· Private foundation
Dowdle Foundation
Its FY2019 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
Read this first · the figures below need context
95% of Dowdle Foundation’s FY2019 grant dollars went to Schwab Charitable Fund, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2019 names 6 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2018, the last year Dowdle Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 8 organizations, $101k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2019.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2018
- Under $10k13 grants · $41k
- $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| THE WATCHMAN INTERNATIONAL | $50,000 |
| FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES | $10,000 |
| ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL | $5,000 |
| THE SALVATION ARMY | $5,000 |
| TEEN CHALLENGE OF MISSISSIPPI | $5,000 |
| YMCA | $5,000 |
| PALMER HOME FOR CHILDREN | $5,000 |
| THE GOOD SAMARITAN MED CENTER OF COLUMBUS | $5,000 |
| LAST HOUSE ON THE BLOCK | $5,000 |
| BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES | $1,000 |
| AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION | $1,000 |
| MS ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION | $1,000 |
| THE DWELLING PLACE | $1,000 |
| CAMP RISING SUN | $1,000 |
| COLUMBUS-LOWNDES HUMANE SOCIETY | $1,000 |
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.
Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY17–19) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 17%. 46% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.
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.
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.
14 repeat relationships — 14 still active in FY2018, 0 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2018 (too recent to call). Read against FY2018, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2019, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
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
ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC3× · 2017–2019 · $15k · revenue +145%- TLTHE LAST HOUSE ON THE BLOCK INC2× · 2017–2018 · $10k · revenue +151%
- CHCOLUMBUS-LOWNDES HUMANE SOCIETY3× · 2017–2019 · $3k · revenue +72%
Funded once
- TWTHE WATCHMAN INTERNATIONAL INCgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $50k · revenue +86%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
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.
Christ centered residential ministry primarily helping african american men overcome their life controlling addictions so they can successfully re enter society as productive citizens
The remnant house, located in lee county, mississippi provides men and women with a faith-based christian transitional living home and recovery program. our christ-centered one year transitional living recovery program allows an individual…
Ministry that turns men from addiction to Jesus Christ by daily engaging them in spiritual, physical and financial guidance and goals
Pilgrim ministries is a discipleship ministry who specializes in helping men break the addiction of drugs and alcohol through a relationship with the lord jesus christ. we provide the residential and the after care phases of the ministry…
Rescue in israel exists as ohel avraham (abrahams tent) in israel ohel avraham carries out the day to day work, working with the homeless on the streets of tel aviv. ohel avraham is a registered not for profit organization in israel. ohel…
The midnight mission seeks to offer a bridge to self sufficiency for people experiencing homelessness through interim shelter, advocacy, education, training and job placement, make available the necessities of life, offer the 12-step…
Christ-centered ministry that exists to house, educate, and disciple young men coming out of incarceration. provide training and modified behavior guidance for recruited residents.
To minister to the needs of individuals that have addictions and to assist in the rehabiliation process by establishing faith based support.
To establish facilities for 24-hour churches which provide support and encouragement, short-term shelter, food, clothing, spiritual teachings, life skills, and vo-tech training to the down and out, hurting, and addicted.
Adult & teen challenge exists to evangelize and disciple teens and adults, trapped in addiction, through the gospel of jesus christ. as the most successful, residential, long term restoration ministry in the world, adult & teen challenge…
Addiction recovery literature
Provide a safe residential addiction recovery center for men who seek an alternative to addictive behaviors and destructive life choices.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is American Family Association Inc and the most unlike its peers is The Watchman International Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
9 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. 9 of the 16 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.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
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.
- Who funds DONOR ADVISED CHARITABLE GIVING INC ↗
- Who funds THE WATCHMAN INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
- Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
- Who funds Teen Challenge of Mississippi Inc ↗
- Who funds PALMER HOME FOR CHILDREN ↗
- Who funds THE LAST HOUSE ON THE BLOCK INC ↗
- Who funds COLUMBUS-LOWNDES HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION INC ↗
- Who funds CAMP RISING SUN INC ↗
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Dowdle Foundation 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.
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.