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The Portage Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

The Portage Foundation

THE PORTAGE FOUNDATION inspires, impacts, and engages the portage county community by ensuring pathways of enduring support to meet local needs.

$136k
Granted FY2024still arriving
2
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$10k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Religion$153kHuman Services$111kPublic Safety & Disaster$110kPhilanthropy$110kEducation$72kRecreation & Sports$58kHealth$51kAnimals$32kOther$0
02FY2024 · 2 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 2 grants below total $20,000, the rows itemized in this filing. The $135,789 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $115,789 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$7.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
TREE CITY CATS$10,000
AURORA COMMUNITY RELIEF PROGRAM$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 (FY21–23, $57k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%NORTHEAST OHIO ADOPTION SERVICES: $9k → 16%CRESTWOOD 4C'S: $25k → 12%FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES: $16k → 12%FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES: $7k → 12%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.

23%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$191k · 3 repeat orgs$625k to everyone else

3 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 2 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
20

Total granted

$191k
$615k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+52%

Still filing today

67%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 50% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $10k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’19’20’21’22’23’24
Human ServicesEducationHealthArts & CultureAnimalsYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • AC
    AURORA COMMUNITY RELIEF PROGRAM
    2× · 2023–2024 · $110k
  • AS
    AURORA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
    2× · 2022–2023 · $59k · revenue +32%
  • FC
    FAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $23k · revenue -45%

Funded once

  • VC
    VARIOUS COMMUNITY ORG
    one grant, 2019 · $110k
  • VC
    VARIOUS COMM ORGAN
    one grant, 2017 · $93k
  • VC
    VARIOUS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
    one grant, 2020 · $79k
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
Humane Ohio

To end dog and cat overpopulation in the greater toledo area by offering high-quality, affordable spay/neuter and promoting responsible pet care.

Animals
2
Columbus Cares for Cats
—
3
Hope for Cleveland's Children
—
4
Fosterbabycats

We rescue orphaned and abandoned neonatal kittens.

Animals
5
Ohio Paws With Purpose

Provide pet food and medical services to pets

Animals
6
Ohio County & Independent Fairs Highland County

The goal is to promote all types of agriculture in the county and surrounding areas during the year and finalizing with the seven day fair.

Food & Nutrition
7
Center for Applied Theater and Active Culture

To establish a forum for community engagement and educational outreach through collaboration with emerging and established artists and the creation, production and presentation of a diverse array of theatre, music, dance, and exhibitions…

Arts & Culture
8
Pet Promise
Animals
9
Toledo Helps Ukraine

Raise funds to support ukraine

Human Services
10
For the Love of Cats

To reduce the number of free-roaming cats in bowling green and wood county, ohio through our trap, neuter, return (tnr) program, as well as advocate for humane protocols in managing homeless cat populations that serve the best interest of…

Animals
11
City Fairview Park Municipal Founda

Enhance City of Fairview Park OH

Recreation & Sports
12
North Canton Cares Pantry

Here at north canton cares pantry, we are driven by a single goal; to do our part in helping provide food to individuals and families who have a need in north canton, ohio. we strive to build relationships with our guests and do all we can…

Food & Nutrition
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Northeast Ohio Medical University Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Tree City Cats. 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

15 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. 15 of the 24 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/15
Grantees still filing
9/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AURORA COMMUNITY RELIEF PROGRAM: $110,000 · OtherAURORA COMMUNITY RELIEF PROGRAMVARIOUS COMMUNITY ORG: $109,774 · OtherVARIOUS COMMUNITY ORGVARIOUS COMM ORGAN: $93,342 · OtherVARIOUS COMM ORGANVARIOUS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS: $79,285 · OtherVARIOUS COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONSCENTRAL OHIO SADDLE CLUB: $57,663 · OtherCENTRAL OHIO SADDLE CLUBCHURCH IN AURORA: $50,000 · OtherCHURCH IN AURORA+5 more: $53,159 · Other+5 moreAURORA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $58,591 · EducationAURORA SC…KENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $7,000 · EducationKENT STAT…NORTHEAST OHIO MEDICAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $6,000 · EducationNORTHEAST…CRESTWOOD 4CS: $25,000 · Human ServicesFAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $22,731 · Human ServicesNORTHEAST OHIO ADOPTION SERVICES: $9,342 · Human ServicesBY THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT A NEW DAY A NEW BEGINNING: $40,500 · HealthROBINSON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $10,014 · HealthPORTAGE ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE: $21,768 · AnimalsTREE CITY CATS: $10,000 · AnimalsMAIN STREET RAVENNA INC: $15,000 · Arts & CultureAURORA COMMUNITY THEATRE: $15,000 · Arts & CultureGirls on the Run of Greater Summit Girls on the Run of Northeast Ohio: $22,000 · Youth Development
Other$553,223Education$71,591Human Services$57,073Health$50,514Animals$31,768Arts & Culture$30,000Youth Development$22,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetAURORA SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $58,591 over 2y, 17% of budgetBY THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT A NEW DAY A NEW BEGINNING: $40,500 over 1y, 43% of budgetFAMILY & COMMUNITY SERVICES INC: $22,731 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGirls on the Run of Greater Summit Girls on the Run of Northeast Ohio: $22,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetPORTAGE ANIMAL PROTECTIVE LEAGUE: $21,768 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetMAIN STREET RAVENNA INC: $15,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetAURORA COMMUNITY THEATRE: $15,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetROBINSON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $10,014 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF NORTH CENTRAL OHIO: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTREE CITY CATS: $10,000 over 1y, 27% of budgetNORTHEAST OHIO ADOPTION SERVICES: $9,342 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetKENT STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHEAST OHIO MEDICAL UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHAYMAKER FARMERS MARKET INC: $5,664 over 1y, 5.2% 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.

The Cleveland Foundat…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Cleveland FoundationOH14.8× affinity5 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: 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 Portage Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Portage Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report 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 24 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Portage’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