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The Alta and John Franks Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Alta and John Franks 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.

$8.7M
Granted FY2024still arriving
70
Grants FY2024still arriving
7
States reached
$1.0M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0195% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$2.6MCommunity Improvement$1.9MPublic Benefit$1.8MSocial Science$1.5MCrime & Legal$1.3MHealth$1.3MCivil Rights$1.3MEnvironment$1.1MOther$0
02FY2024 · 70 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k10 grants · $31k
  • $10k–50k22 grants · $533k
  • $50k–250k26 grants · $2.4M
  • $250k+12 grants · $5.6M
$50,000
Median grant
7
States reached
$220M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ALZHEIMER'S DRUG DISCOVERY FOUNDATION$1,000,000
THE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM$525,000
AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE$500,000
THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION$500,000
STATE POLICY NETWORK$500,000
NORTH LOUISIANA ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP$500,000
PUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION$500,000
MANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH$500,000
FRANKLIN NEWS FOUNDATION$362,700
GREATER SHREVEPORT CHAMBER FOUNDATION$257,000
FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES$250,000
NEW CIVIL LIBERTIES ALLIANCE$250,000
SHREVEPORT GREEN$172,000
PELICAN INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY$150,000
VOLUNTEERS FOR YOUTH JUSTICE$150,000
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 (FY20–24, $144k) land where the poverty rate runs at 20%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%YOUTH ENRICHMENT PROGRAM: $21k → 22%YOUTH ENRICHMENT PROGRAM: $15k → 22%HOLY ANGELS RESIDENTIAL FACILITY: $11k → 22%HOLY ANGELS RESIDENTIAL FACILITY: $10k → 22%EVERGREEN FOUNDATION: $30k → 13%HOLY ANGELS RESIDENTIAL FACILITY: $10k → 22%EVERGREEN FOUNDATION: $12k → 13%HOLY ANGELS RESIDENTIAL FACILITY: $10k → 22%CADDO COUNCIL ON AGING: $25k → 22%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.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
NY
IN
CT
VA
MD
TN
NC
DC
LA
GA
TX
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.

85%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$13M · 63 repeat orgs$2.3M to everyone else

63 repeat relationships: 51 still active in FY2024, 12 since wound down; 19 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

63
27

Total granted

$13M
$145k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+56%

Still filing today

81%
37%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 75% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.2M went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureCommunity ImprovementPublic BenefitHealthEnvironmentCivil RightsOther
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

  • SP
    STATE POLICY NETWORK
    5× · 2020–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +71%
  • NL
    NORTH LOUISIANA ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $925k · revenue +108%
  • AE
    AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
    5× · 2020–2024 · $750k · revenue +57%

Funded once

  • OC
    OAKLAND CEMETERY PRESERVATION SOCIETY
    one grant, 2020 · $38k
  • GI
    GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF NORTH LA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $31k · revenue +42%
  • CC
    CADDO COUNCIL ON AGINGgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +44%
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
Louisiana State Bar Association

The mission of the louisiana state bar association is to assist its members in the practice of law, assure access to and aid in the administration of justice, assist the supreme court in the regulation of the practice of law, uphold the…

—
2
Invest in Louisiana

To provide sound analysis of state fiscal issues to promote economic prosperity, a rising standard of living, and the opportunity for all citizens to reach their highest potential.

Public Benefit
3
Louisiana Alliance for Nonprofits

To strengthen, promote, and build the capacity of louisiana's nonprofit sector through education, advocacy, and member services.

Philanthropy
4
Deep South Today

Deep south today is a nonprofit network of local newsrooms comprising mississippi today and verite news. with its regional scale and scope, deep south today is providing critical journalism in underserved areas and ensuring its long-term…

Arts & Culture
5
Aia Louisiana

To promote architecture.

—
6
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Louisiana

To support the work of the amercian civil liberties union of louisiana through litigation, public education and limited lobbying in support of civil liberties.

Civil Rights
7
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
8
American Civil Liberties Union

To promote advocacy on legislative issues in support of civil rights and liberties. to advance the organization's civil rights and civil liberties agenda in the state of louisiana legislature.

—
9
Louisiana Engineering Society

Organizations mission: the organization is dedicated to the advancement of the engineering profession by pursuing an active leadership role through: (1) providing avenues for members to evaluate their skills, competencies,and ethics. (2)…

—
10
Lsu Foundation

The lsu foundation cultivates and invests in philanthropic partnerships to support and advance lsu's academic priorities.

Education
11
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities

The louisiana endowment for the humanities is a non-profit organization whose mission is to partner with communities, institutions, and individuals to explore louisiana's past, reflect on our present, and imagine our future.

Arts & Culture
12
Greater New Orleans Development Foundation

To foster regional economic development and create quality jobs within the metropolitan new orleans area.

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Great Results Equine Assisted Therapies. 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

72 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 72 of the 110 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
16
Early backer (in before they grew)
72/72
Grantees still filing
51/72
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

RED RIVER STEM INC: $579,813 · Arts & CultureRED RIVER STEM INCTHE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM INC: $565,000 · Arts & CultureTHE NATIONAL WORLD …SHREVEPORT OPERA: $335,000 · Arts & CultureSHREVEPORT OPERAShreveport Scottish Rite Foundation Inc: $321,600 · Arts & CultureShreveport Scottish…New Civil Liberties Alliance: $250,000 · Arts & CultureNew Civil Liberties…SHREVEPORT METROPOLITAN BALLET: $190,000 · Arts & CultureSHREVEPORT METROPOL…FILM PRIZE FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 · Arts & CultureFILM PRIZE FOUNDATI…RED RIVER REVEL ARTS FESTIVAL: $100,000 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $184,500 · Arts & Culture+6 moreIndividual grant recipient: $374,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientTHE STRAND THEATER: $348,000 · OtherTHE STRAND THEATERSHREVEPORT GREEN: $233,000 · OtherVOLUNTEERS FOR YOUTH JUSTICE: $200,500 · OtherPUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION: $570,000 · OtherPUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATIONFRANKLIN NEWS FOUNDATION: $437,700 · OtherFRANKLIN NEWS FOUNDATIONGINGERBREAD HOUSE BOSSIERCADDO CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER INC: $265,000 · OtherGINGERBREAD HOUSE BOSSIERCADDO CHILD…Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Inc: $250,000 · OtherDRESS FOR SUCCESS SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER INC: $180,000 · Other+63 more: $2,052,880 · Other+63 moreTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $750,000 · Public BenefitTHE HERITAGE FO…MANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH INC: $750,000 · Public BenefitMANHATTAN INSTI…PELICAN INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY: $350,000 · Public BenefitPELICAN INSTITU…CATO INSTITUTE: $200,000 · Public BenefitCATO INSTITUTE+2 more: $36,890 · Public BenefitNORTH LOUISIANA ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP INC: $925,000 · Community ImprovementNORTH LOUISIA…GREATER SHREVEPORT CHAMBER FOUNDATION: $537,500 · Community ImprovementGREATER SHREV…Downtown Shreveport Unlimited: $182,120 · Community ImprovementDowntown Shre…COHABITAT FOUNDATION INC: $105,000 · Community ImprovementCOHABITAT FOU…+3 more: $76,000 · Community ImprovementALZHEIMER'S DRUG DISCOVERY FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 · Social ScienceALZHEIMER'S D…AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $750,000 · Social ScienceAMERICAN ENTE…STATE POLICY NETWORK: $1,030,000 · Civil RightsSTATE POL…INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: $200,000 · Civil RightsINSTITUTE…American Alliance For Equal Rights: $50,000 · Civil Rights+1 more: $5,000 · Civil RightsAMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY: $350,000 · EnvironmentCADDO LAKE INSTITUTE INC: $145,000 · EnvironmentKEEP LOUISIANA BEAUTIFUL FOUNDATIONINC: $113,000 · EnvironmentKEEP BOSSIER BEAUTIFUL: $72,500 · Environment+1 more: $10,000 · Environment
Arts & Culture$2,675,913Other$4,911,580Public Benefit$2,086,890Community Improvement$1,825,620Social Science$1,750,000Civil Rights$1,285,000Environment$690,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSTATE POLICY NETWORK: $1,030,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetALZHEIMER'S DRUG DISCOVERY FOUNDATION: $1,000,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetNORTH LOUISIANA ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP INC: $925,000 over 5y, 18% of budgetAMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH: $750,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetTHE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: $750,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetMANHATTAN INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH INC: $750,000 over 5y, 2.0% of budgetRED RIVER STEM INC: $579,813 over 4y, 11% of budgetPUBLIC INTEREST LEGAL FOUNDATION: $570,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetTHE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM INC: $565,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetGREATER SHREVEPORT CHAMBER FOUNDATION: $537,500 over 5y, 75% of budgetFRANKLIN NEWS FOUNDATION: $437,700 over 5y, 6.3% of budgetAMERICAN ROSE SOCIETY: $350,000 over 2y, 14% of budgetPELICAN INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY: $350,000 over 5y, 4.2% of budgetSHREVEPORT OPERA: $335,000 over 5y, 16% of budgetShreveport Scottish Rite Foundation Inc: $321,600 over 2y, 72% of budgetGINGERBREAD HOUSE BOSSIERCADDO CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTER INC: $265,000 over 5y, 3.9% of budgetNew Civil Liberties Alliance: $250,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetFoundation for the Defense of Democracies Inc: $250,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSHREVEPORT GREEN: $233,000 over 5y, 18% of budgetVOLUNTEERS FOR YOUTH JUSTICE: $200,500 over 4y, 2.8% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE: $200,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCATO INSTITUTE: $200,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetSHREVEPORT METROPOLITAN BALLET: $190,000 over 5y, 21% of budgetDowntown Shreveport Unlimited: $182,120 over 4y, 17% of budgetDRESS FOR SUCCESS SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER INC: $180,000 over 5y, 40% of budgetTHE BRIDGE ALZHEIMER'S & DEMENTIA RESOURCE CENTER: $157,000 over 4y, 18% of budgetFILM PRIZE FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 over 5y, 4.6% of budgetCADDO LAKE INSTITUTE INC: $145,000 over 5y, 8.5% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT: $145,000 over 5y, 9.1% of budgetREAL CLEAR FOUNDATION: $145,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetGREAT RESULTS EQUINE ASSISTED THERAPIES: $126,000 over 3y, 24% of budgetKEEP LOUISIANA BEAUTIFUL FOUNDATIONINC: $113,000 over 4y, 6.4% of budgetCOHABITAT FOUNDATION INC: $105,000 over 5y, 13% of budgetRED RIVER REVEL ARTS FESTIVAL: $100,000 over 4y, 11% of budgetSHREVEPORT REGIONAL ARTS COUNCIL: $87,500 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetKEEP BOSSIER BEAUTIFUL: $72,500 over 5y, 45% of budgetNATIONAL RIGHT TO WORK LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $55,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NORTH LOUISIANA: $55,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER BOSSIER ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 9.1% of budgetAmerican Alliance For Equal Rights: $50,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetWideman Piano Competition Inc aka Wideman Piano Competition: $45,000 over 3y, 26% of budgetEVERGREEN FOUNDATION: $42,000 over 2y, 5.0% of budgetHOLY ANGELS RESIDENTIAL FACILITY I: $41,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetYOUTH ENRICHMENT PROGRAM: $36,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetPUBLIC AFFAIRS RESEARCH COUNCIL OF ICIC A: $31,890 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetTHE PHILANTHROPY ROUNDTABLE: $31,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetGOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF NORTH LA INC: $30,585 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN THE UNITED STATES: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% 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.

Community Foundation …The Powers Foundation…Carolyn W & Charles T…Grayson Foundation IncAmerican Electric Pow…Noel Foundation IncWillis-Knighton Medic…Wheless FoundationZadeck Family Foundat…Blue Cross & Blue Shi…H E Storer Charitable…The Nelson Foundation
Community Foundation of North LouisianaLA62.4× affinity28 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Foundation of North Louisiana · The Powers Foundation Inc · Carolyn W & Charles T Beaird Family Foundation · Grayson Foundation Inc · American Electric Power Foundation · Noel Foundation Inc · Willis-Knighton Medical Center · Wheless Foundation · Zadeck Family Foundation · Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation · H E Storer Charitable Foundation · The Nelson 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 The Alta and John Franks Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Alta and John Franks Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Shriners Hospitals for Children: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
21report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
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 110 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Alta and John Franks’ 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