Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation Dossiers
Plinth

· Private foundation

Brown Dana Charitable Trust

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$4.5M
Granted FY2025still arriving
113
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$500k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01

What you funded, over time

By grantee IRS cause code (NTEE).

A cause breakdown isn’t shown here: 44% of BROWN DANA CHARITABLE TRUST’s grantee dollars fall outside its nine largest cause areas, whether because the recipient carries no IRS cause code or because its cause sits in the long tail. A chart would be mostly one residual band and misrepresent the portfolio.

02FY2025 · 113 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $34k
  • $10k–50k82 grants · $1.8M
  • $50k–250k17 grants · $1.2M
  • $250k+4 grants · $1.5M
$22,500
Median grant
2
States reached
$42M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ST LOUIS ZOO ASSOCIATION$500,000
CARDINAL GLENNON CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION$485,714
RANKEN JORDAN PEDIATRIC BRIDGE$250,000
ST LOUIS CHILDRENS HOSPITAL$250,000
THE SHELDON ARTS FOUNDATION$200,000
ST LOUIS SYMPHONY$110,000
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ST LOUIS$101,500
OPERATION FOOD SEARCH$65,000
A MILLION STARS INC$65,000
CASA OF ST LOUIS$65,000
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES$62,500
CITY GARDEN MONTESSORI SCHOOL$60,000
ROOM AT THE INN$50,000
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF MO$50,000
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN$50,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Your human-services grants (FY24–25, $833k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 54% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%YOUTH IN NEED: $32k → 5%PONY BIRD: $15k → 9%DIVINE NEST: $10k → 10%EVERY CHILDS HOPE: $25k → 11%ON ANGELS WINGS: $10k → 15%SAFE CONNECTIONS: $20k → 21%YOUTH IN NEED: $30k → 5%COVERING HOUSE: $35k → 9%REFUGE AND RESTORATION: $20k → 11%BEVERLY FARM FOUNDATION: $25k → 12%FOSTER TOGETHER: $25k → 9%NURSES FOR NEWBORNS: $30k → 11%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ST LOUIS: $102k → 21%FLANCE MANAGEMENT INC: $25k → 21%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE: $25k → 21%OUR LADY'S INN: $20k → 11%LEMAY CHILD & FAMILY CENTER: $10k → 11%COVENANT HOUSE MISSOURI: $25k → 21%EYE THRIVE: $30k → 21%FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER: $8k → 11%SOUTHSIDE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER: $15k → 21%GIDDO SIMON MINISTRIES: $15k → 11%CHAMP ASSISTANCE DOGS: $30k → 11%PROMISE COMMUNITY HOMES: $5k → 11%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF ST LOUIS: $50k → 21%THE LITTLE BIT FOUNDATION: $20k → 11%WEBSTER CHILD CARE CENTER LACLEDE GROVE: $10k → 11%MONARCH IMMIGRANT SERVICES: $20k → 21%CHILDRENS HOME SOCIETY OF MISSOURI: $45k → 11%URBAN SPROUTS: $2k → 11%GATEWAY REGION YMCA: $25k → 21%FATHERS SUPPORT CENTER ST LOUIS: $25k → 21%THE LITTLE BIT FOUNDATION: $15k → 21%ST LOUIS AREA DIAPER BANK: $15k → 21%IMMIGRANT HOME ENGLISH LEARNING PROGRAM: $20k → 21%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

42%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$3.4M · 23 repeat orgs$4.7M to everyone else

23 repeat relationships — 23 still active in FY2025, 0 since wound down; 90 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

23
56

Total granted

$3.4M
$2.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
0%

Still filing today

96%
79%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 42% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.6M went to new ones.

50%100%’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’24’25
Human ServicesEducationHealthArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentAnimalsOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • NC
    NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN ST LOUIS SECTION
    2× · 2024–2025 · $90k · revenue +199%
  • MM
    MARIAN MIDDLE SCHOOL
    2× · 2024–2025 · $75k · revenue +11%
  • RA
    Room at the Inn
    2× · 2024–2025 · $70k · revenue +159%

Funded once

  • SL
    ST LOUIS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $250k · revenue 0%
  • MH
    MERCY HEALTH FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $200k
  • TR
    The Ranken-Jordan Home For Convalescent Crippled Children
    one grant, 2024 · $100k · revenue -1%

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

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Mission St Louis

Mission: st. louis empowers individuals for social and economic growth through relationships and opportunity.

Community Improvement
2
St Louis Learning Disabilities Association

To provide children with hope, understanding, and compassion so they can reach their full potential.

Human Services
3
St Martin's Child Center

Providing day care services to infants and children of low income families in northern st. louis county, missouri

—
4
St Louis Economic Development Partnership

Economic development.

—
5
St Louis Community Foundation

To promote the possibilities of charitable giving, helping charitable citizens understand how they can effectively provide for the community they love and the causes they care deeply about.

Philanthropy
6
St Louis Survivors' Legal Support Inc

SLSLS provides victims of domestic violence the assistance they need in filing petitions for orders of protection and obtaining full orders of protection in court.

Crime & Legal
7
St Louis Association of Community Organizations

Community Development and Community Center and social services

—
8
Teach St Louis

Founded In 2018, Teach St. Louis (formerly St. Louis Teacher Residency) launched to improve teacher quality and retention in St. Louis, a city where 40% of new teachers exit the classroom in their first three years. Teach St. Louis…

Education
9
Forward Through Ferguson

Embracing the ferguson commission's mandate, forward through ferguson centers impacted communities and mobilizes accountable bodies to advance racially equitable systems and policies that ensure all people in the st. louis region can…

Civil Rights
10
Kids Win Missouri

Kids Win Missouri furthers child well-being by advancing the health, education, safety and development of Missouri children and their families, especially those who are at-risk because of poverty, abuse, neglect, racial inequities or other…

Human Services
11
Greater St Louis Inc

Greater st. louis, inc. brings together business and civic leaders to create jobs, drive inclusive economic growth, and increase the st. louis metro area's global competitiveness. we speak with a unified voice, lead with a bold agenda, and…

Community Improvement
12
Family Advocacy and Community Training Inc

Enhance the opportunities and quality of life for children and youth with disabilities. the organization achieves this objective through parent training, emotional support, direct advocacy, community education, self-advocacy and navigation…

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is St Louis Crisis Nursery and the most unlike its peers is Civitas Associates Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 32 years old; the field is 21. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number19%2%<5yr13%10%5–10yr17%16%10–20yr16%28%20–35yr17%22%35–55yr19%23%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value19%1%<5yr13%3%5–10yr17%9%10–20yr16%43%20–35yr17%15%35–55yr19%30%55yr+

The field is 19% startups (under 5 years old) — 2% of your grantees by number, and just 1% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 15% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/141
the rest of the field
15%
1,453/10,016

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

139 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 139 of the 169 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
139/139
Grantees still filing
55/139
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CARDINAL GLENNON CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION — $885,714 · OtherCARDINAL GLENNON CHILDREN'S FOUNDATIONRANKEN JORDAN PEDIATRIC BRIDGE — $250,000 · OtherRANKEN JORDAN PEDIATRIC BRIDGEST LOUIS CHILDRENS HOSPITAL — $250,000 · OtherST LOUIS CHILDRENS HOSPITALMERCY HEALTH FOUNDATION — $200,000 · Other+74 more — $2,344,614 · Other+74 moreTHE SAINT LOUIS ZOO ASSOCIATION — $1,000,000 · AnimalsTHE SAINT LOUIS…+4 more — $75,000 · Animals+4 moreINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF METROPOLITAN ST LOUIS — $126,500 · Human ServicesINTERNATIONA…YOUTH IN NEED — $62,000 · Human ServicesYOUTH IN NEE…CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ST LOUIS — $50,000 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC CHA…CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY OF MISSOURI — $45,000 · Human ServicesTHE COVERING HOUSE — $35,000 · Human ServicesTHE LITTLE BIT FOUNDATION — $35,000 · Human ServicesTHE WOMEN'S SAFE HOUSE — $30,000 · Human ServicesGATEWAY ALLIANCE AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING — $30,000 · Human ServicesCHAMP ASSISTANCE DOGS — $30,000 · Human ServicesNURSES FOR NEWBORNS — $30,000 · Human ServicesEYE THRIVE — $30,000 · Human Services+23 more — $389,500 · Human Services+23 moreTHE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY — $100,000 · EducationTHE LIBRARY…MARIAN MIDDLE SCHOOL — $75,000 · EducationMARIAN MIDD…CITY GARDEN MONTESSORI SCHOOL — $60,000 · EducationCITY GARDEN…SCIENCE COACH INC — $56,534 · EducationSCIENCE COA…HOME WORKS - THVP — $55,000 · EducationHOME WORKS …THE SOULARD SCHOOL — $53,750 · EducationTHE SOULARD…KIDSMART INC — $50,000 · EducationKIDSMART IN…Teach for America Inc — $50,000 · EducationTeach for A…ST LOUIS LANGUAGE IMMERSION SCHOOL — $45,000 · EducationST LOUIS LA…ST LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY FOUNDATION — $42,000 · EducationST LOUIS CO…READY READERS — $30,000 · EducationCENTRAL INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF — $30,000 · Education+8 more — $135,500 · Education+8 moreTHE SHELDON ARTS FOUNDATION — $225,000 · Arts & CultureSAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA — $110,000 · Arts & CultureST LOUIS REGIONAL PUBLIC MEDIA INC — $50,000 · Arts & CultureSt Louis ArtWorks — $40,000 · Arts & CultureST LOUIS SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL — $30,000 · Arts & CultureOpera Theatre of Saint Louis — $25,000 · Arts & CultureCONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM ST LOUIS — $25,000 · Arts & CulturePACK DANCE — $22,500 · Arts & Culture+5 more — $58,177 · Arts & CultureST LOUIS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $250,000 · HealthThe Ranken-Jordan Home For Convalescent Crippled Children — $100,000 · HealthSTARKLOFF DISABILITY INSTITUTE — $40,000 · HealthEQUINE-ASSISTED THERAPY INC — $30,000 · HealthINSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN FAMILY MEDICINE — $29,550 · HealthPARENTS AS TEACHERS NATIONAL CENTER INC — $19,200 · Health+8 more — $91,000 · HealthNATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN ST LOUIS SECTION — $90,000 · Community ImprovementGREAT RIVERS GREENWAY FOUNDATION — $50,000 · Community ImprovementFOCUS ST LOUIS — $48,333 · Community ImprovementURBANREACHSTL INC — $20,000 · Community ImprovementGateway to the Great Outdoors — $11,500 · Community Improvement
Other$3,930,328Animals$1,075,000Human Services$893,000Education$782,784Arts & Culture$585,677Health$559,750Community Improvement$219,833

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetTHE SAINT LOUIS ZOO ASSOCIATION — $1,000,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetCARDINAL GLENNON CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION — $885,714 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetST LOUIS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION — $250,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE SHELDON ARTS FOUNDATION — $225,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF METROPOLITAN ST LOUIS — $126,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA — $110,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY — $100,000 over 2y, 6.9% of budgetST LOUIS AREA FOOD BANK INC — $100,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetThe Ranken-Jordan Home For Convalescent Crippled Children — $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN ST LOUIS SECTION — $90,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetMARIAN MIDDLE SCHOOL — $75,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetFOSTER CARE COALITION OF GREATER ST LOUIS — $75,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetRoom at the Inn — $70,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetOUR LITTLE HAVEN — $65,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetOPERATION FOOD SEARCH INC — $65,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCASA OF ST LOUIS — $65,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetYOUTH IN NEED — $62,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCITY GARDEN MONTESSORI SCHOOL — $60,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetEMPLOYMENT CONNECTION — $60,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetSCIENCE COACH INC — $56,534 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetHOME WORKS - THVP — $55,000 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetTHE SOULARD SCHOOL — $53,750 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetAlmost Home — $52,500 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetKIDSMART INC — $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetST LOUIS REGIONAL PUBLIC MEDIA INC — $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetST LOUIS CRISIS NURSERY — $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTeach for America Inc — $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDUO DOGS INC — $50,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetEarthDance — $50,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetMISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES — $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF ST LOUIS — $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetThe German St Vincent Orphan Association — $49,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetFOCUS ST LOUIS — $48,333 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetST LOUIS LANGUAGE IMMERSION SCHOOL — $45,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY OF MISSOURI — $45,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSTARKLOFF DISABILITY INSTITUTE — $40,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTHE COVERING HOUSE — $35,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSPECIAL EDUCATION FOUNDATION — $35,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetTHE LITTLE BIT FOUNDATION — $35,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCENTER FOR HEARING & SPEECH — $35,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetGATEWAY ALLIANCE AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING — $30,000 over 1y, 8.3% of budgetCIVITAS ASSOCIATES INC — $30,000 over 1y, 28% of budgetEQUINE-ASSISTED THERAPY INC — $30,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetLift for Life Gym Inc — $30,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetREADY READERS — $30,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetGIRL SCOUTS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS — $30,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCHAMP ASSISTANCE DOGS — $30,000 over 1y, 5.0% of budgetNURSES FOR NEWBORNS — $30,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

St Louis Community Fo…Employees Community F…United Way of Greater…St Louis Community Fo…Commerce Bancshares F…World Wide Technology…Trio Foundation of St…Youthbridge Community…Moneta Group Charitab…Pott FoundationThe Bellwether Founda…Jordan Mary R & Ettie…
St Louis Community Foundation IncMO133.7× affinity84 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: St Louis Community Foundation Inc · Employees Community Fund of the Boeing Company · United Way of Greater St Louis Inc · St Louis Community Foundation · Commerce Bancshares Foundation · World Wide Technology Foundation · Trio Foundation of St Louis · Youthbridge Community Foundation · Moneta Group Charitable Foundation · Pott Foundation · The Bellwether Foundation · Jordan Mary R & Ettie a Charitable

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Brown Dana Charitable Trust funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%8%17%30%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    49report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 169 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

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

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines