· Private foundation
Mary Lou Lemon 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 $10k4 grants · $17k
- $10k–50k3 grants · $45k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
- $250k+1 grant · $432k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CHURCH OF THE OPEN ARMS | $431,608 |
| KGOU | $100,000 |
| THE AMERICAN JOURNALISM PROJECT | $20,000 |
| ELECTED OFFICIALS TO PROTECT AMERICA | $15,000 |
| COULD YOU | $10,000 |
| ARTRANDI COMPANY | $8,000 |
| OKLAHOMA COALITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY | $5,600 |
| THE JUICE RADIO SHOW | $2,000 |
| AFRICAN INDIANS OF THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES FOUNDATION | $1,500 |
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 (FY24–24, $13k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, 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
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
17 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 4 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, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $32k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- COCHURCH OF THE OPEN ARMS7× · 2018–2025 · $610k
- KKGOU3× · 2023–2025 · $111k
- EOELECTED OFFICIALS TO PROTECT AMERICA2× · 2024–2025 · $35k
Funded once
- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2023 · $31k
- BRBIOGAS RESEARCHERS INCone grant, 2018 · $20k
- APAMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRAone grant, 2022 · $20k
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.
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…
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…
To provide leadership and professional development, education and research to create workplaces free from discrimination.
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…
To champion human dignity by designing the solutions to the social problems that infringe upon it.
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,…
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…
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.
Pai advances evidence, policies and programs to enable women, youth and at-risk communities to access sexual and reproductive health as core to health equity, climate resilience, economic well-being and gender equality.
The organization's mission is
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.
How this is measured
14 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. 14 of the 41 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 VOICE Education Fund ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN JOURNALISM PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds DONA ANA VILLAGE ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds COULD YOU ↗
- Who funds Congressional Chorus ↗
- Who funds SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENTREPRENEURS (SEE) INC ↗
- Who funds MUSEUM OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE ↗
- Who funds PVBLIC FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds PHILLIPS THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY CORPORATION ↗
- Who funds TREVOR PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds LGBTQ Victory Institute Inc ↗
- Who funds EDUCATION AND RECREATION 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: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Mary Lou Lemon Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Mary Lou Lemon Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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.
Play a game based on Mary Lou Lemon’s filings →