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Brian & Gretchen Colleran Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Brian & Gretchen Colleran Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$1.4M
Granted FY2024still arriving
7
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$1.1M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0185% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$1.9MEducation$1.4MEnvironment$1.1MHealth$915kAnimals$560kPublic Benefit$240kReligion$55kFood & Nutrition$25kOther$0
02FY2024 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $3k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $325k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.1M
$75,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$26k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
National Areas Land Conservancy$1,094,280
Turning Point USA$100,000
Western Reserve Historical Society$100,000
Hunting Valley Foundation$75,000
Cathedral of St John$50,000
The Lillian and Betty Ratner Montessori School$10,000
NPower Services$2,500
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 (FY18–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 96% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Turning Point USA: $100k → 11%Hopewell Farm: $120k → 6%Church of the Redeemer: $5k → 13%National Areas Land Conservancy: $1.1M → 17%Hopewell Farm: $100k → 6%Western Reserve Conservancy: $193k → 17%Chagrin Valley Beagles: $10k → 6%Western Reserve Conservancy: $90k → 17%Village Rescue: $12k → 6%Hunting Valley Foundation: $75k → 17%NPower Services: $3k → 6%Hunting Valley Foundation: $60k → 17%Chagrin Valley Upland Society Inc: $50k → 17%Hunting Valley Foundation: $5k → 17%Village Project: $15k → 17%Village Project: $10k → 17%Appolo's Fire: $100k → 17%Appolo's Fire: $100k → 17%Appolo's Fire: $50k → 17%Cleveland Animal Protective League: $300k → 17%Cleveland Animal Protective League: $200k → 17%University Hospitals: $300k → 17%University Hospitals: $200k → 17%Bluecoats Inc: $5k → 17%Friends of Breakthrough Schools: $50k → 17%Bluecoats Inc: $3k → 17%Cathedral of St John: $50k → 17%Gilmour Academy: $1.0M → 17%Gilmour Academy: $250k → 17%Gilmour Academy: $60k → 17%Gilmour Academy: $5k → 17%Mayo Society: $5k → 17%The Lillian and Betty Ratner Montessori School: $25k → 17%The Lillian and Betty Ratner Montessori School: $10k → 17%The Lillian and Betty Ratner Montessori School: $10k → 17%Cleveland Museum of Natural History: $1.0M → 17%Museum of Contemorary Art Cleveland: $254k → 17%Western Reserve Historical Society: $200k → 17%Western Reserve Historical Society: $100k → 17%Western Reserve Historical Society: $100k → 17%Western Reserve Historical Society: $100k → 17%Western Reserve Historical Society: $100k → 17%Rainbow Babies & Children's Foundation: $75k → 17%United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cleveland: $50k → 17%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.

59%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.0M · 12 repeat orgs$2.8M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +44% since the first grant, against +7% for those funded once.

12 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

12
11

Total granted

$4.0M
$1.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+44%
+7%

Still filing today

58%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 13% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.2M went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
HealthArts & CultureAnimalsCrime & LegalPublic BenefitEducationOther
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

  • WR
    WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
    5× · 2020–2024 · $600k · revenue +63%
  • H
    HOPEWELL
    2× · 2018–2019 · $220k · revenue +84%
  • TH
    THE HUNTING VALLEY FOUNDATION
    3× · 2022–2024 · $140k · revenue +211% · 37% of their budget

Funded once

  • CM
    CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORYgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $1.0M · revenue +48%
  • MO
    MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CLEVELAND
    one grant, 2019 · $254k · revenue -55%
  • RB
    RAINBOW BABIES & CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2018 · $75k · revenue +7%
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
Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Medical Center

Cvph medical center's mission is to provide quality health care for the north country region in upstate new york.

Health
2
West Creek Conservancy

Our mission is to enrich the lives of all people in northeast ohio by conserving natural habitats, restoring the ecological value of our region's lands and waters, and expanding opportunities to connect people from all cultures to…

Environment
3
The Cleveland Foundation

Enhance the lives of all residents of greater cleveland, now and for generations to come, by working together with our donors to build community endowment, address needs through grantmaking, and provide leadership on key community issues.

Philanthropy
4
Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park

The conservancy engages community involvement through 1) programs and services to enhance the park visitor experience; 2) co-management of the park's award-winning "volunteer in parks" (vip) program; 3) education programs for school age…

Environment
5
The Clara and Harvey Pillsbury Foundation Inc
—
6
Cleveland Museum of Art

The mission of the cleveland museum of art (cma) is to fulfill its dual roles as one of the world's most distinguished comprehensive art museums and as one of northeastern ohio's principal civic and cultural institutions. the museum,…

Arts & Culture
7
Henry E Huntington Library and Art Gallery

The huntington library, art museum, and botanical gardens shares its world-renowned collections to support scholarship, foster learning, inspire creativity, and offer transformative experiences for diverse audiences.

Arts & Culture
8
Cleveland Botanical Garden

The cleveland botanical garden connects people with the wonder, beauty, and value of trees and plants, to inspire action for healthy communities.

Environment
9
Cleveland Medical Library Association
Education
10
Cleveland-Cliffs Foundation
—
11
Granville Ohio Historical Society

The Granville Historical Society acquires, preserves, and shares Granvilles past with residents and visitors to inspire curiosity about, instill knowledge of, and foster a commitment to our history.

—
12
The Huntington-Akron Foundation
Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Cleveland Inc; the most unlike its peers is Chagrin Valley Upland Society 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

14 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. 14 of the 27 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
10/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

GILMOUR ACADEMY INC: $1,314,816 · OtherGILMOUR ACADEMY INCNational Areas Land Conservancy: $1,094,280 · OtherNational Areas Land ConservancyUniversity Hospitals: $500,000 · OtherUniversity HospitalsIndividual grant recipient: $283,376 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $250,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient+9 more: $239,000 · Other+9 moreCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $1,000,000 · Arts & CultureCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HIS…WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $600,000 · Arts & CultureWESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCI…MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CLEVELAND: $254,000 · Arts & CultureMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CLEV…THE CLEVELAND ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE: $500,000 · AnimalsTHE CLEVE…CHAGRIN VALLEY UPLAND SOCIETY INC: $50,000 · AnimalsCHAGRIN V…HOPEWELL: $220,000 · HealthRAINBOW BABIES & CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $75,000 · HealthSumma Health: $70,000 · HealthUNITED CEREBRAL PALSY ASSOCIATION OF GREATER CLEVELAND INC: $50,000 · HealthTHE HUNTING VALLEY FOUNDATION: $140,000 · Public BenefitFRIENDS OF BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS: $50,000 · EducationVILLAGE PROJECT: $25,000 · Food & NutritionBLUECOATS INC: $8,000 · Crime & Legal
Other$3,681,472Arts & Culture$1,854,000Animals$550,000Health$415,000Public Benefit$140,000Education$50,000Food & Nutrition$25,000Crime & Legal$8,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $1,000,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetWESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $600,000 over 5y, 4.3% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE: $500,000 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetMUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CLEVELAND: $254,000 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetHOPEWELL: $220,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetTHE HUNTING VALLEY FOUNDATION: $140,000 over 3y, 37% of budgetTURNING POINT USA INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetRAINBOW BABIES & CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSumma Health: $70,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED CEREBRAL PALSY ASSOCIATION OF GREATER CLEVELAND INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCHAGRIN VALLEY UPLAND SOCIETY INC: $50,000 over 1y, 34% of budgetFRIENDS OF BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetVILLAGE PROJECT: $25,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetBLUECOATS INC: $8,000 over 2y, 0.3% 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 CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ↗
  • Who funds WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds THE CLEVELAND ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART CLEVELAND ↗
  • Who funds HOPEWELL ↗
  • Who funds THE HUNTING VALLEY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TURNING POINT USA INC ↗
  • Who funds RAINBOW BABIES & CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Summa Health ↗
  • Who funds UNITED CEREBRAL PALSY ASSOCIATION OF GREATER CLEVELAND INC ↗
  • Who funds CHAGRIN VALLEY UPLAND SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds VILLAGE PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds BLUECOATS 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.

The Cleveland Foundat…Sullivan Family FundThe Catherine L & Edw…The Lozick Family Fou…National Philanthropi…The Blackbaud Giving …American Endowment Fo…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Fidelity Investments …Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
The Cleveland FoundationOH19.2× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Cleveland Foundation · Sullivan Family Fund · The Catherine L & Edward a Lozick Foundation · The Lozick Family Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Endowment Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

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 Brian & Gretchen Colleran Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Brian & Gretchen Colleran Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report 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 Brian & Gretchen Colleran Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Brian & Gretchen Colleran 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 27 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Brian & Gretchen Colleran’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