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Helen Johnston Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Helen Johnston Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$8k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$2k
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, FY2019 to 2025.

Religion$64kEnvironment$36kAnimals$32kArts & Culture$8kCivil Rights$6kHousing & Shelter$3kHuman Services$2kYouth Development$2kOther$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,500
Median grant
2
States reached
$56k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Egan Slough Community$2,000
Raptor Inc$1,500
Little Miami Conservatory$1,500
Flathead Spay & Neuter Task Force$1,000
Kittymoms Rescue Organization$1,000
Mill Creek Alliance$1,000
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 (FY24–24, $52k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%Adventures in Truth Ministries: $50k → 12%Citizens for a Better Flathead: $2k → 11%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

MT
NY
SD
OH
CA
CO
VA
DC
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 16% of Helen Johnston Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 53% of the giving stays in OH; by stated purpose, 47%.

Helen Johnston Family 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.

38%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$57k · 15 repeat orgs$94k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +52% since the first grant, against +31% for those funded once.

15 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
10

Total granted

$57k
$92k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+52%
+31%

Still filing today

67%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k 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
EnvironmentAnimalsHuman ServicesHealthArts & CultureCivil RightsOther
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

  • LM
    LITTLE MIAMI CONSERVANCY
    6× · 2020–2025 · $9k · revenue +467%
  • CG
    CITY GOSPEL MISSION AND AFFILIATES
    6× · 2019–2024 · $5k · revenue +18%
  • TM
    THE MONTANA LAND RELIANCE
    5× · 2020–2024 · $4k · revenue +248%

Funded once

  • AI
    ADVENTURES IN TRUTH MINISTRIES
    one grant, 2024 · $50k · revenue -20%
  • PT
    Pilots to the Rescue
    one grant, 2024 · $15k
  • TU
    TROUT UNLIMITED INCgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $13k · revenue +31%
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
Washington Forest Law Center

Dedicated to protecting the world's natural environment on behalf of the public by serving as a public interest law firm. refer to schedule o, part iii, line 4a, for list of litigated cases or advocacy work.

—
2
Natural Resources Defense Council Inc

We safeguard the earth: its people, its plants and animals, and (see schedule o) the natural systems on which all life depends. we work to restore the integrity of the elements that sustain life - air, land, and water - to defend…

Environment
3
West Creek Conservancy

Our mission is to enrich the lives of all people in northeast ohio by conserving natural habitats, restoring the ecological value of our region's lands and waters, and expanding opportunities to connect people from all cultures to…

Environment
4
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
5
Florida Conservation Group Inc

Mission is to seek protection of land and water resources through restoration and conservation; and conducting education and outreach on the ecological and economic importance of natural lands. we protect land from development and protect…

Environment
6
Resource Renewal Institute

The resource renewal institute facilitates the creation, development and implementation of practical strategies to solve the entire complex environmental problem by addressing it comprehensively.

Environment
7
Cascadia Wildlands

Cascadia wildlands defends and restores cacasia's wild ecosystems in the forests,in the courts, and in the streets. we envision vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, a stable climate, and…

Environment
8
Coalition to Protect Michigan Resources

The coalition to protect michigan resources's mission is to be a strong voice for the equitable co-management of michigan's fisheries, with both the great lakes and inland lakes and streams, to insure that conservation principles remain in…

Environment
9
Climate Conservation Dba Center for Large Landscape Conservation

We bring science, policy, and proven solutions directly to communities working to restore the integrity and natural connectivity of the landscapes in which they live. (see schedule o)

Environment
10
National Wildlife Federation

Unite all americans to ensure wildlife thrives in a rapidly changing world.

Animals
11
Wild Landscapes Inc

Wild landscapes, inc. (wli) is dedicated to conserving large and connected landscapes globally significant to wildlife and crucial to local communities. our environmental conservation strategy is to empower communities, conservationists,…

Animals
12
Wild Salmon Rivers

To conserve functioning salmon/steelhead eco-system at watershed levels, integrate angling activities with basic scientific research, collect raw data, monitor environmental functions, salmon/steelhead population dynamics, public…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Center for Christian Virtue; the most unlike its peers is KittyMOMs Rescue Organization. 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

20 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. 20 of the 28 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/20
Grantees still filing
14/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ADVENTURES IN TRUTH MINISTRIES: $50,000 · Human ServicesADVENTURES IN TRUTH MINISTRIESCITIZENS FOR A BETTER FLATHEAD: $2,000 · Human ServicesPilots to the Rescue: $15,000 · OtherPilots to the RescueFirst Baptist Church: $5,500 · OtherFirst Baptist ChurchRAPTOR INC: $5,000 · OtherRAPTOR INCCITY GOSPEL MISSION AND AFFILIATES: $4,500 · OtherCITY GOSPEL MISSION AND AFFILIATESFirst Liberty Institute: $3,500 · OtherFirst Liberty InstituteCELEBRATE COMMUNITY CHURCH: $3,000 · OtherCELEBRATE COMMUNITY CHURCHNATIONAL NETWORK FOR YOUTH INC: $2,700 · OtherNATIONAL NETWORK FOR YOUTH INCThe Orangutan Foundation: $2,660 · OtherThe Orangutan FoundationTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $2,200 · OtherFOCUS ON THE FAMILY: $2,061 · OtherCINCINNATI ZOO: $2,061 · Other+1 more: $500 · OtherLITTLE MIAMI CONSERVANCY: $9,000 · EnvironmentLITTLE MIAMI CONSERV…EGAN SLOUGH COMMUNITY: $8,361 · EnvironmentEGAN SLOUGH COMMUNIT…THE MONTANA LAND RELIANCE: $4,250 · EnvironmentTHE MONTANA LAND REL…WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $3,000 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE FUND …THE OHIO ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $1,500 · EnvironmentTHE OHIO ENVIRONMENT…MILL CREEK ALLIANCE: $1,000 · EnvironmentTROUT UNLIMITED INC: $12,500 · AnimalsTROUT UNLIMITE…FLATHEAD SPAY AND NEUTER TASK FORCE INC: $3,790 · AnimalsFLATHEAD SPAY …Wildlife Conservation Society: $2,700 · AnimalsWildlife Conse…KittyMOMs Rescue Organization: $1,000 · AnimalsPALADIN CONSERVANCY INC: $2,000 · Arts & CultureCENTER FOR CHRISTIAN VIRTUE: $1,500 · Civil RightsThe Christ Hospital Foundation: $1,000 · HealthCOLLISION MINISTRIES INC: $1,000 · Youth Development
Human Services$52,000Other$48,682Environment$27,111Animals$19,990Arts & Culture$2,000Civil Rights$1,500Health$1,000Youth Development$1,000

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 budgetADVENTURES IN TRUTH MINISTRIES: $50,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetTROUT UNLIMITED INC: $12,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLITTLE MIAMI CONSERVANCY: $9,000 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetEGAN SLOUGH COMMUNITY: $8,361 over 5y, 9.0% of budgetRAPTOR INC: $5,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCITY GOSPEL MISSION AND AFFILIATES: $4,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MONTANA LAND RELIANCE: $4,250 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFLATHEAD SPAY AND NEUTER TASK FORCE INC: $3,790 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $3,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetWildlife Conservation Society: $2,700 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL NETWORK FOR YOUTH INC: $2,700 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $2,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCITIZENS FOR A BETTER FLATHEAD: $2,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetPALADIN CONSERVANCY INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTHE OHIO ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCENTER FOR CHRISTIAN VIRTUE: $1,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetThe Christ Hospital Foundation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLISION MINISTRIES INC: $1,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetKittyMOMs Rescue Organization: $1,000 over 1y, 0.9% 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.

  • Who funds ADVENTURES IN TRUTH MINISTRIES ↗
  • Who funds TROUT UNLIMITED INC ↗
  • Who funds LITTLE MIAMI CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds EGAN SLOUGH COMMUNITY ↗
  • Who funds RAPTOR INC ↗
  • Who funds CITY GOSPEL MISSION AND AFFILIATES ↗
  • Who funds THE MONTANA LAND RELIANCE ↗
  • Who funds FLATHEAD SPAY AND NEUTER TASK FORCE INC ↗
  • Who funds WORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds Wildlife Conservation Society ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL NETWORK FOR YOUTH INC ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds CITIZENS FOR A BETTER FLATHEAD ↗
  • Who funds PALADIN CONSERVANCY INC ↗
  • Who funds THE OHIO ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN VIRTUE ↗
  • Who funds The Christ Hospital Foundation ↗
  • Who funds COLLISION MINISTRIES INC ↗
  • Who funds KittyMOMs Rescue Organization ↗
  • Who funds MILL CREEK ALLIANCE ↗

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.

Robert A Johnston Fou…The Greater Cincinnat…Ge Aerospace Foundati…Vanguard Charitable E…The Bank of America C…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Robert A Johnston FoundationOH22.1× affinity8 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Robert A Johnston Foundation · The Greater Cincinnati Foundation · Ge Aerospace Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Helen Johnston Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Helen Johnston Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%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
    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 Helen Johnston Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Helen Johnston Family 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 28 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 Helen Johnston 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