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Ohio · Private foundation

Thomas R Gross Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$164k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
8
Grants FY2025
6
Organizations funded FY2024
50%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$10,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$100,000
Organizations funded a year
6 to 23
FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
1
Total assets, FY2025
$3.0M
Applications
Takes unsolicited applications
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 50% of the organizations Thomas R Gross Family Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 13% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationHousing & ShelterHuman ServicesCrime & LegalHealthOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving8$164k0%
FY20246$146k50%
FY20239$160k0%
FY202212$155k33%
FY20217$58k0%
FY202017$177k41%
FY201919$178k21%
FY201823$168k52%
87% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$430kArts & Culture$237kHuman Services$190kHealth$158kHousing & Shelter$51kYouth Development$12kFood & Nutrition$11kCrime & Legal$11kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Columbus Classical Academy$380,00045%
Columbus Symphony Orchestra$70,00080%
Ohiohealth Corporation$62,5003n/a
Reeb Avenue Center$37,50031%
Pelotonia$35,80060%
Heinzerling Community$31,00070%
Vista Village Inc$30,00021%
Columbus Association for the Performing Arts$30,00050%
Young Mens Christian Association of Central Ohio$29,50040%
The Buckeye Ranch Foundation Inc$25,00020%
Show all 33 grantees

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 15 recipients with no EIN on record ($488k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Thomas R Gross Family Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetColumbus Classical Academy: $380,000 over 4y, 5.0% of budgetColumbus Symphony Orchestra: $70,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetReeb Avenue Center: $37,500 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetPelotonia: $35,800 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetHeinzerling Community: $31,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetVista Village Inc: $30,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetColumbus Association for the Performing Arts: $30,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetYoung Mens Christian Association of Central Ohio: $29,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetThe Buckeye Ranch Foundation Inc: $25,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCommunity Shelter Board: $20,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetThe Columbus Academy: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetColumbus Museum of Art: $16,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMid-Ohio Foodbank: $11,491 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetServing Our Neighbors Ministries Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetSoap Project Save Our Adolescents From Prostitution: $9,000 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetMelissa's House: $7,000 over 3y, 2.9% of budgetThe Harmon Museum: $6,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetLincoln Theatre Association: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetBig Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetFriends of the Topiary Park Inc: $5,000 over 3y, 7.6% of budgetColumbus Local Organizing Committee: $2,500 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetOhio History Connection: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMound City Little League Inc: $2,500 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetFranklin County Historical Society Dba Cosi Columbus: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCitizens for Self-Governance: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLifewise Inc: $2,101 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetLaw Enforcement Foundation Inc: $2,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSt Stephen Community Services Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHomes on The Hill Community Development Corp: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCommunity Arts Project Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 30.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Columbus FoundationOH44.6× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Columbus Foundation · Harry C Moores Foundation · L Brands Foundation · United Way of Central Ohio Inc · Encova Foundation of Ohio · Ingram-White Castle Foundation · American Electric Power Foundation · Cardinal Health Foundation · Columbus Jewish Foundation · Siemer Family Foundation · Nisource Charitable Foundation · Meuse Family 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.

Compare Thomas R Gross Family Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Thomas R Gross Family Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Thomas R Gross Family 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.

About Thomas R Gross Family Foundation

How much does Thomas R Gross Family Foundation give?
Thomas R Gross Family Foundation reported 8 grants totaling $164,206 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 6 and 23 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does Thomas R Gross Family Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (32%), Arts & Culture (17%), Human Services (14%).
Who are Thomas R Gross Family Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Columbus Classical Academy ($380k), Columbus Symphony Orchestra ($70k), Ohiohealth Corporation ($63k).
Does Thomas R Gross Family Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Thomas R Gross Family Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
Which funders back the same organizations as Thomas R Gross Family Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Columbus Foundation, Harry C Moores Foundation, L Brands Foundation.
Where is Thomas R Gross Family Foundation based?
Thomas R Gross Family Foundation is based in OH.

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 48 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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