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Lillian C McGowin Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Lillian C McGowin 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.

$83k
Granted FY2025still arriving
35
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$24k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0190% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Religion$374kEnvironment$77kArts & Culture$52kHealth$51kHuman Services$48kPublic Safety & Disaster$34kHousing & Shelter$24kFood & Nutrition$19kOther$0
02FY2025 · 35 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k34 grants · $60k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $24k
$1,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$1.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DAUPHIN WAY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH$23,500
CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY$8,000
ST STEPHEN'S SOCIETY$6,000
UNITED METHODIST INNER CITY MISSION$4,000
FEEDING THE GULF COAST$3,000
VICTORY HEALTH PARTNERS$3,000
SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT$2,500
MOBILE BAYKEEPER$2,500
FAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA$2,000
RICHARDS DAR HOUSE MUSEUM$2,000
PRODISEE PANTRY$2,000
DUMAS WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER$2,000
EARTH DAY MOBILE BAY$1,500
DRUG EDUCATION COUNCIL$1,500
MCKEMIE PLACE$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 (FY17–25, $43k) land where the poverty rate runs at 19%, 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%EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS: $3k → 18%EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS: $3k → 18%EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS: $1k → 18%EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS: $1k → 18%EMBRACE ALABAMA KIDS: $1k → 18%FAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA: $2k → 19%FAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA: $2k → 19%FAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA: $2k → 19%FAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA: $2k → 19%FAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA: $1k → 19%FAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA: $1k → 19%FAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA: $1k → 19%FAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA: $1k → 19%SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT: $3k → 19%SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT: $3k → 19%SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT: $3k → 19%SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT: $3k → 19%SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT: $3k → 19%SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT: $3k → 19%SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT: $3k → 19%SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT: $3k → 19%SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT: $3k → 19%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.

99%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$742k · 45 repeat orgs$7k to everyone else

45 repeat relationships: 33 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

45
7

Total granted

$742k
$6k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+23%
+66%

Still filing today

49%
57%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EnvironmentHealthHuman ServicesArts & CultureHousing & ShelterYouth 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

  • VH
    Victory Health Partners Inc
    9× · 2017–2025 · $24k · revenue +18%
  • SH
    SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $23k · revenue +30%
  • MB
    Mobile Baykeeper Inc
    9× · 2017–2025 · $20k · revenue +147%

Funded once

  • CS
    COMMUNITY SERVICES VISION REHAB
    one grant, 2017 · $2k · revenue -2%
  • SS
    SYBIL SMITH FAMILY VILLAGE
    one grant, 2024 · $1k
  • BS
    BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
    one grant, 2017 · $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
Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils

Coordinate rc&d activity in alabama

Environment
2
Alabama Rural Electric Association of Cooperatives

A statewide trade association which serves as a resource through which its electric cooperative members are provided services for the continuation and advancement of the rural electrification program in Alabama.

—
3
Rebuilding Together of South Al

Repairing homes, revitalizing communities and rebuilding lives.

Housing & Shelter
4
Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center

Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center, Inc. is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to ending child abuse through education, advocacy, counseling, family support, and the pursuit of justice.

Crime & Legal
5
Alabama Forest Land Trust Inc

The Organization focuses on providing services via conservation easements, administration of various grants, educational outreach and planning.

—
6
Legal Aid Society of Birmingham

The Organization is a nonprofit community defender providing legal assistance through court appointment to children and other indigent persons.

Crime & Legal
7
Alabama Council of Emergency Medical Services Inc

To survey, evaluate, and provide a method for common action by the regional ems agencies in furthering the development and improvement of emergency medical care to the citizens of alabama including coordination of activities and projects…

—
8
Coastal Alabama Partnership

To facilitate the advancement of education and science as it relates to identified vulnerabilities along coastal alabama associated with the environment, society and the economy and to the end of supporting creation, development and…

Public Safety & Disaster
9
The Alabama Center for Law and Civic Education

The mission of ACLCE is to prepare youth to become active, engaged, and informed participants in a democratic society.

—
10
East Alabama Ems Inc

Ems support/ public safety

—
11
Rebuilding Together Central Alabama

Bringing volunteers and communities together to improve the homes and lives of low-income homeowners.

Community Improvement
12
Community Kitchens of Birmingham

Assistance to homeless and needy persons.

Food & Nutrition
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Family Promise of Coastal Alabama; the most unlike its peers is Fairhope Film Festival 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

28 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. 28 of the 54 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
28/28
Grantees still filing
20/28
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DAUPHIN WAY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: $199,000 · OtherDAUPHIN WAY UNITED METHODIST CHURCHCHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY: $98,000 · OtherCHURCH OF THE EPIPHANYST STEPHEN'S SOCIETY: $35,000 · OtherST STEPHEN'S SOCIETYUNITED METHODIST INNER CITY MISSION: $26,000 · Other+34 more: $203,700 · Other+34 moreSEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT INC: $22,500 · Human ServicesUNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME: $18,000 · Human ServicesFAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA: $12,000 · Human ServicesMobile Baykeeper Inc: $19,500 · EnvironmentSouth Alabama Land Trust Inc: $13,000 · EnvironmentALABAMA COASTAL FOUNDATION INC: $7,750 · Environment+2 more: $2,000 · EnvironmentRichards DAR House Inc: $19,000 · Arts & CultureMOBILE MUSEUM OF ART INC: $14,000 · Arts & CultureFAIRHOPE FILM FESTIVAL INC: $9,000 · Arts & CultureVictory Health Partners Inc: $24,000 · HealthCOMMUNITY SERVICES VISION REHAB: $2,000 · Health+1 more: $500 · HealthFeeding the Gulf Coast: $13,000 · Food & NutritionST PAUL'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $12,000 · Education
Other$561,700Human Services$52,500Environment$42,250Arts & Culture$42,000Health$26,500Food & Nutrition$13,000Education$12,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetVictory Health Partners Inc: $24,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetSEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT INC: $22,500 over 9y, 0.8% of budgetMobile Baykeeper Inc: $19,500 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetRichards DAR House Inc: $19,000 over 9y, 4.5% of budgetUNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME: $18,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetMOBILE MUSEUM OF ART INC: $14,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetDrug Education Council Inc: $13,500 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetSouth Alabama Land Trust Inc: $13,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetDUMAS WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER: $13,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetFeeding the Gulf Coast: $13,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetFAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA: $12,000 over 8y, 1.3% of budgetST PAUL'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL: $12,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER INC: $10,000 over 9y, 1.0% of budgetFAIRHOPE FILM FESTIVAL INC: $9,000 over 9y, 1.5% of budgetALABAMA COASTAL FOUNDATION INC: $7,750 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetMcKemie Place Inc: $7,500 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetProdisee Pantry Inc: $5,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetRESTORE MOBILE INC: $4,500 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetCOMMUNITY SERVICES VISION REHAB: $2,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetFIRST LIGHT COMMUNITY OF MOBILE INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF MAGNOLIA CEMETERY INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF SOUTH ALABAMA: $1,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAlabama Rivers Alliance Inc: $1,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSENIOR BOWL CHARITIES INC: $700 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetALABAMA FREE CLINIC INC: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL ALABAMA INC: $500 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 Victory Health Partners Inc ↗
  • Who funds SEVEN HILLS FIRE DISTRICT INC ↗
  • Who funds Mobile Baykeeper Inc ↗
  • Who funds Richards DAR House Inc ↗
  • Who funds UNITED METHODIST CHILDREN'S HOME ↗
  • Who funds MOBILE MUSEUM OF ART INC ↗
  • Who funds Drug Education Council Inc ↗
  • Who funds South Alabama Land Trust Inc ↗
  • Who funds DUMAS WESLEY COMMUNITY CENTER ↗
  • Who funds Feeding the Gulf Coast ↗
  • Who funds FAMILY PROMISE OF COASTAL ALABAMA ↗
  • Who funds ST PAUL'S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds THE CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds FAIRHOPE FILM FESTIVAL INC ↗
  • Who funds ALABAMA COASTAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds McKemie Place Inc ↗
  • Who funds Prodisee Pantry Inc ↗
  • Who funds RESTORE MOBILE 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 Daniel Foundation…Crampton Trust #12550…Hearin - Chandler Fou…Cd Helen and Jeff Gla…As Mitchell Foundatio…J L Bedsole Foundatio…Mapp Family FoundationThe Ben May Charitabl…Alabama Power Foundat…Dog Hill FoundationJulien E Marx Foundat…The Sybil and White S…
The Daniel Foundation of AlabamaAL31.5× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Daniel Foundation of Alabama · Crampton Trust #1255000731 Regions Bank Trustee · Hearin - Chandler Foundation · Cd Helen and Jeff Glaze Foundation · As Mitchell Foundation Inc · J L Bedsole Foundation Regions Bank Co-Trustee · Mapp Family Foundation · The Ben May Charitable Trust Hancock Whitney Bank Successor Trustee · Alabama Power Foundation Inc · Dog Hill Foundation · Julien E Marx Foundation Trust · The Sybil and White Smith 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 Lillian C McGowin Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lillian C McGowin 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%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 Lillian C McGowin Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Lillian C McGowin 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 54 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 Lillian C McGowin’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