· Private foundation
Barry L and Paula M Downing Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k8 grants · $36k
- $10k–50k4 grants · $52k
- $50k–250k2 grants · $294k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| WICHITA ART MUSEUM | $200,000 |
| BPS FOUNDATION | $94,000 |
| TELLURIDE FILM ASSOCIATION | $17,450 |
| WICHITA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION | $15,000 |
| ORPHEUM THEATRE | $10,000 |
| THE FIRST TEE OF GREATER WICHITA | $10,000 |
| CEREBRAL PALSY RESERACH FOUNDATION | $7,500 |
| THE LORDS DINER | $5,000 |
| WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION | $5,000 |
| FUNDAMENTAL LEARNING CENTER | $5,000 |
| HEROES ACADEMY | $5,000 |
| ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCATION | $5,000 |
| THE GRUMPY OLD MEN | $3,000 |
| HOPE COMMUNITY CHURCH | $500 |
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 (FY20–24, $140k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% 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
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +24% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.
20 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2024, 14 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 63% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $142k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- WAWichita Art Museum Inc5× · 2020–2024 · $977k · revenue +69%
- SISTARKEY INC2× · 2022–2023 · $75k · revenue +30%
- KAKANSAS ACTION FOR CHILDREN INC3× · 2021–2023 · $34k · revenue +24%
Funded once
- PPPLAYERS PHILANTHROPHIC FUNDone grant, 2023 · $74k
- SSSTUDENT STARTUP INCone grant, 2022 · $20k · revenue +11%
- CPCEREBRAL PALSY RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF KSone grant, 2020 · $15k
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.
We exist to inspire all students to be the best versions of themselves through a transformative education grounded in academic excellence within our inclusive community.
The wichita swim club is dedicated to competitive swimming, serving swimmers from all over the wichita and south central kansas area
Wplf seeks private charitable support to create young readers, ensure digital inclusion, and provide equitable access to information. wplf's sole purpose is to create a margin of excellence at wichita public library.
To drive economic growth and community advancement in the wichita region.
To engage in grant making to medical educational organizations and related charitable activities in the area of eye disease and vision disorder, and the care and treatment thereof.
First tee is a youth development organization that enables kids to build strength of character that empowers them through a lifetime of new challenges. we create active learning experiences that build inner strength, self-confidence, and…
We seek to provide a superior educational experience for children ages 3 to 11, utilizing the montessori methods of teaching and learning. we address the intellectual, emotional, physical and social growth of each child.
Foster and support amateur sports competition
Engage community partners (including local governments, nonprofit organizations, and public institutions) to develop a community vision to address education, quality of life, infrastructure, workforce, and economic development and…
Wichita's littlest heroes (wlh) exists to provide hope, help, and happiness to families of children ages 0-18 in the kansas area who are battling life-threatening medical conditions. wlh strives to accomplish this be being a physical and…
The organization promotes the personal development of boys and girls ages 5-18, with special concern for the disadvantaged by providing services that build self-esteem, values and skills during critical periods of growth.
Enriching western Kansas life through philanthropy, collaboration and leadership.
How this is measured
24 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. 24 of the 48 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 Wichita Art Museum Inc ↗
- Who funds BPS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds STARKEY INC ↗
- Who funds KANSAS ACTION FOR CHILDREN INC ↗
- Who funds PHILLIPS FUNDAMENTAL LEARNING CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds STUDENT STARTUP INC ↗
- Who funds WICHITA PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Grumpy Old Men Inc ↗
- Who funds TALLGRASS FILM ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds PUPPIES BEHIND BARS INC ↗
- Who funds Council for a Strong America ↗
- Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS INC ↗
- Who funds WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds KANSAS BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS INC ↗
- Who funds HEROES ACADEMY INC ↗
- Who funds CHILD START INC ↗
- Who funds WICHITA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds TIMOTHY P O'SHAUGHNESSY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL 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: Berry Foundation Inc · Kansas Health Foundation · Ima Foundation · Lattner Family Foundation Inc · Textron Charitable Trust Dtd 122353 · Annie Foundation · Dwane L and Velma Lunt Wallace Charitable Foundation · Bruce G Cochener Foundation · United Way of the Plains Inc · Servant Foundation · DeVore Foundation Inc · The Fidelity Bank Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Barry L and Paula M Downing Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Barry L and Paula M Downing Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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