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Caroline Lott Jessen Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Caroline Lott Jessen 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.

$120k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$120k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0190% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$1.7MFood & Nutrition$12kHealth$12kArts & Culture$9kPhilanthropy$5kHuman Services$5kSocial Science$1kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$119,587
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CRANE SCHOOL DISTRICT$119,587
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–21, $4k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%ARIZONA'S CHILDREN ASSOCIATION: $1k → 11%HOSPICE OF YUMA: $1k → 15%CROSSROADS MISSION: $1k → 15%CROSSROADS MISSION: $500 → 15%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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.2M · 13 repeat orgs$58k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
15

Total granted

$2.2M
$58k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+7%
+14%

Still filing today

38%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationFood & NutritionArts & CultureSocial ScienceHealthOther
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

  • University of Arizona Foundation
    4× · 2020–2023 · $141k · revenue +54%
  • YC
    YUMA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
    3× · 2017–2021 · $6k · revenue +162%
  • CM
    CROSSROADS MISSION
    2× · 2020–2021 · $2k · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA FOUNDATION - MEDCAT SCHOLARS PROGRAM
    one grant, 2019 · $40k
  • UO
    U OF A CANCER CENTER
    one grant, 2017 · $5k
  • UO
    UNIV OF AZ FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $3k
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
Arizona Latin-American Medical Association
Unclassified
2
Arizona Railroad Historical Society
Arts & Culture
3
Arizona Healthiest State Foundation
—
4
Arizona Wins

Az wins is a coalition of organizations dedicated to achieving public policies that benefit working arizona families and advancing an inclusive, engaged, just and equitable state for all arizonans. in 2024 az wins substantially reduced its…

Civil Rights
5
Arizona Public Health Association

A nonprofit professional organization working to improve the health of Arizona communities through advocacy, education, and professional development.

Health
6
Pro-Choice Arizona

Pro-Choice Arizona centers abolition and reproductive justice values to prioritize community needs. We advance reproductive equity, pregnancy and family justice, and abortion access for all folks living in Arizona through direct service…

Health
7
Delta Dental Plan of Arizona Charitable Foundation and Trust
Philanthropy
8
The Surplus Line Association of Arizona Foundation
Philanthropy
9
Child & Family Services of Yuma Inc

Child & Family Services provides a wide continuum of outpatient services for children and thier families with behavioral/mental health needs, in aspiration of fulfilling the family's individualized goals. Right Turn provides transitional…

Human Services
10
The Dons of Arizona
Education
11
Arizona Site Steward Program Foundation
Education
12
Arizona Family Health Partnership

To make sexual and reproductive healthcare accessible to everyone

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Yuma Community Food Bank; the most unlike its peers is The Healing Journey 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

12 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. 12 of the 29 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/12
Grantees still filing
8/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CRANE SCHOOL DISTRICT: $809,337 · OtherCRANE SCHOOL DISTRICTCRANE SCHOOL DISTRICT-GAP PROGRAM: $704,369 · OtherCRANE SCHOOL DISTRICT-GAP PROGRAMIndividual grant recipient: $500,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient+14 more: $85,087 · OtherUniversity of Arizona Foundation: $141,486 · Education+1 more: $200 · EducationYUMA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: $11,000 · Food & NutritionThe Healing Journey Inc: $1,200 · Food & NutritionYUMA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $5,700 · Arts & CultureYUMA ART SYMPOSIUM INC: $1,175 · Arts & CultureARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 · PhilanthropyCROSSROADS MISSION: $1,500 · Human ServicesARIZONA'S CHILDREN ASSOCIATION: $1,000 · Human ServicesHospice of Yuma: $1,000 · Human ServicesPOPULATION CONNECTION: $1,000 · Social SciencePLANNED PARENTHOOD ARIZONA INC: $1,000 · Health
Other$2,098,793Education$141,686Food & Nutrition$12,200Arts & Culture$6,875Philanthropy$5,000Human Services$3,500Social Science$1,000Health$1,000

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 budgetUniversity of Arizona Foundation: $141,486 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetYUMA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK: $11,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCROSSROADS MISSION: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetYUMA ART SYMPOSIUM INC: $1,175 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetPOPULATION CONNECTION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARIZONA'S CHILDREN ASSOCIATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD ARIZONA INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHospice of Yuma: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEXPECT MORE ARIZONA: $200 over 1y, 0.0% 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 University of Arizona Foundation ↗
  • Who funds YUMA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ↗
  • Who funds YUMA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds ARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CROSSROADS MISSION ↗
  • Who funds The Healing Journey Inc ↗
  • Who funds YUMA ART SYMPOSIUM INC ↗
  • Who funds POPULATION CONNECTION ↗
  • Who funds ARIZONA'S CHILDREN ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds PLANNED PARENTHOOD ARIZONA INC ↗
  • Who funds Hospice of Yuma ↗
  • Who funds EXPECT MORE ARIZONA ↗

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.

Arizona Community Fou…The Pasquinelli Found…Amazonsmile Foundation
Arizona Community FoundationAZ17.1× affinity6 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Arizona Community Foundation · The Pasquinelli Foundation · 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 Caroline Lott Jessen Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Caroline Lott Jessen Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 Caroline Lott Jessen Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Caroline Lott Jessen 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 29 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 Caroline Lott Jessen’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