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Dawson Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Dawson Family 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.

$127k
Granted FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$282kRecreation & Sports$265kHuman Services$100kYouth Development$49kInternational$42kReligion$37kPhilanthropy$25kFood & Nutrition$22kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $2k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $75k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$683k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ALAMO HEIGHTS SCHOOL FOUNDATION$50,000
THE CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION$25,000
CHILDREN'S BEREAVEMENT CENTER OF SOUTH TEXAS$25,000
TEXAS CAVALIERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION$25,000
ARISE AFRICA INC$2,000
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 (FY22–25, $100k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, 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.

area typical 12%FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION SERVICES: $25k → 16%CHILDREN'S BEREAVEMENT CENTER OF SOUTH TEXAS: $25k → 16%CHILDREN'S BEREAVEMENT CENTER OF SOUTH TEXAS: $20k → 16%CHILDREN'S BEREAVEMENT CENTER OF SOUTH TEXAS: $15k → 16%CHILDREN'S BEREAVEMENT CENTER OF SOUTH TEXAS: $15k → 16%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.

82%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$712k · 10 repeat orgs$152k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +66% since the first grant, against +60% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
15

Total granted

$712k
$152k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+66%
+60%

Still filing today

60%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
PhilanthropyHuman ServicesYouth DevelopmentInternationalPublic 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

  • TC
    THE CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION OF SAN ANTONIO INC
    7× · 2017–2025 · $125k · revenue +58%
  • TT
    THE TEXAS CAVALIERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
    7× · 2017–2025 · $119k · revenue +66%
  • AA
    ARISE AFRICA INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $42k · revenue +244%

Funded once

  • FV
    FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION SERVICES INC
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +3%
  • CB
    CHARITY BALL LEGACY FOUNDATION INC
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue -82%
  • CK
    City Kids Adventuresgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $20k · revenue +99%
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
San Antonio Childrens Foundation

The san antonio children's foundation was organized to provide much needed funding to schools and other non-profit entities through its involvement with san antonio golf association and its birdies for charities fund raiser. essentially…

—
2
St Anthony Catholic School Charitable Foundation

To support and benefit st. anthony catholic school.

Philanthropy
3
Southwest Winners Foundation Inc

The mission of Southwest Winners Foundation is to provide an adaptive and effective learning environment that prepares students for success in the workplace and/or college.

Education
4
San Antonio Tennis Association

Develop and promote the lifetime sport

—
5
Hill Country Alliance

The mission of the Hill Country Alliance is to bring together a diverse coalition of partners to preserve the open spaces, starry night skies, clean and abundant waters, and unique character of the Texas Hill Country.

Environment
6
Arboretum San Antonio

Arboretum San Antonio (ASA), a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2021, is building a world-class arboretum on the former Republic Golf Course in the heart of San Antonios historic Southside. The first in San Antonio and the…

Environment
7
Tennis Officials of San Antonio Association
Recreation & Sports
8
Childrens Ballet of San Antonio

The children's ballet of san antonio (cbsa) is an all children's performance dance company whose mission is to inspire the pursuit of excellence and prepare children for productive and creative lives through dance.

Arts & Culture
9
Discovery School of San Antonio

At Discovery School, our mission is to inspire and nurture the love of learning in young children and their families. The School offers an enhanced early childhood education for children 2 through 7 years to provide them with the skills…

Education
10
Casa of Williamson County Texas

CASA of Williamson County, TX exists to empower community volunteers to advocate for children who have experienced abuse or neglect to find loving, safe, and permanent homes.

Crime & Legal
11
Atx Kids Club

ATX KIDS CLUB's mission is to empower youth through educational adventures that promote independence, confidence, and a deeper connection to their community - one field trip at a time.

Education
12
Houston Safari Club

To protect the rights of hunters and the hunting heritage through advocacy, policy, and legislation.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Childrens Bereavement Center of South Texas; the most unlike its peers is Banovich Wildscapes Foundation. 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

17 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. 17 of the 25 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
16/17
Grantees still filing
12/17
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ST LUKES EPISCOPAL SCHOOL OF SAN: $136,000 · OtherST LUKES EPISCOPAL SCHOOL OF SANTHE TEXAS CAVALIERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $119,000 · OtherTHE TEXAS CAVALIERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONTHE CHARITY BALL ASSOCISAION: $40,000 · OtherTHE CHARITY BALL ASSOCISAIONCHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH: $37,000 · OtherCHRIST LUTHERAN CHURCH+11 more: $75,100 · Other+11 moreTHE CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION OF SAN ANTONIO INC: $124,900 · PhilanthropyTHE CHARITY BALL ASS…CHARITY BALL LEGACY FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · PhilanthropyCHARITY BALL LEGACY …BANOVICH WILDSCAPES FOUNDATION: $10,000 · PhilanthropyBANOVICH WILDSCAPES …ALAMO HEIGHTS SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $120,000 · EducationALAMO HEIGHTS S…CHILDRENS BEREAVEMENT CENTER OF SOUTH TEXAS: $75,000 · Human ServicesCHILDRENS BER…FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION SERVICES INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesFAMILY VIOLEN…ARISE AFRICA INC: $41,500 · InternationalCity Kids Adventures: $20,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF SAN ANTONIO: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentNourishNC Inc: $10,000 · Food & Nutrition
Other$407,100Philanthropy$159,900Education$120,000Human Services$100,000International$41,500Youth Development$25,000Food & Nutrition$10,000

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 budgetTHE CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION OF SAN ANTONIO INC: $124,900 over 7y, 1.1% of budgetALAMO HEIGHTS SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $120,000 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetTHE TEXAS CAVALIERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $119,000 over 7y, 0.8% of budgetCHILDRENS BEREAVEMENT CENTER OF SOUTH TEXAS: $75,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetARISE AFRICA INC: $41,500 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetFAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION SERVICES INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCHARITY BALL LEGACY FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetCity Kids Adventures: $20,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetNourishNC Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetSAN ANTONIO FOOD BANK: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetShikar-Safari Club International: $10,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetSOUND OFF: $10,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetBANOVICH WILDSCAPES FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetSAN ANTONIO ACADEMY OF TEXAS: $8,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF SAN ANTONIO: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAlamo Heights Mule Team Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetAUTISM SERVICE CENTER OF SAN ANTONIO DBA AUTISM COMMUNITY NETWORK: $2,100 over 1y, 0.2% 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.

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.

San Antonio Area Foun…Circle Bar FoundationMays Family FoundationGreater Houston Commu…Elizabeth Huth Coates…The Brown Foundation …The Nancy Wood Moorma…Betty Stieren Kelso F…The Independent Chari…Charitable Foundation…Nelson Puett Foundati…San Antonio Area Foun…
San Antonio Area FoundationTX27.5× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: San Antonio Area Foundation · Circle Bar Foundation · Mays Family Foundation · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992 · The Brown Foundation Inc · The Nancy Wood Moorman Foundation · Betty Stieren Kelso Foundation · The Independent Charitable Gift Fund · Charitable Foundation Frost F0359600 · Nelson Puett Foundation · San Antonio Area Foundation Group Return

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 Dawson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Dawson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%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
    5report 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.

    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 25 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Dawson Family’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