· Private foundation
The Ferry Family Foundation
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- $50k–250k2 grants · $340k
- $250k+5 grants · $6.0M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| CITY MISSION OF CLEVELAND | $2,257,046 |
| CLEVELAND FOODBANK INC | $2,014,150 |
| CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV SCHOOL OF LAW | $780,000 |
| SALVATION ARMY OF CLEVELAND | $591,700 |
| BEER CITY DOG BISCUITS | $350,000 |
| OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY | $240,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $100,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 93% of its 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.
10 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down.
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
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY5× · 2021–2025 · $2.0M · revenue +34%- OWOHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY6× · 2020–2025 · $590k · revenue +61%
- BCBEER CITY DOG BISCUITS5× · 2020–2025 · $411k · revenue ×18
Funded once
- SBSCOTTSDALE BOYS & GIRLS CLUBone grant, 2020 · $20k
- IINMOTIONone grant, 2020 · $20k · revenue -21%
- DBDESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN INCgraduatedone grant, 2020 · $13k · revenue +87%
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.
As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.
As a jesuit catholic university committed to academic rigor, inclusive excellence, and care for the whole person, john carroll university inspires individuals of intellect and character to learn, lead and serve in the community and…
Provides innovative education in a dynamic urban setting. dedicated to academic excellence and community engagement,we prepare students of diverse backgrounds with the knowledge, skill,and experience to lead meaningful lives as informed…
The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…
Provide comprehensive services that benefit the financial institution industry in ohio.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
The mission of the cleveland museum of art (cma) is to fulfill its dual roles as one of the world's most distinguished comprehensive art museums and as one of northeastern ohio's principal civic and cultural institutions. the museum,…
The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.
Capital university transforms lives by empowering an inclusive community of learners through engaging academic, co-curricular, and professional experiences.
Otterbein University is an inclusive community dedicated to educating the whole person in the context of humane values. Our mission is to prepare graduates to think deeply and broadly, to engage locally and globally, and to advance their…
The adler planetarium ('adler') is a not-for-profit cultural institution whose mission is to connect people to the universe and each other under the sky we all share. it aspires to be the world's premier center for engaging in astronomy…
Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.
How this is measured
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 16 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 GREATER CLEVELAND FOOD BANK INC ↗
- Who funds CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds BEER CITY DOG BISCUITS ↗
- Who funds BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CLEVELAND ↗
- Who funds INMOTION ↗
- Who funds DESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN INC ↗
- Who funds ST MARY'S FOOD BANK ALLIANCE ↗
- Who funds THE CLEVELAND ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY ↗
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: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Ferry Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ferry Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Ferry Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Ferry 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.
Play a game based on Ferry Family’s filings →