Skip to content
Howland Memorial Fund at a glance

· Private foundation

Howland Memorial Fund

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$150k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$150k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2025.

Arts & Culture$1.0MEnvironment$152kPhilanthropy$134kPublic Safety & Disaster$86kHealth$56kFood & Nutrition$13kHuman Services$12kReligion$6kOther$0
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$150,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Akron Art Museum$150,000
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 (FY17–21, $22k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 95% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%The Haven of Portage County: $1k → 12%Child Guidance and Family Solutions: $10k → 13%Building for Tomorrow: $5k → 13%South Street Ministries: $1k → 13%Chair-ity Inc: $5k → 13%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.
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 6% of Howland Memorial Fund’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 100% of the giving stays in OH; by stated purpose, 96%.

Howland Memorial Fundlessmore 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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 9 repeat orgs$122k to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
32

Total granted

$1.2M
$122k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+39%
+53%

Still filing today

89%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesHealthEnvironmentPhilanthropyFood & 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

  • AA
    AKRON ART MUSEUM
    4× · 2022–2025 · $450k · revenue +66%
  • WR
    WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
    6× · 2017–2023 · $411k · revenue +1%
  • FO
    Friends of Glendale Cemetery
    5× · 2018–2024 · $145k · revenue +102% · 84% of their budget

Funded once

  • AC
    AKRON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $15k · revenue +38%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $14k
  • CG
    CHILD GUIDANCE & FAMILY SOLUTIONS
    one grant, 2018 · $10k · revenue -23%
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
Akron Revitalization Committee Inc
Community Improvement
2
Akron Parks Collaborative

To engage the akron, ohio community around the creation and sustainability of vibrant public spaces within the city of akron. we foster and support neighborhood park advocates by enabling them to meet their goals, partner with the city and…

Recreation & Sports
3
Akron Soul Train

Akron soul train (ast) is a multidisciplinary residency program that provides 12-15 artists each year with paid residencies. our mission is to offer ohio-based visual, performing, and literary artists the space, time, and financial…

Arts & Culture
4
Summit County Historical Society of Akron Ohio

The society was founded in 1924 for the original purpose of writing a centenniaal history of akron, ohio. today, our mission is to preserve and interpret the history of summit county and akron, and to educate regional communities about the…

Arts & Culture
5
Cleveland Museum of Art

The mission of the cleveland museum of art (cma) is to fulfill its dual roles as one of the world's most distinguished comprehensive art museums and as one of northeastern ohio's principal civic and cultural institutions. the museum,…

Arts & Culture
6
Middleburg Heights Historical Society

Non profit historical society

Arts & Culture
7
Canfield Heritage Foundation

Museum

Arts & Culture
8
Summit Artspace

Summit artspace connects artists and artist-serving organizations to the community and to the resources they need to thrive professionally, creatively, and financially. its core values of creativity, collaboration, and community guide the…

Arts & Culture
9
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
10
Leadership Akron

The mission of leadership akron is to inspire, strengthen, and empower leaders. our purpose is to unlock the potential of leaders and serve as a catalyst that drives them to create a greater akron.

Education
11
Akron Zoological Park

We connect your life to wildlife while inspiring lifelong learning and conservation action.

Animals
12
Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron

To improve the health of children, teenagers and young adults through excellence in patient care, education, research, advocacy and community partnerships.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park; the most unlike its peers is Friends of Glendale Cemetery. 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

25 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. 25 of the 42 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
25/25
Grantees still filing
21/25
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AKRON ART MUSEUM: $450,000 · Arts & CultureAKRON ART MUSEUMWESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $411,000 · Arts & CultureWESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETYFriends of Glendale Cemetery: $145,000 · Arts & CultureFriends of Glendale Cemetery+4 more: $17,000 · Arts & CultureAkron Fire Department: $75,000 · OtherAkron Fire …Individual grant recipient: $14,000 · OtherIndividual …Summa Health Foundation: $10,000 · OtherSumma Healt…American Red Cross - Akron Chapter: $10,000 · OtherAmerican Re…Akron Children's Hospital: $10,000 · OtherAkron Child…ST SEBASTIAN PARISH: $5,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $5,000 · Other+13 more: $15,500 · Other+13 moreCONSERVANCY FOR CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL PARK: $125,000 · EnvironmentCONSERVANC…CROWN POINT ECOLOGY CENTER: $13,000 · EnvironmentCROWN POIN…AKRON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $127,000 · PhilanthropyAKRON COM…+2 more: $3,500 · PhilanthropyAKRON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $15,000 · HealthEMBRACING FUTURES INC: $9,000 · Health+2 more: $1,000 · HealthCHILD GUIDANCE & FAMILY SOLUTIONS: $10,000 · Human ServicesBUILDING FOR TOMORROW: $5,000 · Human ServicesCHAIR-ITY: $5,000 · Human ServicesShepherds House of Portage County: $1,000 · Human ServicesSOUTH STREET MNISTRIES INC: $1,000 · Human ServicesAKRON-CANTON REGIONAL FOODBANK: $5,500 · Food & Nutrition
Arts & Culture$1,023,000Other$144,500Environment$138,000Philanthropy$130,500Health$25,000Human Services$22,000Food & Nutrition$5,500

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 budgetAKRON ART MUSEUM: $450,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetWESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $411,000 over 6y, 2.4% of budgetFriends of Glendale Cemetery: $145,000 over 5y, 84% of budgetAKRON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $127,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetCONSERVANCY FOR CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL PARK: $125,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetAKRON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCROWN POINT ECOLOGY CENTER: $13,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetCHILD GUIDANCE & FAMILY SOLUTIONS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEMBRACING FUTURES INC: $9,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetAKRON-CANTON REGIONAL FOODBANK: $5,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetART RESOURCES TRANSFORMATIONS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCUYAHOGA VALLEY PRESERVATION AND SCENIC RAILWAY ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBUILDING FOR TOMORROW: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCHAIR-ITY: $5,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetSAINT SEBASTIAN PARISH FOUNDATION: $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetGOOD NEIGHBORS INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCASCADE LOCKS PARK ASSOCIATION: $2,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetHUMANE SOCIETY OF SUMMIT COUNTY: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetShepherds House of Portage County: $1,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetSOUTH STREET MNISTRIES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE KELLY REEVES MEMORIAL FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPORTAGE PATH BEHAVIORAL HEALTH: $500 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.

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.

Akron Community Found…The Welty Family Foun…Lehner Family Foundat…Sisler McFawn Foundat…Lloyd L & Louise K Sm…Mary S & David C Corb…L R Moffitt & L W Mof…Charles E and Mabel M…W Paul Mills & Thora …Gar FoundationUnited Way of Summit …Firstenergy Foundation
Akron Community FoundationOH49.8× affinity22 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Akron Community Foundation · The Welty Family Foundation · Lehner Family Foundation · Sisler McFawn Foundation Pfdn · Lloyd L & Louise K Smith Foundation · Mary S & David C Corbin Foundation · L R Moffitt & L W Moffitt Foundation · Charles E and Mabel M Ritchie Memorial · W Paul Mills & Thora J Mills Memorial · Gar Foundation · United Way of Summit and Medina · Firstenergy 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 Howland Memorial Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Howland Memorial Fund. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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 42 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 Howland Memorial’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