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The John Paul Stevens Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The John Paul Stevens Foundation

As a living tribute to Justice John Paul Stevens, the Foundation works to protect and promote democracy and the rule of law, access to justice, and equality by supporting law students, lawyers, and others working in the public interest.

$865k
Granted FY2025still arriving
35
Grants FY2025still arriving
21
States reached
$42k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Education$2.1MPublic Benefit$736kHealth$113kCrime & Legal$78k
02FY2025 · 35 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$24,000
Median grant
21
States reached
$2.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
University of Florida Fdn$42,000
Regents of the University MN$36,000
Washington Univ School of Law$36,000
Fordham Univ School of Law$36,000
Regents of University of MI$36,000
Uni of Washington Law School$36,000
Emory Univ School of Law$36,000
Regents of Univ of CA Davis$36,000
UCLA Foundation$36,000
University of Oklahoma Fdn$36,000
Illinois College Of Law$24,000
Indiana University$24,000
NCCU Foundation$24,000
Southern Univ at Shreveport$24,000
Uni of Idaho College of Law$24,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 80% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%Harvard Law School: $30k → 8%University of Idaho Fdn: $36k → 16%Regents of the University MN: $36k → 11%University of Pittsburg: $36k → 11%Trustees Stanford Jr Univ: $40k → 8%UC Berkeley School of Law: $46k → 10%UCLA Foundation: $30k → 14%Regents of Univ of CA Davis: $39k → 16%Trustees of Columbia Univ: $30k → 17%Fordham Univ School of Law: $47k → 28%TX Southern Univ Foundation: $48k → 16%University of OK Foundation: $39k → 13%FAMU Foundation: $48k → 19%University of Florida Fdn: $42k → 19%Regents of University of MI: $39k → 14%Board of the Univ of Alabama: $36k → 17%Washington Univ School of Law: $39k → 11%Williamette University: $36k → 14%Emory Univ School of Law: $54k → 14%Indiana University: $42k → 18%Univ of Chicago Law School: $30k → 14%Southern Univ Law Center: $48k → 19%Southern Univ at Shreveport: $28k → 22%Univ of Minnesota Law School: $30k → 11%Regents of Univ of CA Davis: $36k → 16%Fordham Univ School of Law: $36k → 28%Texas Southern University: $34k → 16%University of Oklahoma Fdn: $36k → 13%FAMU Foundation: $30k → 19%Regents of University of MI: $36k → 14%Washington Univ School of Law: $36k → 11%Emory Univ School of Law: $36k → 14%University of Illinois Fdn: $36k → 19%Southern Univ Law Center: $30k → 19%UCLA Foundation: $39k → 14%Regents of Univ of CA Davis: $30k → 16%TX Southern Univ Foundation: $30k → 16%FAMU Foundation: $28k → 19%Univ of Michigan Law School: $30k → 14%UCLA Foundation: $36k → 14%Howard University Law School: $48k → 14%University of WA Foundation: $39k → 9%University of Southern CA: $33k → 14%University of WA Law School: $29k → 9%Howard University Law School: $28k → 14%Uni of Washington Law School: $36k → 9%DC School of Law Foundation: $48k → 14%Univ of DC Foundation: $30k → 14%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

WA
ID
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
IN
PA
CA
MO
VA
NC
DC
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
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.

89%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.4M · 32 repeat orgs$286k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.

32 repeat relationships: 26 still active in FY2025, 6 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

32
6

Total granted

$2.4M
$178k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+26%

Still filing today

72%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $108k went to new ones.

50%100%’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationCrime & LegalOther
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

  • THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY
    4× · 2020–2025 · $135k · revenue +40%
  • NC
    NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2020–2025 · $130k · revenue +377%
  • FA
    Florida Agricultural & Mechanical Univ Foundation Inc
    4× · 2020–2025 · $130k · revenue +165%

Funded once

  • UO
    University of Idaho Foundation Inc
    one grant, 2022 · $36k · revenue -27%
  • BO
    BOARD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
    one grant, 2022 · $36k
  • University of Illinois Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $36k · revenue +70%
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
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
2
The George Washington University

The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…

Education
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
The Trustees of Princeton University

Research, education and general - princeton university is a private not-for-profit, non-sectarian institution of higher learning with approximately 5,700 undergraduate and 3,300 graduate students. 2,500 students graduated in the 2024-2025…

Education
5
Trustees of Tufts College

Education and Research

Education
6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
7
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
8
University of Virginia Investment Management Company

The university of virginia investment management company (uvimco) is organized to invest funds on behalf of the rector and visitors of the university of virginia (the university or uva) and university-associated organizations (uaos).

Education
9
The Catholic University of America

As the national university of the catholic church in the united states, founded and sponsored by the bishops of the country with the approval of the holy see, the catholic university of america is committed to being a comprehensive…

Education
10
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
11
University of Miami

See Form 990, Part I, Line 1, Description of Organization Mission.

Education
12
University of Denver

The university of denver (du) is a higher educational institution, providing both undergraduate and graduate degrees - the mission of the university of denver is to promote learning by engaging with students (continued on schedule o)in…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is University of Virginia Law School Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 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

33 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. 33 of the 47 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
33/33
Grantees still filing
27/33
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $135,000 · EducationTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITYNORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $130,000 · EducationNORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INCFlorida Agricultural & Mechanical Univ Foundation Inc: $130,000 · EducationFlorida Agricultural & Mechanical Univ Foundation IncEmory University: $115,000 · EducationEmory UniversityFordham University: $112,500 · EducationFordham UniversityUCLA FOUNDATION: $105,000 · EducationWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $103,500 · EducationDistrict of Columbia School of Law Foundation: $100,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $80,000 · EducationSOUTHERN UNIVERTY SYSTEM: $78,000 · EducationTEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIO: $78,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FOUNDATION INC: $76,500 · Education+18 more: $830,250 · Education+18 moreREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: $112,500 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MIC…UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA: $112,500 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTAUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVIS: $105,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA DAVISREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY: $82,000 · OtherREGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAL…Indiana University School of Medicine: $66,000 · OtherIndiana University School of Med…UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: $60,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF FLORIDATexas Southern University: $58,000 · OtherTexas Southern UniversitySOUTHERN UNIVERSITY-BATON ROUGE: $52,000 · OtherSOUTHERN UNIVERSITY-BATON ROUGEUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: $43,500 · OtherBOARD OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA: $36,000 · OtherUNVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA: $36,000 · OtherSEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $36,000 · Other+3 more: $73,000 · Other+3 moreTHE CAPITAL APPEALS PROJECT: $39,000 · Crime & LegalBRADY CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE: $39,000 · Crime & Legal
Education$2,073,750Other$872,500Crime & Legal$78,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE HOWARD UNIVERSITY: $135,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetNORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION INC: $130,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetFlorida Agricultural & Mechanical Univ Foundation Inc: $130,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetEmory University: $115,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetFordham University: $112,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUCLA FOUNDATION: $105,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $103,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDistrict of Columbia School of Law Foundation: $100,000 over 3y, 4.8% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $80,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN UNIVERTY SYSTEM: $78,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetTEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY FOUNDATIO: $78,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FOUNDATION INC: $76,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION: $67,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGeorgia State University Foundation Inc: $64,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWILLAMETTE UNIVERSITY: $60,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH: $60,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK: $60,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Chicago: $58,250 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPresident and Fellows of Harvard College: $52,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: $52,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA FOUNDATION INC: $49,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: $47,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CAPITAL APPEALS PROJECT: $39,000 over 3y, 3.4% of budgetBRADY CENTER TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE: $39,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LAW SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $37,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Idaho Foundation Inc: $36,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSEATTLE UNIVERSITY: $36,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $36,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF DC FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA LAW SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $24,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCAMPBELL UNIVERSITY: $15,000 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.

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.

Tulsa Community Found…Thurgood Marshall Col…American Chemical Soc…Educational Credit Ma…National Collegiate A…Folds of Honor Founda…American Endowment Fo…Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Tulsa Community FoundationOK14.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 10 of 10Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Tulsa Community Foundation · Thurgood Marshall College Fund · American Chemical Society · Educational Credit Management Corporation · National Collegiate Athletic Association · Folds of Honor Foundation · American Endowment Foundation · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The John Paul Stevens Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The John Paul Stevens Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 7%
  • President and Fellows of Harvard College: 7% of income from government
  • Willamette University: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
3get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The John Paul Stevens Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The John Paul Stevens 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.

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 47 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on John Paul Stevens’ 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