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Thomas B Fordham Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Thomas B Fordham Foundation

The Thomas B.

$165k
Granted FY2024still arriving
8
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$40k
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, FY2019 to 2024.

Education$606kPhilanthropy$183kHealth$45kCommunity Improvement$25kEnvironment$10kArts & Culture$10k
02FY2024 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 8 grants below total $149,358, the rows itemized in this filing. The $165,108 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $15,750 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.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k1 grant · $5k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $144k
$14,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$82M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Dayton Leadership Academies$40,000
Dayton Foundation Friends of DECA Fund$38,000
ReGeneration Schools Ohio$16,000
United Preparatory Academy$14,000
IDEA Greater Cincinnati$13,000
KIPP Columbus$13,000
We Care Arts$10,000
Institute for Excellence in Education$5,358
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 (FY22–22, $25k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%OMEGA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORP: $25k → 14%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 21% of Thomas B Fordham Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.

Thomas B Fordham Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 4.3% directed abroad (not shown)
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$500k · 9 repeat orgs$133k to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 5 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
5

Total granted

$500k
$104k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+219%

Still filing today

89%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 74% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $29k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationPhilanthropyHealthEnvironmentHuman ServicesOther
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
    Alliance Community Schools Inc
    5× · 2020–2024 · $141k · revenue +86%
  • US
    UNITED SCHOOLS
    4× · 2019–2023 · $85k · revenue +180%
  • WO
    WESTCARE OHIO INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $45k · revenue +256%

Funded once

  • SE
    SETON EDUCATION PARTNERSgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $50k · revenue +312%
  • OC
    Omega Community Development Corporationgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +241%
  • DE
    DAYTON EARLY COLLEGE ACADEMY INC
    one grant, 2020 · $10k · revenue +11%
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
Columbus Collegiate Academy

The School's mission is to transform lives and our communities through the power of education

—
2
Columbus Collegiate Academy West

The School's mission is to transform lives and our communities through the power of education.

Education
3
Red Oak Community School

A primary school in central Ohio offering a learner-centered approach to education for families dedicated to cultivating joy in learning, fostering self-confidence and agency, and preparing students to be environmental stewards and…

—
4
Menlo Park Academy

Menlo Park Academy is a public school that develops the potential of gifted learners through an exemplary program of rewarding experiences that nurtures the whole child.

Education
5
Ohio Connections Academy Inc

To provide high quality public education services to students that attend school from home.

Education
6
Ohio Collegiate Academy

Our vision is to create a culture of high expectations for behavior and academics through rigorous, research-based curricula and a focus on achievement. It is our goal that Ohio College Preparatory School scholars will attend a college…

Education
7
Horizon Science Academy Toledo

Horizon Science Academy Toledo is a public charter school that serving grades K through 12 for children in Toledo, OH. The school is a college prep school focusing on math, science and technology education.

Education
8
Autism Academy of Learning

To promote a higher quality of life, and the realization of the full intellectual and social development of students with autism spectrum disorder. The school is structured to provide every student with autism spectrum disorder an…

Education
9
North Columbus Preparatory Academy

North Columbus Preparatory Academy is a public, community school. We are our own school district sponsored by the St. Aloysius Orphanage (Charter School Specialists) which provides oversight and enforces academic, fiscal, and legal…

Education
10
School Choice Ohio Inc

The mission of school choice ohio is to protect and expand children's educational options through ensuring choice in quality schools and other places of learning, thereby supporting systemic reform of k-12 education across the state.

Education
11
University Charter School

Operation of a public charter school in Livingston, AL.

Education
12
Westminster School Inc

To provide the opportunity for a superior elementary and middle school education based on exceptionally high curricula and standards.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Regeneration Schools Ohio; the most unlike its peers is Sciotoville Community School. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

18 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)
17/18
Grantees still filing
13/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Alliance Community Schools Inc: $141,397 · EducationAlliance Community Schools IncUNITED SCHOOLS: $85,300 · EducationUNITED SCHOOLSTeach for America Inc: $60,000 · EducationTeach for America IncIdea Greater Cincinnati Inc: $43,000 · EducationIdea Greater Cincinnati IncKIPP COLUMBUS: $42,678 · EducationKIPP COLUMBUSSCIOTOVILLE COMMUNITY SCHOOL: $37,906 · EducationSCIOTOVILLE COMMUNITY SCHOOLREGENERATION SCHOOLS OHIO: $24,600 · Education+4 more: $38,165 · Education+4 moreTHE DAYTON FOUNDATION: $245,917 · PhilanthropyTHE DAYTON FOUNDATIONSETON EDUCATION PARTNERS: $50,000 · PhilanthropySETON EDUCATION PARTNERSTHE PHILANTHROPY ROUNDTABLE: $20,000 · PhilanthropyTHE PHILANTHROPY ROUNDTABLEWESTCARE OHIO INC: $45,000 · HealthOmega Community Development Corporation: $25,000 · Human ServicesWOODLAND ARBORETUM FOUNDATION: $10,000 · EnvironmentWe Care Arts Inc: $10,000 · Other
Education$473,046Philanthropy$315,917Health$45,000Human Services$25,000Environment$10,000Other$10,000

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 DAYTON FOUNDATION: $245,917 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetAlliance Community Schools Inc: $141,397 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetUNITED SCHOOLS: $85,300 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetTeach for America Inc: $60,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSETON EDUCATION PARTNERS: $50,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetWESTCARE OHIO INC: $45,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetIdea Greater Cincinnati Inc: $43,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetKIPP COLUMBUS: $42,678 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOmega Community Development Corporation: $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetREGENERATION SCHOOLS OHIO: $24,600 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetTHE PHILANTHROPY ROUNDTABLE: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUnited Schools Columbus: $14,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDAYTON EARLY COLLEGE ACADEMY INC: $10,207 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWOODLAND ARBORETUM FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 7.0% of budgetWe Care Arts Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetThe Institute for Excellence in Education: $5,358 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

Dayton Foundation Plu…The Dayton FoundationThe Berry Family Foun…Dayton Foundation Dep…The Dayton Power and …The United Way of the…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Dayton Foundation Plus IncOH17.7× affinity6 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Dayton Foundation Plus Inc · The Dayton Foundation · The Berry Family Foundation · Dayton Foundation Depository · The Dayton Power and Light Company Foundation Dba Aes Ohio Foundation · The United Way of the Greater Dayton Area · 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 Thomas B Fordham Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thomas B Fordham Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2023
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 18 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

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    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