Skip to content
Hern Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Hern Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$269k
Granted FY2025still arriving
21
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$63k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Religion$481kHuman Services$390kEducation$246kFood & Nutrition$111kCivil Rights$104kHealth$74kCommunity Improvement$64kYouth Development$45kOther$0
02FY2025 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k12 grants · $35k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $113k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $120k
$5,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$7.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE CHURCH$63,110
UNITED STATE AVIATION CO$56,800
SOLDIER'S WISH$30,100
FOOD BANK OF EAST OKLAHOMA$25,000
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF TULSA INC$17,800
SALVATION ARMY$10,400
FOOD ON THE MOVE$10,000
TULSA FOP 93 FOUNDATION$10,000
MEALS ON WHEELS-OF METRO TULSA$10,000
PARENT CHILD CENTER OF TULSA$5,000
NATIONAL GUARD FOUNDATION$5,000
TULSA FIREFIGHTERS BENEVOLENCE FUND$5,000
EAGLE OPS FOUNDATION$5,000
918 FULLY INVOLVED$3,750
OKLAHOMA COUNCIL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS INC$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:

Its human-services grants (FY19–25, $61k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Wounded Warrior Project: $250 → 16%Oklahoma Warriors Honor Flight: $250 → 18%Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children: $1k → 16%BROKEN ARROWS SENIORS INC: $5k → 15%Warriors for Freedom Foundation: $250 → 16%918 FULLY INVOLVED: $4k → 15%918 Fully Involved: $4k → 15%TULSA BOYS HOME: $5k → 15%918 FULLY INVOLVED: $3k → 15%TULSA BOYS HOME: $5k → 15%EMERGENCY INFANT SERVICES: $500 → 15%Foundation for Exceptional Warriors: $250 → 15%Neighbor for Neighbor: $500 → 15%Hearts for Hearing: $10k → 15%HEARTS FOR HEARING: $5k → 15%HEARTS FOR HEARING: $5k → 15%HEARTS FOR HEARING: $500 → 15%YOUTH AT HEART: $5k → 15%YOUTH AT HEART: $5k → 15%Lilyfield Inc: $1k → 15%LILYFIELD: $500 → 15%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

MI
CT
VA
MD
AR
SC
OK
AL
GA
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.

73%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 41 repeat orgs$454k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +16% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

41 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2025, 31 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

41
60

Total granted

$1.2M
$343k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
0%

Still filing today

59%
32%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $111k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationYouth DevelopmentHealthPhilanthropyFood & 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

  • CF
    CLASSICALLY FORMED FOUNDATION INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $224k · revenue +108%
  • RM
    Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tulsa
    7× · 2017–2025 · $71k · revenue +44%
  • AL
    AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS ASSN
    2× · 2023–2024 · $30k · revenue +23%

Funded once

  • TG
    Tulsa Girls Home - Project Orphans Inc
    one grant, 2024 · $135k
  • PF
    PEOPLE FOR OPPORTUNITY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $100k · revenue +331%
  • KA
    KIDS AGAINST GLOBAL HUNGER
    one grant, 2023 · $10k
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
Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation
Arts & Culture
2
Pi Beta Phi Foundation of Okc
Philanthropy
3
E Foundation for Oklahoma Inc

To educate and enhance communications with Oklahomans regarding the beenfits of results-oriented policy making in the areas of education, efficiency, entrepreneurship, empowerment, energy, enduring freedom, and eternity.

—
4
Masonic Charity Foundation of Oklahoma
Health
5
Ok Foundation

Serving the needs of the whole child, including education, safety, environment, health, and well-being.

Philanthropy
6
Livefree Okc Inc

Dramatically reduce gun violence in impacted Oklahoma communities through intervention and effective provision of resources.

Human Services
7
Tulsa Advocates for the Protection of Children

To improve the lives of children and youth in oklahoma's child welfare system by providing resources and building community.

Crime & Legal
8
Tulsa Honor Academy Inc

The operation of a public charter school in the tulsa area with the mission to equip all scholars with the academic skills, content knowledge, and ethical character required for college graduation and life success.

Education
9
Oklahoma Hall of Fame

The oklahoma hall of fame preserves oklahomas unique history while promoting pride in our great state through each of its programs and the gaylord-pickens museum. the association honors our states rich tradition by telling oklahomas story…

Arts & Culture
10
Oklahoma Scholarship Fund Inc
—
11
Goodwill Industries of Tulsa Inc

Goodwill empowers people to reach their full potential through work opportunities, training, and support services.

Employment
12
Oklahoma Workforce and Citizens of Tomorrow Coalitioninc

The purpose of the corporation is to create a coalition of educators and community leaders to develop higher education strategies and studies which will lead to a better workforce in the state of oklahoma.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of Oklahoma Inc; the most unlike its peers is Mva Inc. 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

51 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. 51 of the 113 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
49/51
Grantees still filing
29/51
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CHURCH AT BATTLE CREEK: $333,300 · OtherCHURCH AT BATTLE CREEKTulsa Girls Home - Project Orphans Inc: $135,000 · OtherTulsa Girls Home - Project Orphans IncTHE CHURCH: $108,110 · OtherTHE CHURCHRonald McDonald House Charities of Tulsa: $70,695 · OtherRonald McDonald House Charities of TulsaUNITED STATE AVIATION CO: $56,800 · Other+80 more: $398,401 · Other+80 moreCLASSICALLY FORMED FOUNDATION INC: $223,500 · EducationCLASSICALLY FOR…+5 more: $9,917 · EducationPEOPLE FOR OPPORTUNITY INC: $100,000 · Civil RightsSoldier's Wish: $70,350 · Public BenefitEAGLE OPS FOUNDATION: $18,500 · Public BenefitHearts for Hearing Foundation: $20,500 · Human Services918 Fully Involved: $10,850 · Human ServicesYouth At Heart Inc: $10,000 · Human ServicesTULSA BOYS' HOME INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesBROKEN ARROW SENIORS INC: $5,000 · Human Services+9 more: $5,000 · Human ServicesFood on the Move Inc: $20,000 · Food & NutritionMeals on Wheels of Metro Tulsa Inc: $20,000 · Food & NutritionAMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS ASSN: $30,000 · Health+2 more: $1,250 · Health
Other$1,102,306Education$233,417Civil Rights$100,000Public Benefit$88,850Human Services$61,350Food & Nutrition$40,000Health$31,250

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 budgetCLASSICALLY FORMED FOUNDATION INC: $223,500 over 3y, 6.3% of budgetRonald McDonald House Charities of Tulsa: $70,695 over 7y, 1.5% of budgetSoldier's Wish: $70,350 over 4y, 5.2% of budgetAMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS ASSN: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budget94X MOVEMENT CORPORATION: $25,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetHearts for Hearing Foundation: $20,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetOPERATION AWARE OF OKLAHOMA: $20,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetFood on the Move Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMeals on Wheels of Metro Tulsa Inc: $20,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetEAGLE OPS FOUNDATION: $18,500 over 5y, 1.2% of budgetO R U GOLDEN EAGLE CLUB INC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTULSA FIREFIGHTERS BENEVOLENCE FUND: $15,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetMVA INC: $11,100 over 5y, 4.8% of budget918 Fully Involved: $10,850 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetLITTLE LIGHT HOUSE INC: $10,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetYouth At Heart Inc: $10,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetTULSA BOYS' HOME INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTulsa FOP 93 Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetFOUNDATION TO RESTORE ACCOUNTABILITY: $10,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetNEW HOPE OKLAHOMA INC: $7,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetBROKEN ARROW SENIORS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetTHE DEMAND PROJECT INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetARKANSAS TECH UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDillon International Inc: $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE SARAH STITT HOPE FOUNDATION INC: $2,167 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGIRL SCOUTS OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTULSA DREAM CENTER INC: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLILYFIELD INC: $1,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEWVIEW OKLAHOMA INC: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTULSA SCOTTISH RITE CHARITABLE AND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION: $1,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOKLAHOMA BAPTIST HOMES FOR CHILDREN INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBIRTHRIGHT LIVING LEGACY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF OKLAHOMA INC: $915 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHONOR BUNKER INC: $750 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTRIMBLE STRONG FOUNDATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetEmergency Infant Services Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PANCREAS FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEIGHBOR FOR NEIGHBOR INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOUNDATION FOR EXCEPTIONAL WARRIOR INC: $250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFOLDS OF HONOR FOUNDATION: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOKLAHOMA WARRIORS HONOR FLIGHT INC: $250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWARRIORS FOR FREEDOM: $250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetILLUMINATIONS FOUNDATION INC: $135 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOKLAHOMA SHERIFFS ASSOCIATION INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% 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 CLASSICALLY FORMED FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds PEOPLE FOR OPPORTUNITY INC ↗
  • Who funds Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tulsa ↗
  • Who funds Soldier's Wish ↗
  • Who funds AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS ASSN ↗
  • Who funds 94X MOVEMENT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds Hearts for Hearing Foundation ↗
  • Who funds OPERATION AWARE OF OKLAHOMA ↗
  • Who funds Food on the Move Inc ↗
  • Who funds Meals on Wheels of Metro Tulsa Inc ↗
  • Who funds EAGLE OPS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds O R U GOLDEN EAGLE CLUB INC ↗
  • Who funds TULSA FIREFIGHTERS BENEVOLENCE FUND ↗
  • Who funds MVA INC ↗
  • Who funds 918 Fully Involved ↗
  • Who funds LITTLE LIGHT HOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds Youth At Heart Inc ↗
  • Who funds TULSA BOYS' HOME INC ↗
  • Who funds Tulsa FOP 93 Foundation ↗
  • Who funds FOUNDATION TO RESTORE ACCOUNTABILITY ↗
  • Who funds NEW HOPE OKLAHOMA INC ↗

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.

Tulsa Community Found…The Anne and Henry Za…Grace & Franklin Bern…The Gelvin FoundationRalph and Frances McG…The Hardesty Family F…Arvest FoundationMervin Bovaird Founda…The Sharna and Irvin …El and Thelma Gaylord…Morningcrest Healthca…Oneok Foundation Inc
Tulsa Community FoundationOK47.7× affinity28 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Tulsa Community Foundation · The Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation · Grace & Franklin Bernsen Foundation · The Gelvin Foundation · Ralph and Frances McGill Foundation the Trust Company of Oklahoma · The Hardesty Family Foundation Inc · Arvest Foundation · Mervin Bovaird Foundation · The Sharna and Irvin Frank Foundation · El and Thelma Gaylord Foundation · Morningcrest Healthcare Foundation · Oneok Foundation Inc

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 Hern Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Hern Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 300%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →median 45%
  • Newview Oklahoma Inc: 45% of income from government
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
30get no government money at all
12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
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 113 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 Hern 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