· Private foundation
Lester Family 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k17 grants · $21k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $37k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sigma Chi Foundation | $27,000 |
| Crested Butte Land Trust | $10,000 |
| Purdue for Life Foundation | $5,000 |
| Oklahoma Geological Foundation | $4,500 |
| Allied Arts | $2,500 |
| Impact Oklahoma | $1,500 |
| Bishop McGuiness Catholic High School | $1,000 |
| Indiana University Foundation | $1,000 |
| Crested Butee Center for the Arts | $500 |
| Mercy Health Foundation | $500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $500 |
| Oklahoma School of Science and Math | $500 |
| Individual grant recipient | $500 |
| Special Olympics Oklahoma | $500 |
| Catholic Charities | $500 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–25, $15k) 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.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +38% since the first grant, against -19% for those funded once.
31 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2025, 15 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SCSigma Chi Foundation9× · 2017–2025 · $40k · revenue +32%
- YLYOUNG LIFE4× · 2017–2020 · $19k · revenue +59%
- CBCRESTED BUTTE LAND TRUST8× · 2017–2025 · $16k · revenue +193%
Funded once
- IHINTEGRIS Health Foundation Incone grant, 2018 · $6k · revenue -19%
- WFWhite Fields Incone grant, 2017 · $1k · revenue -49%
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2023 · $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.
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.
Inspired by a culture of creativity, Oklahoma City University fosters an immersive, personalized experience that welcomes and prepares students to pursue boundless opportunities.
Unite donor passions with university priorities to elevate the impact of oklahoma state university.
The oklahoma hall of fame preserves oklahomas unique history while promoting pride in our great state through each of its programs and the gaylord-pickens museum. the association honors our states rich tradition by telling oklahomas story…
The mission of the osteopathic founders foundation is to support osteopathic medical education, to enhance the public's understanding of osteopathic medicine, and to improve the health of the community through projects consistent with the…
The university of tulsa is a student-centered research university that cultivates interconnected learning experiences to explore complex ideas and create new knowledge in a spirit of free inquiry. guided by our commitment to diversity,…
The Opportunity Scholarship Fund is a scholarship granting organization that provides scholarships to Oklahoma prek-12 students to attend accredited private schools in our state. Once a student has received a scholarship, that student and…
To promote the flourishing of the people of oklahoma by advancing principles and policies that support free enterprise, limited government, personal responsibility, and individual initiative.
The State Chamber is a statewide membership organization. Our purpose is to be the unified voice of business and the most effective advocacy organization at the State Capitol.
True to our christian heritage, we prepare students from diverse religious, cultural, educational and economic backgrounds to live life fully.
United way of central oklahoma is committed to connecting people and resources to improve the well being of those in our community.
To create and administer permanent charitable endowments to strengthen Methodist ministries in Oklahoma.
Providing, maintaining and issuing scholarships to eligible nominees or applicants for admission to college or for contributions to regularly maintained scholarship funds of other federal tax exempt colleges and universities with an…
How this is measured
26 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. 26 of the 47 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 Sigma Chi Foundation ↗
- Who funds Purdue Research Foundation ↗
- Who funds YOUNG LIFE ↗
- Who funds CRESTED BUTTE LAND TRUST ↗
- Who funds ALLIED ARTS OF OKLAHOMA INC ↗
- Who funds OKLAHOMA CITY GEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds IMPACT OKLAHOMA INC ↗
- Who funds OKLAHOMA SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds OKLAHOMA ARTS INSTITUTE INC ↗
- Who funds INTEGRIS Health Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds OKLAHOMA ARTS INSTITUTE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Indiana University Foundation ↗
- Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF OKLAHOMA CITY INC ↗
- Who funds Special Olympics Oklahoma Inc ↗
- Who funds DEADCENTER FILM FESTIVAL INC ↗
- Who funds YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER OKLAHOMA CITY ↗
- Who funds THE CENTER FOR THE ARTS ↗
- Who funds TEEN RECOVERY SOLUTIONS INC ↗
- Who funds White Fields Inc ↗
- Who funds A CHANCE TO CHANGE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds OKLAHOMA CENTER FOR NONPROFITS INC ↗
- Who funds MAYFLOWER MEDICAL OUTREACH INC ↗
- Who funds CASA OF OKLAHOMA COUNTY 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.
Open a dossier: El and Thelma Gaylord Foundation · Inasmuch Foundation · American Fidelity Foundation · Oklahoma City Community Foundation Inc · Harris Foundation Inc · The Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation · Communities Foundation of Oklahoma · Rainbolt Family Foundation · The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation · Kirkpatrick Foundation Inc · Macklanburg-Hulsey Foundation Inc · Fred Jones Family Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Lester Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lester Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Oklahoma Arts Institute Inc: 1% of income from government
- Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City Inc: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Lester Family Foundation?
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