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The Kau Jones Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Kau Jones 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.

$515k
Granted FY2024still arriving
6
Grants FY2024still arriving
4
States reached
$180k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Education$1.8MPublic Benefit$625kHealth$397kEnvironment$100kCivil Rights$55kPhilanthropy$50kReligion$22kRecreation & Sports$10kOther$0
02FY2024 · 6 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $505k
$64,500
Median grant
4
States reached
$2.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MIRMAN SCHOOL$180,000
REPRESENTUS EDUCATION FUND$150,000
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST LOUIS$64,500
GROUP B STREP INTERNATIONAL$55,000
INCOME MOVEMENT FOUNDATION$55,000
AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC$10,000
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 (FY18–21, $5k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%KAWANGWARE CHILDREN'S CENTER: $2k → 9%KAWANGWARE CHILDRENS CENTER: $2k → 9%KAWANGWARE CHILDRENS CENTER: $1k → 9%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.
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 9 repeat orgs$116k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +16% since the first grant, against +7% for those funded once.

9 repeat relationships: 5 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
3

Total granted

$2.9M
$61k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+16%
+7%

Still filing today

89%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $55k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationPublic BenefitHealthAnimalsHuman ServicesCivil RightsOther
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

  • TM
    THE MIRMAN SCHOOL FOR GIFTED CHILDREN
    7× · 2018–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +60%
  • HM
    Harvey Mudd College
    5× · 2018–2022 · $477k · revenue +16%
  • WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2020–2024 · $300k · revenue +16%

Funded once

  • V
    VOTEAMERICA
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +7%
  • TF
    TM23 FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $10k · revenue +95%
  • D
    DONORSCHOOSEORG
    one grant, 2019 · $1k · revenue +1%
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
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
2
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
3
President and Fellows of Harvard College

Undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and research across a broad array of academic domains.

Education
4
Golden Gate University

Golden gate university prepares individuals to lead and serve by providing high quality, practice-based educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions - as a nonprofit institution - in an innovative and challenging…

Education
5
The Common Application Inc

The common application is a not-for-profit membership organization of over 1,100 colleges and universities across the globe committed to access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process. every year, over 1.5 million students…

Education
6
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc

Aura provides innovative, open resources to enable discovery and excellence in research, to unify the astrophysics communities, and to promote public understanding of our universe and the benefits of scientific exploration.

Science & Tech
7
The University of British Columbia

Pursuing excellence in research learning and engagement to foster global citizenship and advance a sustainable and just society across British Columbia Canada and the world.

Education
8
The Uc Davis Foundation

The mission of the uc davis foundation is to secure, steward and manage private gifts for uc davis.

Education
9
Vanderbilt University

See Disclosure Above.

Education
10
Orcid Inc

Orcid provides an identifier for individuals to use with their name as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities. we provide open tools that enable transparent and trustworthy connections between researchers, their…

Education
11
Silicon Schools Fund Inc

The mission of the silicon schools fund is to improve education through supporting the launch of excellent new schools, improving academic instruction in existing schools, and by funding some of the boldest innovations in education…

Education
12
United States Naval Institute

Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Donorschooseorg; the most unlike its peers is Group B Strep International. 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

13 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 13 of the 14 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
13/13
Grantees still filing
9/13
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE MIRMAN SCHOOL FOR GIFTED CHILDREN: $1,015,000 · EducationTHE MIRMAN SCHOOL FOR GIFTED CHILDRENHarvey Mudd College: $477,400 · EducationHarvey Mudd CollegeWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $299,720 · EducationWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY+1 more: $1,114 · EducationRepresentUs: $300,000 · Public BenefitRepresentUsRepresentUs Education Fund: $275,000 · Public BenefitRepresentUs Education…GROUP B STREP INTERNATIONAL: $397,000 · HealthGROUP B STREP …AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC CORPORATION: $100,000 · AnimalsINCOME MOVEMENT FOUNDATION: $55,000 · OtherFIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: $22,000 · OtherTM23 FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherKAWANGWARE CHILDREN'S CENTER: $5,000 · OtherVOTEAMERICA: $50,000 · Civil RightsNEW VENTURE FUND: $50,000 · Environment
Education$1,793,234Public Benefit$575,000Health$397,000Animals$100,000Other$92,000Civil Rights$50,000Environment$50,000

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 MIRMAN SCHOOL FOR GIFTED CHILDREN: $1,015,000 over 7y, 1.1% of budgetHarvey Mudd College: $477,400 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetGROUP B STREP INTERNATIONAL: $397,000 over 7y, 90% of budgetRepresentUs: $300,000 over 2y, 4.8% of budgetWASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: $299,720 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetRepresentUs Education Fund: $275,000 over 2y, 3.9% of budgetAQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC CORPORATION: $100,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetINCOME MOVEMENT FOUNDATION: $55,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetVOTEAMERICA: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetNEW VENTURE FUND: $50,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKAWANGWARE CHILDREN'S CENTER: $5,000 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $1,114 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.

Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift FundMA3.8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile 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 Kau Jones Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Kau Jones Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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 14 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 Kau Jones’ 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