy, with an emphasis on innovative, sustainable, science-based or evidence-based work. It also appears to fund through proactive, invitation-only grantmaking rather than an open application process. In the recent grants list, its direct Connecticut support reaches both statewide and local recipients, while the largest dollars continue to flow through charitable infrastructure.
What Zoom Foundation Funds
Environmental work is one of the foundation’s core areas, and one of the clearest direct examples is $12,000,000 to The Connecticut Project Inc for environmental initiatives. The foundation also describes its environment work as supporting science-based environmental policy and strategies to stop and reverse climate change. Education is another stated priority, with funding aimed at transformative, sustainable change at the school, community, and system levels to advance education equity and improve public public school education. Democracy appears as a separate program area as well, focused on free and fair elections and political institutions. The funding language emphasizes innovation, sustainability, and evidence-based strategies across these issue areas.
How Zoom Foundation Gives
The typical grant size is very large: p25 is $30,494,000, the median is $58,488,000, and p75 is $60,842,350. The recent record suggests concentrated, one-off-style awards rather than a long list of repeated recipients, with Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund appearing multiple times as the main pass-through vehicle and The Connecticut Project Inc appearing in two different years. The foundation is a regular funder and does not fund individuals or make program-related investments. Its active grant programs also indicate that it relies on invitation-only grantmaking for its core areas rather than unsolicited proposals, except for the Zoom Solopreneur 50 initiative, which accepts unsolicited entries.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$30.4M
Total Assets
$1.3B
Total Revenue
$450.4M
Total Expenses
$38.5M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $30.5M and $60.8M, with a median of $58.5M.
25th Percentile
$30.5M
Median
$58.5M
75th Percentile
$60.8M
Geographic Reach
Regional2 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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