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· Private foundation

Mary Lou Lemon Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$109k
Granted FY2024still arriving
13
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What you fund
0193% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20172024.

Religion$228kPublic Benefit$70kArts & Culture$69kCommunity Improvement$41kEnvironment$25kInternational$23kHuman Services$21kCrime & Legal$12kOther$0
02FY2024 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $32k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $78k
$7,000
Median grant
6
States reached
$630k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ELECTED OFFICIALS TO PROTECT AMERICA$20,000
SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS$15,000
THE PVBLIC FOUNDATION$12,500
VOICE EDUCATION FUND$10,000
PHILLIPS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY$10,000
THE PEACE HOUSE$10,000
CHURCH OF THE OPEN ARMS$7,000
OKLAHOMA COALITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY$5,600
NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH$5,000
UNIVERSITY PLACE CHRISTIAN CHURCH$5,000
KGOU$5,000
MUSEUM OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE$3,000
CHASE YOUR DREAM YOUTH SPORTS$1,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY24–24, $13k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%THE PVBLIC FOUNDATION: $13k → 14%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

ME
NY
CA
NM
DC
OK
GA
TX

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

64%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$355k · 15 repeat orgs$203k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +19% since the first grant, against -2% for the ones you funded once.

15 repeat relationships — 9 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
18

Total granted

$355k
$154k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+19%
-2%

Still filing today

27%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 56% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $49k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Civil RightsReligionEducationPublic BenefitArts & CultureInternationalOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • CO
    CHURCH OF THE OPEN ARMS
    6× · 2018–2024 · $179k
  • VE
    VOICE Education Fund
    5× · 2018–2024 · $27k · revenue -51%
  • UP
    UNIVERSITY PLACE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
    2× · 2021–2024 · $21k

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $31k
  • BR
    BIOGAS RESEARCHERS INC
    one grant, 2018 · $20k
  • DA
    DONA ANA VILLAGE ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2022 · $20k

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
The Conversationalist
2
Partnership for Participatory International Policy

Partnership for Participatory International Policy coordinates opportunities for elected officials, staff and community leaders to learn from people impacted by US foreign policies and practices. We do this by organizing delegations to…

Civil Rights
3
Out & Equal

To provide leadership and professional development, education and research to create workplaces free from discrimination.

Social Science
4
World Pulse Voices

World Pulse is a global social impact network connecting women from 227 countries to accelerate social change. We provide a safe and supportive online space where women can speak for themselves, make powerful connections, and access the…

Human Services
5
Young Professionals in Foreignpolicy

We build communities of impact to solve global challenges.

International
6
Legal Voice

Legal voice was founded on the belief that all women, girls, and lgbtq+ people should be able to live their lives with dignity, safety, and autonomy. we advance justice and build community power by using multiple strategies: litigation,…

Crime & Legal
7
Project Diva

Project DIVA International is here to ensure girls' needs are met. We exist to guide girls to self-discover towards results - to think, find alignment with their truth, and financially successful.

Education
8
Powerful Voices

Powerful Voices mission is to create brave spaces with BIPOC girls & gender expansive youth to take charge of their own power as leaders, igniting their abilities to confidently express themselves, build community, and act against…

Human Services
9
Peace Is Loud Inc

Pil amplifies the stories the world needs now. through their speakers bureau film impact work, they connect peoples desire for change with opportunities for dialogue action. pil harnesses the power of storytelling by women, trans nonbinary…

Civil Rights
10
Vital Voices Global Partnership Inc

Vital voices global partnership's mission is to identify, invest in and bring visibility to extraordinary women around the world by unleashing their leadership potential to transform lives and accelerate peace and prosperity in their…

International
11
The Pipeline Fund

The Pipeline Fund is working toward a reflective democracy where skilled, diverse, community leaders are fully supported to run for office, run campaigns, and advance progressive policies that address the urgent needs of all Americans.

12
Voices in Contemporary Art

Voca generates critical dialogue and interdisciplinary programming to address the production, presentation, and preservation of contemporary art.

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (See) Inc and the most unlike its peers is American Pops Orchestra. 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

13 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 13 of the 37 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
12/13
Grantees still filing
3/13
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

CHURCH OF THE OPEN ARMS — $178,750 · OtherCHURCH OF THE OPEN ARMSIndividual grant recipient — $31,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientUNIVERSITY PLACE CHRISTIAN CHURCH — $21,000 · OtherTHE PEACE HOUSE — $20,500 · OtherBIOGAS RESEARCHERS INC — $20,000 · OtherELECTED OFFICIALS TO PROTECT AMERICA — $20,000 · OtherAMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA — $20,000 · Other+23 more — $142,650 · Other+23 moreVOICE Education Fund — $27,450 · ReligionDONA ANA VILLAGE ASSOCIATION — $20,000 · Community ImprovementTREVOR PROJECT INC — $10,000 · Civil RightsLGBTQ Victory Institute Inc — $6,000 · Civil RightsSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC — $15,000 · EnvironmentMUSEUM OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE — $13,000 · Arts & CulturePVBLIC FOUNDATION INC — $12,500 · Human Services
Other$453,900Religion$27,450Community Improvement$20,000Civil Rights$16,000Environment$15,000Arts & Culture$13,000Human Services$12,500

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetVOICE Education Fund — $27,450 over 5y, 14% of budgetAMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA — $20,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetSOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC — $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMUSEUM OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE — $13,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetPVBLIC FOUNDATION INC — $12,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPHILLIPS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY CORPORATION — $11,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOULD YOU — $10,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetTREVOR PROJECT INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLGBTQ Victory Institute Inc — $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEDUCATION AND RECREATION INC — $2,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSALLY'S LIST — $250 over 1y, 0.3% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds VOICE Education Fund
  • Who funds DONA ANA VILLAGE ASSOCIATION
  • Who funds AMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA
  • Who funds SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC
  • Who funds Congressional Chorus
  • Who funds MUSEUM OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE
  • Who funds PVBLIC FOUNDATION INC
  • Who funds PHILLIPS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY CORPORATION
  • Who funds COULD YOU
  • Who funds TREVOR PROJECT INC
  • Who funds LGBTQ Victory Institute Inc
  • Who funds EDUCATION AND RECREATION INC
  • Who funds SALLY'S LIST

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO3.3× affinity6 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Mary Lou Lemon Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 40%1%4%8%15%your share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    4get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–75%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Mary Lou Lemon Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Mary Lou Lemon 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 37 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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