Skip to content
Dr Donald N & Jane L Berning Private Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Dr Donald N & Jane L Berning Private 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.

$220k
Granted FY2024still arriving
7
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
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 2024.

Community Improvement$905kReligion$367kHuman Services$282kEducation$235kHealth$210kFood & Nutrition$109kRecreation & Sports$67k
02FY2024 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k6 grants · $120k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$20,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$8.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
FRIENDS OF THE ROSE GARDEN MISSION INC$100,000
NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT$30,000
KENTUCKY ASSOCIATION FOR GIFTED EDUCATION INC$20,000
GO PANTRY CORPORATION$20,000
PADDLING FOR CANCER AWARENESS INC$20,000
CHICKS AND CHUCKS INC$15,000
Randall K Cooper High School$15,000
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 (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 17% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%IMAGES AT THE CROSS: $12k → 14%ST XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL: $100k → 16%NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT: $175k → 7%SUNRISE CHILDRENS SERVICES: $60k → 9%PADDLING FOR CANCER AWARENESS INC: $20k → 10%PENDLETON COUNTY EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $25k → 14%ST XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL: $50k → 16%NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT: $150k → 7%SUNRISE CHILDRENS SERVICES: $50k → 9%PADDLING FOR CANCER AWARENESS INC: $20k → 10%PENDLETON COUNTY EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $20k → 14%BETHESDA FOUNDATION INC: $75k → 16%NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT: $150k → 7%SUNRISE CHILDRENS SERVICES INC: $50k → 9%PADDLING FOR CANCER AWARENESS INC: $20k → 10%PENDLETON COUNTY EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $20k → 14%COALITION OF CARE GREATER CINCINNATI: $7k → 16%NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT: $100k → 7%SUNRISE CHILDRENS SERVICES: $50k → 9%CHICKS AND CHUCKS INC: $15k → 10%COALITION OF CARE GREATER CINCINNATI: $4k → 16%NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT: $100k → 7%SUNRISE CHILDRENS SERVICES: $35k → 9%PADDLING FOR CANCER AWARENESS INC: $15k → 10%NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT: $100k → 7%SUNRISE CHILDRENS SERVICES: $25k → 9%CHICKS AND CHUCKS INC: $15k → 10%NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT: $100k → 7%SUNRISE CHILDRENS SERVICES: $2k → 9%CHICKS AND CHUCKS INC: $15k → 10%NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT: $30k → 7%PADDLING FOR CANCER AWARENESS INC: $15k → 10%GO PANTRY CORPORATION: $20k → 7%GO PANTRY CORPORATION: $20k → 7%GO PANTRY CORPORATION: $20k → 7%GO PANTRY CORPORATION: $10k → 7%GO PANTRY CORPORATION: $10k → 7%NORTHERN KENTUCKY SPORTS CLUB: $20k → 7%NORTHERN KENTUCKY SPORTS CLUB: $12k → 7%NORTHERN KENTUCKY SPORTS CLUB: $8k → 7%NORTHERN KENTUCKY SPORTS CLUB: $8k → 7%NORTHERN KENTUCKY SPORTS CLUB: $5k → 7%GO PANTRY CORPORATION: $15k → 7%Randall K Cooper High School: $15k → 7%GO PANTRY CORPORATION: $10k → 7%GO PANTRY CORPORATION: $4k → 7%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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.9M · 9 repeat orgs$272k to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
3

Total granted

$1.9M
$237k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+4%
+190%

Still filing today

100%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $35k 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
HealthCommunity ImprovementFood & NutritionRecreation & SportsReligionYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • NK
    NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT
    8× · 2017–2024 · $905k · revenue +145%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF THE ROSE GARDEN MISSION INC
    7× · 2018–2024 · $355k · revenue +147% · 42% of their budget
  • GP
    GO PANTRY CORPORATION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $109k · revenue +572%

Funded once

  • SX
    ST XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL INC
    one grant, 2017 · $150k
  • BF
    BETHESDA FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $75k · revenue +190%
  • IA
    IMAGES AT THE CROSS
    one grant, 2019 · $12k
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
Cinderellas Closet of Northern Kentucky
—
2
Northern Kentucky Youth Athletics Inc
Recreation & Sports
3
Faith Mountain Mission of Kentucky Inc
Youth Development
4
Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation
—
5
Kenton County Youth Sports

Baseball softball tball involving 600

Recreation & Sports
6
Bettys Brave & Beautiful Hearts Foundation Inc

To provide support to women fighting breast cancer for 1) treatment 2) surgery for both mastectomy and breast reconstruction.

Health
7
Kentucky Saving Them Together Inc
Animals
8
Bleeding Disorders of Kentucky Inc

Bleeding disorders of kentucky (bdoky) is dedicated to improving the quality of life for individuals with inheritable bleeding disorders through education, engagement, and support.

Health
9
Community Patient Safety Coalition of Southwestern Indiana Kentucky

.

—
10
Kinder Key

Support Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

—
11
Pennyrile Children's Advocacy Center Inc

To provide support and services to victims of child abuse and their non - offending caregivers

Human Services
12
Kentucky Special Parent Involvement Network Inc

To empower and support individuals with disabilities and their families to effectively advocate for and access needed information, resources and support networks in order to enhance the quality of their lives.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Sunrise Children's Services Inc; the most unlike its peers is Northern Kentucky Sports Club. 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

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 14 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.

4
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
7/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT: $905,000 · Community ImprovementNORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICTSUNRISE CHILDREN'S SERVICES INC: $271,680 · OtherSUNRISE CHILDREN'S SERVI…ST XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL INC: $150,000 · OtherST XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL IN…KENTUCKY ASSOCIATION FOR GIFTED EDUCATION: $20,000 · Other+2 more: $27,000 · Other+2 moreFRIENDS OF THE ROSE GARDEN MISSION INC: $355,000 · ReligionFRIENDS OF THE ROS…PADDLING FOR CANCER AWARENESS INC Kentucky Thorough-Breasts Dragon Boat Team: $90,000 · HealthPADDLING F…BETHESDA FOUNDATION INC: $75,000 · HealthBETHESDA F…CHICKS & CHUCKS INC: $45,000 · HealthCHICKS & C…GO PANTRY CORPORATION: $108,500 · Food & NutritionPENDLETON COUNTY EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $65,000 · EducationNORTHERN KENTUCKY SPORTS CLUB: $51,500 · Recreation & SportsCOALITION OF CARE GREATER CINCINNATI: $10,500 · Youth Development
Community Improvement$905,000Other$468,680Religion$355,000Health$210,000Food & Nutrition$108,500Education$65,000Recreation & Sports$51,500Youth Development$10,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNORTHERN KENTUCKY AREA DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT: $905,000 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE ROSE GARDEN MISSION INC: $355,000 over 7y, 42% of budgetSUNRISE CHILDREN'S SERVICES INC: $271,680 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetGO PANTRY CORPORATION: $108,500 over 8y, 4.4% of budgetPADDLING FOR CANCER AWARENESS INC Kentucky Thorough-Breasts Dragon Boat Team: $90,000 over 5y, 31% of budgetBETHESDA FOUNDATION INC: $75,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetPENDLETON COUNTY EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $65,000 over 3y, 43% of budgetCHICKS & CHUCKS INC: $45,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetKENTUCKY ASSOCIATION FOR GIFTED EDUCATION: $20,000 over 1y, 34% of budgetCOALITION OF CARE GREATER CINCINNATI: $10,500 over 2y, 0.8% 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.

The Greater Cincinnat…Baird Foundation IncFidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Greater Cincinnati FoundationOH12.9× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Greater Cincinnati Foundation · Baird Foundation 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 Dr Donald N & Jane L Berning Private Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Dr Donald N & Jane L Berning Private Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%13%28%50%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
    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 Dr Donald N & Jane L Berning Private Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Dr Donald N & Jane L Berning Private 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 14 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 Dr Donald N & Jane L Berning Private’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