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John R Peterson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

John R Peterson 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.

$984k
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$232k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Animals$5.6MHealth$20kHuman Services$2k
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k11 grants · $23k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $38k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $923k
$2,521
Median grant
5
States reached
$25M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
San Diego Humane Society$231,500
PetFix Spay and Neuter$194,608
Los Angeles County Animal Care Foundation$173,000
Aloha lio Rescue$115,011
Lucky Dog Animal Rescue$108,000
Good Cat Network$100,832
Kauai Humane Society$38,000
Kauai SPCA$6,195
HIT Living Dog Rescue$2,521
Individual grant recipient$2,060
Individual grant recipient$2,000
Mother of Dragons Rescue$2,000
Southeast German Shorthaired Pointer Rescue$2,000
Paws for Life K9 Rescue$1,800
PAWSLA$1,718
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 (FY25–25, $2k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, 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%PAWSLA: $2k → 14%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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.3M · 11 repeat orgs$391k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +81% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
11

Total granted

$5.3M
$273k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+81%
+21%

Still filing today

91%
55%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $118k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
AnimalsHuman ServicesOther
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

  • SD
    SAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY AND SPCA
    6× · 2020–2025 · $851k · revenue +48%
  • PS
    PETFIX SPAY AND NEUTER
    4× · 2022–2025 · $585k · revenue +144% · 54% of their budget
  • AI
    Aloha Ilio Rescue
    4× · 2022–2025 · $331k · revenue +222%

Funded once

  • FC
    First Coast No More Homeless Animals
    one grant, 2024 · $86k
  • SC
    SPOKANIMAL CARE
    one grant, 2024 · $53k · revenue 0%
  • SA
    SPAY-NEUTER ACTION PROJECTgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +113%
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
Hope Fur Paws Rescue

To help injured, abandoned and unwanted animals. We provide food, vet care that includes heartworm prevention and spay or neuter services, shelter and anything else needed.

Animals
2
Aloha Animal Oasis Corp

To humanely reduce the number of free roaming cats on Hawaii island through spay/neuter clinics, TNR programs and provide refuge by establishing a tourist friendly cat sanctuary.

Animals
3
Safe Haven Inc
Animals
4
St Clouds Rescue
Animals
5
Claws and Paws for a Cause

For our community we provide high quality low cost spay and neuter services as well as low cost vaccinations. we do have programs that allows us to help the families that have pets but are in financial strain and not able to have their…

Religion
6
Pets Without Partners

Find homes for homeless/abandoned dogs. Provide full vet car and housing while awaiting adoption,

Animals
7
Realtors to the Rescue

Animal Rescue

—
8
K911

To rescue abandoned and displaced cats and dogs, bring them back to health, provide all medical and prepare them for their new home

Animals
9
Carolina Animal Network

we are a small animal rescue. We help the community by assisting with vet care and rehoming animals they cannot keep. We also pull dogs cats kittens and puppies from local kill shelters when they run out of space, we provide those animals…

Animals
10
Cats At the Studios Inc

Cat rescue spay/ nueter

Animals
11
Sos Lost Pet Rescue Nw Inc

Decrease over population of feral cats by trapping and doing spay or neuter. Provide veterinarian care to kittens. Take owner relinquishments of pets they can no longer care for. Taking in abandoned animals and providing veterinary care.…

Animals
12
Paws and Claws Animal Shelter
Animals
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Maui Humane Society; the most unlike its peers is Lionel S Legacy 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 32 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
22/22
Grantees still filing
14/22
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY AND SPCA: $851,433 · AnimalsSAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY AND SPCALUCKY DOG ANIMAL RESCUE: $639,000 · AnimalsLUCKY DOG ANIMAL RESCUEPETFIX SPAY AND NEUTER: $584,591 · AnimalsPETFIX SPAY AND NEUTERAloha Ilio Rescue: $330,774 · AnimalsAloha Ilio RescueKauai SPCA: $273,686 · AnimalsKauai SPCALOS ANGELES COUNTY ANIMAL CARE FOUNDATION: $213,000 · AnimalsLOS ANGELES COUNTY ANIMAL CARE FOUNDATIONMAUI HUMANE SOCIETY: $157,100 · AnimalsLANAI CAT SANCTUARY: $128,620 · Animals+13 more: $427,012 · Animals+13 moreGreater Good Charity: $1,927,657 · OtherGreater Good CharityFirst Coast No More Homeless Animals: $86,000 · Other+8 more: $31,581 · OtherPETS ARE WONDERFUL SUPPORT LOS ANGELES: $1,718 · Human Services
Animals$3,605,216Other$2,045,238Human Services$1,718

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSAN DIEGO HUMANE SOCIETY AND SPCA: $851,433 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetLUCKY DOG ANIMAL RESCUE: $639,000 over 5y, 5.5% of budgetPETFIX SPAY AND NEUTER: $584,591 over 4y, 54% of budgetAloha Ilio Rescue: $330,774 over 4y, 10% of budgetKauai SPCA: $273,686 over 4y, 56% of budgetLOS ANGELES COUNTY ANIMAL CARE FOUNDATION: $213,000 over 2y, 2.5% of budgetMAUI HUMANE SOCIETY: $157,100 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetLANAI CAT SANCTUARY: $128,620 over 4y, 9.9% of budgetKAUAI HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $105,500 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetGood Cat Network: $100,832 over 1y, 48% of budgetSPOKANIMAL CARE: $53,200 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetSPAY-NEUTER ACTION PROJECT: $50,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetLIONEL S LEGACY INC: $50,000 over 2y, 19% of budgetFROSTED FACES FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetHAWAII ISLAND HUMANE SOCIETY SPCA: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetORPHAN KITTEN CLUB INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetFoothills Humane Society Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Greater Good CharitiesPetco LovePetsmart Charities IncBanfield FoundationBest Friends Animal S…The Duffield Family F…Sempra FoundationPedigree FoundationJewish Community Foun…The Grey Muzzle Organ…Deupree Family Founda…BISSELL Pet Foundation
Greater Good CharitiesWA24.9× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Good Charities · Petco Love · Petsmart Charities Inc · Banfield Foundation · Best Friends Animal Society · The Duffield Family Foundation Dba Maddie's Fund · Sempra Foundation · Pedigree Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego · The Grey Muzzle Organization · Deupree Family Foundation · BISSELL Pet 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 R Peterson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from John R Peterson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    6report 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 R Peterson Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to John R Peterson 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 32 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 John R Peterson’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
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    $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