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Thomas J Zanios III Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Thomas J Zanios III 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.

$12k
Granted FY2025still arriving
8
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$3k
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, FY2022 to 2025.

Education$8kHuman Services$5kFood & Nutrition$4kRecreation & Sports$3kAnimals$2kHousing & Shelter$1kYouth Development$500
02FY2025 · 8 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,250
Median grant
5
States reached
$338k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
EDUCATION FOUNDATION OF M$3,000
PART OF THE SOLUTION$2,000
COMMUNITY KITCHEN OF NORT$2,000
OAKS WOMEN'S CLUB SCHOLARSHIP$1,250
CLAGETT SAILING$1,250
INTL INSTITUTE OF MN$1,000
HELPING PAWS$1,000
TRANSFIGURATION GREEK ORTHODOX CHUR$500
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 (FY24–25, $3k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 31% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%HELPING PAWS: $1k → 8%INTL INSTITUTE OF MN: $1k → 14%HELPING PAWS: $1k → 8%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.

44%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$10k · 4 repeat orgs$13k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +128% since the first grant, against +37% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
5

Total granted

$10k
$4k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+128%
+37%

Still filing today

100%
80%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 25% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $9k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’22’23’24’25
Food & NutritionHuman ServicesHousing & ShelterRecreation & SportsPhilanthropyCommunity ImprovementOther
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

  • PO
    PART OF THE SOLUTION
    2× · 2024–2025 · $3k · revenue 0%
  • TE
    THE EDUCATION FOUNDATION OF THE MASON CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
    3× · 2022–2024 · $3k · revenue +417%
  • HP
    HELPING PAWS INC
    2× · 2024–2025 · $2k · revenue -7%

Funded once

  • WESTERLY AREA REST MEALS (WARM) INCgraduated
    one grant, 2024 · $1k · revenue +37%
  • CL
    CLEAR LAKE YACHT CLUB SAILING SCHOOL
    one grant, 2023 · $1k · revenue -56%
  • TW
    THE WOMAN'S CLUB OF RYE INCgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $700 · revenue +62%
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
Iowa College Foundation

The foundation is organized to further the growth and development of private colleges and universities of higher education in iowa.

—
2
United Way of East Central Iowa

Unite the caring power of communities to invest in effective solutions to improve people's lives.

Philanthropy
3
Inland Lake Yachting Associationin

To encourage, develop, promote and foster amateur yachting and yacht racing on the inland lakes of the midwest of the united states.

—
4
Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa

The independent insurance agents of iowa will be an unrelenting advocate of the business, professional and political interests of its members; doing so by working in the public's interest and with the highest ethical standards.

—
5
Food Bank of Iowa

The organization receives, warehouses, and distributes salvageable food items to non-profit tax exempt member agencies to feed the ill, needy, and infants.

Food & Nutrition
6
Chicago Yacht Club

Chicago yacht club's mission is to encourage and promote the comingling of members through yachting by providing recreation activities, classes and regattas for members and their guests.

—
7
Community Rowing Inc

At community rowing inc., we are dedicated to fostering a community that is both welcoming and supportive. under the banner of rowing for all we make rowing accessible without regard to individual ability, background or experience.…

—
8
Common Good Iowa

Common good iowa engages iowans to create and advocate for research-based public policy that makes life better and more equitable for all who make iowa home.

—
9
The Diversity Service Center of Iowa

Immigration counseling and advocacy for minority senior citizens

Human Services
10
West Central Community Action

In partnership with state and federal government, our mission is to administer programs designed to help residents in our 10-county region of southwest iowa achieve self-sufficiency.

Human Services
11
United Way of Clinton County Iowa

To provide leadership in our communities to 1) identify our most pressing human care needs, 2) to work together to direct the time, energy and resources towards addressing those needs to improve our quality of life.

—
12
The Community Action Agency of Western Connecticut Inc

The community action agency of western connecticut is a private non-profit corporation serving western connecticut. its primary purpose is to operate a multi-purpose organization to combat poverty and promote self sufficiency among low…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Part of the Solution; the most unlike its peers is Clagett Sailing. 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

10 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. 10 of the 15 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
6/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

EDUCATION FOUNDATION OF M: $3,000 · OtherEDUCATION FOUNDATION OF MCOMMUNITY KITCHEN OF NORT: $2,000 · OtherCOMMUNITY KITCHEN OF NORTOAKS WOMEN'S CLUB SCHOLARSHIP: $1,250 · OtherOAKS WOMEN'S CLUB SCHOLARSHIPCLEAR LAKE YACHT CLUB SAILING SCHOOL: $1,000 · OtherCLEAR LAKE YACHT CLUB SAILING SCHOOLFIRST TEE FOUNDATION INC: $533 · OtherFIRST TEE FOUNDATION INCTRANSFIGURATION GREEK ORTHODOX CHUR: $500 · OtherTRANSFIGURATION GREEK ORTHODOX CHURPART OF THE SOLUTION: $3,250 · Food & NutritionPART OF THE SOLUTIONCOMMUNITY KITCHEN OF NORTH IA INC: $1,900 · Food & NutritionCOMMUNITY KITCHEN OF NOR…HELPING PAWS INC: $2,250 · Human ServicesHELPING PAWS IN…INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MINNESOTA: $1,000 · Human ServicesINTERNATIONAL I…THE EDUCATION FOUNDATION OF THE MASON CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $3,000 · PhilanthropyTHE EDUCATION …WESTERLY AREA REST MEALS (WARM) INC: $1,250 · Housing & ShelterCLAGETT SAILING: $1,250 · Recreation & SportsTHE WOMAN'S CLUB OF RYE INC: $700 · Community ImprovementSTATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FOUNDATION: $650 · Education
Other$8,283Food & Nutrition$5,150Human Services$3,250Philanthropy$3,000Housing & Shelter$1,250Recreation & Sports$1,250Community Improvement$700Education$650

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 budgetPART OF THE SOLUTION: $3,250 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE EDUCATION FOUNDATION OF THE MASON CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $3,000 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetHELPING PAWS INC: $2,250 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY KITCHEN OF NORTH IA INC: $1,900 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWESTERLY AREA REST MEALS (WARM) INC: $1,250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCLEAR LAKE YACHT CLUB SAILING SCHOOL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MINNESOTA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WOMAN'S CLUB OF RYE INC: $700 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetSTATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FOUNDATION: $650 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
American Online Giving Foundation IncDE6.2× affinity4 shared granteesties to 3 of 3Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: American Online Giving Foundation Inc · 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 J Zanios III Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thomas J Zanios III 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%4%8%11%15%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 · 0–15%
    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 15 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

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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