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Ad Astra Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Ad Astra Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$333k
Granted FY2025still arriving
37
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.6MEducation$434kYouth Development$215kHealth$214kAnimals$143kPublic Benefit$89kRecreation & Sports$84kScience & Tech$68kOther$0
02FY2025 · 37 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k25 grants · $66k
  • $10k–50k12 grants · $267k
$3,500
Median grant
3
States reached
$6.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Canterbury Voices$30,000
Cimarron Opera$26,000
Gerrity Chapter 215 Air Space Force$25,000
OSU Foundation$25,000
Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center$25,000
OKC Museum of Art$25,000
Painted Sky Opera$25,000
Individual grant recipient$24,000
Individual grant recipient$18,000
Florida National High Adventure Sea$16,400
Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma$15,000
Individual grant recipient$12,500
OCCC Foundation$7,500
Altzheimer's Association$5,000
Nichols Hills United Methodist Chur$5,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 98% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%OKU: $25k → 16%OSU Foundation: $25k → 19%FLORIDA NATIONAL HIGH ADVENTURE SEA BASE: $30k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS ENDOWMENT: $25k → 15%LYRIC THEATRE OF OKLAHOMA INC: $15k → 16%Florida National High Adventure Sea: $24k → 13%Cimarron Opera: $26k → 13%Florida National High Adventure Sea: $16k → 13%Cimarron Opera: $26k → 13%Cimarron Opera: $26k → 13%CIMARRON OPERA: $26k → 13%CASADY SCHOOL: $150k → 16%CANTERBURY VOICES INC: $45k → 16%THE CHILDREN'S CENTER: $25k → 16%Oklahoma City Museum of Art: $50k → 16%OKC Philharmonic: $36k → 16%OKC PHILHARMONIC: $33k → 16%OKC PHILHARMONIC: $33k → 16%OKC PHILHARMONIC: $33k → 16%SCISSORTAIL PARK (MAILING ADDRESS): $30k → 16%Canterbury Voices: $30k → 16%Scissortail Park: $30k → 16%Canterbury Voices: $25k → 16%Canterbury Voices: $25k → 16%OKLAHOMA CITY REPERTORY THEATRE: $25k → 16%OKC Museum of Art: $25k → 16%Oklahoma City Repertory Theater: $25k → 16%OK ARTS INSTITUTE: $25k → 16%OKC Philharmonic: $24k → 16%OKC Philharmonic: $18k → 16%Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center: $25k → 16%PAINTED SKY OPERA: $25k → 16%OK Blood Institute: $100k → 16%OKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $50k → 16%LAST FRONTIER COUNCIL: $75k → 16%BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA LAST FRONTIER COUNCIL: $26k → 16%BOY SCOUTS OF OF AMERICA LAST FRONTIER COUNCIL: $25k → 16%NICHOLS HILLS UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: $25k → 16%Gerrity Chapter 215 Air Space Force: $25k → 16%GIRL SCOUTS WESTERN OKLAHOMA: $50k → 16%Painted Sky Opera: $25k → 16%Painted Sky Opera: $25k → 16%OKC UNIVERSITY: $25k → 16%Painted Sky Opera: $25k → 16%FIRST AMERICAN MUSEUM: $25k → 16%University of Central Oklahoma Foun: $40k → 16%University of Central Oklahoma: $40k → 16%AIR & SPACE FORCES ASSOCIATION: $18k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

56%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.9M · 41 repeat orgs$1.5M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +31% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

41 repeat relationships: 22 still active in FY2025, 19 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

41
53

Total granted

$1.9M
$1.4M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+31%
+25%

Still filing today

54%
32%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $37k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHealthAnimalsYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • CV
    Canterbury Voices Inc
    6× · 2020–2025 · $140k · revenue +31%
  • PS
    PAINTED SKY OPERA INC
    5× · 2020–2025 · $125k · revenue +18%
  • OZ
    OKLAHOMA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
    3× · 2021–2024 · $120k · revenue +143%

Funded once

  • CP
    Casady Performing Arts Complex
    one grant, 2024 · $667k
  • OB
    OK Blood Institute
    one grant, 2024 · $100k
  • OC
    OKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +138%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Oklahoma Arts Institute Foundation

To support, promote, and improve the programs and services of the oklahoma arts institute.

Arts & Culture
2
Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc

The State Chamber is a statewide membership organization. Our purpose is to be the unified voice of business and the most effective advocacy organization at the State Capitol.

—
3
Oklahoma City University

Inspired by a culture of creativity, Oklahoma City University fosters an immersive, personalized experience that welcomes and prepares students to pursue boundless opportunities.

Education
4
Ballet Oklahoma Inc

Okc ballet promotes the art of dance by supporting a professional company and its productions, operating a school of ballet for dance artists, children, and novice adults, and providing community engagement activities.

Arts & Culture
5
Oklahoma City Art Museum Affiliated Fund of Occf Inc

Support the oklahoma city community foundation through distributions made to the oklahoma city museum of art.

Arts & Culture
6
Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation
Arts & Culture
7
Oklahoma Philharmonic Society Inc

The oklahoma philharmonic society, inc. exists to provide inspiration and joy for the community through orchestral music programming. our vision is to enhance the cultural life of the community, educate future generations, entertain our…

Arts & Culture
8
Oklahoma Philharmonic Affiliated Fund of Occf Inc

Support the oklahoma city community foundation by supporting the oklahoma philharmonic.

Arts & Culture
9
Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park Inc

The mission of the organization is to encourage growth in the cultural climate of oklahoma through the production of classical theatrical productions in unique venues at a reasonable admission price.

Arts & Culture
10
Chamber Music Tulsa

To share the experience of chamber music through live performance and community engagement

Arts & Culture
11
Arts Council of Oklahoma City

Promoting public awareness and support for the arts through our mission of bringing the arts and community together. Our free and low-cost events and programs reach nearly one million people annually.

Arts & Culture
12
Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival

Provide unique entertainment, innovation education, and economic benefit through presentation of shakespearean plays, other productions and various forms of artistic expression for ages 6-adult.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Oklahoma City Community Foundation Inc; the most unlike its peers is Blood Cancer United Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

44 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 44 of the 104 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
43/44
Grantees still filing
34/44
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Casady Performing Arts Complex: $666,667 · OtherCasady Performing Arts ComplexIndividual grant recipient: $196,100 · OtherIndividual grant recipientCASADY SCHOOL: $187,000 · OtherCASADY SCHOOLBoy Scouts of American National Fou: $110,000 · OtherOK Blood Institute: $100,000 · OtherLAST FRONTIER COUNCIL: $88,000 · Other+59 more: $817,800 · Other+59 moreCanterbury Voices Inc: $140,000 · Arts & CultureCanterbury Voices IncPAINTED SKY OPERA INC: $125,000 · Arts & CulturePAINTED SKY OPERA INCCIMARRON CIRCUIT OPERA COMPANY: $104,000 · Arts & CultureCIMARRON CIRCUIT OPERA …OKLAHOMA CITY MUSEUM OF ART INC FKA OKLAHOMA CITY ART MUSEUM: $81,000 · Arts & CultureOKLAHOMA CITY MUSEUM OF…OKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER INC: $65,000 · Arts & CultureOKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY A…BRIGHTMUSIC SOCIETY OF OKLAHOMA: $60,000 · Arts & CultureBRIGHTMUSIC SOCIETY OF …OKLAHOMA ARTS INSTITUTE INC: $25,000 · Arts & CultureOKLAHOMA REPERTORY THEATRE GROUP INC: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+8 more: $67,500 · Arts & Culture+8 moreOklahoma State University Foundation: $81,500 · EducationThe Kansas University Endowment Association: $25,000 · EducationOklahoma Christian University: $20,000 · EducationBETHANY PUBLIC SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $17,547 · EducationHarding Fine Arts Academy Inc: $10,000 · Education+2 more: $8,000 · EducationOKLAHOMA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $120,170 · AnimalsCheetah Conservation Fund: $18,500 · AnimalsNEXUS EQUINE INC: $5,000 · Animals+1 more: $1,250 · AnimalsGirl Scouts Western Oklahoma Inc: $51,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 480 LAST FRONTIER COUNCIL: $26,000 · Youth Development+1 more: $1,000 · Youth DevelopmentOKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATI: $50,000 · PhilanthropyOKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $4,250 · PhilanthropyUnited Way of Central Oklahoma Inc: $2,500 · PhilanthropyThe Children's Center Inc: $25,000 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $10,000 · HealthINTEGRIS Health Foundation Inc: $10,000 · HealthAmerican Heart Association Inc: $10,000 · Health+2 more: $1,300 · Health
Other$2,165,567Arts & Culture$692,500Education$162,047Animals$144,920Youth Development$78,000Philanthropy$56,750Health$56,300

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCanterbury Voices Inc: $140,000 over 6y, 6.8% of budgetPAINTED SKY OPERA INC: $125,000 over 5y, 15% of budgetOKLAHOMA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $120,170 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetCIMARRON CIRCUIT OPERA COMPANY: $104,000 over 4y, 20% of budgetOklahoma State University Foundation: $81,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetOKLAHOMA CITY MUSEUM OF ART INC FKA OKLAHOMA CITY ART MUSEUM: $81,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetOKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER INC: $65,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetBRIGHTMUSIC SOCIETY OF OKLAHOMA: $60,000 over 4y, 30% of budgetGirl Scouts Western Oklahoma Inc: $51,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetOKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATI: $50,000 over 1y, 9.9% of budgetMYRIAD GARDENS FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetBOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 480 LAST FRONTIER COUNCIL: $26,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetThe Kansas University Endowment Association: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOKLAHOMA ARTS INSTITUTE INC: $25,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetThe Children's Center Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOKLAHOMA REPERTORY THEATRE GROUP INC: $25,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetOKLAHOMA YOUTH ORCHESTRAS INC: $20,000 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetOklahoma Christian University: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCheetah Conservation Fund: $18,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetBETHANY PUBLIC SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $17,547 over 3y, 24% of budgetLYRIC THEATRE OF OKLAHOMA INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetALLIED ARTS OF OKLAHOMA INC: $12,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHarding Fine Arts Academy Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetINTEGRIS Health Foundation Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMABEE-GERRER MUSEUM: $10,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOK MOZART INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetNEXUS EQUINE INC: $5,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOKLAHOMA STATE FAIR INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJOHN W REX CHARTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $4,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetOKLAHOMA COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA INC: $3,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetSCIENCE MUSEUM OKLAHOMA INC: $3,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPUTNAM CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetWILDCARE FOUNDATION: $1,250 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetOklahoma Visual Arts Coalition: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNICHOLS HILLS PARKS INC: $1,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetREFINED SILVER INC: $800 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTHE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION AT SAINT FRANCIS: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds Canterbury Voices Inc ↗
  • Who funds PAINTED SKY OPERA INC ↗
  • Who funds OKLAHOMA ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds CIMARRON CIRCUIT OPERA COMPANY ↗
  • Who funds Oklahoma State University Foundation ↗
  • Who funds OKLAHOMA CITY MUSEUM OF ART INC FKA OKLAHOMA CITY ART MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds OKLAHOMA CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds BRIGHTMUSIC SOCIETY OF OKLAHOMA ↗
  • Who funds Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma Inc ↗
  • Who funds OKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATI ↗
  • Who funds MYRIAD GARDENS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 480 LAST FRONTIER COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds The Kansas University Endowment Association ↗
  • Who funds OKLAHOMA ARTS INSTITUTE INC ↗
  • Who funds The Children's Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds OKLAHOMA REPERTORY THEATRE GROUP INC ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

American Fidelity Fou…Kirkpatrick Foundatio…El and Thelma Gaylord…Oklahoma City Communi…Inasmuch FoundationCommunities Foundatio…Rainbolt Family Found…Fred Jones Family Fou…The Merrick FoundationCresap Family Foundat…Harris Foundation IncOge Energy Corp Found…
American Fidelity FoundationOK52.8× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Fidelity Foundation · Kirkpatrick Foundation Inc · El and Thelma Gaylord Foundation · Oklahoma City Community Foundation Inc · Inasmuch Foundation · Communities Foundation of Oklahoma · Rainbolt Family Foundation · Fred Jones Family Foundation · The Merrick Foundation · Cresap Family Foundation · Harris Foundation Inc · Oge Energy Corp Foundation Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Ad Astra Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ad Astra Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 200%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Canterbury Voices Inc: 6% of income from government
  • Oklahoma Arts Institute Inc: 1% of income from government
  • Oklahoma Christian University: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
20get no government money at all
14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Ad Astra Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Ad Astra Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 104 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Ad Astra’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home