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Sam and Laura Dawson Family Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Sam and Laura Dawson Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$908k
Granted FY2025still arriving
19
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$200k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Religion$2.1MPhilanthropy$440kRecreation & Sports$360kArts & Culture$258kAnimals$200kEducation$173kHuman Services$148kHousing & Shelter$125kOther$0
02FY2025 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $26k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $138k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $744k
$15,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$3.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SAN ANTONIO ZOO$200,000
TRINITY BAPTIST CHURCH$154,631
THE CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION OF SAN ANTONIO INC$139,049
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO$100,000
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN - COCKRELL SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING$100,000
UNITED WAY OF SAN ANTONIO$50,000
CRU$43,232
REMEMBER THE ALAMO FOUNDATION$25,000
ARBORETUM SAN ANTONIO$20,000
SAN ANTONIO YOUTH FOR CHRIST$15,000
TOBIN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS$15,000
CLEFT OF THE ROCK CHURCH$10,000
CENIKOR FOUNDATION$10,000
PAPE-DAWSON CHARITABLE FOUNDATION$7,500
JEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN ANTONIO$5,000
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 (FY19–23, $15k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%SPECIAL REACH INC: $10k → 16%CHILDSAFE: $5k → 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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.5M · 22 repeat orgs$582k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +40% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

22 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 10 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
26

Total granted

$3.5M
$262k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+40%
+13%

Still filing today

64%
62%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 65% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $320k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CulturePhilanthropyEducationHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsReligionOther
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

  • TC
    THE CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION OF SAN ANTONIO INC
    7× · 2019–2025 · $313k · revenue +32%
  • BC
    BEXAR COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FDN TOBIN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ART
    7× · 2019–2025 · $148k · revenue +42%
  • HF
    Haven for Hope of Bexar County
    5× · 2019–2024 · $125k · revenue +47%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $25k
  • BIBLE STUDY FELLOWSHIPgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +69%
  • TT
    THE TEXAS CAVALIERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $25k · revenue +207%
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
Texas Public Radio

The mission of Texas Public Radio is to engage, inspire and inform, bringing people together to better understand their community and world.

Arts & Culture
2
San Antonio Automobile Dealers Association Foundation Inc
—
3
Tennis Officials of San Antonio Association
Recreation & Sports
4
Alamo Trust Inc

The organization is to be operated exclusively to preserve and restore the alamo complex and to educate and inspire visitors on the history of all those who lived, fought, and died there.

Arts & Culture
5
Greater Texas Foundation
Education
6
Impact San Antonio Foundation Inc

The mission of impact san antonio is women joining together to provide substantial grants to non-profit organizations in the greater san antonio community through the power of collective philanthropy. each year, women join as individual or…

Philanthropy
7
Kimbell Art Foundation
Arts & Culture
8
Greater Satx

The mission of greater:satx is to lead the developemnt and diversification of san antonio regional economy through the recruitment and expansion of qualify employers and job producing investments.

—
9
Center for 20TH Century Texas Studies
—
10
Free Trade Alliance San Antonio

To develop and enhance the international trade-related economic development of the san antonio area through foreign investment, trade development, and advocacy.

—
11
University of Texas At San Antonio Alumni Association

To engage our alumni in activities that will advance utsa as a top-tier institution. our focus is to deliver value-added services and events where our alumni can connect with each other, with current students and/or with the university. we…

—
12
San Antonio Report

Publishing a local online news source. We believe a well informed and connected community is essential to making San Antonio a better place to live, work and play.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is San Antonio Livestock Exposition Inc; the most unlike its peers is Triple Dawson Family Foundation. 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

36 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. 36 of the 56 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)
7
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/36
Grantees still filing
20/36
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TRINITY BAPTIST CHURCH: $1,833,131 · OtherTRINITY BAPTIST CHURCHUNIVERSITY OF TEXAS: $120,000 · OtherCRU: $118,091 · OtherTHE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO: $100,000 · Other+34 more: $524,727 · Other+34 moreTHE CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION OF SAN ANTONIO INC: $312,949 · PhilanthropyTHE CHARITY BALL AS…TRIPLE DAWSON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $287,500 · PhilanthropyTRIPLE DAWSON FAMIL…UNITED WAY OF SAN ANTONIO AND BEXAR COUNTY: $75,000 · PhilanthropyUNITED WAY OF SAN A…JEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN ANTONIO: $42,500 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FEDERATION O…SAN ANTONIO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $200,000 · AnimalsBEXAR COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FDN TOBIN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ART: $147,500 · EducationTeach for America Inc: $7,500 · Education+1 more: $5,000 · EducationHaven for Hope of Bexar County: $125,000 · Housing & ShelterRemember the Alamo Foundation: $37,500 · Arts & CultureTHE OPERA SAN ANTONIO DBA OPERA SAN AN: $33,200 · Arts & CultureHIDALGO FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Arts & CultureALAMO PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL DOING BUSINESS AS KLRN: $7,500 · Arts & CultureSAN PEDRO PLAYHOUSE: $7,500 · Arts & CultureWitte Museum: $5,000 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $2,500 · Arts & CultureONWARD CAMPUS MINISTRIES: $55,000 · ReligionBIBLE STUDY FELLOWSHIP: $25,000 · Religion
Other$2,695,949Philanthropy$717,949Animals$200,000Education$160,000Housing & Shelter$125,000Arts & Culture$103,200Religion$80,000

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 CHARITY BALL ASSOCIATION OF SAN ANTONIO INC: $312,949 over 7y, 4.5% of budgetTRIPLE DAWSON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $287,500 over 4y, 19% of budgetBEXAR COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER FDN TOBIN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ART: $147,500 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetHaven for Hope of Bexar County: $125,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF SAN ANTONIO AND BEXAR COUNTY: $75,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSOUTH TEXAS YOUTH FOR CHRIST: $65,000 over 6y, 1.3% of budgetONWARD CAMPUS MINISTRIES: $55,000 over 2y, 4.4% of budgetArboretum San Antonio: $45,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF SAN ANTONIO: $42,500 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetRemember the Alamo Foundation: $37,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetTHE OPERA SAN ANTONIO DBA OPERA SAN AN: $33,200 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetBIBLE STUDY FELLOWSHIP: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TEXAS CAVALIERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetFELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIAN ATHLETES: $14,792 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCENIKOR FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYOUNG LIFE: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSpecial Reach Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetROTARY CLUB OF SAN ANTONIO: $10,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetHIDALGO FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 7.7% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetALAMO PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL DOING BUSINESS AS KLRN: $7,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSAN PEDRO PLAYHOUSE: $7,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetClassical Music Institute CMI: $7,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJewish Federation of Greater Houston: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLIFTFUND INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDSAFE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWitte Museum: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetROTARY CLUB OF SAN ANTONIO FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTHE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF SAN ANTONIO: $2,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSAN ANTONIO LIVESTOCK EXPOSITION INC: $2,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetBALLET SAN ANTONIO: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLeija Family Foundation: $2,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetYOUTH CENTER OF TEXAS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% 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.

San Antonio Area Foun…Muriel F Siebert Foun…Elizabeth Huth Coates…Betty Stieren Kelso F…Impetus FoundationCharitable Foundation…Pryor Myra Stafford C…John L Santikos Chari…Harvey E Najim Charit…The Tobin EndowmentNancy Smith Hurd Foun…Greater Houston Commu…
San Antonio Area FoundationTX35.2× affinity15 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: San Antonio Area Foundation · Muriel F Siebert Foundation Inc · Elizabeth Huth Coates Charitable Foundation of 1992 · Betty Stieren Kelso Foundation · Impetus Foundation · Charitable Foundation Frost F0359600 · Pryor Myra Stafford Char Tr F0030100 · John L Santikos Charitable Foundation · Harvey E Najim Charitable Foundation · The Tobin Endowment · Nancy Smith Hurd Foundation · Greater Houston Community 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 Sam and Laura Dawson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Sam and Laura Dawson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 Sam and Laura Dawson Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Sam and Laura Dawson Family 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.

    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 56 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 Sam and Laura Dawson Family’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