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Walter L Gross III Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Walter L Gross III Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$57k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$20k
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 2025.

Education$466kArts & Culture$105kRecreation & Sports$20kAnimals$8kHuman Services$5kEnvironment$1kEmployment$1k
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $40k
$20,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$453k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GATTON PARK CONSERVANCY$20,000
MIAMI UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$20,000
BEREA COLLEGE$9,000
OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES$7,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 95% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%THE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES: $12k → 15%CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER: $20k → 16%SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%GEORGETOWN COLLEGE: $10k → 8%WILDERNESS TRACE FAMILY YMCA: $5k → 13%CENTRE COLLEGE: $20k → 15%BEREA COLLEGE: $25k → 16%OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES: $8k → 15%CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER: $20k → 16%GEORGETOWN COLLEGE: $5k → 8%CENTRE COLLEGE: $10k → 15%BEREA COLLEGE: $25k → 16%OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES: $8k → 15%CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER: $20k → 16%GEORGETOWN COLLEGE: $5k → 8%COMMUNITY ARTS CENTER: $5k → 15%MIAMI UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $20k → 16%OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES: $8k → 15%CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER: $20k → 16%GEORGETOWN COLLEGE: $5k → 8%GATTON PARK CONSERVANCY: $20k → 15%MIAMI UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $20k → 16%OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES: $8k → 15%CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER: $5k → 16%SAYRE SCHOOL: $10k → 15%MIAMI UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $20k → 16%OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES: $7k → 15%CINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER: $5k → 16%SAYRE SCHOOL: $10k → 15%MIAMI UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $20k → 16%THE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES: $7k → 15%SAYRE SCHOOL: $10k → 15%MIAMI UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $20k → 16%THE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES: $6k → 15%SAYRE SCHOOL: $10k → 15%MIAMI UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $20k → 16%SAYRE SCHOOL: $10k → 15%MIAMI UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $18k → 16%SAYRE SCHOOL: $10k → 15%MIAMI UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $18k → 16%MIAMI UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $18k → 16%BEREA COLLEGE: $9k → 16%BEREA COLLEGE: $9k → 16%BEREA COLLEGE: $9k → 16%BEREA COLLEGE: $9k → 16%BEREA COLLEGE: $9k → 16%BEREA COLLEGE: $7k → 16%BEREA COLLEGE: $7k → 16%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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$550k · 7 repeat orgs$56k to everyone else

7 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

7
16

Total granted

$550k
$36k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+42%

Still filing today

100%
69%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 65% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $20k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CultureAnimalsEnvironmentRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • MU
    Miami University Foundation
    9× · 2017–2025 · $174k · revenue +14%
  • BEREA COLLEGE
    9× · 2017–2025 · $109k · revenue +50%
  • TO
    THE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES
    8× · 2017–2025 · $62k · revenue +19%

Funded once

  • SA
    Sigma Alpha Epsilon Foundationgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +73%
  • WT
    WILDERNESS TRACE FAMILY YMCA
    one grant, 2017 · $5k
  • AC
    ART CENTER OF THE BLUEGRASS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $5k · revenue +95%
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
Lafayette College

Chartered in 1826, lafayette college is dedicated to excellence in undergraduate education. students are engaged in a transformative educational experience that bridges the liberal arts, engineering, and interdisciplinary study. the…

Education
2
Furman University

The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.

Education
3
Louisville Collegiate School

Louisville collegiate school inspires academic excellence, extraordinary character and global citizenship.

Education
4
Gettysburg College

Gettysburg college is a residential, undergraduate college of the liberal arts and sciences.

Education
5
The Dayton Art Institute

The dayton art institute is committed to enriching the community by creating meaningful experiences with art that are available to all.

Arts & Culture
6
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
7
Illinois College

Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…

Education
8
Kentucky College of Art Design

The kentucky college of art and design opens the door to a creative and productive life through an undergraduate education in the contemporary arts.

Education
9
Wilson College

Wilson college empowers students to be confident and critical thinkers, creative visionaries, effective communicators, honorable leaders, and agents of justice.

Education
10
Washington and Lee University

Mission statement of washington and lee university: washington and lee university provides a liberal arts education that develops students' capacity to think freely, critically, and humanely and to conduct themselves with honor, integrity,…

Education
11
Barton College

Founded in 1902, barton college is a four-year, private, liberal arts college located in wilson, n.c. the barton experience focuses on academic excellence within a wide range of professional and liberal arts programs leading to…

Education
12
Oberlin College

Oberlin College and Conservatory educate students for lives of intellectual, musical and artistic rigor and breadth, sustained inquiry, creativity and innovation, and leadership. Oberlin aims to prepare graduates with the knowledge,…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Lexington Humane Society; the most unlike its peers is Opera House Fund Inc. 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

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. 18 of the 24 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
18/18
Grantees still filing
12/18
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Miami University Foundation: $174,000 · EducationMiami University FoundationBEREA COLLEGE: $109,000 · EducationBEREA COLLEGETHE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES: $62,000 · EducationTHE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGESSAYRE SCHOOL: $60,000 · EducationSAYRE SCHOOLCENTRE COLLEGE: $30,000 · EducationCENTRE COLLEGEGEORGETOWN COLLEGE: $25,000 · EducationGEORGETOWN COLLEGE+2 more: $5,500 · EducationCINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER: $90,000 · Arts & CultureCINCINNATI MUSEUM …ART CENTER OF THE BLUEGRASS INC: $5,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $3,500 · Arts & CultureGATTON PARK CONSERVANCY INC: $20,000 · Recreation & SportsWILDERNESS TRACE FAMILY YMCA: $5,000 · OtherOPERA HOUSE FUND INC: $3,000 · OtherLEXINGTON ARTS & CULTURAL COUNCIL: $2,500 · OtherASCPA: $1,000 · OtherCINCINNATI ZOO: $1,000 · OtherLEXINGTON HISTORY MUSEUM: $1,000 · OtherDANVILLE-BOYLE COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $1,000 · OtherLEXINGTON HUMANE SOCIETY: $4,000 · AnimalsWoodford Humane Society Inc: $2,000 · AnimalsSANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $1,000 · Environment
Education$465,500Arts & Culture$98,500Recreation & Sports$20,000Other$14,500Animals$6,000Environment$1,000

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 budgetMiami University Foundation: $174,000 over 9y, 0.1% of budgetBEREA COLLEGE: $109,000 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetCINCINNATI MUSEUM CENTER: $90,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetTHE OHIO FOUNDATION OF INDEPENDENT COLLEGES: $62,000 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetSAYRE SCHOOL: $60,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCENTRE COLLEGE: $30,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGEORGETOWN COLLEGE: $25,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSigma Alpha Epsilon Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetART CENTER OF THE BLUEGRASS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetLEXINGTON HUMANE SOCIETY: $4,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWoodford Humane Society Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLEXINGTON ART LEAGUE INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetDANVILLE-BOYLE COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLEXINGTON CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSANIBEL-CAPTIVA CONSERVATION FOUNDATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetINDIAN HILL FOUNDATION: $500 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.

Blue Grass Community …Baird Foundation IncThe Mt Brilliant Fami…The Community Foundat…Nisource Charitable F…Raymond James Charita…Jpmorgan Chase Founda…The Pfizer Foundation…American Endowment Fo…Morgan Stanley Global…Natl Christian Charit…National Philanthropi…
Blue Grass Community Foundation IncKY21.7× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Blue Grass Community Foundation Inc · Baird Foundation Inc · The Mt Brilliant Family Foundation (Formerly Hgg Family Foundation) · The Community Foundation of Louisville Inc · Nisource Charitable Foundation · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · Jpmorgan Chase Foundation · The Pfizer Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · National Philanthropic Trust

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 Walter L Gross III Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Walter L Gross III Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 Walter L Gross III Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Walter L Gross III 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.

    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 24 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

    Play a game based on Walter L Gross III Family’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