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Nils and Janet Johnson Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Nils and Janet Johnson Foundation Inc

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.

$27k
Granted FY2025still arriving
6
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$9k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0188% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$18kCrime & Legal$18kHuman Services$9kPhilanthropy$8kArts & Culture$7kReligion$6kHealth$2kYouth Development$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$4,250
Median grant
4
States reached
$320k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$9,100
PUBLIC JUSTICE FOUNDATION$8,000
ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH$4,250
HEALTH LAW ADVOCATES$3,500
OH WOW$1,250
SIM USA$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 (FY25–25, $4k) 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.

area typical 11%HEALTH LAW ADVOCATES: $4k → 16%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.

70%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$65k · 8 repeat orgs$28k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +48% since the first grant, against +23% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
15

Total granted

$65k
$15k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+48%
+23%

Still filing today

38%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $14k 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
EducationArts & CultureRecreation & SportsCrime & LegalHousing & ShelterHuman ServicesOther
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

  • PJ
    PUBLIC JUSTICE FOUNDATION
    3× · 2022–2025 · $18k · revenue +62%
  • YF
    YSU FOUNDATION
    2× · 2019–2021 · $14k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    2× · 2017–2018 · $10k

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $4k
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF THE RAFAEL HERNANDEZ SCHOOL INC
    one grant, 2022 · $2k · revenue -5%
  • CS
    CANFIELD SCHOOLS
    one grant, 2020 · $2k
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
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
2
The Philadelphia School

The philadelphia school educates children for a future that is impossible to know but not impossible to shape. learn here. go anywhere.

—
3
Heckscher Museum

Museum has a mission to create opportunties for everyone to experience art that broadens understanding of the past, fosters community connections to the present, and creates diverse possbilities for the future.

Arts & Culture
4
New York Botanical Garden

The new york botanical garden is a museum of plants and a scientific research center devoted to the study of plants and their uses. it is the garden's mission to improve public understanding of the natural world, horticulture, and the…

Environment
5
Youngstown State University Foundation

The youngstown state university foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that supports student scholarships, student development, and career opportunities

Education
6
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
7
Florence Griswold Museum Inc

The florence griswold museum seeks to promote a greater understanding of connecticut's contribution to american art and history through public exhibitions and educational programs.

Arts & Culture
8
Lancaster General Health Foundation

The lancaster general health foundation is organized and operated to benefit, perform the functions of, or carry out the purposes of members of the healthcare system of lancaster general health, a non-profit corporation described in…

Philanthropy
9
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
10
Lancaster General Health

Provides managerial and financial support to its controlled organizations and is also responsible for undertaking activities designed to advance the general health of the community.

Health
11
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
12
Hill-Stead Museum Board of Governors Inc

To support and to provide advice and assistance to the trustees of the hill-stead museum, a national historic landmark and public charity which preserves, displays and interprets the 1901 colonial home, property, and fine art collections…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Youngstown Fdn General; the most unlike its peers is On Target Outfitters. 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

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 27 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
14/14
Grantees still filing
9/14
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

YSU FOUNDATION: $14,250 · OtherYSU FOUNDATIONIndividual grant recipient: $10,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientIndividual grant recipient: $9,100 · OtherIndividual grant recipientZION LUTHERAN CHURCH: $5,750 · OtherZION LUTHERAN CHURCHYMCA OF YOUNGSTOWN: $5,500 · OtherYMCA OF YOUNGSTOWNIndividual grant recipient: $3,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientCANFIELD SCHOOLS: $2,000 · Other+11 more: $6,200 · Other+11 morePUBLIC JUSTICE FOUNDATION: $17,500 · Crime & LegalPUBLIC JUSTICE FOUND…CANFIELD ROTARY ASSOCIATION: $5,500 · PhilanthropyYOUNGSTOWN FDN GENERAL: $2,000 · PhilanthropyOH WOW THE ROGER & GLORIA JONES CHILDREN'S CENTER FOR SCIENCE & TECH: $5,250 · Arts & CultureTHE YOUNGSTOWN PLAYHOUSE: $1,000 · Arts & CultureHEALTH LAW ADVOCATES INC: $3,500 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE RAFAEL HERNANDEZ SCHOOL INC: $2,000 · EducationGROVE CITY COLLEGE: $150 · EducationBon Secours Mercy Health Foundation: $1,500 · Religion
Other$56,300Crime & Legal$17,500Philanthropy$7,500Arts & Culture$6,250Human Services$3,500Education$2,150Religion$1,500

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 budgetPUBLIC JUSTICE FOUNDATION: $17,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCANFIELD ROTARY ASSOCIATION: $5,500 over 2y, 8.1% of budgetOH WOW THE ROGER & GLORIA JONES CHILDREN'S CENTER FOR SCIENCE & TECH: $5,250 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetHEALTH LAW ADVOCATES INC: $3,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE RAFAEL HERNANDEZ SCHOOL INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetYOUNGSTOWN FDN GENERAL: $2,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBon Secours Mercy Health Foundation: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE YOUNGSTOWN PLAYHOUSE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetYOUNGSTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CURE STARTS NOW INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetON TARGET OUTFITTERS: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHENRY M HALSTEAD FIELD OF OPPORTUNITY: $500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLYME HISTORIANS INC: $250 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGROVE CITY COLLEGE: $150 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.

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.

Youngstown Fdn GeneralJ Ford Crandall Depos…Youngstown Area Jewis…Premier Bank Foundati…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Youngstown Fdn GeneralOH15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Youngstown Fdn General · J Ford Crandall Depository · Youngstown Area Jewish Federation · Premier Bank Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Nils and Janet Johnson Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Nils and Janet Johnson Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 52%
  • Health Law Advocates Inc: 52% of income from government
  • Friends of the Rafael Hernandez School Inc: 13% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
1rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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 Nils and Janet Johnson Foundation Inc?

Find your warmest path to Nils and Janet Johnson Foundation Inc 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 27 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 Nils and Janet Johnson’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