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Lyon Dennis & Janis Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Lyon Dennis & Janis 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.

$2k
Granted FY2025still arriving
2
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0192% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$480kHealth$76kReligion$35kEnvironment$28kHuman Services$19kPublic Benefit$12kEducation$11kFood & Nutrition$8kOther$0
02FY2025 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,008
Median grant
1
States reached
$21k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
THE FRIENDSHIP PADDLE$1,008
DILLON HENRY FOUNDATION$1,000
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 (FY18–24, $19k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 48% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%THE ART OF YOGA PROJECT: $5k → 8%THE ART OF YOGA PROJECT: $5k → 8%THE FOOD DEPOT: $500 → 12%CIRCLE THE CITY: $3k → 11%FRESH START WOMENS FOUNDATION: $700 → 11%FRESH START WOMENS FOUNDATION: $600 → 11%NOT MY KID: $3k → 11%HUSHABYE NURSERY: $3k → 11%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.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
WA
ID
IL
NY
NV
PA
NJ
CA
CO
MO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
NM
AR
NC
DC
AL
FL
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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$670k · 48 repeat orgs$107k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +48% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.

48 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 47 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

48
50

Total granted

$670k
$106k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+48%
+17%

Still filing today

60%
44%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 50% 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
Arts & CultureEnvironmentHealthHuman ServicesReligionAnimalsOther
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

  • TH
    THE HEARD MUSEUM
    7× · 2017–2023 · $329k · revenue +59%
  • PA
    PHOENIX ART MUSEUM
    2× · 2017–2018 · $59k · revenue +19%
  • AW
    ARIZONA WOMEN'S BOARD
    3× · 2019–2021 · $17k · revenue +9%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2017 · $26k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $10k
  • NM
    Neighborhood Ministries Incgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +311%
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
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

We inspire people to live in harmony with the natural world by fostering love, appreciation, and understanding of the sonoran desert.

Arts & Culture
2
National Forest Foundation

The national forest foundation (nff), chartered by congress, turns america's love of nature into meaningful action for 193-million acre national forest system through on the ground program work and grant making activities, and accepts and…

Recreation & Sports
3
Denver Zoological Foundation

Inspiring communities to save wildlife for future generations.

Animals
4
Banner -University Medical Group

Assist banner health complete its mission to make health care easier so life can be better by providing integrated & coordinated care & population health management.

Health
5
Sky Island Alliance

We work to connect people, wildlife, and lands across the u.s.-mexico border through the use of science, advocacy, educational activities, community engagement, and on-the-ground conservation initiatives. our main activities include…

Environment
6
Conservation International Foundation

Ci works to spotlight and secure the critical benefits that nature provides to humanity.

Environment
7
Friends of the Earth

Friends of the earth strives for a more healthy and just world by defendng the environment and human health while advancing social and economic justice by conducting research and education, transforming the economy so it protects the…

Environment
8
National Audubon Society Inc

We work towards a future where birds thrive across the americas because audubon is a powerful, diverse, and ever-growing force for conservation. (continued on schedule o).

Environment
9
The Grand Canyon Trust Inc

The mission of the grand canyon trust is to safeguard the wonders of the grand canyon and the colorado plateau, while supporting the rights of its native peoples.

Environment
10
Nia Tero Foundation

Nia tero works alongside indigenous peoples to secure their guardianship of vital ecosystems. indigenous peoples are guardians of earth.(see schedule o)

Environment
11
United Food Bank

United Food Bank unites communities to alleviate hunger.

Food & Nutrition
12
American Council of Engineering Companies of Arizona

To assist member firms in achieving higher professional, ethical business and economic standards, enabling member firms to provide quality consulting and engineering services for their clients and the public.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is National Park Foundation; the most unlike its peers is The Dillon Henry 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

55 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 55 of the 102 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
55/55
Grantees still filing
43/55
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE HEARD MUSEUM: $328,550 · Arts & CultureTHE HEARD MUSEUMPHOENIX ART MUSEUM: $58,500 · Arts & CulturePHOENIX ART MUSEUM+7 more: $35,515 · Arts & Culture+7 moreIndividual grant recipient: $50,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientBARROW NEUROLOGICAL INSTITUTE: $27,100 · OtherBARROW NEUROLOGICAL INSTITUTEIndividual grant recipient: $25,750 · OtherIndividual grant recipientSPANISH COLONIAL ARTS: $22,500 · OtherSPANISH COLONIAL ARTSINTERNATIONAL FOLK ART MARKET: $22,000 · OtherINTERNATIONAL FOLK ART MARKETST VINCENT DE PAUL: $11,855 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $11,700 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $10,050 · OtherARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $10,000 · Other+61 more: $76,137 · Other+61 moreARIZONA WOMEN'S BOARD: $16,600 · HealthTHE BOARD OF VISITORS: $6,600 · HealthALZHEIMERS RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $5,400 · HealthBRING CHANGE 2 MIND: $5,000 · Health+2 more: $800 · HealthTHE ART OF YOGA PROJECT: $10,000 · Human ServicesNOTMYKID: $2,500 · Human ServicesHUSHABYE NURSERY: $2,500 · Human ServicesCIRCLE THE CITY: $2,500 · Human ServicesFRESH START WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $1,300 · Human Services+1 more: $500 · Human ServicesSANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: $12,300 · Community ImprovementRUSS LYON FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · Community ImprovementDESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $10,350 · EnvironmentNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $1,500 · EnvironmentNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $1,250 · EnvironmentWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $752 · Environment+2 more: $350 · EnvironmentNeighborhood Ministries Inc: $10,000 · ReligionPHOENIX GOSPEL MISSION: $2,302 · ReligionDIOCESAN COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL DIOCESE PHOENIX: $1,900 · Religion
Arts & Culture$422,565Other$267,092Health$34,400Human Services$19,300Community Improvement$17,300Environment$14,202Religion$14,202

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 budgetTHE HEARD MUSEUM: $328,550 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetPHOENIX ART MUSEUM: $58,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetARIZONA WOMEN'S BOARD: $16,600 over 3y, 5.3% of budgetSANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: $12,300 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $11,700 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF PUBLIC RADIO ARIZONA: $10,665 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetDESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $10,350 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ART OF YOGA PROJECT: $10,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetNeighborhood Ministries Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY: $10,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO FOUNDATION: $9,750 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BOARD OF VISITORS: $6,600 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetMESA VERDE FOUNDATION: $5,500 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetALZHEIMERS RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC: $5,400 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE: $5,250 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetBRING CHANGE 2 MIND: $5,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetRUSS LYON FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetGEORGIA O'KEEFFE MUSEUM: $4,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetMILLICENT ROGERS MUSEUM INC: $3,750 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetNational Kidney Foundation of Arizona: $2,550 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNOTMYKID: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTeen Lifeline Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHUSHABYE NURSERY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCIRCLE THE CITY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPHOENIX GOSPEL MISSION: $2,302 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDIOCESAN COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL DIOCESE PHOENIX: $1,900 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DILLON HENRY FOUNDATION: $1,750 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetNATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION: $1,600 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetBALLET ARIZONA: $1,600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFRESH START WOMEN'S FOUNDATION: $1,300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL INC: $1,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FIT KIDS FOUNDATION INC: $1,100 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetFeeding America: $1,080 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetHOMEWARD BOUND: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPRESBYTERIAN EAR INSTITUTE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWORLD WILDLIFE FUND INC: $752 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FOOD DEPOT: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBanner Alzheimer's Foundation: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBLOOD CANCER UNITED INC: $300 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSIERRA CLUB: $300 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFLORENCE CRITTENTON SERVICES OF ARIZONA INC: $275 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGRAND CANYON CONSERVANCY: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SPANISH COLONIAL ARTS SOCIETY: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER INC: $210 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS ARIZONA INC: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION: $200 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 THE HEARD MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds PHOENIX ART MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds ARIZONA WOMEN'S BOARD ↗
  • Who funds SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY ↗
  • Who funds THE NATURE CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF PUBLIC RADIO ARIZONA ↗
  • Who funds DESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN INC ↗
  • Who funds THE ART OF YOGA PROJECT ↗
  • Who funds Neighborhood Ministries Inc ↗
  • Who funds ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION FOR A NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF NEW MEXICO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE BOARD OF VISITORS ↗
  • Who funds MESA VERDE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds ALZHEIMERS RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds BRING CHANGE 2 MIND ↗
  • Who funds RUSS LYON FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds GEORGIA O'KEEFFE MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds MILLICENT ROGERS MUSEUM INC ↗
  • Who funds National Kidney Foundation of Arizona ↗
  • Who funds NOTMYKID ↗
  • Who funds Teen Lifeline Inc ↗
  • Who funds HUSHABYE NURSERY ↗
  • Who funds CIRCLE THE CITY ↗
  • Who funds PHOENIX GOSPEL MISSION ↗
  • Who funds DIOCESAN COUNCIL FOR THE SOCIETY OF ST VINCENT DE PAUL DIOCESE PHOENIX ↗

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.

Virginia G Piper Char…Arizona Community Fou…Thunderbirds CharitiesMoreno Family Foundat…The Foundation for Co…Jewish Community Foun…Tw Lewis FoundationAmerican Express Foun…Robert H McKee and Ma…Garcia Family Foundat…Dorrance Family Found…The Board of Visitors
Virginia G Piper Charitable TrustAZ32× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Virginia G Piper Charitable Trust · Arizona Community Foundation · Thunderbirds Charities · Moreno Family Foundation · The Foundation for Community and Health Advancement · Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Phoenix · Tw Lewis Foundation · American Express Foundation · Robert H McKee and Mary Ellen McKee Charitable Family Foundation · Garcia Family Foundation · Dorrance Family Foundation · The Board of Visitors

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 Lyon Dennis & Janis Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Lyon Dennis & Janis Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    18report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 Lyon Dennis & Janis Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Lyon Dennis & Janis 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 102 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 Lyon Dennis & Janis’ 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