· Private foundation
B Charles and Jay G Ames 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k18 grants · $57k
- $10k–50k13 grants · $198k
- $50k–250k5 grants · $461k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY | $140,000 |
| CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY | $108,000 |
| CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION | $102,046 |
| HOPE IGNITES NORTHEASTERN OH (BOYS HOPE GIRLS HOPE) | $61,397 |
| FIELDSTONE FARM THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER | $50,000 |
| CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION | $25,000 |
| UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS | $25,000 |
| PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS | $25,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $17,000 |
| HATHAWAY BROWN SCHOOL | $15,650 |
| JOHNS'S ISLAND FOUNDATION | $15,000 |
| HILLCREST YMCA | $15,000 |
| TWO FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| PLAYHOUSE SQUARE FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| CREATIVE LIVING FOR LIFE | $10,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $94k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 94% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 7% of B Charles and Jay G Ames Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 93% of the giving stays in OH; by stated purpose, 88%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +53% since the first grant, against +18% for those funded once.
51 repeat relationships: 26 still active in FY2025, 25 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $193k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CMCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY9× · 2017–2025 · $1.6M · revenue +31%
- FFFIELDSTONE FARM THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER6× · 2020–2025 · $366k · revenue +56%
- IWILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY3× · 2017–2019 · $182k · revenue +14%
Funded once
- RMRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF NORTHEAST OHIO INCone grant, 2024 · $25k · revenue 0%
- KSKENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIONone grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue -55%
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2023 · $20k
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.
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.
The cleveland institute of music's mission is to empower the world's most talented classical music students to fulfill their dreams and potential.
The mission statement of the cleveland institute of art is as follows: to cultivate creative leaders who inspire people, strengthen communities, and contribute to a thriving and sustainable economy through an innovative education in art…
Provides innovative education in a dynamic urban setting. dedicated to academic excellence and community engagement,we prepare students of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skill,and experience to lead meaningful lives as informed…
Cincinnati museum center inspires people of all ages to learn more about our world through science, regional history, and educational, engaging and meaningful experiences.
As a jesuit catholic university committed to academic rigor, inclusive excellence, and care for the whole person, john carroll university inspires individuals of intellect and character to learn, lead and serve in the community and…
Capital university transforms lives by empowering an inclusive community of learners through engaging academic, co-curricular, and professional experiences.
The college of wooster is a community of independent minds, working together to prepare students to become leaders of character and influence in an interdependent global community. (continued on schedule o)we engage motivated students in a…
The mission of cleveland leadership center (the organization) is to build a continuum of civic leaders committed to our community's excellence by serving as a catalyst for civic engagement. the organization achieves its mission by…
Depauw university develops leaders the world needs through an uncommon commitment to the liberal arts. depauw's diverse and inclusive learning and living experience, distinctive in its rigorous intellectual engagement and its global and…
Educate students by linking knowledge to professional practice.
Clark university's mission is to educate undergraduate and graduate students to be imaginative and contributing citizens of the world, and to advance the frontiers of knowledge and understanding through rigorous scholarship and creative…
See schedule o.we are inspired by the ideals of our founder who, in 1896, emphasized respect for all people and ideas, who honored knowledge with practice, progress and the common good. our historical commitment to experiential learning…
How this is measured
66 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
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 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 66 of the 97 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ↗
- Who funds HOPE IGNITES CINCINNATI ↗
- Who funds FIELDSTONE FARM THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER ↗
- Who funds ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds OPEN DOORS INC ↗
- Who funds OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds HATHAWAY BROWN SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds THE JOHN'S ISLAND FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds WESTERN RESERVE LAND CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART ↗
- Who funds MINDS MATTER OF CLEVELAND OHIO INC ↗
- Who funds THE FIRST TEE OF CLEVELAND ↗
- Who funds PARTNERSHIP FOR INNER CITY EDUCATION DBA PARTNERSHIP SCHOOLS ↗
- Who funds TWO FOUNDATION INC TWO CAFE & BOUTIQUE ↗
- Who funds HOSPICE OF THE WESTERN RESERVE INC ↗
- Who funds CLEVELAND ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds THE HUNTING VALLEY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF CLEVELAND ↗
- Who funds PIANO INTERNATIONAL ASSOC OF NORTHERN OH ↗
- Who funds CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF NORTHEAST OHIO INC ↗
- Who funds KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds RIVERSIDE THEATRE INC ↗
- Who funds THE GATHERING PLACE ↗
- Who funds JOHN'S ISLAND COMMUNITY SERVICE LEAGUE 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.
Open a dossier: The Cleveland Foundation · The Kelvin & Eleanor Smith Foundation · The Lozick Family Foundation · The Swagelok Foundation · Connor Foundation · Sullivan Family Fund · John P Murphy Foundation · The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation · The O'Neill Brothers Foundation · The Catherine L & Edward a Lozick Foundation · The George Gund Foundation · Jewish Federation of Cleveland
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization B Charles and Jay G Ames Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from B Charles and Jay G Ames Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- The Learning Alliance Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
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