· Private foundation
The Mark E and Mary a Davis Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Read this first · the figures below need context
98% of The Mark E and Mary a Davis Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to National Philanthropic Trust, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 61 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2023, the last year The Mark E and Mary a Davis Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 61 organizations, $959k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2023
- Under $10k80 grants · $104k
- $10k–50k13 grants · $245k
- $50k–250k4 grants · $210k
- $250k+1 grant · $400k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MAYO | $400,000 |
| JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF THE UPPER MIDWEST | $60,000 |
| FEDERATED FOUNDATION | $50,000 |
| HORATIO ALGER ASSOCIATION | $50,000 |
| GEORGE W BUSH FOUNDATION | $50,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $25,000 |
| NATIONAL REVIEW INSTITUTE | $25,000 |
| MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY MANKATO COLLEGE OF BUSINESS | $25,000 |
| MINNESOTANS' MILITARY APPRECIATION FUND | $25,000 |
| MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY (NORTH STAR CIRCLE MEMBERSHIP) | $25,000 |
| SOUTHERN MINNESOTA INITIATIVE FOUNDATION | $20,000 |
| CHURCH OF SAINT PETER | $15,000 |
| CATO INSTITUTE | $15,000 |
| CHURCH OF THE HOLY COMMUNION | $15,000 |
| NICOLLET COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY | $15,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY20–24, $21k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, 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.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +41% since the first grant, against +36% for those funded once.
108 repeat relationships: 92 still active in FY2023, 16 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2023 (too recent to call). Read against FY2023, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 93% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $32k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- HAHORATIO ALGER ASSN OF DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS INC3× · 2020–2024 · $400k · revenue +12%
- JAJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT NORTH4× · 2020–2023 · $240k · revenue +91%
- MMMINNESOTANS' MILITARY APPRECIATION FUND5× · 2020–2024 · $125k · revenue +48%
Funded once
- TSTHE SALVATION ARMY - ADULT REHABILITATION CENTER BUILDING REMODELone grant, 2022 · $1.5M
- MMMINNESOTA MILITARY AND VETERANS MUSEUMgraduatedone grant, 2022 · $1.0M · revenue +62%
- TATHE ANNEXSTAD FAMILY FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $250k · revenue +29%
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.
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.
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.
To be the leading voice of medicine to make minnesota the healthiest state and the best place to practice.
The fsmb serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best…
The npr foundation ("foundation") is organized and operated exclusively for the benefit of its sole supported organization, national public radio, inc. ("npr inc."). the foundation supports npr inc. through various activities such as…
MCF is a vibrant philanthropic community connecting, strengthening and mobilizing the power of philanthropy to advance prosperity and equity.
The minnesota chamber of commerce proactively leads the business community statewide to: advance pro-business, responsible minnesota public policy that creates jobs and grows the econony; provde member services to address evolving business…
To provide the highest level of stewardship for university donors through professional management and oversight of the university of minnesota foundation's assets by creating a focused investment environment with clarity of purpose,…
The peterson institute for international economics (piie) is an independent nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to strengthening prosperity and human welfare in the global economy through expert analysis and practical…
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…
National public radio, inc. ("npr") works collaboratively with member public radio station licensees ("member stations") to create a more informed public, one that is challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of…
The minnesota business partnership's mission is to maintain a high quality of life for all minnesotans by ensuring that the state's economy remains strong, globally competitive and its prospects for growth bright by working with elected…
The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…
How this is measured
82 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. 82 of the 134 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 NATIONAL PHILANTHROPIC TRUST ↗
- Who funds MAYO CLINIC ↗
- Who funds MINNESOTA MILITARY AND VETERANS MUSEUM ↗
- Who funds HORATIO ALGER ASSN OF DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS INC ↗
- Who funds THE ANNEXSTAD FAMILY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT NORTH ↗
- Who funds THE GEORGE W BUSH FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds MINNESOTANS' MILITARY APPRECIATION FUND ↗
- Who funds SOUTHERN MINNESOTA INITIATIVE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CATO INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds Center of the American Experiment ↗
- Who funds NATIONAL REVIEW INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds ST JUDE CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC ↗
- Who funds NICOLLET COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds TWIN CITIES PUBLIC TELEVISION INC ↗
- Who funds SOUTH CENTRAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds MINNESOTA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds HILLSDALE COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds Federated Insurance Foundation Inc ↗
- Who funds Bolder Options ↗
- Who funds UPPER MIDWEST LAW CENTER ↗
- Who funds Global Network Foundation 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.
Open a dossier: The Minneapolis Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · Donors Trust Inc · Ronald and Janet Schutz Family Foundation · Bradley Impact Fund Inc · Pine Rock Foundation Inc · Glen a Taylor Foundation · Sit Investment Associates Foundation · The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation Inc · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Minnesota Community Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Mark E and Mary a Davis Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Mark E and Mary a Davis Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Wounded Warrior Project Inc: 0% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Mark E and Mary a Davis Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Mark E and Mary a Davis 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.
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