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The Gries Family Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

The Gries Family Foundation

Its FY2024 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$339k
Granted FY2024still arriving
33
Grants FY2024still arriving
6
States reached
$151k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$2.1MArts & Culture$513kPhilanthropy$406kEducation$350kCivil Rights$196kCommunity Improvement$131kYouth Development$122kEnvironment$121kOther$0
02FY2024 · 33 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k26 grants · $64k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $71k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $204k
$2,500
Median grant
6
States reached
$2.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS$151,000
Individual grant recipient$53,000
AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE$30,000
MALTZ MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE$11,000
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY$10,000
CLEVELAND BOTANICAL GARDENHOLDEN ARB$10,000
CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART$10,000
PLAYHOUSE SQUARE$7,500
VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE SERVICES$6,000
SMITH COLLEGE$5,000
THE DIVERSITY CENTER$5,000
JOSEPH SLIFKA CENTER FOR JEWISH LIFE$5,000
HAWKEN SCHOOL$5,000
CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY$4,000
PHILANTHROPY OHIO$2,521
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 (FY17–19, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%GLOBAL CLEVELAND: $3k → 17%THE GATHERING PLACE: $500 → 17%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
MA
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CO
MO
DC
FL
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.

70%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.8M · 52 repeat orgs$1.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against +31% for those funded once.

52 repeat relationships: 30 still active in FY2024, 22 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

52
37

Total granted

$2.8M
$1.2M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+31%

Still filing today

62%
46%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationYouth DevelopmentHuman ServicesCommunity ImprovementEnvironmentOther
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

  • CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
    8× · 2017–2024 · $151k · revenue +50%
  • AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE
    5× · 2020–2024 · $135k · revenue +68%
  • TM
    The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage
    8× · 2017–2024 · $114k · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • UH
    UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS SPORTS MEDICINE
    one grant, 2021 · $1.0M
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2019 · $38k
  • TM
    THE METROHEALTH FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $12k · revenue +71%
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
Point Park University

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…

—
2
Cincinnati Museum Center

Cincinnati museum center inspires people of all ages to learn more about our world through science, regional history, and educational, engaging and meaningful experiences.

Arts & Culture
3
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
4
Cleveland Leadership Center

The mission of cleveland leadership center (the organization) is to build a continuum of civic leaders committed to our community's excellence by serving as a catalyst for civic engagement. the organization achieves its mission by…

Education
5
Greater Columbus Arts Council

Mission: to champion and elevate the arts and cultural expression of greater columbus.vision: power of art realized. people engaged. city energized.

Arts & Culture
6
Cleveland Arts Prize

The cleveland arts prize identifies, rewards, publicly honors and promotes those creative artists whose original work and accomplishments have set a standard of excellence to which other artists can aspire. additionally, the cleveland arts…

Arts & Culture
7
The College of Wooster

The college of wooster is a community of independent minds, working together to prepare students to become leaders of character and influence in an interdependent global community. (continued on schedule o)we engage motivated students in a…

Education
8
University of New Haven

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…

Education
9
Capital University

Capital university transforms lives by empowering an inclusive community of learners through engaging academic, co-curricular, and professional experiences.

Education
10
DePauw University

Depauw university develops leaders the world needs through an uncommon commitment to the liberal arts. depauw's diverse and inclusive learning and living experience, distinctive in its rigorous intellectual engagement and its global and…

Education
11
The City Club of Cleveland

The city club of cleveland's mission is to create conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive. we do this in pursuit of our vision of strong, informed individuals and communities that prize freedom of speech and civil, civic…

Education
12
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Cleveland Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Digestive Health 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

51 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. 51 of the 93 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)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
51/51
Grantees still filing
41/51
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS: $1,095,750 · OtherUNIVERSITY HOSPITALSUNIVERSITY HOSPITALS SPORTS MEDICINE: $1,000,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY HOSPITALS SPORTS MEDICINEIndividual grant recipient: $113,000 · Other+57 more: $773,883 · Other+57 moreTHE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION: $320,000 · PhilanthropyTHE CLEVEL…JEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND: $75,250 · PhilanthropyJEWISH FED…+1 more: $11,193 · PhilanthropyThe Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage: $114,000 · Arts & CultureThe Maltz…THE CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE: $92,500 · Arts & CultureTHE CLEVE…CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART: $82,500 · Arts & CultureCLEVELAND…Playhouse Square Foundation: $16,500 · Arts & Culture+9 more: $51,960 · Arts & Culture+9 moreCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $151,000 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $60,000 · EducationHAWKEN SCHOOL: $43,500 · EducationJohn Carroll University: $17,500 · EducationCLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC: $15,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $11,750 · Education+6 more: $35,000 · EducationAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $135,200 · Civil RightsVOCATIONAL GUIDANCE SERVICES: $111,000 · EmploymentIDEASTREAM: $36,500 · Youth DevelopmentLAKE ERIE COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA INC: $16,500 · Youth DevelopmentSHAKER HEIGHTS YOUTH CENTER INC: $9,000 · Youth Development
Other$2,982,633Philanthropy$406,443Arts & Culture$357,460Education$333,750Civil Rights$135,200Employment$111,000Youth Development$62,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION: $320,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetCASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: $151,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $135,200 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetThe Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage: $114,000 over 8y, 0.9% of budgetVOCATIONAL GUIDANCE SERVICES: $111,000 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE: $92,500 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART: $82,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND: $75,250 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE: $60,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetHAWKEN SCHOOL: $43,500 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetDOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE: $37,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetIDEASTREAM: $36,500 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetJOSEPH SLIFKA CENTER FOR JEWISH LIFE AT: $32,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetLAND STUDIO INC: $30,000 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetCLEVELAND BOTANICAL GARDEN: $30,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetJohn Carroll University: $17,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE ERIE COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA INC: $16,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPlayhouse Square Foundation: $16,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC: $15,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE METROHEALTH FOUNDATION INC: $12,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION: $11,750 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetPHILANTHROPY OHIO: $11,193 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS: $11,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CLEVELAND FOOD BANK INC: $10,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCLEVELAND COUNCIL ON WORLD AFFAIRS: $10,500 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetFRONT EXHIBITION COMPANY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetTHE HOLDEN ARBORETUM: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCITY YEAR INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER CLEVELAND SPORTS HALL OF FAME: $10,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetSHAKER HEIGHTS YOUTH CENTER INC: $9,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetGREATER CLEVELAND SPORTS COMMISSION: $7,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE ENTREPRENEURS EDGE: $7,000 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetCLEVELAND MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: $7,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetWESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $7,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TAFT SCHOOL CORPORATION: $7,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE FOREST ACADEMY: $6,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetEAGLE ISLAND INC: $5,500 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetCLEVELAND HEARING AND SPEECH CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART: $3,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CLEVELAND MUSIC SCHOOL SETTLEMENT: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBAL CLEVELAND: $2,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY CIRCLE INCORPORATED: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetENTERTAINMENT REVUE HITS FOUNDATION INC: $1,960 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDIGESTIVE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetACHIEVEMENT CENTERS FOR CHILDREN: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEAR WEST THEATRE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% 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 THE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE ↗
  • Who funds The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage ↗
  • Who funds VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE SERVICES ↗
  • Who funds THE CLEVELAND PLAY HOUSE ↗
  • Who funds CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND ↗
  • Who funds THE TRUSTEES OF THE SMITH COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds HAWKEN SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds IDEASTREAM ↗
  • Who funds JOSEPH SLIFKA CENTER FOR JEWISH LIFE AT ↗
  • Who funds LAND STUDIO INC ↗
  • Who funds CLEVELAND BOTANICAL GARDEN ↗
  • Who funds John Carroll University ↗
  • Who funds LAKE ERIE COUNCIL BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA INC ↗
  • Who funds Playhouse Square Foundation ↗
  • Who funds CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF MUSIC ↗
  • Who funds THE METROHEALTH FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PHILANTHROPY OHIO ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF BREAKTHROUGH SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds GREATER CLEVELAND FOOD BANK INC ↗
  • Who funds CLEVELAND COUNCIL ON WORLD AFFAIRS ↗
  • Who funds FRONT EXHIBITION COMPANY ↗

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 Cleveland Foundat…John P Murphy Foundat…Jewish Federation of …The George Gund Found…The Albert B & Audrey…The Char and Chuck Fo…George Codrington Fdn…The Kelvin & Eleanor …Kulas FoundationEmma R Fox Char Trust…Jack Joseph & Morton …Dominion Energy Chari…
The Cleveland FoundationOH43× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Cleveland Foundation · John P Murphy Foundation · Jewish Federation of Cleveland · The George Gund Foundation · The Albert B & Audrey G Ratner Family Foundation · The Char and Chuck Fowler Family Foundation · George Codrington Fdnhirtlena · The Kelvin & Eleanor Smith Foundation · Kulas Foundation · Emma R Fox Char Trust Mut Fds · Jack Joseph & Morton Mandel Foundation · Dominion Energy Charitable 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 Gries Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Gries Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • City Year Inc: 11% of income from government
  • The Trustees of the Smith College: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
24report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 93 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 Gries 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