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The John and Alison Ferring Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The John and Alison Ferring Family 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.

$479k
Granted FY2024still arriving
27
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$150k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0180% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$723kEducation$632kCrime & Legal$343kHuman Services$188kCommunity Improvement$112kYouth Development$95kEmployment$82kRecreation & Sports$64kOther$0
02FY2024 · 27 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k14 grants · $46k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $175k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $258k
$5,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$5.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ARCH CITY DEFENDERS$150,000
ST LOUIS SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL$58,000
FLANCE EARLY LEARNING CENTER$50,000
MED & FOOD FOR KIDS$27,500
FINE ARTS WORK CENTER$25,000
Individual grant recipient$25,000
VIA FUND$25,000
LIFT FOR LIFE ACADEMY$20,000
ST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY$12,500
COCA$10,000
ROSATI KAIN ACADEMY$10,000
CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM$10,000
FEED MY PEOPLE$10,000
SAINT LOUIS DANCE THEATRE$5,000
MASS AUDUBON$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 (FY19–24, $761k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, 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%PCS FOR PEOPLE: $190 → 14%FEED MY PEOPLE: $10k → 11%FEED MY PEOPLE: $1k → 11%FLANCE EARLY LEARNING CENTER: $51k → 21%FLANCE EARLY LEARNING CENTER: $50k → 21%FLANCE EARLY LEARNING CENTER: $22k → 21%FLANCE EARLY LEARNING CENTER: $19k → 21%FLANCE EARLY LEARNING CENTER: $18k → 21%KIDS WIN MISSOURI: $13k → 11%SOUTHSIDE EARLY CHILDHOOD: $140k → 21%RUNG FOR WOMEN: $5k → 21%URBAN SPROUTS: $425k → 11%PEDAL THE CAUSE: $3k → 11%PEDAL THE CAUSE: $3k → 11%FATHERS AND FAMILIES SUPPORT CENTER: $3k → 21%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

MN
IL
NY
MA
WY
CA
MO
MD
KS
TX
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.

64%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.0M · 31 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +11% since the first grant, against +0% for those funded once.

31 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2024, 13 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

31
69

Total granted

$2.0M
$1.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+11%
+0%

Still filing today

61%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $67k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesEducationHealthCivil RightsCommunity 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

  • AD
    ARCHCITY DEFENDERS
    3× · 2019–2024 · $313k · revenue +198%
  • SL
    ST LOUIS SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL
    5× · 2019–2024 · $221k · revenue +83%
  • FM
    FLANCE MANAGEMENT INC D/B/A FLANCE EARLY LEARNING CENTER
    5× · 2020–2024 · $160k · revenue +70%

Funded once

  • US
    URBAN SPROUTS CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER
    one grant, 2023 · $425k · revenue -22%
  • SE
    SOUTHSIDE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER
    one grant, 2019 · $140k · revenue -28%
  • IM
    ICA MUSEUM
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
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
Mission St Louis

Mission: st. louis empowers individuals for social and economic growth through relationships and opportunity.

Community Improvement
2
St Louis Community Foundation

To promote the possibilities of charitable giving, helping charitable citizens understand how they can effectively provide for the community they love and the causes they care deeply about.

Philanthropy
3
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
4
St Louis Economic Development Partnership

Economic development.

—
5
Arts Midwest Incorporated

Arts Midwest works collaboratively with private and public arts supporters to support, inform, and celebrate arts organizations and creative communities across the Midwest. Our mission is to build unprecedented opportunity across the…

Arts & Culture
6
Greater St Louis Inc

Greater st. louis, inc. brings together business and civic leaders to create jobs, drive inclusive economic growth, and increase the st. louis metro area's global competitiveness. we speak with a unified voice, lead with a bold agenda, and…

Community Improvement
7
The Greater St Louis Arts and Education Council

See schedule o.the greater st. louis arts and education council (the arts and education council or the council) was the st. louis region's only united arts fund that pooled together donations from individuals, foundations and corporations…

—
8
St Louis Voices Academy of Media Arts

The mission of st. louis voices academy of media arts is to leverage media arts and storytelling to equip students with the agency to excel academically, author their own futures, and make meaningful contributions in their communities.

Education
9
ArtsPlus

Arts+ teaches music and art to students of all socioeconomic backgrounds, offering financial assistance, scholarship and free outreach programs to honor its founding mission to make high-quality arts instruction available to all.

—
10
The Saint Louis Zoo Association

The saint louis zoo association was established to support and enhance the saint louis zoo by providing facilities, funds, and advice. the association provides direct financial support to the zoo for renovations, new facilities, programs,…

Animals
11
Regional Cultural and Performing Arts Development Commission

As the leading public catalyst for arts and culture in st. louis, the regional arts commission leverages the power of creativity to strengthen and enrich our community.

Arts & Culture
12
Kansas City Ballet Association

To inspire and engage through the beauty, power and passion of dance

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Southside Early Childhood Center; the most unlike its peers is Dierberg Educational Foundation Inc. 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 108 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
50/51
Grantees still filing
29/51
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COCA: $457,000 · OtherCOCADREAM BUILDERS: $75,000 · OtherDREAM BUILDERSICA MUSEUM: $50,000 · OtherVIA FUND: $50,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $45,000 · OtherST LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY: $42,260 · Other+71 more: $488,400 · Other+71 moreURBAN SPROUTS CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $425,380 · Human ServicesURBAN SPROUTS CHILD DEVELOP…FLANCE MANAGEMENT INC D/B/A FLANCE EARLY LEARNING CENTER: $159,922 · Human ServicesFLANCE MANAGEMENT INC D/B/A…SOUTHSIDE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER: $140,000 · Human ServicesSOUTHSIDE EARLY CHILDHOOD C…+6 more: $36,190 · Human ServicesST LOUIS SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $221,214 · Arts & CultureST LOUIS SHAKESPEARE F…FINE ARTS WORK CENTER IN PROVINCETOWN INC: $101,030 · Arts & CultureFINE ARTS WORK CENTER …CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM ST LOUIS: $99,000 · Arts & CultureCONTEMPORARY ART MUSEU…VIA ART FUND INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureVIA ART FUND INCCAPE COD MODERN HOUSE TRUST: $50,000 · Arts & CultureCAPE COD MODERN HOUSE …LAUMEIER SCULPTURE PARK: $31,500 · Arts & Culture+8 more: $63,500 · Arts & Culture+8 moreARCHCITY DEFENDERS: $312,500 · Crime & LegalARCHCITY DE…WEPOWER: $105,000 · Community ImprovementENTREPRENEUR STARTUP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $5,500 · Community ImprovementTHE LAUNCHCODE FOUNDATION: $77,000 · EducationRosati-Kain Academy: $10,000 · Education+2 more: $1,500 · EducationForest Park Forever Inc: $31,400 · Environment
Other$1,207,660Human Services$761,492Arts & Culture$616,244Crime & Legal$312,500Community Improvement$110,500Education$88,500Environment$31,400

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 budgetURBAN SPROUTS CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER: $425,380 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetARCHCITY DEFENDERS: $312,500 over 3y, 3.4% of budgetST LOUIS SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $221,214 over 5y, 5.1% of budgetFLANCE MANAGEMENT INC D/B/A FLANCE EARLY LEARNING CENTER: $159,922 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetSOUTHSIDE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER: $140,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetWEPOWER: $105,000 over 2y, 4.7% of budgetFINE ARTS WORK CENTER IN PROVINCETOWN INC: $101,030 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetCONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM ST LOUIS: $99,000 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetTHE LAUNCHCODE FOUNDATION: $77,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetVIA ART FUND INC: $50,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetCAPE COD MODERN HOUSE TRUST: $50,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetLAUMEIER SCULPTURE PARK: $31,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetForest Park Forever Inc: $31,400 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetMEDS & FOOD FOR KIDS: $28,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCASA OF ST LOUIS: $25,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetLIFT FOR LIFE ACADEMY INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetST LOUIS DANCE THEATRE: $15,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetJAZZ ST LOUIS: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBuilding Futures Inc: $15,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetSAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $12,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetKIDS WIN MISSOURI: $12,500 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetFEED MY PEOPLE: $11,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetRosati-Kain Academy: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMAXIMUM CHANCES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 7.6% of budgetEPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF AMERICA: $7,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetENTREPRENEUR STARTUP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $5,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGATEWAY ARCH PARK FOUNDATION: $5,170 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPIANOS FOR PEOPLE: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetGRAND CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetPEDAL THE CAUSE: $5,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKIPP ST LOUIS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCANCER SUPPORT COMMUNITY OF GREATER ST LOUIS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE COLLECTIVE THREAD: $5,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetRUNG FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetSCHOOL OF AMERICAN BALLET INC: $3,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: $3,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFORWARD THROUGH FERGUSON: $3,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetOpera Theatre of Saint Louis: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGIRL SCOUTS OF EASTERN MISSOURI INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFATHERS SUPPORT CENTER ST LOUIS: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF EASTERN MISSOURI: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEPILEPSY SOCIETY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY: $2,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGIVABLE: $2,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetPRISON PERFORMING ARTS: $1,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetDierberg Educational Foundation Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWE STORIES: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNMDP FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY CITY CHILDREN'S CENTER: $500 over 1y, 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.

  • Who funds URBAN SPROUTS CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER ↗
  • Who funds ARCHCITY DEFENDERS ↗
  • Who funds ST LOUIS SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL ↗
  • Who funds FLANCE MANAGEMENT INC D/B/A FLANCE EARLY LEARNING CENTER ↗
  • Who funds SOUTHSIDE EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER ↗
  • Who funds WEPOWER ↗
  • Who funds FINE ARTS WORK CENTER IN PROVINCETOWN INC ↗
  • Who funds CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM ST LOUIS ↗
  • Who funds THE LAUNCHCODE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds VIA ART FUND INC ↗
  • Who funds CAPE COD MODERN HOUSE TRUST ↗
  • Who funds LAUMEIER SCULPTURE PARK ↗
  • Who funds Forest Park Forever Inc ↗
  • Who funds MEDS & FOOD FOR KIDS ↗
  • Who funds CASA OF ST LOUIS ↗
  • Who funds LIFT FOR LIFE ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds ST LOUIS DANCE THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds JAZZ ST LOUIS ↗
  • Who funds Building Futures Inc ↗
  • Who funds SAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA ↗
  • Who funds KIDS WIN MISSOURI ↗
  • Who funds FEED MY PEOPLE ↗
  • Who funds Rosati-Kain Academy ↗
  • Who funds MAXIMUM CHANCES INC ↗

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.

St Louis Community Fo…Trio Foundation of St…The Kranzberg Family …St Louis Community Fo…Regional Cultural and…Commerce Bancshares F…World Wide Technology…United Way of Greater…Pershing Charitable T…Edward Jones Foundati…Washington UniversityMoneta Group Charitab…
St Louis Community Foundation IncMO60.7× affinity30 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: St Louis Community Foundation Inc · Trio Foundation of St Louis · The Kranzberg Family Charitable Foundation · St Louis Community Foundation · Regional Cultural and Performing Arts Development Commission · Commerce Bancshares Foundation · World Wide Technology Foundation · United Way of Greater St Louis Inc · Pershing Charitable Trust · Edward Jones Foundation · Washington University · Moneta Group 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 John and Alison Ferring Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The John and Alison Ferring Family Foundation. 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%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →median 27%
  • Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown Inc: 27% of income from government
  • Epilepsy Foundation of America: 22% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
18report 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 108 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 John and Alison Ferring 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