· Private foundation
Richard Rex Ponn Trust Fund
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.
Read this first · the figures below need context
97% of Richard Rex Ponn Trust Fund’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Columbus Foundation, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 9 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2024, the last year Richard Rex Ponn Trust Fund named its own grantees at scale: 10 organizations, $18k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
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.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| LEXINGTON HEARING & SPEECH CENTER | $1,500 |
| MESSIAH LUTHERAN CHURCH | $1,200 |
| BARELY USED PETS | $1,100 |
| PRIMATE RESCUE CENTER | $1,100 |
| OHIO ALLEYCAT RESOURCE & SPAY | $1,100 |
| LOVE OF PAWS INC | $1,100 |
| HABITAT FOR HUMANITY | $1,100 |
| MENIFEE ANIMAL SHELTER | $1,100 |
| GALLUDET UNIVERSITY | $1,100 |
| PET PROMISE | $1,100 |
| CAT WELFARE ASSOCIATION | $1,100 |
| Individual grant recipient | $1,100 |
| CHAMPAIGN COUNTY ANIMAL WELFARE | $1,100 |
| HUMANE SOCIETY OF RICHMOND | $1,100 |
| URBANA MIDDLE SCHOOL | $1,000 |
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 (FY21–25, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 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
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
23 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2024, 7 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call). Read against FY2024, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
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, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- LHLEXINGTON HEARING & SPEECH CENTER INC DBA THE HEARING & SPEECH CENTER INC5× · 2021–2025 · $6k · revenue +5%
- TCTHE CAT WELFARE ASSOCIATION6× · 2020–2025 · $5k · revenue +156%
- BUBarely Used Pets Inc6× · 2020–2025 · $5k · revenue +70%
Funded once
- CCCHAMPAIGN COUNTY YOUTH CHOIRone grant, 2020 · $3k
- UHURBANA HIGH SCHOOLone grant, 2020 · $1k
- CACHRISTIAN APPALACHIAN PROJECT INCgraduatedone grant, 2022 · $1k · revenue +34%
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.
The champaign county humane association owns and operates the paws animal shelter. the mission is to provide food and shelter to abandoned and strayed animals.
To rescue, rehabilitate, and re-home companion animals, and provide necessary medical care for these animals, including spaying/neuturing by a veterinary professional, in accordance with the laws of the state
Rescue and adoption of animals
To advocate the compassionate treatment of animals; educate the community on responsible, lifelong pet ownership; and promote adoption as the best option when searching for a new pet.
Carolina tiger rescue's mission is saving and protecting wildcats in captivity and in the wild.
Reduce pet overpopulation and welfare through adoption programs and spay/neuter assistance
To provide adopted pet families for abandoned and neglected animals from the middle tennessee area throughout the eastern and northeastern united states.
To be a resource as a no-kill pet rescue service
The mission of Caloosa Humane Society is to serve, shelter, and protect the homeless pets in our care. We are dedicated to finding permanent and loving adoptive homes for our companion animals in need. Our no-kill facility provides low…
Humane society of the tennessee valley, inc. is dedicated to providing lifesaving programs and resources to enrich the lives of people and companion animals in the communities we serve.
The austin humane society (ahs) offers comprehensive, humane, life-saving animal services, transforming the lives of animals and those who love them. because we believe homeless animals deserve a chance to thrive in a loving environment,…
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 31 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 COLUMBUS FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds LEXINGTON HEARING & SPEECH CENTER INC DBA THE HEARING & SPEECH CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds THE CAT WELFARE ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds Barely Used Pets Inc ↗
- Who funds PRIMATE RESCUE CENTER ↗
- Who funds PET PROMISE ↗
- Who funds APOPO US INC ↗
- Who funds GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds LEXINGTON LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds CHAMPAIGN COUNTY ANIMAL WELFARE LEAGUE INC ↗
- Who funds CHRISTIAN APPALACHIAN PROJECT INC ↗
- Who funds LEXINGTON THEATRE COMPANY ↗
- Who funds BLUEGRASS CRIME STOPPERS INC ↗
- Who funds CORNERSTONE OF HOPE 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: Blue Grass Community Foundation Inc · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · Network for Good · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 Richard Rex Ponn Trust Fund funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Richard Rex Ponn Trust Fund. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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