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Justin R Niklas Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Justin R Niklas Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$317k
Granted FY2025still arriving
51
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$35k
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, FY2019 to 2025.

Religion$737kEducation$294kHousing & Shelter$186kHealth$150kHuman Services$134kArts & Culture$123kYouth Development$38kFood & Nutrition$33kOther$0
02FY2025 · 51 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k43 grants · $172k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $145k
$5,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$4.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
XAVIER JESUIT ACADEMY$35,000
OUR LADY OF LIGHT MINISTRIES$35,000
SPRINGER SCHOOL & CENTER$17,500
THE ATHENAEUM OF OHIO$15,000
ST STEPHEN CHURCH$12,500
BETHANY HOUSE SERVICES$10,000
AUTISM CONNECTIONS$10,000
ST MARTIN OF TOURS$10,000
CASA DE PAZ$7,500
GREATER CINCINNATI BEHAVIOR HEALTH$7,500
CINCINNATI PUBLIC RADIO$7,500
NEW LIFE FURNITURE BANK$7,500
CATHOLIC INNER SCHOOL EDUCATION$7,500
FOUND HOUSE INTERFAITH HOUSING$7,500
ST CECILIA SCHOOL$7,500
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 (FY20–25, $129k) 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.

area typical 11%ELIZABETHS NEW LIFE CENTER: $3k → 14%ELIZABETHS NEW LIFE CENTER: $1k → 14%LIGHTHOUSE YOUTH & FAMILY SERVICES: $3k → 16%CASA DE PAZ: $10k → 16%FIRST STEP HOME: $3k → 16%CASA DE PAZ: $8k → 16%FIRST STEP HOME: $2k → 16%FIRST STEP HOME: $2k → 16%CLOVERNOOK CENTER FOR THE BLIND: $2k → 16%STEPPING STONES: $3k → 16%STEPPING STONES: $3k → 16%LADD INC: $8k → 16%LADD INC: $5k → 16%LADD INC: $3k → 16%CASA DE PAZ: $8k → 16%SWEET CHEEKS DIAPER BANK: $5k → 16%SWEET CHEEKS DIAPER BANK: $5k → 16%SWEET CHEEKS DIAPER BANK: $5k → 16%SWEET CHEEKS DIAPER BANK: $5k → 16%SWEET CHEEKS DIAPER BANK: $3k → 16%SWEET CHEEKS DIAPER BANK: $3k → 16%INNER CITY YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES: $5k → 16%INNER CITY YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES: $5k → 16%INNER CITY YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES: $5k → 16%INNER CITY YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES: $5k → 16%INNER CITY YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES: $5k → 16%INNER CITY YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES: $3k → 16%NEW LIFE FURNITURE BANK: $8k → 16%NEW LIFE FURNITURE BANK: $3k → 16%BEECH ACRES: $3k → 16%BEECH ACRES: $1k → 16%BEECH ACRES: $1k → 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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 49 repeat orgs$122k to everyone else

49 repeat relationships: 35 still active in FY2025, 14 since wound down; 16 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

49
11

Total granted

$1.7M
$60k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+32%

Still filing today

45%
45%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $62k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesHealthEducationHousing & ShelterReligionYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • SPRINGER SCHOOL AND CENTER
    6× · 2020–2025 · $57k · revenue +97%
  • LH
    Lydia's House Inc
    6× · 2019–2025 · $45k · revenue +64%
  • BH
    Bethany House Services Inc
    7× · 2019–2025 · $45k · revenue +68%

Funded once

  • GA
    Genesis at Work Foundation
    one grant, 2023 · $25k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $10k
  • DS
    DOWN SYNDROME ASSN OF GREATER
    one grant, 2021 · $5k
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
Elizabeth Seton Housing Corporation

Elizabeth Seton Housing Corporation provides housing for adults with developmental disabilities who have complex support needs in small residential home environments. The Corporation is operated in connection with the mission of St. Joseph…

Human Services
2
Strategies to End Homelessness Inc

Strategies to End Homelessness leads a coordinated community effort to end homelessness in Greater Cincinnati.

Human Services
3
Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio

Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio serves and empowers people through God's love in their times of vulnerability. We do so through a full range of local services that engage the community in building solidarity.

Human Services
4
Jewish Family Service of the Cincinnati Area

A social service agency, JFS strengthens lives and our diverse community by providing exceptional and transformational human services. Services include: Counseling, Case Management, Financial and Food Support, Home Care, Senior Services,…

Human Services
5
Legal Aid Society of Cincinnati

To resolve serious legal problems of low income people, to promote economic and family stability, and reduce poverty through effective legal assistance.

—
6
Cincinnati Union Bethel

Empowering women to break the cycles of poverty, addiction, and human trafficking.

Human Services
7
Cincinnati's Optimum Residential Environments Inc

Residential & Habilitative Svs. Provide residential and habilitative services to adults with developmental disabilities

Health
8
Clermont Counseling Center

To ensure people with mental illness, addiction, and related challenges lead healthy and productive lives.

Health
9
Cincinnati Works

Cincinnati works brings hope and encouragement to people living in poverty while assisting them in advancing to self-sufficiency through employment. we provide free training and coaching services.

Human Services
10
Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio Delaware Housing Inc

See schedule oto create a better world by serving people in need by operating food pantries, homeless shelters, a domestic violence shelter, affordable housing communities, senior living, assisted living and skilled care facilities, a home…

—
11
Columbus Housing Initiative Inc

Stabilize neighborhoods through establishing financing, education, rehabilitation of existing housing and development of new housing

Housing & Shelter
12
Cincinnati Center for Autism

We support individuals with autism and their families through programming in the areas of academics, adaptive behavior, communication, and social participation.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Coverd Greater Cincinnati; the most unlike its peers is Faith Freedom Life. 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

38 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. 38 of the 76 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
37/38
Grantees still filing
24/38
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

OUR LADY OF LIGHT MINISTRIES: $395,000 · OtherOUR LADY OF LIGHT MINISTRIESST STEPHEN CHURCH: $92,500 · OtherST STEPHEN CHURCHTHE ANTHENAEUM OF OHIO: $70,000 · OtherTHE ANTHENAEUM OF OHIOXAVIER JESUIT ACADEMY: $70,000 · OtherXAVIER JESUIT ACADEMYST CECILIA SCHOOL: $65,000 · OtherSISTERS OF NOTRE DAME: $55,000 · OtherMT ST MARY SEMINARY OF THE WEST ATHENAEUM OF OHIO NORWOOD: $45,000 · OtherCATHOLIC INNER-CITY SCHOOL EDU: $45,000 · Other+38 more: $449,500 · Other+38 moreLydia's House Inc: $45,000 · Housing & ShelterBethany House Services Inc: $45,000 · Housing & ShelterShelterhouse Volunteer Group Inc: $42,500 · Housing & ShelterINNER CITY YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES: $27,500 · Human ServicesCOVERD GREATER CINCINNATI: $25,500 · Human ServicesCasa de Paz: $25,000 · Human ServicesLiving Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled Inc: $15,500 · Human ServicesNEW LIFE FURNITURE BANK: $10,000 · Human ServicesTHE FIRST STEP HOME INC: $6,500 · Human ServicesSTEPPING STONES INC: $6,000 · Human ServicesBEECH ACRES: $4,500 · Human Services+3 more: $8,000 · Human ServicesSPRINGER SCHOOL AND CENTER: $56,500 · EducationTHE CHATFIELD EDGE: $12,000 · Education+3 more: $7,500 · EducationTHE DRAGONFLY FOUNDATION: $26,000 · HealthLITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR SACRED HEART HOME: $20,000 · HealthAUTISM CONNECTIONS: $17,500 · HealthThe Cincinnati Eye Institute Foundation: $6,500 · HealthMAY WE HELP INC: $5,000 · Health+1 more: $1,000 · HealthCAIN CINCY: $32,500 · ReligionFound House-Interfaith Housing Network: $7,500 · ReligionBon Secours Mercy Health Foundation: $2,500 · ReligionUPSPRING: $26,000 · Youth DevelopmentADVENTURE CREW: $5,000 · Youth Development
Other$1,287,000Housing & Shelter$132,500Human Services$128,500Education$76,000Health$76,000Religion$42,500Youth Development$31,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSPRINGER SCHOOL AND CENTER: $56,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetLydia's House Inc: $45,000 over 6y, 1.5% of budgetBethany House Services Inc: $45,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetShelterhouse Volunteer Group Inc: $42,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCAIN CINCY: $32,500 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetINNER CITY YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES: $27,500 over 6y, 2.1% of budgetTHE DRAGONFLY FOUNDATION: $26,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetUPSPRING: $26,000 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetCOVERD GREATER CINCINNATI: $25,500 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetGenesis at Work Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetCasa de Paz: $25,000 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetLITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR SACRED HEART HOME: $20,000 over 2y, 3.7% of budgetAUTISM CONNECTIONS: $17,500 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetLiving Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled Inc: $15,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFaith Freedom Life: $14,500 over 4y, 6.7% of budgetCINCINNATI SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION: $14,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTHE CHATFIELD EDGE: $12,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetNEW LIFE FURNITURE BANK: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCincinnati Public Radio Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetThe Cincinnati Eye Institute Foundation: $6,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTHE FIRST STEP HOME INC: $6,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetSTEPPING STONES INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetMAY WE HELP INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetBEECH ACRES: $4,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetELIZABETH'S NEW LIFE CENTER INC: $3,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetEAST END ADULT EDUCATION CENTER: $3,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetAdopt A Class Foundation Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCincinnati Youth Collaborative: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLIGHTHOUSE YOUTH SERVICES: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMOUNT ST JOSEPH UNIVERSITY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetClovernook Center For the Blind and Visually Impaired: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPREGNANCY CENTER WEST: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Christ Hospital Foundation: $1,000 over 1y, 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.

  • Who funds SPRINGER SCHOOL AND CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Lydia's House Inc ↗
  • Who funds Bethany House Services Inc ↗
  • Who funds Shelterhouse Volunteer Group Inc ↗
  • Who funds CAIN CINCY ↗
  • Who funds INNER CITY YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES ↗
  • Who funds THE DRAGONFLY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds UPSPRING ↗
  • Who funds COVERD GREATER CINCINNATI ↗
  • Who funds Genesis at Work Foundation ↗
  • Who funds Casa de Paz ↗
  • Who funds LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR SACRED HEART HOME ↗
  • Who funds AUTISM CONNECTIONS ↗
  • Who funds Living Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled Inc ↗
  • Who funds Faith Freedom Life ↗
  • Who funds CINCINNATI SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE CHATFIELD EDGE ↗
  • Who funds NEW LIFE FURNITURE BANK ↗
  • Who funds Cincinnati Public Radio Inc ↗

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.

The Greater Cincinnat…Robert a & Marian K K…Johnson Charitable Gi…Agnes Nordloh Charita…Pfau Charitable Found…Charles H Dater Found…L & L Nippert Charita…Andrew Jergens Founda…Carol Ann and Ralph V…Charles Scott Riley I…Spaulding FoundationJack J Smith Jr Chari…
The Greater Cincinnati FoundationOH69.3× affinity37 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Greater Cincinnati Foundation · Robert a & Marian K Kennedy Charitable Trust · Johnson Charitable Gift Fund · Agnes Nordloh Charitable Trust · Pfau Charitable Foundation · Charles H Dater Foundation Inc · L & L Nippert Charitable Foundation Inc Attn Carter F Randolph Phd · Andrew Jergens Foundation · Carol Ann and Ralph V Haile Jr Foundation · Charles Scott Riley III Foundation · Spaulding Foundation · Jack J Smith Jr Charitable Trust

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get 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 · 0–40%
    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 76 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 Justin R Niklas 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