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Foundation Dossiers

California · Private foundation

The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$689k
Granted FY2022
24
Grants FY2022
23
Organizations funded FY2022
9%
First-time grantees FY2022
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2022
$30,000
Largest grant, FY2022
$50,000
Organizations funded a year
23 to 45
FY2019 to FY2022
States reached, FY2022
3
Total assets, FY2022
$14k
Applications
Takes unsolicited applications
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2022, 9% of the organizations The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 9% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $60k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22
EducationPublic BenefitRecreation & SportsOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY202223$684k9%
FY202123$714k0%
FY202044$1.3M9%
FY201945$1.2Mn/a
100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2022.

Education$1.7MYouth Development$530kHuman Services$445kEnvironment$275kCrime & Legal$225kArts & Culture$130kFood & Nutrition$100kRecreation & Sports$100kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2019 to FY2022, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Fresh Lifelines for Youth Inc$200,00041%
Ravenswood Education Foundation$160,00041%
San Francisco Forty-Niners Academy$150,00043%
Acknowledge Alliance$145,00043%
College Track$145,00040%
All Five$130,00044%
Literacy Lab$130,00048%
Shine Together Inc$130,00032%
Peninsula Family Connections$120,00043%
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula$120,00040%
Show all 42 grantees
All grantees of The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Fresh Lifelines for Youth Inc$200,00041%
Ravenswood Education Foundation$160,00041%
San Francisco Forty-Niners Academy$150,00043%
Acknowledge Alliance$145,00043%
College Track$145,00040%
All Five$130,00044%
Literacy Lab$130,00048%
Shine Together Inc$130,00032%
Peninsula Family Connections$120,00043%
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula$120,00040%
East Palo Alto Academy Foundation$115,00042%
Vida Verde Nature Education$100,00042%
Canopy$100,00043%
Foundation for a College Education$90,00032%
The Peninsula Bridge Program$90,00041%
Innovate Public Schools$85,00030%
Tilting Futures Incorporated$80,00021%
Hiller Aviation Institute$80,00041%
Eastside College Preparatory School Inc$76,00040%
Reading Partners$70,00020%
Silicon Valley Urban Debate League$70,00025%
Streetcode Academy$60,00021%
Thiebaut Method$60,000210%
Playworks Education Energized$60,00020%
Collegespring Inc$60,00021%
Children's Health Council Inc$60,00020%
Aim High$60,00026%
Braven Inc$60,00021%
Spark$55,0001n/a
The Opportunity Fund$50,0002n/a
The Tech Interactive$50,00020%
Juma Ventures Inc$50,00020%
Year Up Inc$50,00020%
Girls to Women$50,000213%
Grassroots Ecology$50,00021%
Shine Together$40,000158%
Music in the Schools Foundation$30,000134%
East Palo Alto Kids Foundation$25,00025%
East Palo Alto Tennis & Tutoring$20,00012%
San Francisco Study Center Inc$20,00010%
California Coast Music Camp$20,000215%
The Fund for American Studies$10,00020%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 9 recipients with no EIN on record ($565k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 40 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFresh Lifelines for Youth Inc: $200,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetRavenswood Education Foundation: $160,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetSan Francisco Forty-Niners Academy: $150,000 over 4y, 3.0% of budgetAcknowledge Alliance: $145,000 over 4y, 2.7% of budgetCollege Track: $145,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetAll Five: $130,000 over 4y, 3.6% of budgetLiteracy Lab: $130,000 over 4y, 8.4% of budgetShine Together Inc: $130,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetPeninsula Family Connections: $120,000 over 4y, 2.7% of budgetBoys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula: $120,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetEast Palo Alto Academy Foundation: $115,000 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetVida Verde Nature Education: $100,000 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetCanopy: $100,000 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetFoundation for a College Education: $90,000 over 3y, 2.2% of budgetThe Peninsula Bridge Program: $90,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetInnovate Public Schools: $85,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetTilting Futures Incorporated: $80,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetHiller Aviation Institute: $80,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetEastside College Preparatory School Inc: $76,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetReading Partners: $70,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSilicon Valley Urban Debate League: $70,000 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetStreetcode Academy: $60,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetThiebaut Method: $60,000 over 2y, 10% of budgetPlayworks Education Energized: $60,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCollegespring Inc: $60,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetChildren's Health Council Inc: $60,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAim High: $60,000 over 2y, 6.5% of budgetBraven Inc: $60,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetThe Tech Interactive: $50,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetJuma Ventures Inc: $50,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetYear Up Inc: $50,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGirls to Women: $50,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetGrassroots Ecology: $50,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetShine Together: $40,000 over 1y, 58% of budgetMusic in the Schools Foundation: $30,000 over 1y, 34% of budgetEast Palo Alto Kids Foundation: $25,000 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetEast Palo Alto Tennis & Tutoring: $20,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetSan Francisco Study Center Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCalifornia Coast Music Camp: $20,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetThe Fund for American Studies: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 40.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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 Palo Alto Communi…Atkinson FoundationPhilanthropic Venture…Silicon Valley Commun…The David and Lucile …Gordon E and Betty I …Embarcadero Media Fou…Sand Hill FoundationJewish Community Fede…The San Francisco Fou…Bothin FoundationMonterra Community Fu…
The Palo Alto Community FundCA47.2× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Palo Alto Community Fund · Atkinson Foundation · Philanthropic Ventures Foundation · Silicon Valley Community Foundation · The David and Lucile Packard Foundation · Gordon E and Betty I Moore Foundation · Embarcadero Media Foundation · Sand Hill Foundation · Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco the Peninsula Marin & Sonoma · The San Francisco Foundation · Bothin Foundation · Monterra Community Fund

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.

Compare The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation with peer funders

About The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation

How much does The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation give?
The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation reported 24 grants totaling $689,000 in its FY2022 IRS filing. It funded between 23 and 45 organizations a year over FY2019 to FY2022.
What does The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2019 to FY2022, its largest causes are Education (44%), Youth Development (13%), Human Services (11%).
Who are The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2019 to FY2022: Fresh Lifelines for Youth Inc ($200k), Ravenswood Education Foundation ($160k), San Francisco Forty-Niners Academy ($150k).
Does The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2022, 9% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
Which funders back the same organizations as The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Palo Alto Community Fund, Atkinson Foundation, Philanthropic Ventures Foundation.
Where is The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation based?
The Franklin and Catherine Johnson Foundation is based in CA.

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 53 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2022, the most recent year this funder made grants.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Franklin and Catherine Johnson’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