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· Public charity

Ohio Humanities Council

The OHIO HUMANITIES COUNCIL is a not-for-profit whose principal business activity is to encourage ohioans to use history, literature, philosophy, and other humanities disciplines to gain new insights, explore new ideas, and develop respect for new perspectives.

$311k
Granted FY2024still arriving
14
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$18k
Largest
01What it funds
01100% 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$3.4MEducation$182kHuman Services$103kHealth$57kEnvironment$32kFood & Nutrition$27kReligion$20kPublic Benefit$14kOther$0
02FY2024 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 14 grants below total $212,500, the rows itemized in this filing. The $311,134 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $98,634 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$15,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SOUTHERN OHIO FOLKLIFE$17,500
CANTON MUSEUM OF ART$17,500
NATIONAL UNDERGROUND RAILROAD FREEDOM CENTER$17,500
VOYAGEUR MEDIA GROUP$17,500
GREATER CLEVELAND URBAN FILM FOUNDATION$15,000
DECORATIVE ARTS CENTER OF OHIO$15,000
COLUMBUS METROPOLITAN LIBRARY$15,000
MANDEL JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER$15,000
TOLEDO OPERA ASSOCIATION$15,000
CORPORATION FOR FINDLAY MARKET$15,000
URBAN APPALACHIAN COMMUNITY COALITION$15,000
ROBERT O'NEAL MULTICULTURAL ARTS CENTER$15,000
FORT RECOVERY HISTORICAL SOCIETY$12,500
THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA$10,000
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 (FY17–24, $166k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%MIDSTORY: $20k → 18%YWCA MAHONING VALLEY: $10k → 19%MIDSTORY: $16k → 18%LADD INC: $20k → 16%NUESTRA GENTE COMMUNITY PROJECTS INC: $10k → 18%MANDEL JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER: $20k → 17%MANDEL JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER: $15k → 17%MANDEL JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER: $15k → 17%MANDEL JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER: $15k → 17%MANDEL JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER: $10k → 17%BELT MEDIA COLLABORATIVE: $16k → 17%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.

63%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.4M · 69 repeat orgs$1.4M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +49% since the first grant, against +33% for those funded once.

69 repeat relationships: 10 still active in FY2024, 59 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

69
121

Total granted

$2.4M
$1.3M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+49%
+33%

Still filing today

86%
72%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $58k 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
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementHealthPhilanthropyOther
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

  • TM
    The Mandel Jewish Community Center of Cleveland
    7× · 2017–2024 · $103k · revenue +16%
  • DA
    DECORATIVE ARTS CENTER OF OHIO
    4× · 2020–2024 · $69k · revenue +70%
  • CR
    CLEVELAND RESTORATION SOCIETY INC
    3× · 2017–2021 · $61k · revenue +226%

Funded once

  • LB
    LESBIANS BENEFITTING THE ARTS INC
    one grant, 2023 · $25k
  • MF
    Mac-A-Cheek Foundations for the Humanities
    one grant, 2021 · $23k
  • PC
    PREBLE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $23k · revenue +655%
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
Canfield Heritage Foundation

Museum

Arts & Culture
2
Middleburg Heights Historical Society

Non profit historical society

Arts & Culture
3
Western Reserve Historical Society

Western reserve historical society preserves and uses its collections, historic sites, and museums to inspire people to discover the american experience by exploring the tangible history of northeast ohio.

Arts & Culture
4
Wayne County Historical Society of Ohio

The wayne county historical society is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and interpreting the history of wayne county.

—
5
Columbus Jewish Historical Society

To facilitate the collection, preservation and education of the jewish history of central ohio.

Arts & Culture
6
The Harmon Museum

To preserve and present the history of warren county and southwest ohio.

Arts & Culture
7
Cleveland Museum of Art

The mission of the cleveland museum of art (cma) is to fulfill its dual roles as one of the world's most distinguished comprehensive art museums and as one of northeastern ohio's principal civic and cultural institutions. the museum,…

Arts & Culture
8
Granville Ohio Historical Society

The Granville Historical Society acquires, preserves, and shares Granvilles past with residents and visitors to inspire curiosity about, instill knowledge of, and foster a commitment to our history.

—
9
Middletown Historical Society

To provide a repository for historical artifacts for middletown, ohio and to make these available for the membership and the general public

—
10
Cleveland Historical Society

To discover, to collect, to preserve and to interpret materials and objects germane to the history of Cleveland and the North Shore of Oneida Lake, NY, to sponsor writings, education, publications, and to promote public interest in…

Arts & Culture
11
Ashland County Historical Society

To preserve the history of ashland county, ohio, and to provide educational opportunities to read about and experience said history and heritage.

Arts & Culture
12
John Paulding Historical Society Inc

Preserve historical items in paulding county, ohio

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Lorain County Historical Society Inc; the most unlike its peers is American Society of Ephesus 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

154 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. 154 of the 196 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.

6
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
64
Early backer (in before they grew)
152/154
Grantees still filing
109/154
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DECORATIVE ARTS CENTER OF OHIO: $68,500 · Arts & CultureSPRINGFIELD MUSEUM OF ART: $66,000 · Arts & CultureCLEVELAND RESTORATION SOCIETY INC: $60,594 · Arts & Culture+82 more: $1,587,298 · Arts & Culture+82 moreOHIOANA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $96,000 · OtherOHIOANA LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONVOYAGEUR MEDIA GROUP INC: $57,500 · OtherAllen County Historical Society: $53,495 · OtherMARION COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $46,000 · OtherTRUMBULL COUNTY HISTORICAL SOC: $45,965 · Other+73 more: $1,059,184 · Other+73 moreNATIONAL FIRST LADIES LIBRARY: $27,500 · EducationMarietta College: $23,750 · EducationLiterary Cleveland: $21,668 · EducationCOALITION FOR THE COMMON GOOD: $20,000 · EducationTHE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO FOUNDATION: $19,965 · EducationDENISON UNIVERSITY: $19,410 · EducationTHE TEACHING CLEVELAND FOUNDATION: $16,600 · EducationFRIENDS OF THE HARTMAN ROCK GARDEN: $16,000 · EducationWilmington College: $15,895 · EducationURSULINE COLLEGE: $15,301 · EducationWEXNER CENTER FOUNDATION: $15,000 · EducationCENTER FOR ARTS-INSPIRED LEARNING: $15,000 · EducationEYEJ: $12,000 · EducationCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $10,000 · Education+3 more: $18,448 · EducationThe Mandel Jewish Community Center of Cleveland: $102,750 · Human ServicesMIDSTORY: $55,008 · Human ServicesLiving Arrangements for the Developmentally Disabled Inc: $20,000 · Human ServicesBELT MEDIA COLLABORATIVE: $15,500 · Human ServicesNUESTRA GENTE COMMUNITY PROJECTS INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesYWCA MAHONING VALLEY: $10,000 · Human ServicesZOAR COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $26,000 · Community ImprovementURBAN APPALACHIAN COMMUNITY COALITION: $23,000 · Community ImprovementCorporation for Findlay Market: $15,000 · Community ImprovementNORTH UNION FARMERS MARKET: $7,476 · Community ImprovementCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER OF AKRON: $40,000 · HealthTHE CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION: $17,000 · HealthAmerican Society of Ephesus Inc: $31,479 · PhilanthropyFRIENDS OF THE MUSEUM: $10,000 · PhilanthropyGREENE COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $7,500 · PhilanthropyJewish Federation of Cincinnati: $3,750 · Philanthropy
Arts & Culture$1,782,392Other$1,358,144Education$266,537Human Services$213,258Community Improvement$71,476Health$57,000Philanthropy$52,729

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 budgetThe Mandel Jewish Community Center of Cleveland: $102,750 over 7y, 0.4% of budgetOHIOANA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION: $96,000 over 4y, 5.1% of budgetDECORATIVE ARTS CENTER OF OHIO: $68,500 over 4y, 3.3% of budgetSPRINGFIELD MUSEUM OF ART: $66,000 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetCLEVELAND RESTORATION SOCIETY INC: $60,594 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetVOYAGEUR MEDIA GROUP INC: $57,500 over 3y, 56% of budgetMIDSTORY: $55,008 over 3y, 17% of budgetGreater Dayton Public Television dba Think TV: $55,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetBOOKS BY THE BANKS: $55,000 over 3y, 21% of budgetAllen County Historical Society: $53,495 over 3y, 7.2% of budgetFriends of Harriet Beecher Stowe House: $51,228 over 3y, 27% of budgetTOLEDO OPERA ASSOCIATION: $51,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetThe Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education: $49,940 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetMARION COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $46,000 over 2y, 12% of budgetTRUMBULL COUNTY HISTORICAL SOC: $45,965 over 3y, 6.9% of budgetRUTHERFORD B HAYES PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUMS: $45,668 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetATHENS COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $45,425 over 3y, 6.8% of budgetOVER-THE-RHINE MUSEUM: $44,850 over 4y, 13% of budgetWOOD COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $41,000 over 3y, 5.3% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER OF AKRON: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMedia Working Group: $37,288 over 2y, 22% of budgetCINCINNATI MUSEUM ASSOCIATION: $35,274 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetINTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S AIR & SPACE MUSEUM INC: $32,863 over 3y, 28% of budgetMarion Voices Folklife & Oral History: $31,500 over 2y, 18% of budgetAmerican Society of Ephesus Inc: $31,479 over 2y, 8.3% of budgetOBERLIN HISTORICAL AND IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATION: $31,344 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetCINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCanton Museum of Art: $29,900 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetTHE DICK AND JANE PROJECT: $29,500 over 2y, 4.2% of budgetOHIO HISTORY CONNECTION: $28,875 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNATIONAL FIRST LADIES LIBRARY: $27,500 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetWESTCOTT HOUSE FOUNDATION: $26,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetFEVERED DREAMS PRODUCTIONS: $26,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetTHE FORT MEIGS ASSOCIATION: $26,000 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetLORAIN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $26,000 over 2y, 5.1% of budgetHIGHLAND COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $26,000 over 2y, 8.2% of budgetZOAR COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: $26,000 over 2y, 3.0% of budgetSUMMIT COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AKRON OHIO: $26,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetADENA MANSION AND GARDENS SOCIETY: $26,000 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetDennison Railroad Depot Museum Inc: $25,398 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetMASSILLON MUSEUM: $25,220 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetFORT RECOVERY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $25,194 over 2y, 12% of budgetLIT Youngstown: $24,863 over 2y, 16% of budgetASHLAND MAIN STREET INC: $24,750 over 4y, 35% of budgetMarietta College: $23,750 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMOHICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $23,041 over 2y, 9.5% of budgetURBAN APPALACHIAN COMMUNITY COALITION: $23,000 over 2y, 17% of budgetPREBLE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $23,000 over 1y, 21% 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.

Ohio History ConnectionOH69.3× affinity32 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ohio History Connection · The Cleveland Foundation · Carol Ann and Ralph V Haile Jr Foundation · The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation · Louise Taft Semple Foundation · Columbus Foundation · Stark Community Foundation · W E Smith Family Charitable Trust Fund · The George Gund Foundation · The Dayton Foundation · Park National Corporation Foundation · Martha Holden Jennings 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 Ohio Humanities Council funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ohio Humanities Council. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%4%15%34%60%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
    0get no government money at all
    57report 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.

    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 196 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

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