Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

John Henry Foster and Bernadine Foster 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.

$77k
Granted FY2025still arriving
33
Grants FY2025still arriving
6
States reached
$13k
Largest
01What you fund
0162% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant clustered by its grantee’s IRS cause code (NTEE), by year — across FY20172025.

Environment$98kHealth$97kEducation$83kHuman Services$63kAnimals$51kRecreation & Sports$19kScience & Tech$13kCivil Rights$8kPublic Benefit$8kOther$284k
02FY2025 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k30 grants · $43k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $34k
$1,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$13,000
ASPIRE ADVOCATES FOR BEHAVIORAL HEA$11,000
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY$10,000
ST LOUIS ZOO$6,000
MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDENS$5,000
ST LOUIS AQUARIUM FOUNDATION$4,000
ALZHEIMERS ASSOCIATION$4,000
GATEWAY ARCH PARK FOUNDATION$3,000
AMCP$2,000
Individual grant recipient$2,000
JOY PETALERS$2,000
ST LOUIS CHILDRENS HOSPITAL$2,000
FOREST PARK FOREVER$2,000
Individual grant recipient$1,350
ST LOUIS SCIENCE CENTER$1,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–25, $63k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%GREATER MINNEAPOLIS CRISIS NURSERY: $500 → 11%EYE THRIVE: $103 → 21%OUR LADYS INN: $2k → 11%DECEMBER 5TH FUND: $2k → 11%DECEMBER 5TH FUND: $1k → 11%OUR LADYS INN: $1k → 11%DECEMBER 5TH FUND: $1k → 11%DECEMBER 5TH FUND: $1k → 11%DECEMBER 5TH FUND: $1k → 11%DECEMBER 5TH FUND: $1k → 11%DECEMBER 5TH FUND: $1k → 11%OUR LADYS INN: $1k → 11%OUR LADYS INN: $1k → 11%DECEMBER 5TH FUND: $1k → 11%OUR LADYS INN: $1k → 11%OUR LADYS INN: $1k → 11%FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER: $5k → 11%GATEWAY REGION YMCA: $16k → 21%FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER: $4k → 11%FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER: $4k → 11%FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER: $4k → 11%FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER: $3k → 11%FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER: $2k → 11%FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER: $2k → 11%FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER: $1k → 11%FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER: $1k → 11%JOY PETALERS: $2k → 11%JOY PETALERS: $500 → 11%ANGELS ARMS: $1k → 11%ANGELS ARMS: $1k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

MN
IL
NY
IN
NJ
CA
CO
MO
VA
AR
TN
DC
GA
TX

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$628k · 53 repeat orgs$96k to everyone else

53 repeat relationships — 19 still active in FY2025, 34 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

53
17

Total granted

$628k
$87k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+48%

Still filing today

62%
59%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $9k 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 ServicesHealthAnimalsEnvironmentArts & CultureEducationOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • MB
    MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES
    9× · 2017–2025 · $81k · revenue +37%
  • WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $80k · revenue +76%
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER
    9× · 2017–2025 · $26k · revenue +63%

Funded once

  • KD
    KILO DIABETES & VASCULAR RESEARCH
    one grant, 2017 · $46k
  • GR
    GATEWAY REGION YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2023 · $16k · revenue -1%
  • CF
    CHESTERFIELD FAMILY YMCA
    one grant, 2023 · $12k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
The Saint Louis Zoo Association

The saint louis zoo association was established to support and enhance the saint louis zoo by providing facilities, funds, and advice. the association provides direct financial support to the zoo for renovations, new facilities, programs,…

Animals
2
Mid-America Transplant Services

To save lives through excellence in organ and tissue donation.

Health
3
Mission St Louis

Mission: st. louis empowers individuals for social and economic growth through relationships and opportunity.

Community Improvement
4
Missouri State Medical Association

Msma's mission is to serve its members through promotion of the science & art of medicine, protection of the health of the public & betterment of the medical profession in missouri.

5
St Lukes Episcopal-Presbyterian Hospitals

We are dedicated to providing exceptional care to every patient, every time.

Health
6
American Academy of Neurology

The Academy's mission is to enhance member career fulfillment and promote brain health for all.

Community Improvement
7
The Wildlife Society

The wildlife society's mission is to inspire, empower, and enable wildlife professionals to sustain wildlife populations and habitats through science-based management and conservation.

Animals
8
American Water Works Association

To promote public health, safety, and welfare through the improvement of the quality and quantity of drinking water and the development and furtherance of understanding of the problems relating thereto.

Public Benefit
9
Teach St Louis

Founded In 2018, Teach St. Louis (formerly St. Louis Teacher Residency) launched to improve teacher quality and retention in St. Louis, a city where 40% of new teachers exit the classroom in their first three years. Teach St. Louis…

Education
10
St Louis Association of Realtors

The association provides knowledge, guidance and resources which enhances members' professionalism and success, supports growth in the area's diverse communities and protects private property rights.

11
Ssm Health Care St Louis

Through our exceptional health care services, we reveal the healing presence of god.

Health
12
Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States Inc

The fsmb serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best…

Health

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is St Louis Crisis Nursery and the most unlike its peers is Bloomington Creative Glass Center. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyCommunity Service Organizat…Family Philanthropic Founda…Private Foundations and Don…Arts Education and Performa…Women's Empowerment Organiz…Pet Rescue and TrainingAffordable Housing & Reside…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 33 years old; the field is 20. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number19%4%<5yr13%8%5–10yr17%15%10–20yr16%31%20–35yr17%19%35–55yr18%23%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value19%9%<5yr13%6%5–10yr17%9%10–20yr16%17%20–35yr17%15%35–55yr18%44%55yr+

The field is 19% startups (under 5 years old) — 4% of your grantees by number, and just 9% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close 2% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
2%1/55
the rest of the field
13%
2,191/16,535

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

52 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 52 of the 85 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
51/52
Grantees still filing
36/52
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

KILO DIABETES & VASCULAR RESEARCH — $46,200 · OtherKILO DIABETES & VASCULAR RESEARCHIndividual grant recipient — $33,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION — $27,100 · OtherALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATIONST LOUIS ZOO — $23,900 · OtherST LOUIS ZOOSAINT LOUIS ZOO — $18,500 · OtherSAINT LOUIS ZOOSAINT LOUIS STUDENT ROBOTICS ASSOCIATION INC — $11,650 · OtherBEST BUDDIES INTERNATIONAL INC — $11,600 · OtherCHESTERFIELD FAMILY YMCA — $11,500 · OtherAcademy of Managed Care Pharmacy — $13,000 · Other+45 more — $116,325 · Other+45 moreMISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES — $80,500 · EnvironmentMISSOURI BOTANI…Forest Park Forever Inc — $14,000 · EnvironmentForest Park For…+3 more — $3,300 · EnvironmentAspire Advocates for Behavioral Health Inc — $42,700 · HealthAspire Advocate…FAMILIES OF SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY DBA CURE SMA — $20,000 · HealthFAMILIES OF SPI…American Heart Association Inc — $12,900 · HealthAmerican Heart …American Diabetes Association — $11,500 · HealthAmerican Diabet…HYPERTROPHIC CARDIOMYOPATHY ASSOCIATION — $4,750 · HealthBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $4,000 · Health+1 more — $1,000 · HealthWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY — $80,000 · EducationWASHINGTON UN…THE DENTAL HEALTH THEATRE INC — $3,250 · EducationFRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER — $25,500 · Human ServicesFRIENDS O…GATEWAY REGION YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION — $16,000 · Human ServicesGATEWAY R…DECEMBER 5TH FUND — $9,000 · Human ServicesDECEMBER …OUR LADYS INN — $7,000 · Human ServicesOUR LADYS…JOY PETALERS — $2,500 · Human Services+3 more — $2,603 · Human ServicesST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION — $25,000 · AnimalsWILD CANID SURVIVAL AND RESEARCH CENTER INC DBA ENDANGERED WOLF CENTER — $10,500 · AnimalsWORLD BIRD SANCTUARY — $8,550 · AnimalsStray Rescue of St Louis — $2,600 · AnimalsANIMAL PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI — $2,000 · AnimalsNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $2,000 · Animals+1 more — $300 · AnimalsGATEWAY ARCH PARK FOUNDATION — $10,000 · Recreation & SportsDISABLED ATHLETE SPORTS ASSOCIATION — $8,750 · Recreation & Sports
Other$313,275Environment$97,800Health$96,850Education$83,250Human Services$62,603Animals$50,950Recreation & Sports$18,750

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetMISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES — $80,500 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY — $80,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetAspire Advocates for Behavioral Health Inc — $42,700 over 4y, 3.2% of budgetFRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER — $25,500 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION — $25,000 over 7y, 0.9% of budgetFAMILIES OF SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY DBA CURE SMA — $20,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetGATEWAY REGION YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION — $16,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetForest Park Forever Inc — $14,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetAcademy of Managed Care Pharmacy — $13,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican Heart Association Inc — $12,900 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican Diabetes Association — $11,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetWILD CANID SURVIVAL AND RESEARCH CENTER INC DBA ENDANGERED WOLF CENTER — $10,500 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetGATEWAY ARCH PARK FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATION USO OF MISSOURI INC — $9,500 over 6y, 0.6% of budgetDECEMBER 5TH FUND — $9,000 over 8y, 1.2% of budgetDISABLED ATHLETE SPORTS ASSOCIATION — $8,750 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetWORLD BIRD SANCTUARY — $8,550 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetBIRTHRIGHT COUNSELING ST LOUIS — $8,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetOUR LADYS INN — $7,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS — $6,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetHEROES CARE INC — $5,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHYPERTROPHIC CARDIOMYOPATHY ASSOCIATION — $4,750 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC — $4,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetST LOUIS CRISIS NURSERY — $3,500 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DENTAL HEALTH THEATRE INC — $3,250 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetOPERATION SHOWER — $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetLydia's House Inc — $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA — $3,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCONSERVATION FEDERATION OF MISSOURI — $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetStray Rescue of St Louis — $2,600 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetJOY PETALERS — $2,500 over 2y, 3.3% of budgetANIMAL PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION OF MISSOURI — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION — $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetANGELS' ARMS — $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL BLEEDING DISORDERS FOUNDATION — $1,590 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBOONE CENTER INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHISTLE FARMS INC — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWELCOME NEIGHBOR STL — $1,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetST LOUIS FILMWORKS — $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetVAIL HEALTH SERVICES FOUNDATION — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER MINNEAPOLIS CRISIS NURSERY — $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBloomington Creative Glass Center — $500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGEORGIA AQUARIUM INC & SUBSIDIARY — $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPALM SPRINGS HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $300 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDUO DOGS INC — $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSt Louis Teachers Recycle Center — $200 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetEYE THRIVE — $103 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST LOUIS AUDUBON SOCIETY — $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES
  • Who funds WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds Aspire Advocates for Behavioral Health Inc
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF KIDS WITH CANCER
  • Who funds ST LOUIS AQUARIUM AT UNION STATION FOUNDATION
  • Who funds FAMILIES OF SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY DBA CURE SMA
  • Who funds GATEWAY REGION YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
  • Who funds Forest Park Forever Inc
  • Who funds Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy
  • Who funds American Heart Association Inc
  • Who funds American Diabetes Association
  • Who funds WILD CANID SURVIVAL AND RESEARCH CENTER INC DBA ENDANGERED WOLF CENTER
  • Who funds GATEWAY ARCH PARK FOUNDATION
  • Who funds UNITED SERVICE ORGANIZATION USO OF MISSOURI INC
  • Who funds DECEMBER 5TH FUND
  • Who funds DISABLED ATHLETE SPORTS ASSOCIATION
  • Who funds WORLD BIRD SANCTUARY
  • Who funds BIRTHRIGHT COUNSELING ST LOUIS
  • Who funds OUR LADYS INN
  • Who funds THE BACKSTOPPERS INC FKA POLICEMEN & FIREMEN FUND OF ST LOUIS
  • Who funds HEROES CARE INC
  • Who funds HYPERTROPHIC CARDIOMYOPATHY ASSOCIATION
  • Who funds BLOOD CANCER UNITED INC
  • Who funds ST LOUIS CRISIS NURSERY

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

St Louis Community Foundation IncMO41.1× affinity19 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: St Louis Community Foundation Inc · World Wide Technology Foundation · Commerce Bancshares Foundation · Moneta Group Charitable Foundation · Brown Dana Charitable Trust · Edward Jones Foundation · St Louis Community Foundation · Employees Community Fund of the Boeing Company · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · Blues for Kids · United Way of Greater St Louis Inc · The Four Leaf Clover Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization John Henry Foster and Bernadine Foster Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to John Henry Foster and Bernadine Foster Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to John Henry Foster and Bernadine Foster 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 85 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph