· Private foundation
Russell Johnson 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 you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2020–2024.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k12 grants · $51k
- $10k–50k6 grants · $60k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| PARTNERS FOR OUR COMMUNITIES | $10,000 |
| AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE | $10,000 |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD | $10,000 |
| PARTNERS FOR OUR COMMUNITIES | $10,000 |
| SHALVA | $10,000 |
| EXCEL BEYOND 211 | $10,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $8,000 |
| SARAH'S CIRCLE | $7,500 |
| APNA GHAR | $5,000 |
| CANINE THERAPY CORP | $5,000 |
| DISTINCTIVE SCHOOLS | $5,000 |
| THE HARBOUR | $5,000 |
| REDROVER | $5,000 |
| NORTHWEST COMM HOSP WOMENS CENTER | $5,000 |
| LIVE4LALI | $2,500 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Your human-services grants (FY20–24, $170k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
17 repeat relationships — 15 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 2 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, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
- PFPARTNERS FOR OUR COMMUNITIES5× · 2020–2024 · $93k · revenue +220%
- SISHALVA INC5× · 2020–2024 · $48k · revenue +8%
- AGAPNA GHAR INC5× · 2020–2024 · $33k · revenue +148%
Funded once
- JCJewish Child and Family Servicesone grant, 2023 · $8k · revenue +15%
- W(WINGS (WOMEN IN NEED OF GROWING)one grant, 2020 · $8k
- SASALT AND LIGHT COALITION NFPgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $3k · revenue +87%
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
The Network is a group of 40+ member organizations dedicated to improving the lives of those impacted by gender-based violence through education, public policy and advocacy, and connecting community members with direct service providers.…
The Chicago Refugee Coalition is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated ot the alleviation of human suffering through innovative partnerships, advocacy and community empowerment.
Founded in 2023, humane animal partners is a nonprofit no-kill animal care and adoption center. we are committed to providing for the needs of homeless and owned dogs and cats in our community. we make "friends for life" by connecting…
Providing a safe and loving shelter to cats and dogs until their permanent adoptive home is found.
Chicago canine rescue foundation finds permanent homes for homeless dogs in our community with a specific emphasis on assisting the most vulnerable animals, who without our help, would have no other options. while in our care, they are…
Animal shelter for the protection and care of abused and neglected animals.
Alternatives to violence provides shelter, advocacy, education and resources for people impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault and n trafficking.
Seeks to address the traumas of police violence and institutionalized racism through access to healing and wellness services, trauma-informed resources, and community connection. The Center is a part of and supports a movement to end all…
A champion for animals since 1967, PAWS is a nationally recognized leader - rehabilitating injured and orphaned wildlife, sheltering and adopting homeless cats and dogs, and educating people to make a better world for animals and people.
She Is Safe prevents, rescues and restores women and girls from abuse and exploitation in high risk communities across the globe, equipping them to build lives of freedom and faith for a strong future. We accomplish our work in partnership…
To end animal suffering through direct and compassionate action, and to inspire the highest ethical standards of humanity towards animals. The Organization rescues animals who fall victim to abuse and natural disaster.
Animal care sanctuary's lifesaving mission as a no kill organization envisions a community that promotes turning compassion into action for companion animals by: 1.) adopting healthy pet companions into loving homes. 2.) promoting the…
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is United Animal Nations Dba Redrover and the most unlike its peers is Live 4 Lali Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
15 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 15 of the 24 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds PARTNERS FOR OUR COMMUNITIES ↗
- Who funds SHALVA INC ↗
- Who funds APNA GHAR INC ↗
- Who funds SARAH'S CIRCLE ↗
- Who funds Distinctive Schools of Illinois ↗
- Who funds THE HARBOUR INC ↗
- Who funds CANINE THERAPY CORPS INC ↗
- Who funds AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE ↗
- Who funds LIVE 4 LALI INC ↗
- Who funds Jewish Child and Family Services ↗
- Who funds The Anti-Cruelty Society ↗
- Who funds UNITED ANIMAL NATIONS DBA REDROVER ↗
- Who funds PAWS INC ↗
- Who funds SALT AND LIGHT COALITION NFP ↗
- Who funds CHICAGO ABORTION FUND ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: AbbVie Foundation · The Chicago Community Trust · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Russell Johnson Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Russell Johnson Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Russell Johnson 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.