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Stephen W & Merle Dresner Charitable Foundation C/O John Marginson at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Stephen W & Merle Dresner Charitable Foundation C/O John Marginson

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.

$87k
Granted FY2025still arriving
10
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Religion$253kHuman Services$83kEducation$66kHealth$59kFood & Nutrition$18kYouth Development$15kArts & Culture$15kAnimals$3kOther$0
02FY2025 · 10 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $42k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $45k
$8,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
VINCENT DEPAUL SOCIETY$15,000
YELLOW HORSE EQUINE THERAPEUTIC RIDING PROGRAM$10,000
SAN MIGUEL SCHOOL$10,000
CHESTERTON ACADEMY$10,000
ANGEL IN ACTION RI$8,000
CLOTHES TO KIDS$7,500
MOMS OF MARIEVILLE$7,500
NORTH KINGSTOWN FOOD PANTRY$7,500
BRIAN MESSIER EAST GREENWICH HIGH SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP FUND$6,000
Individual grant recipient$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 (FY24–25, $15k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%TRI COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY: $8k → 14%CLOTHES TO KIDS: $8k → 14%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.

80%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$413k · 9 repeat orgs$103k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +76% since the first grant, against +37% for those funded once.

9 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
6

Total granted

$413k
$58k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+76%
+37%

Still filing today

33%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 48% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $45k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesHealthCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • SAN MIGUEL EDUCATION CENTER
    5× · 2018–2025 · $60k · revenue +76%
  • NORTH KINGSTOWN FOOD PANTRY INC
    3× · 2020–2025 · $18k · revenue +47%
  • YH
    YELLOW HORSE
    2× · 2018–2020 · $3k · revenue +213%

Funded once

  • MCAULEY CORPORATION
    one grant, 2024 · $20k · revenue -16%
  • BH
    Bradley Hospital Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +39%
  • THE JONNYCAKE CENTER OF WESTERLY INCgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $8k · revenue +37%
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
Jamestown Community Food Pantry

We seek to minimize hunger and provide nutritional sustenanc

Food & Nutrition
2
Ri Center Assisting Those in Need

To provide with dignity, emergency food and outreach to thousands of at-risk neighbors in southern rhode island and surrounding communities.

Human Services
3
New Hampshire Children's Health Foundation
Health
4
Jamaican Association of Rhode Island
Arts & Culture
5
The Jonnycake Center Inc

The mission of the jonnycake center is to provide basic needs, resources, and hope to our community members. our vision is a community without hunger and poverty where everyone can reach their full potential and improve their quality of…

—
6
Westbay Community Action Inc

To organize, plan and provide social services to low income and elderly individuals.

—
7
Rhode Island Rescue Ministries

Christian mission to the poor providing food, shelter clothing and counseling to the homeless

Human Services
8
Mae Organization Inc

The mission of mae organization is to work with the homeless and help them transition through workshops, and other related programs

Employment
9
Children's Friend and Service

The mission of children's friend and service (the organization) is to be the innovative leader in improving the well-being and healthy development of rhode island's most vulnerable young children. they accomplish this by providing flexible…

Human Services
10
Silver Lake Annex Multi-Purpose Community Center

Our mission is to work towards the elimination of economic and social barriers for the Silver Lake Community of Providence Rhode Island by providing community services of Early Childhood Education, Before and After School daycare,…

Human Services
11
Ronald Mcdonald House of Providence Inc

To care for families of children with complex medical needs by providing comfort, compassion and community. ronald mcdonald house of providence keeps the families together.

—
12
Better Lives Rhode Island

Better lives rhode island is a non-profit agency whose mission is to offer stability, justice, and hope to those in need through advocacy and direct service.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Sojourner House Inc; the most unlike its peers is Moms of Marieville. 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

10 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. 10 of the 20 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
6/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

SAINT RAYMONDS CHURCH: $245,000 · OtherSAINT RAYMONDS CHURCHSAN MIGUEL EDUCATION CENTER: $60,000 · OtherSAN MIGUEL EDUCATION CENTERANGEL IN ACTION RI: $28,000 · OtherANGEL IN ACTION RIYELLOW HORSE EQUINE THERAPEUTIC RIDING PROGRAM: $21,500 · OtherMCAULEY CORPORATION: $20,000 · OtherALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION RHODE ISLAND: $19,500 · OtherNORTH KINGSTOWN FOOD PANTRY INC: $17,500 · Other+9 more: $71,500 · Other+9 moreTRI-COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY: $7,500 · Human ServicesCLOTHES TO KIDS RI INC: $7,500 · Human ServicesBradley Hospital Foundation: $10,000 · HealthMOMS OF MARIEVILLE: $7,500 · Community Improvement
Other$483,000Human Services$15,000Health$10,000Community Improvement$7,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSAN MIGUEL EDUCATION CENTER: $60,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetMCAULEY CORPORATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetNORTH KINGSTOWN FOOD PANTRY INC: $17,500 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetBradley Hospital Foundation: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetTHE JONNYCAKE CENTER OF WESTERLY INC: $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTRI-COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY: $7,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMOMS OF MARIEVILLE: $7,500 over 1y, 9.2% of budgetCLOTHES TO KIDS RI INC: $7,500 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetSOJOURNER HOUSE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetYELLOW HORSE: $3,000 over 2y, 1.3% 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.

  • Who funds SAN MIGUEL EDUCATION CENTER ↗
  • Who funds MCAULEY CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds NORTH KINGSTOWN FOOD PANTRY INC ↗
  • Who funds Bradley Hospital Foundation ↗
  • Who funds THE JONNYCAKE CENTER OF WESTERLY INC ↗
  • Who funds TRI-COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY ↗
  • Who funds MOMS OF MARIEVILLE ↗
  • Who funds CLOTHES TO KIDS RI INC ↗
  • Who funds SOJOURNER HOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds YELLOW HORSE ↗

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.

The Rhode Island Comm…Centreville Savings B…Washington Trust Co C…The Champlin Foundati…United Way of Rhode I…Citizens Charitable F…Amica Companies Found…Uw Urania C SherburneRhode Island Communit…The Mr & Mrs Robert N…Citizens Community Fo…Ida Ballou Littlefiel…
The Rhode Island Community FoundationRI19.4× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Rhode Island Community Foundation · Centreville Savings Bank Charitable Foundation · Washington Trust Co Charitable Fdn · The Champlin Foundation · United Way of Rhode Island Inc · Citizens Charitable Foundation · Amica Companies Foundation · Uw Urania C Sherburne · Rhode Island Community Food Bank Association · The Mr & Mrs Robert N Chapman Son Robert B Chapman Charitable Trust · Citizens Community Foundation · Ida Ballou Littlefield Memorial Trust

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 Stephen W & Merle Dresner Charitable Foundation C/O John Marginson funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Stephen W & Merle Dresner Charitable Foundation C/O John Marginson. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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 20 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

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