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Joy Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Joy 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.

$165k
Granted FY2025still arriving
11
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Human Services$305kEducation$114kHealth$110kYouth Development$28kPhilanthropy$25kArts & Culture$15kCrime & Legal$10kPublic Safety & Disaster$10kOther$0
02FY2025 · 11 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $10k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $155k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$3.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TURTLE WING FOUNDATION$25,000
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB$25,000
BOB TALLMAN'S CHILDREN'S CHARITIES$25,000
CURE RTD FOUNDATION$25,000
COVENANT HOUSE$15,000
SHRINERS HOSPITALS$10,000
ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL$10,000
LONE OAK GIVES$10,000
THE BROOKWOOD COMMUNITY$10,000
KSBJ$5,000
MAKE A WISH$5,000
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 (FY21–25, $285k) land where the poverty rate runs at 20%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 93% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%JAB CARES: $10k → 11%DIFFERENT DAY FOUNDATION: $185k → 22%COVENANT HOUSE: $15k → 16%SOUTHERN OUTDOOR DREAMS: $5k → 10%BOB TALLMAN'S CHILDREN'S CHARITIES: $25k → 16%BRAZORIA COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN: $5k → 10%BOB TALLMANS CHILDRENS CHARITIES INC: $10k → 16%THE LANDING: $30k → 16%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.

19%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$123k · 5 repeat orgs$508k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +65% since the first grant, against +2% for those funded once.

5 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

5
21

Total granted

$123k
$378k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+65%
+2%

Still filing today

100%
48%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 21% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $130k 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
Human ServicesEducationHealthArts & CultureCrime & LegalPublic Safety & DisasterOther
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

  • AC
    ANGLETON CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
    3× · 2020–2024 · $55k · revenue +41%
  • BT
    BOB TALLMAN'S CHILDRENS CHARITIES INC
    2× · 2021–2025 · $35k · revenue +65%
  • The Brookwood Community Inc
    3× · 2022–2025 · $18k · revenue +65%

Funded once

  • DD
    DIFFERENT DAY FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $185k
  • BG
    BOYS & GIRLS HARBOR (DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER)
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • SL
    Sojourn Landing DBA The Landing
    one grant, 2023 · $30k · revenue +4%
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
Young Texans Against Cancer

Young texans against cancer (ytac) is an independent, nonprofit organization comprised of men and women who have been affected by cancer or are seeking to become more actively involved in the cancer community. our organization is focused…

—
2
Texas Baptist Children's Home Inc

Texas baptist children's home embraces children and families in need in order to empower and equip them for a promising future.

Human Services
3
The Bair Foundation of Texas

To provide services to children, youth, and families along with a child-placing agency. to provide therapeutic foster care.

Human Services
4
The Retreat Home for Children

Our mission is to show the love of christ to each and every child and family towhom we serve and beyond. we do this by creating a culture where the needs of children,families, and staff are seen and met in creative and innovative ways.

Crime & Legal
5
Sunny Glen Children's Home Inc

Sunny Glen Childrens Home, Inc. cares for children in need. Our care will be competent, compassionate and professional. We will help every child achieve their greatest potential-physically, emotionally, spiritually and academically.

Human Services
6
Texas Children's Hospital Foundation

To create a healthier future for children and women throughout our global community by leading in patient care, education and research.

Health
7
Texas Foster Care & Adoption Serv

A state of texas licensed foster care and adoption agency that identifies and provides approved healing foster homes for children.

Human Services
8
Sjrc Texas Inc

To offer healing and hope to children and families affected by abuse, abandonment or neglect.

Human Services
9
Texas Palliative Care

Texas palliative care operates to strengthen and further the goals and purpose of hospice of east texas, a texas non-profit corporation.

Health
10
Cook Children's Medical Center

Knowing that every child's life is sacred, our promise is to improve the health of every child in our region through the prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury.

Health
11
Texas Children's Urgent Care

To create a healthier future for children and women throughout our global community by leading in patient care, education and research.

Health
12
Texas for All

The organization is established for the purpose of supporting coordinated investments and strategies that advance the social welfare of underrepresented communities in texas with a particular focus on people of color, people with…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Make-a-Wish Foundation of the Texas Gulf Coast & Louisiana Inc; the most unlike its peers is Different Day Foundation. 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

20 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. 20 of the 35 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/20
Grantees still filing
12/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DIFFERENT DAY FOUNDATION: $184,629 · Human ServicesDIFFERENT DAY FOUNDATIONBOB TALLMAN'S CHILDRENS CHARITIES INC: $35,000 · Human ServicesBOB TALLMAN'S CHILDRENS CHARITIES INCSojourn Landing DBA The Landing: $30,350 · Human ServicesSojourn Landing DBA The LandingCOVENANT HOUSE TEXAS: $15,000 · Human ServicesJAB CARES: $10,000 · Human Services+2 more: $10,000 · Human ServicesBOYS & GIRLS HARBOR (DEPELCHIN CHILDREN'S CENTER): $50,000 · OtherBOYS & GIRLS HARBOR (DEPELCH…BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB: $25,000 · OtherBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBLONE OAK GIVES: $10,000 · OtherLONE OAK GIVESSHRINERS HOSPITALS: $10,000 · OtherSHRINERS HOSPITALSPARTNERS IN GIVING OF TEXAS: $10,000 · OtherPARTNERS IN GIVING OF TEXASVICTORY HOUSTON - AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: $10,000 · OtherVICTORY HOUSTON - AMERICAN C…THE CAROLINE SCHOOL - EASTER SEALS GREATER HOUSTON: $5,500 · Other+8 more: $37,500 · Other+8 moreANGLETON CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $55,000 · EducationANGLETON CHRISTIAN …Turtle Wing Foundation: $25,000 · EducationTurtle Wing Foundat…The Brookwood Community Inc: $18,000 · EducationThe Brookwood Commu…THE ARBOR SCHOOL: $5,000 · EducationTEXAS TECH FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · EducationCure RTD Foundation: $25,000 · HealthMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF THE TEXAS GULF COAST & LOUISIANA INC: $10,000 · HealthST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $10,000 · HealthTHE SUNSHINE KIDS FOUNDATION: $5,000 · HealthTEXAS EQUUSEARCH MOUNTED SEARCH AND RECOVERY: $10,000 · Public Safety & DisasterChildren's Assessment Center Foundation: $10,000 · Crime & LegalBo's Place: $5,000 · Arts & CultureHOPE MEDIA GROUP: $4,500 · Arts & Culture
Human Services$284,979Other$158,000Education$108,000Health$50,000Public Safety & Disaster$10,000Crime & Legal$10,000Arts & Culture$9,500

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 budgetDIFFERENT DAY FOUNDATION: $184,629 over 1y, 10% of budgetANGLETON CHRISTIAN SCHOOL: $55,000 over 3y, 1.3% of budgetBOB TALLMAN'S CHILDRENS CHARITIES INC: $35,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetSojourn Landing DBA The Landing: $30,350 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetCure RTD Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetThe Brookwood Community Inc: $18,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE TEXAS: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTEXAS EQUUSEARCH MOUNTED SEARCH AND RECOVERY: $10,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetMAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF THE TEXAS GULF COAST & LOUISIANA INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetChildren's Assessment Center Foundation: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBo's Place: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSOUTHERN OUTDOOR DREAMS: $5,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetBRAZORIA COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE SUNSHINE KIDS FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE ARBOR SCHOOL: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTEXAS TECH FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE MEDIA GROUP: $4,500 over 2y, 0.0% 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.

Greater Houston Commu…Shell USA Company Fou…Servant FoundationNatl Christian Charit…National Philanthropi…Charities Aid Foundat…Paypal Charitable Giv…Network for GoodAmerican Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Greater Houston Community FoundationTX17.4× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Houston Community Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · Servant Foundation · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Charities Aid Foundation America · Paypal Charitable Giving Fund · Network for Good · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Joy Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Joy Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s 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 · 0–20%
    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.

    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 35 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 Joy’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