· Private foundation
Tolson Family Foundation
Its FY2019 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2019.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2019
- Under $10k5 grants · $15k
- $10k–50k1 grant · $18k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| SASHA BRUCE YOUTHWORK | $50,000 |
| BRYN ATHYN COLLEGE | $17,629 |
| ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH | $5,000 |
| THE POTOMAC SCHOOL | $5,000 |
| BARRACKS ROW MAIN STREET | $2,000 |
| CAPITOL HILL DAY SCHOOL | $2,000 |
| KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS | $1,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–19, $178k) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 18% of Tolson Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 75% of the giving stays in DC; by stated purpose, 71%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
6 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2019, 2 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2019 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2019, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- SBSASHA BRUCE YOUTHWORK INC3× · 2017–2019 · $133k · revenue +66%
- CHCapitol Hill Day School3× · 2017–2019 · $53k · revenue +40%
- TPThe Potomac School3× · 2017–2019 · $13k · revenue +31%
Funded once
- ANAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branchesgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $15k · revenue +46%
- RIREFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICESone grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue -30%
- CACAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INCgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $5k · revenue +30%
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.
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.
To provide a rigorous, classical education to public school middle and high school students from across the district of columbia.
The mission of the george washington university (gw) is to educate individuals in liberal arts, languages, sciences, learned professions, and other courses and subjects of study, and to conduct scholarly research and publish the findings…
The organization's mission is to enable a diverse group of children to meet high expectations, develop creativity, critical thinking, problem solving skills, and achieve a deep understanding of complex subjects, while acquiring a love of…
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
To prepare students to succeed in competitive colleges and to empower them to use public policy to create a more just, free, and equal world.
Mclean school's small classes and abilities model prepare bright students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, including those with dyslexia, anxiety, and attention issues, for college success.
The seed public charter school of washington, dc is a public college-preparatory boarding school whose primary mission is to provide an outstanding intensive educational program that prepares children, both academically and socially, for…
To inform and enrich the intellectual lives of 20,000 alumni of harvard university in the washington, dc area and to assist harvard university with respect to applicants and undergraduates from the dc area.
Washington college challenges and inspires emerging citizen leaders to discover lives of purpose and passion.core valueswe share these values of our founding patron, george washington: integrity, determination, curiosity, civility,…
Bullis school provides a student-centered balanced experience in academics, arts, athletics and community service. bullis uniquely prepares all students to become caring citizens and creative, critical thinkers who will thrive in…
Two rivers mission: to nurture a diverse group of students to become lifelong, active participants in their own education, develop a sense of self and community, and become responsible and compassionate members of society.
Ingenuity prep public charter school was formed to prepare students to succeed in college and beyond as impactful civiic leaders.
How this is measured
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 17 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
- Who funds SASHA BRUCE YOUTHWORK INC ↗
- Who funds THE ACADEMY OF THE NEW CHURCH ↗
- Who funds Capitol Hill Day School ↗
- Who funds FIGHT FOR CHILDREN INC ↗
- Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
- Who funds The Potomac School ↗
- Who funds Capitol Hill Community Foundation ↗
- Who funds REFUGEE & IMMIGRANT CENTER FOR EDUCATION & LEGAL SERVICES ↗
- Who funds Teach for America Inc ↗
- Who funds CAPITAL AREA FOOD BANK INC ↗
- Who funds American Heart Association Inc ↗
- Who funds BARRACKS ROW MAIN STREET INC ↗
- Who funds HUMANE SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY INCORPORATED ↗
- Who funds JOHN F KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS ↗
- Who funds FIGHTING VIKING FOOTBALL FAMILY ↗
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.
Open a dossier: Greater Washington Community Foundation · Network for Good · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Tolson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Tolson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Tolson Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Tolson 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.
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