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Johnson Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Johnson Family 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.

$84k
Granted FY2024still arriving
53
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0193% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$90kHuman Services$78kArts & Culture$64kHealth$57kReligion$54kYouth Development$31kPhilanthropy$26kHousing & Shelter$23kOther$0
02FY2024 · 53 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k52 grants · $74k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$1,200
Median grant
2
States reached
$517k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY$10,000
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH$5,000
BILLINGS LIBRARY FOUNDATION$4,000
BOYS GIRLS CLUB YELLOWSTONE CO$3,500
FAMILY SERVICES$2,500
RIVERSTONE HEALTH$2,000
NAMI$2,000
ALBERTA BAIR THEATRE$1,500
EAGLE MOUNT$1,500
Individual grant recipient$1,500
CASA OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY$1,500
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE$1,500
FRIENDSHIP HOUSE$1,500
Individual grant recipient$1,500
LA VIE$1,500
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 (FY17–24, $31k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%BIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES: $1k → 9%BIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES: $1k → 9%BIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES: $1k → 9%BIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES: $1k → 9%FAMILY SERVICES: $3k → 9%FAMILY SERVICES: $2k → 9%TUMBLEWEED: $2k → 9%TUMBLEWEED: $2k → 9%RIVERSTONE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $1k → 9%TUMBLEWEED: $1k → 9%TUMBLEWEED: $1k → 9%FAMILY SERVICES: $1k → 9%TUMBLEWEED: $1k → 9%TUMBLEWEED: $1k → 9%TUMBLEWEED: $800 → 9%FAMILY SERVICES: $700 → 9%TUMBLEWEED: $600 → 9%FAMILY SERVICE INC: $600 → 9%FAMILY SERVICE INC: $600 → 9%FAMILY SERVICE INC: $500 → 9%FAMILY SERVICE INC: $300 → 9%ADULT RESOURCE ALLIANCE: $1k → 9%ADULT RESOURCE ALLIANCE: $1k → 9%BIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES: $1k → 9%BIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES: $1k → 9%ADULT RESOURCE ALLIANCE: $1k → 9%BIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES: $800 → 9%BIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES: $700 → 9%ADULT RESOURCE ALLIANCE: $600 → 9%ADULT RESOURCE ALLIANCE: $500 → 9%ADULT RESOURCE ALLIANCE: $500 → 9%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.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$495k · 81 repeat orgs$8k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +49% since the first grant, against -10% for those funded once.

81 repeat relationships: 53 still active in FY2024, 28 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

81
5

Total granted

$495k
$8k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
-10%

Still filing today

42%
20%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesArts & CultureHealthPhilanthropyEducationEnvironmentOther
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

  • MR
    MONTANA RESCUE MISSION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $16k · revenue +63%
  • BC
    BILLINGS CLINIC FOUNDATION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $9k · revenue +163%
  • TR
    TUMBLEWEED RUNAWAY PROGRAM INC
    8× · 2017–2024 · $8k · revenue +2%

Funded once

  • RM
    RESCUE MISSION CAPITAL CITY
    one grant, 2020 · $5k
  • RH
    RiverStone Health Foundation
    one grant, 2020 · $1k · revenue -10%
  • RM
    RESUE MISSION
    one grant, 2021 · $1k
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
Yellowstone Health Partnership

The Yellowstone Health Partnership supports the activities of the Yellowstone City-County Health Department dba RiverStone Health.

Health
2
Scenic Montana Trails
—
3
Yellowstone Behavioral Health

Provide quality mental health services to residents of park county

—
4
Billings Chamber of Commerce

Our mission is to develop a strong business climate and vibrant economy by serving the community in a leadership role therapy enhancing the quality of life.

—
5
Yellowstone County Museum Foundation

The museum mission is to collect, preserve, research, and interpret the natural history and diverse cultures of the yellowstone valley of montana and the northern plains. we share this legacy through a full range of exhibits and…

Arts & Culture
6
Yellowstone County Assistance Network

To empower people living in the big horn basin of wyoming to enhance health and employment status, overcome obsticales, and end economic hardship.

Human Services
7
Yellowstone Mountain Club Public Safety and Privacy Inc

Yellowstone mountain club public safety and privacy, inc. was incorporated for the purpose of providing full time, year-round public health and safety services for all persons and organizations located on, within, and, in some cases, even…

Public Safety & Disaster
8
Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary

Providing lifelong sanctuary to non-releasable greater yellowstone ecosystem wildlife while providing a message of education and conservation.

Environment
9
Montana Hospital Association

Montana hospital association is the principal advocate for the interests of members in their efforts to improve the health status of the communities they serve.

—
10
Butte Emergency Food Bank

Provide food for individuals in need

—
11
Big Sky Economic Development Corporation

To promote, stimulate, and advance the general welfare and economic development for billings, yellowstone county, and the state of montana.

Community Improvement
12
Billings Clinic

Billings clinic's mission is quality, compassionate cre for all, with a vision of reimagining health care through connection, service and innovation.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Way of Yellowstone County Inc; the most unlike its peers is ZooMontana 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

36 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. 36 of the 87 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/36
Grantees still filing
32/36
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH: $50,000 · OtherFIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHBILLINGS LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $27,200 · OtherBILLINGS LIBRARY FOUNDATIONMONTANA RESCUE MISSION: $15,700 · Other+61 more: $290,700 · Other+61 moreTUMBLEWEED RUNAWAY PROGRAM INC: $8,400 · Human ServicesFAMILY SERVICE: $8,200 · Human ServicesBIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES INC: $7,900 · Human ServicesADULT RESOURCE ALLIANCE OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY: $5,000 · Human ServicesRiverStone Health Foundation: $1,200 · Human ServicesALBERTA BAIR THEATER CORPORATION: $11,000 · Arts & CultureBILLINGS PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $7,500 · Arts & CultureYELLOWSTONE ART MUSEUM: $4,000 · Arts & CultureUnited Way: $4,000 · Arts & CultureCARBON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $3,700 · Arts & CultureTHE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA FOUNDATION: $9,600 · EducationMontana State University Foundation Inc: $8,400 · EducationBETTER BILLINGS FOUNDATION: $7,400 · PhilanthropyEagle Mount: $4,700 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY INC: $3,200 · PhilanthropySilver Run Skiing Foundation: $2,600 · PhilanthropyRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF EASTERN MONTANA: $5,000 · HealthCommunity Crisis Center LLC: $3,400 · HealthFAMILY PROMISE OF YELLOWSTONE VALLEY: $2,200 · HealthNAMI-Billings: $1,900 · HealthSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $1,800 · HealthYELLOWSTONE VALLEY ANIMAL SHELTER: $7,200 · AnimalsZooMontana Inc: $5,000 · Animals
Other$383,600Human Services$30,700Arts & Culture$30,200Education$18,000Philanthropy$17,900Health$14,300Animals$12,200

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMONTANA RESCUE MISSION: $15,700 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetALBERTA BAIR THEATER CORPORATION: $11,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA FOUNDATION: $9,600 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetBILLINGS CLINIC FOUNDATION: $9,400 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTUMBLEWEED RUNAWAY PROGRAM INC: $8,400 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetMontana State University Foundation Inc: $8,400 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetFAMILY SERVICE: $8,200 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetBIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES INC: $7,900 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetSPECIAL K RANCH: $7,900 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetBILLINGS TRAILNET: $7,600 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetBILLINGS PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC: $7,500 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetBETTER BILLINGS FOUNDATION: $7,400 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetYELLOWSTONE VALLEY ANIMAL SHELTER: $7,200 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetPROVISION INTERNATIONAL INC: $7,000 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetBILLINGS STUDIO THEATRE INC: $6,800 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetFRIENDSHIP HOUSE OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE INC: $5,300 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWESTERN HERITAGE CENTER: $5,200 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetBillings Food Bank Inc: $5,200 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetZooMontana Inc: $5,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF EASTERN MONTANA: $5,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetADULT RESOURCE ALLIANCE OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY: $5,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetEagle Mount: $4,700 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetST VINCENT HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION INC: $4,600 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetYELLOWSTONE RIVER PARKS ASSOCIATION: $4,200 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetYELLOWSTONE ART MUSEUM: $4,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetUnited Way: $4,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetCARBON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $3,700 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetYELLOWSTONE CASA INC: $3,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCommunity Crisis Center LLC: $3,400 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY INC: $3,200 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetEDUCATION FOUNDATION FOR BILLINGS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $2,900 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSilver Run Skiing Foundation: $2,600 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetFAMILY PROMISE OF YELLOWSTONE VALLEY: $2,200 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNAMI-Billings: $1,900 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetSHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN: $1,800 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetRiverStone Health Foundation: $1,200 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.

  • Who funds MONTANA RESCUE MISSION ↗
  • Who funds ALBERTA BAIR THEATER CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BILLINGS CLINIC FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TUMBLEWEED RUNAWAY PROGRAM INC ↗
  • Who funds Montana State University Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds FAMILY SERVICE ↗
  • Who funds BIG SKY SENIOR SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds SPECIAL K RANCH ↗
  • Who funds BILLINGS TRAILNET ↗
  • Who funds BILLINGS PRESERVATION SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds BETTER BILLINGS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds YELLOWSTONE VALLEY ANIMAL SHELTER ↗
  • Who funds PROVISION INTERNATIONAL INC ↗
  • Who funds BILLINGS STUDIO THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDSHIP HOUSE OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE INC ↗
  • Who funds WESTERN HERITAGE CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Billings Food Bank Inc ↗
  • Who funds ZooMontana Inc ↗
  • Who funds RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF EASTERN MONTANA ↗
  • Who funds ADULT RESOURCE ALLIANCE OF YELLOWSTONE COUNTY ↗

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.

First Interstate Banc…Montana Community Fou…The Mary Alice Fortin…Dennis & Phyllis Wash…Fair View FoundationBillings Community Fo…Scl Health - MontanaCharles M Bair Family…Town Pump Charitable …American Endowment Fo…The Bank of America C…Fidelity Investments …
First Interstate BancSystem Foundation IncMT21.2× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: First Interstate BancSystem Foundation Inc · Montana Community Foundation Inc · The Mary Alice Fortin Foundation · Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation · Fair View Foundation · Billings Community Foundation · Scl Health - Montana · Charles M Bair Family Trust · Town Pump Charitable Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Johnson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Johnson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Shriners Hospitals for Children: 0% of 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 · 0–50%
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 Johnson Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Johnson 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.

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 87 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 Johnson Family’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