· Private foundation
Once Upon a Time 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k939 grants · $585k
- $10k–50k50 grants · $1.0M
- $50k–250k42 grants · $3.7M
- $250k+8 grants · $5.4M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER | $2,500,000 |
| FORT WORTH ZOO | $1,000,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO | $410,949 |
| CHILDREN'S NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE | $366,667 |
| UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER | $320,000 |
| TEXAS HEALTH RESOURCES (HARRIS METHODIST FOUNDATION) | $275,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL | $250,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL | $250,000 |
| JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY | $225,000 |
| TEXAS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL | $200,000 |
| VANGUARD CHARITABLE | $200,000 |
| THE GENESIS FOUNDATION | $155,000 |
| DUKE UNIVERSITY | $151,227 |
| VANGUARD CHARITABLE | $150,000 |
| CHILDREN'S NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE | $133,760 |
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 (FY20–24, $457k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 94% 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
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 7% of Once Upon a Time Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.
156 repeat relationships: 109 still active in FY2024, 47 since wound down; 320 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 67% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3.3M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- MUMarquette University5× · 2020–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +24%
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY5× · 2020–2024 · $875k · revenue +42%- TCTEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY5× · 2020–2024 · $651k · revenue +40%
Funded once
- NHNYC HEALTH HOSPITALS BELLEVUEone grant, 2023 · $1.0M
- GSGENOX SOLUTION CHILE SPAone grant, 2022 · $657k
- HMHARRIS METHODIST FOUNDATIONone grant, 2020 · $200k
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.
Building a movement of diverse, upwardly mobile college grads overcoming underemployment through digital skills and peer connections.
As a christian university, we provide education and research opportunities preparing global leaders to partner with local communities.
Mission: together we advance the quality of life for people with disabilities. vision: people of all abilities thrive in the world. values: impact- generate solutions that make a difference. choice - create opportunities for people to lead…
Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…
Actionaid is an international network building a just, equitable, and sustainable world in solidarity with communities on the frontlines of poverty and injustice. actionaid usa is the u.s. branch of actionaid international, which works in…
Common impact's mission is to strengthen the capacity of social change organizations, enabling them to better run and scale their programs. through its partnership with companies, common impact taps into the business skills and expertise…
To provide multi-specialty surgical care, humanitarian aid and educational support to people in low- and middle-income countries.
Pact is a nonprofit organization that builds evidence-based, data-driven, and community-led solutions for human development (continued in schedule o)
Alternatives, inc.'s mission is to facilitate personal development,strengthen family relationships and enhance the community's well being. serving over 3,000 youth and families annually, the organization offers a range of counseling and…
Devworks international is dedicated to a society where all people enjoy the freedom to pursue their own sustainable development. we contribute to this by strengthening the capacity of local organizations.
Community information now (cinow) provides data, tools, analysis, and training to inform decisions to improve texas communities. cinow's vision is improved lives and decreased disparities through democratized data.
Empowering families and individuals experiencing homelessness to build a future filled with dignity, opportunity, and lasting solutions.
How this is measured
524 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. 524 of the 911 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
Showing the 200 largest grantees by grant value.
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 VANGUARD CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT PROGRAM ↗
- Who funds Marquette University ↗
- Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA ↗
- Who funds JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds New York University ↗
- Who funds Vanderbilt University ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds The Anderson Foundation ↗
- Who funds THE MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL ↗
- Who funds TRI-CITIES FOOD BANK ↗
- Who funds BAYLOR UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds University of Notre Dame du Lac ↗
- Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK ↗
- Who funds Texas Children's Hospital ↗
- Who funds Emory University ↗
- Who funds DUKE UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ↗
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: Thomas M Helen McKee & John P Ryan Fo John P Ryan Foundation Inc · Sid W Richardson Foundation · Amon G Carter Foundation · Community Foundation of North Texas (Tax · The Morris Foundation · Rainwater Charitable Foundation · The Roach Foundation Inc · Garvey Texas Foundation Inc · Amon G Carter-Star Tele Emply Fund · The Rees-Jones Foundation · Paul E Andrews Jr Foundation · Mary Potishman Lard Trust Walker C Friedman Co Trustee
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Once Upon a Time Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Once Upon a Time Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Reach Inc: 85% of income from government
- Bridge Over Troubled Waters Inc: 32% of income from government
- Xerces Society Inc: 22% of income from government
- The Coral Restoration Foundation Inc: 16% of income from government
- Trustees of Boston University: 12% of income from government
- Johns Hopkins University: 12% of income from government
- President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
- Northeastern University: 7% of income from government
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc: 7% of income from government
- Breaktime United Inc: 1% of income from government
- Comfort Cases Inc: 0% of income from government
- Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Once Upon a Time Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Once Upon a Time 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.
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