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Gesner Johnson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Gesner Johnson Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$710k
Granted FY2025still arriving
19
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$56k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Human Services$1.1MHousing & Shelter$723kYouth Development$531kInternational$489kHealth$426kCommunity Improvement$298kReligion$250kFood & Nutrition$205kOther$0
02FY2025 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k13 grants · $403k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $307k
$40,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$12M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
OUTDOOR OUTREACH$56,275
WORLD RELIEF WESTERN WASHINGTON$50,400
YOUR NEIGHBOR TO LOVE COALITION$50,000
HOPE REFUGE INC$50,000
VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA INC$50,000
SEATTLE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY$50,000
URBAN IMPACT$49,550
SOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE$45,000
TESTIMONY GOSPEL BRAND MINISTRIES INC$40,000
JOURNEY HOUSE$40,000
GIRLS RISING ABOVE CHILD EXPLOITATION (GRACE)$39,000
CURA SMILES INC$33,530
OUR ARTS FOUNDATION$31,689
UNITED WAY OF PIERCE COUNTY$30,000
AGROS INTERNATIONAL$25,000
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 (FY19–25, $1.2M) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 67% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%A NEW LEAF COTTAGES INC: $50k → 11%ALIA: $27k → 14%HOPE REFUGE INC: $50k → 14%BOTH ENDS BELIEVING: $55k → 5%INNOVATIONS HTC: $35k → 9%BOTH ENDS BELIEVING: $50k → 5%BOTH ENDS BELIEVING: $45k → 5%COVENANT HOUSE CALIFORNIA: $10k → 14%BOTH ENDS BELIEVING: $35k → 5%ORGANIZATION FOR PROSTITUTION SURVIVORS: $50k → 9%GENERATE HOPE: $20k → 11%SOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE: $45k → 11%SOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE: $40k → 11%SOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE: $38k → 11%UNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $45k → 14%JOURNEY HOUSE: $40k → 14%ANTIOCH ADOPTIONS: $20k → 9%UNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $40k → 14%ANTIOCH ADOPTIONS: $20k → 9%BUSINESSES ENDING SLAVERY & TRAFFICKING: $66k → 9%CHALLENGED ATHLETES FOUNDATION: $50k → 11%JOURNEY HOUSE: $20k → 14%GIRLS RISING ABOVE CHILD EXPLOITATION (GRACE): $39k → 11%COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER: $60k → 11%COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER: $55k → 11%COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER: $14k → 11%ALL PEOPLES COMMUNITY CENTER: $36k → 14%ALL PEOPLES COMMUNITY CENTER: $20k → 14%SEED HOUSE PROJECT: $30k → 14%PASADENA SENIOR CENTER: $50k → 14%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

WA
MN
OR
CA
VA
AZ
HI
OK
TX
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.

44%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.3M · 26 repeat orgs$2.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +53% since the first grant, against +11% for those funded once.

26 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 17 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

26
67

Total granted

$2.3M
$2.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+53%
+11%

Still filing today

88%
64%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 43% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $403k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesHealthPhilanthropyYouth DevelopmentReligionFood & NutritionOther
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

  • BE
    BOTH ENDS BELIEVING INC
    4× · 2020–2023 · $185k · revenue +78%
  • UI
    Urban Impact
    5× · 2020–2025 · $140k · revenue +107%
  • JI
    JUST IN TIME FOR FOSTER YOUTH
    4× · 2019–2022 · $138k · revenue +99%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $70k
  • BALLARD FOOD BANKgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $70k · revenue +101%
  • GH
    GOING HOME II
    one grant, 2024 · $68k · revenue 0%
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
Casa de Esperanza

Casa is a refuge, providing protection and education for people caught in the cylces of domestic violence, sexual assault and child assault. Casa is a healing community where women and children can receive the nurturing and support…

Human Services
2
Interval House

The mission of the organization is to ensure safety and stability for people who are battered, abused, homeless or at risk; to create public awareness about the epidemic of violence; and to mobilize the community to prevent violence and…

Human Services
3
The San Francisco Particular Council of the Society of St Vincent De Paul

The mission of the st. vincent de paul society of san francisco (svdp-sf) is to offer hope and service on a direct person-to-person basis, working to break the cycles of homelessness and domestic violence.

Human Services
4
Transition House

Transition House is dedicated to the solution of family homelessness in the Santa Barbara community. Capable and motivated families with children are offered life tools and respectful, non-sectarian residential services designed to…

Housing & Shelter
5
Allies for Every Child Inc

All children need a childhood. Allies for Every Child brings together and strengthens families, cultivating conditions for children to succeed in life. (Continues on Schedule O)

Human Services
6
Contra Costa Interfaith Transitional Housing Inc

Hope Solutions provides permanent affordable housing coupled with well-executed support services to people who are homeless or at risk to become homeless in Contra Costa County. Support services are individualized for each person or family…

Housing & Shelter
7
Ascencia

To lift people of out homelessness, one person, one family at a time.

Housing & Shelter
8
Consejo Counseling & Referral Service

Consejo brings healing, health, and hope to communities through holistic, culturally, and linguistically competent behavioral health services and advocacy.

Health
9
House of Hope

Treating substance use disorders, rebuilding lives, strengthening families, and empowering women.

—
10
Wellnest Emotional Health & Wellness

Through a holistic approach to emotional well-being, Wellnest offers hope, healing, and opportunity to the children, young adults, families, and communities we serve. Our commitment remains steadfast as we enter our second century of…

Human Services
11
Los Angeles Youth Network

Youth Emerging Stronger (YES) empowers young people, between ages of 12 and 24 within Los Angeles County, including but not limited to run-away and homeless youth. YES mission is to end homelessness one youth at a time to become…

Human Services
12
Laurel House Inc dba Hope Harbor

The mission of Laurel House (dba Hope Harbor) is providing a home for teens in crisis, transforming lives, and strengthening families. Laurel House has the only long-term youth shelters in Orange County, CA for runaway, homeless and…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Olive Crest; the most unlike its peers is Our Arts 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

77 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 77 of the 104 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
21
Early backer (in before they grew)
75/77
Grantees still filing
52/77
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Leadership Development DBA Centered: $150,000 · OtherLeadership Development DBA CenteredDIVINE ALTERNATIVES FOR DADS (DAD): $82,297 · OtherSAN DIEGO RESCUE MISSION INC: $94,700 · OtherOur Arts Foundation: $81,689 · Other+49 more: $1,881,931 · Other+49 moreBOTH ENDS BELIEVING INC: $185,000 · Human ServicesBOTH ENDS BELIEVING INCCOMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER: $129,204 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTERSOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE INC: $122,800 · Human ServicesSOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE INCUNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $85,000 · Human ServicesUNION STATION HOMELESS SER…Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking: $66,000 · Human ServicesBusinesses Ending Slavery …JOURNEY HOUSE INC: $60,000 · Human ServicesALL PEOPLES COMMUNITY CENTER: $56,000 · Human ServicesHOPE REFUGE INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesORGANIZATION FOR PROSTITUTION SURVIVORS: $50,000 · Human ServicesPASADENA SENIOR CENTER: $50,000 · Human ServicesCHALLENGED ATHLETES INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesTHE ALABASTER JAR PROJECT: $50,000 · Human ServicesA NEW LEAF COTTAGES INC: $50,000 · Human Services+8 more: $226,100 · Human Services+8 morePasadena Hospital Association Ltd: $150,000 · HealthPasadena Ho…OLIVE CREST: $118,884 · HealthOLIVE CRESTEPIDAURUS DBA AMITY FOUNDATION: $51,700 · HealthEPIDAURUS D…LUCKY DUCK FOUNDATION: $50,000 · HealthLUCKY DUCK …BRIDGES OF HOPE: $50,000 · HealthBRIDGES OF …CENTER FOR COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS: $50,000 · HealthCENTER FOR …+3 more: $41,200 · Health+3 moreJUST IN TIME FOR FOSTER YOUTH: $138,000 · Youth DevelopmentNEIGHBORS EMPOWERING YOUTH N E Y: $60,000 · Youth DevelopmentOUTDOOR OUTREACH: $56,275 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF PASADENA: $35,000 · Youth DevelopmentSeattle Area Youth for Christ: $35,000 · Youth DevelopmentTHE PRODIGY PROJECT: $12,000 · Youth DevelopmentWORLD RELIEF CORP OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF EVANGELICALS: $125,400 · InternationalAGROS INTERNATIONAL: $115,403 · InternationalMEDICAL TEAMS INTERNATIONAL: $50,000 · InternationalCONSTRUCTION FOR CHANGE: $31,688 · InternationalUNITED WAY OF PIERCE COUNTY: $80,000 · PhilanthropyThe Big Table: $40,000 · PhilanthropyALLIANCE FOR HOPE INTERNATIONAL: $35,000 · PhilanthropyFlintridge Center: $35,000 · PhilanthropyCURA SMILES INC: $33,530 · PhilanthropyFeeding The Soul Foundation: $10,000 · PhilanthropyTIDES FOUNDATION: $10,000 · PhilanthropyUrban Impact: $139,500 · ReligionCRISTA Ministries: $50,000 · ReligionTestimony Gospel Brand Ministries: $40,000 · ReligionImpact Latin America: $13,350 · Religion
Other$2,290,617Human Services$1,230,104Health$511,784Youth Development$336,275International$322,491Philanthropy$243,530Religion$242,850

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 budgetBOTH ENDS BELIEVING INC: $185,000 over 4y, 2.5% of budgetLeadership Development DBA Centered: $150,000 over 3y, 5.6% of budgetPasadena Hospital Association Ltd: $150,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUrban Impact: $139,500 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetJUST IN TIME FOR FOSTER YOUTH: $138,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetCOMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER: $129,204 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetWORLD RELIEF CORP OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF EVANGELICALS: $125,400 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSOLUTIONS FOR CHANGE INC: $122,800 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetOLIVE CREST: $118,884 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetAGROS INTERNATIONAL: $115,403 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetSAN DIEGO RESCUE MISSION INC: $94,700 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUNION STATION HOMELESS SERVICES: $85,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED WAY OF PIERCE COUNTY: $80,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetVOICES FOR CHILDREN: $70,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetBALLARD FOOD BANK: $70,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetGOING HOME II: $68,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetBusinesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking: $66,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetA PLACE CALLED HOME: $65,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetA NEW LEAF INC: $61,800 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetJOURNEY HOUSE INC: $60,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetNEIGHBORS EMPOWERING YOUTH N E Y: $60,000 over 2y, 58% of budgetINNER-CITY ARTS: $59,067 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetOUTDOOR OUTREACH: $56,275 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetALL PEOPLES COMMUNITY CENTER: $56,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetEPIDAURUS DBA AMITY FOUNDATION: $51,700 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SEATTLE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY: $50,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCRISTA Ministries: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMEDICAL TEAMS INTERNATIONAL: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFAMILY HOPE dba ELIZABETH HOUSE: $50,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFEEDING SAN DIEGO: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetORGANIZATION FOR PROSTITUTION SURVIVORS: $50,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetLUCKY DUCK FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetPASADENA SENIOR CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetCHALLENGED ATHLETES INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE ALABASTER JAR PROJECT: $50,000 over 1y, 8.3% of budgetBRIDGES OF HOPE: $50,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetA NEW LEAF COTTAGES INC: $50,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetFive Acres The Boys and Girls' Aid Society of Los Angeles County: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCENTER FOR COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS: $50,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetMAMA'S KITCHEN: $47,375 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetMY NEIGHBOR TO LOVE COALITION: $42,000 over 1y, 6.1% of budgetThe Big Table: $40,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetANTIOCH ADOPTIONS: $40,000 over 2y, 4.3% of budgetGirls Rising Above Child Exploitation Inc: $39,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetALLIANCE FOR HOPE INTERNATIONAL: $35,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF PASADENA: $35,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSeattle Area Youth for Christ: $35,000 over 1y, 4.8% 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 Rose Hills Founda…The San Diego Foundat…The Ralph M Parsons F…Pasadena Community Fo…Jewish Community Foun…The Ahmanson Foundati…Ann Peppers FoundationWalter J & Betty C Za…Price Philanthropies …Sempra FoundationThe Country FriendsAlliance Healthcare F…
The Rose Hills FoundationCA27× affinity11 shared granteesties to 10 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Rose Hills Foundation · The San Diego Foundation · The Ralph M Parsons Foundation · Pasadena Community Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · The Ahmanson Foundation · Ann Peppers Foundation · Walter J & Betty C Zable Foundation · Price Philanthropies Foundation · Sempra Foundation · The Country Friends · Alliance Healthcare 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 Gesner Johnson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Gesner Johnson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 67%
  • Going Home Ii: 100% of income from government
  • World Relief Corp of National Association of Evangelicals: 67% of income from government
  • Medical Teams International: 14% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
27report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
2rely on government for over half their income
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 Gesner Johnson Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Gesner Johnson 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 104 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 Gesner Johnson’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