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The Vinnie Johnson Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

The Vinnie Johnson Foundation

THE VINNIE JOHNSON FOUNDATION is organized exclusively for the purpose of receiving and administering funds and assets for charitable and educational purposes.

$180k
Granted FY2022
5
Grants FY2022
1
States reached
$50k
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, FY2017 to 2022.

Education$605kRecreation & Sports$250kYouth Development$183kHuman Services$95kPublic Benefit$25k
02FY2022 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2022

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $30k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $150k
$50,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$220k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MATH CORPS$50,000
CAMP CAVELL$50,000
BING YOUTH INSTITUTE$50,000
THE CHILDREN'S CENTER$20,000
BEAT THE STREETS$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 (FY17–22, $95k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 21% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%DEFEAT THE LABEL: $40k → 8%DEFEAT THE LABEL: $25k → 8%DEFEAT THE LABEL: $10k → 8%THE CHILDREN'S CENTER: $20k → 21%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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.1M · 7 repeat orgs$78k to everyone else

7 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2022, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2022 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
4

Total granted

$1.1M
$58k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-41%
+68%

Still filing today

71%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2022, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22
EducationHuman ServicesPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsCivil 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

  • CC
    CAMP CAVELL CONSERVANCY
    5× · 2017–2022 · $250k · revenue -17%
  • CS
    CORNERSTONE SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION
    3× · 2017–2019 · $225k · revenue -84%
  • PS
    PROMISE SCHOOLS
    4× · 2017–2021 · $175k · revenue -100%

Funded once

  • CE
    CITIZEN EDUCATION FUND INC
    one grant, 2019 · $25k · revenue -77%
  • TE
    THE EINSTEIN METHOD FKA EINSTEIN EDUCATION ECOSYSTEM INC
    one grant, 2017 · $25k · revenue +17%
  • SO
    SQUARE ONE EDUCATION NETWORKgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue +101%
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
Teen Excellence
Community Improvement
2
Students Run Chicago
Health
3
About Face Detroit
—
4
Crowned Scholars

Mentorship of young Black men

Education
5
Community Education Building Corp
Philanthropy
6
Spark Youth

Spark youth is an on-campus afterschool program focused on helping students with academic achievement, providing enrichment activities and building character/social development.

Education
7
Sons of Thunder

To provide educational mentorship

Youth Development
8
Project Exploration

Project exploration creates transformative learning opportunities for youth underrepresented in the sciences -- particularly students of color and girls -- by equipping them with the skills, practices, and mindset needed for a lifelong…

Arts & Culture
9
Unleash the Brilliance

The mission of Unleash the Brilliance is to reduce at-risk behaviors, increase school attendance, and increase graduation rates. We believe that by empowering youth to make positive decisions, we can reduce the number of youth that get…

Crime & Legal
10
The Smartplay

We are committed to preparing youth for success by uniting sports with academic growth and character development. our mission is to help every student make the smart play - on the field, in the classroom, and in life.

Recreation & Sports
11
Building Bridges Education

Building Bridges Education (BBE) is a non-profit organization at the forefront of creating transformative, high-impact programming. BBE is committed to equity-driven initiatives that empower students to embark on journeys of…

Education
12
Community Education Commission

CEC works with diverse stakeholders across Detroit to develop critical resources and system-level solutions that address common challenges faced by Detroit families in accessing quality education.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Reach Youth Programs; the most unlike its peers is Stand Together Day. 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

12 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.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/12
Grantees still filing
5/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CORNERSTONE SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION: $225,000 · EducationCORNERSTONE SCHOOLS ASSOCIATIONMath Corps: $175,000 · EducationMath CorpsBEAT THE STREETS DETROIT INC: $30,000 · EducationBEAT THE STREETS DETROIT INCPROMISE SCHOOLS: $175,000 · OtherPROMISE SCHOOLSBING YOUTH INSTITUTE: $150,000 · OtherBING YOUTH INSTITUTE+1 more: $2,500 · OtherCAMP CAVELL CONSERVANCY: $250,000 · Recreation & SportsCAMP CAVELL CONSERVANCYSTAND TOGETHER DAY: $75,000 · Human ServicesSTAND TOG…CHILDRENS CENTER OF WAYNE COUNTY INC: $20,000 · Human ServicesCHILDRENS…THE EINSTEIN METHOD FKA EINSTEIN EDUCATION ECOSYSTEM INC: $25,000 · PhilanthropySQUARE ONE EDUCATION NETWORK: $5,000 · PhilanthropyCITIZEN EDUCATION FUND INC: $25,000 · Civil Rights
Education$430,000Other$327,500Recreation & Sports$250,000Human Services$95,000Philanthropy$30,000Civil Rights$25,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetCAMP CAVELL CONSERVANCY: $250,000 over 5y, 11% of budgetCORNERSTONE SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION: $225,000 over 3y, 8.1% of budgetPROMISE SCHOOLS: $175,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetMath Corps: $175,000 over 3y, 11% of budgetBING YOUTH INSTITUTE: $150,000 over 5y, 6.3% of budgetSTAND TOGETHER DAY: $75,000 over 3y, 24% of budgetBEAT THE STREETS DETROIT INC: $30,000 over 3y, 22% of budgetCHILDRENS CENTER OF WAYNE COUNTY INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSQUARE ONE EDUCATION NETWORK: $5,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetREACH YOUTH PROGRAMS: $2,500 over 1y, 1.9% 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.

DTE Energy FoundationUnited Way for Southe…Ford PhilanthropyThe Bank of America C…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
DTE Energy FoundationMI17.5× affinity6 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: DTE Energy Foundation · United Way for Southeastern Michigan · Ford Philanthropy · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation 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 Vinnie Johnson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Vinnie Johnson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%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 · 0–5%
    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 Vinnie Johnson Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Vinnie Johnson 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 12 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 2022, released 2022. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2024) is on record and reports no grant expense, so the figures above are from FY2022, the most recent year this funder made grants.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Vinnie Johnson’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