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The Mary a & Gerald F Franklin Sr Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Mary a & Gerald F Franklin Sr 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.

$11k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$3k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0186% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$24kYouth Development$17kHuman Services$12kArts & Culture$12kCommunity Improvement$5kHealth$4kReligion$2kPhilanthropy$2kOther$0
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$800
Median grant
1
States reached
$118k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
PADUA HIGH SCHOOL$3,000
UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON - CHAMPION SCHOLARS$2,000
STRONGSVILLE CHAMBER OF COMM FNDN$2,000
CHILDREN MUSEUM$1,500
NEIGHBORHUB HEALTH$800
VETERAN HOUSING SOLUTIONS$500
CLEVELAND STORM SKATING CLUB$500
DOWN SYNDROME ASSOCIATION$500
Individual grant recipient$200
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, $2k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 71% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%CONQUER CHILDHOOD CANCER NOW: $500 → 11%Northeast Ohio Foundation for Patriotism: $700 → 17%The Northeast Ohio Foundation for Patriotism: $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.
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.

84%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$73k · 13 repeat orgs$14k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +38% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

13 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
18

Total granted

$73k
$10k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+38%
0%

Still filing today

38%
17%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 61% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationReligionArts & CultureHealthPublic BenefitOther
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

  • TC
    THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF CLEVELAND
    6× · 2019–2025 · $12k · revenue +25%
  • UO
    University of Dayton
    5× · 2017–2024 · $8k · revenue +38%
  • CC
    CHRIST CHILD SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND
    4× · 2019–2024 · $4k · revenue +137%

Funded once

  • MA
    MILESTONES AUTISM RESOURCES
    one grant, 2019 · $1k · revenue -40%
  • SB
    St Bridget Church
    one grant, 2017 · $1k
  • FL
    Family Living Center
    one grant, 2017 · $800
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
Hope for Cleveland's Children
—
2
Helping Ohio Heroes

Providing veteran's children with scholarships.

—
3
Children's Hospital Medical Center

Cincinnati children's hospital medical center will be the leader in improving child health. cincinnati children's will provide child health and transform delivery of care through fully integrated, globally recognized research, education,…

Health
4
Catholic Charities Corporation

Respond to those in need through an integrated system of quality services designed to respect the dignity of every person and build a just and compassionate society.

Human Services
5
Children's Museum of Cleveland Holdings Foundation

The foundation operates as a qualified active low income community business. it owns and leases the building and various exhibits to the children's museum of cleveland, a related organization.

Arts & Culture
6
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Group Return

Caring for life, researching for health and educating those who serve.

Health
7
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation

Caring for life, researching for health and educating those who serve.

Health
8
The Good Samaritan Hospital of Cincinnati Ohio

The organization's mission is to improve the health status of the community it serves.

Health
9
Saint Lukes Foundation of Cleveland Ohio
Health
10
Christ Child Society of Columbus

Provide material and educational assistance for children in need to challenge poverty, one child at a time.

Human Services
11
The Scholarship Granting Organization of the Catholic Community Foundation

The angel scholarship fund (asf) serves as the scholarship granting organization of the catholic community foundation. its mission is to promote the state of ohio scholarship tax credit program with all who support catholic education in…

—
12
Greater Cleveland Community Shares

Greater cleveland community shares (community shares) is a non-profit corporation providing financial and other support for its member non-profit organizations and others located in northeast ohio. member organziations are actively engaged…

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Christ Child Society of Cleveland; the most unlike its peers is Veterans Housing Solutions 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

9 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. 9 of the 36 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)
2
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
6/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ACHIEVMENT CENTERS FOR CHILDREN - CAMP CHEERFUL: $17,100 · OtherACHIEVMENT CENTERS FOR CHILDREN - CAMP CHEERFULPadua Franciscan High School: $8,500 · OtherPadua Franciscan High SchoolSt Vincent de Paul Society: $6,300 · OtherSt Vincent de Paul SocietyPADUA HIGH SCHOOL: $5,500 · OtherPADUA HIGH SCHOOLCHRIST CHILD SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND: $4,000 · OtherCHRIST CHILD SOCIETY OF CLEVELANDSTRONGSVILLE CHAMBER OF COMM FNDN: $3,525 · OtherSTRONGSVILLE CHAMBER OF COMM FNDNIndividual grant recipient: $3,000 · Other+22 more: $15,700 · Other+22 moreTHE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF CLEVELAND: $11,500 · Arts & CultureTHE CHILDREN'S …University of Dayton: $7,900 · EducationUniversity…NORTHEAST OHIO FOUNDATION FOR PATRIOTISM: $1,200 · Human ServicesCONQUER CHILDHOOD CANCER NOW INC: $500 · Human ServicesMILESTONES AUTISM RESOURCES: $1,000 · HealthVETERANS HOUSING SOLUTIONS INC: $500 · Public BenefitShared Blessings: $500 · Religion
Other$63,625Arts & Culture$11,500Education$7,900Human Services$1,700Health$1,000Public Benefit$500Religion$500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF CLEVELAND: $11,500 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetUniversity of Dayton: $7,900 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetCHRIST CHILD SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND: $4,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetStrongsville Chamber of Commerce: $1,750 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetNORTHEAST OHIO FOUNDATION FOR PATRIOTISM: $1,200 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMILESTONES AUTISM RESOURCES: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCONQUER CHILDHOOD CANCER NOW INC: $500 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetVETERANS HOUSING SOLUTIONS INC: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetShared Blessings: $500 over 1y, 0.3% 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 CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF CLEVELAND ↗
  • Who funds University of Dayton ↗
  • Who funds CHRIST CHILD SOCIETY OF CLEVELAND ↗
  • Who funds Strongsville Chamber of Commerce ↗
  • Who funds NORTHEAST OHIO FOUNDATION FOR PATRIOTISM ↗
  • Who funds MILESTONES AUTISM RESOURCES ↗
  • Who funds CONQUER CHILDHOOD CANCER NOW INC ↗
  • Who funds VETERANS HOUSING SOLUTIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds Shared Blessings ↗

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.

Medwish MedworksThe Cleveland Foundat…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Medwish MedworksOH13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Medwish Medworks · The Cleveland Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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 Mary a & Gerald F Franklin Sr Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Mary a & Gerald F Franklin Sr Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%8%15%22%30%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get 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 · 0–30%
    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 36 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Mary a & Gerald F Franklin Sr’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