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Donna and Jim Stephenson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Donna and Jim Stephenson 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.

$1.3M
Granted FY2024still arriving
9
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$1.0M
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, FY2022 to 2024.

Health$3.0MPublic Benefit$501kEducation$100kSocial Science$99kCivil Rights$95kEmployment$75kCommunity Improvement$32kReligion$5kOther$0
02FY2024 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k3 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $60k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $200k
  • $250k+1 grant · $1.0M
$25,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$1.9M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SHEPHERD CENTER FOUNDATION$1,027,804
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY FOUNDATION$150,000
THE POLICY CIRCLE$50,000
FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION (FIRE)$25,000
FREEDOM FIGHTERS FOUNDATION$25,000
THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY$10,000
CHRIST CHURCH EPISCOPAL$5,000
THE CATHEDRAL OF ST PHILIP$5,000
SAMARITAN'S PURSE INTERNATIONAL RELIEF$3,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY22–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 87% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION (FIRE): $50k → 22%INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE: $99k → 10%FREEDOM FIGHTERS FOUNDATION: $25k → 8%JOB CREATOR NETWORK FOUNDATION: $50k → 14%THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY: $10k → 14%CHRIST CHURCH EPISCOPAL: $5k → 6%SAMARITAN'S PURSE INTERNATIONAL RELIEF: $3k → 21%THE CATHEDRAL OF ST PHILIP: $5k → 13%THE POLICY CIRCLE: $50k → 14%STAND TOGETHER TRUST: $100k → 7%FOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION (FIRE): $25k → 22%JOB CREATORS NETWORK FOUNDATION (JCNF): $25k → 14%THE FEDERALIST SOCIETY: $10k → 14%SHEPHERD CENTER FOUNDATION: $1.0M → 13%AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY FOUNDATION: $150k → 7%THE POLICY CIRCLE: $101k → 14%SHEPARD CENTER: $1.0M → 13%AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY FOUNDATION: $150k → 7%THE POLICY CIRCLE: $50k → 14%SHEPARD CENTER FOUNDATION: $993k → 13%HONDURAS OUTREACH INTERNATIONAL: $2k → 13%HISTORIC OAKLAND FOUNDATION: $2k → 13%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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
PA
CA
VA
NC
DC
GA
TX
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 31% of Donna and Jim Stephenson Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Donna and Jim Stephenson Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

67%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.6M · 5 repeat orgs$1.3M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +18% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
7

Total granted

$2.6M
$1.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+18%

Still filing today

100%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $38k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24
Social SciencePhilanthropyCivil RightsHealthEducationEmploymentOther
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

  • SC
    SHEPHERD CENTER FOUNDATION INC
    2× · 2023–2024 · $2.0M · revenue ×121
  • AF
    Americans for Prosperity Foundation
    2× · 2023–2024 · $300k · revenue +56%
  • TP
    THE POLICY CIRCLE CO
    3× · 2022–2024 · $201k · revenue +34%

Funded once

  • SC
    SHEPHERD CENTER INC
    one grant, 2022 · $1.0M · revenue +18%
  • TS
    THE SEMINAR NETWORK INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $100k · revenue +170%
  • TI
    THE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTEgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $99k · revenue +60%
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
University Family Physicians Inc

Engage actively and continuously in medical research, education and training in the practice of medicine in conjunction with the department of family medicine of the indiana university school of medicine and indiana university…

—
2
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
3
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
4
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
5
Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States Inc

The fsmb serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best…

Health
6
American Law Institute

The institute's mission, as set out in its certificate of incorporation, is to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to…

Crime & Legal
7
Liberty Justice Center

To advance economic and social liberties and a free enterprise society through strategic litigation, training, communication, activism and research. in addition, the center will train law students, lawyers and policy activists in the…

Crime & Legal
8
Stony Brook Internists University Faculty Practice Corporation

Provide clinical instruction to and supervision of medical school students, interns and residents and, incident thereto, rendering professional services.

Health
9
Npr Foundation

The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…

—
10
American Civil Liberties Union Fund of the District of Columbia

Preservation of civil liberties through litigation and public education.

—
11
University of Maryland Facultyphysicians Inc

Under the medical service plan of the university of maryland, school of medicine, administrative support services are provided to the physician practices of the university of maryland, including but not limited to information technology,…

Health
12
Institute for Systems Biology

Non-profit research institute to advance a systems (or holistic and cross-disciplinary) approach to science; personalized medicine; global health & environmental sustainability; science education; & the pioneering & invention of biological…

Science & Tech
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies; the most unlike its peers is Samaritan's Purse. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

11 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. 11 of the 16 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
10/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SHEPHERD CENTER FOUNDATION INC: $2,020,554 · PhilanthropySHEPHERD CENTER FOUNDATION INCSHEPHERD CENTER INC: $1,000,000 · HealthSHEPHERD CENTER INCAmericans for Prosperity Foundation: $300,000 · Social ScienceAmericans for …THE POLICY CIRCLE CO: $200,718 · Social ScienceTHE POLICY CIR…THE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE: $99,395 · OtherJOB CREATORS NETWORK FOUNDATION (JCNF): $25,000 · OtherFREEDOM FIGHTERS FOUNDATION: $25,000 · OtherTHE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES: $20,000 · Other+4 more: $14,000 · OtherTHE SEMINAR NETWORK INC: $100,000 · EducationFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $75,000 · Civil RightsJOB CREATORS NETWORK FOUNDATION: $50,000 · EmploymentSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $3,000 · Religion
Philanthropy$2,020,554Health$1,000,000Social Science$500,718Other$183,395Education$100,000Civil Rights$75,000Employment$50,000Religion$3,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSHEPHERD CENTER INC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetAmericans for Prosperity Foundation: $300,000 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetTHE POLICY CIRCLE CO: $200,718 over 3y, 4.3% of budgetTHE SEMINAR NETWORK INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE: $99,395 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND EXPRESSION INC: $75,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJOB CREATORS NETWORK FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetTHE FEDERALIST SOCIETY FOR LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY STUDIES: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHistoric Oakland Foundation Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Gs Donor Advised Phil…National Philanthropi…Natl Christian Charit…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management IncNY11.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 6 of 6Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Gs Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund for Wealth Management Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Donna and Jim Stephenson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Donna and Jim Stephenson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%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
    1report 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.

    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 16 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 Donna and Jim Stephenson’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