· Private foundation
John G & Phyllis W Smale Family Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k10 grants · $24k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $42k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CINCINNATI PARKS FOUNDATION | $50,000 |
| SPRINGER SCHOOL & CENTER | $15,000 |
| LOVE GROWS PROGRAM INC | $15,000 |
| MILL CREEK ALLIANCE | $11,500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $5,000 |
| OHIO RIVER FOUNDATION | $5,000 |
| BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF GREATER CINCINNATI | $5,000 |
| QUEEN CITY BOOK BANK | $3,000 |
| EVERY CHILD SUCCEEDS | $3,000 |
| DENVER PARK TRUST | $1,000 |
| YELLOW SPRINGS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | $500 |
| DUKE UNIVERSITY | $500 |
| KENYON COLLEGE | $500 |
| FREESTORE FOODBANK | $500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY22–25, $11k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, 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.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +36% since the first grant, against -91% for those funded once.
10 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 84% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $19k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CPCincinnati Parks Foundation6× · 2020–2025 · $272k · revenue +57%
- MCMILL CREEK ALLIANCE4× · 2020–2025 · $47k · revenue +200%
- TLTHE LOVE GROWS PROGRAM INC3× · 2023–2025 · $26k · revenue +13%
Funded once
- MHMUSIC HALL REVITALIZATION COMPANY INCone grant, 2021 · $20k · revenue -91%
- CMCINCINNATI MUSIC HALLone grant, 2020 · $20k
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.
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.
Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…
To grow the vibrancy and economic prosperity of the cincinnati region.
To empower Cincinnati entrepreneurs to launch bold, scalable startups; and we work to improve the odds of those startups growing into transformational companies.
Creating leaders who, through the discovery of their own abilities, kindle the potential in others and better a dynamic world.
Cincinnati museum center inspires people of all ages to learn more about our world through science, regional history, and educational, engaging and meaningful experiences.
Cincinnati Public Radio is the trusted, independent source of journalism, music and culture empowering a vibrant, engaged and informed community.
The mission of the cincinnati observatory is to maintain the integrity and heritage of an historic 19th century observatory and to educate, engage, and inspire our community about astronomy and science.
To harness the collective expertise of ohio's ceos to advocate for policies that improve ohio's economic competitiveness.
To develop and promote economic development, talent initiatives and the unique offerings in the cincinnati region.
Empower the people of greater cleveland to achieve success through technology, innovation and connected community.
To offer children and young adults a top quality program that develops, trains and competes as competitive swimmers year-round in a supportive and motivating enviroment that respects, challenges and nurtures them as athletes, students, and…
Advancing a thriving central ohio commmunity by serving as a catalyst for all businesses to grow and flourish. our mission pillars are connections, government relations, strategic business solutions and talent/workforce.
How this is measured
17 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. 17 of the 19 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 Cincinnati Parks Foundation ↗
- Who funds MILL CREEK ALLIANCE ↗
- Who funds THE LOVE GROWS PROGRAM INC ↗
- Who funds CISE ↗
- Who funds CINCINNATI CENTER CITY DEVELOPMENT CORP ↗
- Who funds MUSIC HALL REVITALIZATION COMPANY INC ↗
- Who funds SPRINGER SCHOOL AND CENTER ↗
- Who funds Every Child Succeeds ↗
- Who funds THE SEVEN HILLS SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds Ohio River Foundation ↗
- Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF GREATER CINCINNATI ↗
- Who funds DUKE UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds LITERACY NETWORK OF GREATER CINCINNATI DBA QUEEN CITY BOOK BANK ↗
- Who funds KENYON COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds Denver Park Trust ↗
- Who funds FREESTORE FOODBANK INC ↗
- Who funds YELLOW SPRINGS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Louise Taft Semple Foundation · Carol Ann and Ralph V Haile Jr Foundation · The Greater Cincinnati Foundation · Johnson Charitable Gift Fund · Williams Foundation · Charles H Dater Foundation Inc · Duke Energy Foundation · The James J and Joan a Gardner Family Foundation · The Thomas J Emery Memorial · Andrew Jergens Foundation · Fidelity Foundation · The Frances R Luther Charitable Trust
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization John G & Phyllis W Smale Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from John G & Phyllis W Smale Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to John G & Phyllis W Smale Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to John G & Phyllis W Smale 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.
Play a game based on John G & Phyllis W Smale Family’s filings →