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John Dawson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

John Dawson 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.

$1.2M
Granted FY2024still arriving
22
Grants FY2024still arriving
8
States reached
$150k
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, FY2022 to 2024.

Public Benefit$625kHuman Services$550kArts & Culture$365kYouth Development$345kHealth$285kEducation$215kRecreation & Sports$195kScience & Tech$100kOther$0
02FY2024 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k8 grants · $165k
  • $50k–250k14 grants · $1.1M
$50,000
Median grant
8
States reached
$30M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF THE VALLEY INC$150,000
JAZZ IN ARIZONA INC DBA THE NASH$100,000
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION ARIZONA CHAPTER$100,000
GOLDWATER INSTITUTE$100,000
MINDFULNESS FIRST$100,000
ARIZONA FRIENDS OF FOSTER CHILDREN$100,000
INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE$50,000
FIESTA EVENTS INC$50,000
CATO INSTITUTE$50,000
ARIZONA SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT COMMISSION$50,000
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL CHARITIES$50,000
EAST VALLEY INST OF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION$50,000
ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION$50,000
Individual grant recipient$50,000
HILLSDALE COLLEGE$35,000
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 (FY22–24, $175k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $25k → 14%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $25k → 14%WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT: $25k → 14%ARIZONA FRIENDS OF FOSTER CHILDREN: $100k → 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

MI
UT
CO
VA
AZ
KS
DC
GA
FL
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.

81%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.2M · 14 repeat orgs$525k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against -9% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2024, 1 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
4

Total granted

$2.2M
$160k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
-9%

Still filing today

71%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 69% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $365k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24
EducationPublic BenefitRecreation & SportsHealthHuman ServicesArts & CultureOther
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

  • BG
    BARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
    3× · 2022–2024 · $300k · revenue +62%
  • AF
    ARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION
    3× · 2022–2024 · $175k · revenue +109%
  • CI
    CATO INSTITUTE
    3× · 2022–2024 · $150k · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • BO
    Build Our Little Theater Inc
    one grant, 2023 · $75k · revenue -57% · 95% of their budget
  • CF
    CENTER FOR ARIZONA POLICY INC
    one grant, 2023 · $50k · revenue -9%
  • AH
    American Heart Association Incgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +25%
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
American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona

The american civil liberties union of arizona is the state's premier guardian of liberty working through the arizona legislature and communities statewide to defend and preserve individual rights and freedoms guaranteed to all by the…

—
2
Arizona Latin-American Medical Association
Unclassified
3
Arizona Educational Foundation Inc

To celebrate excellence and cultivate opportunity in pk-12th grade arizona public education.

—
4
Aclu Foundation of Arizona

The mission of the aclu foundation of arizona is to defend and preserve, through litigation and public education, individual rights and freedoms guaranteed to all by the constitution and the laws of the united states and arizona.

Civil Rights
5
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…

Social Science
6
Center for the Future of Arizona

Bringing arizonans together to create a stronger and brighter future for our state.

Community Improvement
7
American Law Institute

The institute's mission, as set out in its certificate of incorporation, is to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to…

Crime & Legal
8
Education Forward Arizona

To advocate for and act on education improvements that advance the quality of life for all arizonans.

—
9
Arizona Wins

Az wins is a coalition of organizations dedicated to achieving public policies that benefit working arizona families and advancing an inclusive, engaged, just and equitable state for all arizonans. in 2024 az wins substantially reduced its…

Civil Rights
10
Arizona Theatre Company

ATC's mission is to create world-class theatre about what it means to be alive today - inspiring curiosity and creativity, sparking empathy and joy - bringing all Arizonans together.

Arts & Culture
11
Open Markets Institute

The open markets institute works to help people relearn how to use competition policy to build stronger democracies, more just and equitable societies, more innovative and sustainable economies, and a more secure and peaceful world.

Education
12
Arizona Healthiest State Foundation
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley Inc; the most unlike its peers is Build Our Little Theater 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

22 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. 22 of the 27 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
22/22
Grantees still filing
15/22
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION ARIZONA CHAPTER: $375,000 · OtherMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION ARIZONA CHAPTERJAZZ IN ARIZONA INC DBA THE NASH: $290,000 · OtherJAZZ IN ARIZONA INC DBA THE NASHBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VALLEY INC: $275,000 · OtherBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VALLEY INCARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION: $175,000 · OtherARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATIONIndividual grant recipient: $100,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientEAST VALLEY INST OF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION: $100,000 · OtherEAST VALLEY INST OF TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATIONEXECUTIVE COUNCIL CHARITIES: $60,000 · OtherINSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: $50,000 · Other+4 more: $50,000 · OtherBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $300,000 · Public BenefitBARRY GOLDWATER IN…CATO INSTITUTE: $150,000 · Public BenefitCATO INSTITUTELibertas Network: $25,000 · Public BenefitHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $195,000 · EducationHILLSDALE COLLE…MINDFULNESS FIRST: $100,000 · EducationMINDFULNESS FIR…CENTER FOR ARIZONA POLICY INC: $50,000 · EducationCENTER FOR ARIZ…BEYOND AUTISM INC: $40,000 · EducationBEYOND AUTISM I…ARIZONA COUNCIL ON ECONOMIC EDUCAT: $20,000 · EducationARIZONA SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT COMMISSION: $135,000 · Recreation & SportsFIESTA EVENTS INC: $50,000 · Recreation & SportsArizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation: $100,000 · Human ServicesWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $75,000 · Human ServicesPhoenix Children's Hospital Foundation: $100,000 · HealthAmerican Heart Association Inc: $25,000 · HealthBuild Our Little Theater Inc: $75,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$1,475,000Public Benefit$475,000Education$405,000Recreation & Sports$185,000Human Services$175,000Health$125,000Arts & Culture$75,000

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 budgetBARRY GOLDWATER INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $300,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE VALLEY INC: $275,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetHILLSDALE COLLEGE: $195,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetARIZONA FREEDOM FOUNDATION: $175,000 over 3y, 19% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE: $150,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetARIZONA SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT COMMISSION: $135,000 over 3y, 16% of budgetPhoenix Children's Hospital Foundation: $100,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetArizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation: $100,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMINDFULNESS FIRST: $100,000 over 1y, 16% of budgetBuild Our Little Theater Inc: $75,000 over 1y, 95% of budgetWOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC: $75,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetEXECUTIVE COUNCIL CHARITIES: $60,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetCENTER FOR ARIZONA POLICY INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetFIESTA EVENTS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBEYOND AUTISM INC: $40,000 over 2y, 2.4% of budgetLibertas Network: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAUTISM LIFE AND LIVING INC: $20,000 over 2y, 7.2% of budgetARIZONA COUNCIL ON ECONOMIC EDUCAT: $20,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetCELEBRATE LIFE INTERNATIONAL INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUS AMATEUR WEIGHTLIFTING FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 2.0% 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.

Arizona Community Fou…American Endowment Fo…Natl Christian Charit…Paypal Charitable Giv…American Online Givin…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Arizona Community FoundationAZ18.5× affinity7 shared granteesties to 9 of 9Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Arizona Community Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · 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 John Dawson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from John Dawson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
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 John Dawson Foundation?

Find your warmest path to John Dawson 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 27 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 John Dawson’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