Colorado · Private foundation
WC and EJ Thornton 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.
- $278k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 30
- Grants FY2025
- 46
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 50%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $2,500
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $50,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 7 to 46
- FY2021 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 7
- Total assets, FY2025
- $5.2M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 50% of the organizations WC and EJ Thornton 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; $32k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 30 | $278k | 7% |
| FY2024 | 46 | $243k | 50% |
| FY2023 | 42 | $195k | 81% |
| FY2022 | 12 | $160k | 58% |
| FY2021 | 7 | $62k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2021 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alexander Hamilton Scholars | $166,650 | 5 | 7% |
| Maine College of Art and Design | $95,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Downtown Aurora Visual Arts | $67,500 | 5 | 3% |
| Forward Steps Foundation | $62,500 | 5 | 3% |
| Portland Maine Symphony Orchestra | $60,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Cleveland Institute of Music | $45,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Academy of Urban Learning | $41,000 | 2 | 1% |
| Local Theater Company | $22,000 | 3 | 2% |
| Cleveland Classical Guitar Society | $20,000 | 4 | 1% |
| College Now Greater Cleveland Inc | $17,500 | 3 | 0% |
Show all 47 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 26 recipients with no EIN on record ($236k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
WC and EJ Thornton Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 44 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: The Denver Foundation · Colorado Gives Foundation · Maine Community Foundation Inc · Redline · Davis Family Foundation · Rose Community Foundation · Bonfils-Stanton Foundation · Onion Foundation · The Cleveland Foundation · Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust · Horizon Foundation Inc · Caring for Denver Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to WC and EJ Thornton Foundation?
Find your warmest path to WC and EJ Thornton 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 WC and EJ Thornton Foundation
- How much does WC and EJ Thornton Foundation give?
- WC and EJ Thornton Foundation reported 30 grants totaling $277,660 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 7 and 46 organizations a year over FY2021 to FY2024.
- What does WC and EJ Thornton Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2021 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (57%), Arts & Culture (31%), Human Services (7%).
- Who are WC and EJ Thornton Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2021 to FY2025: Alexander Hamilton Scholars ($167k), Maine College of Art and Design ($95k), Downtown Aurora Visual Arts ($68k).
- Does WC and EJ Thornton Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does WC and EJ Thornton Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
- Which funders back the same organizations as WC and EJ Thornton Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Denver Foundation, Colorado Gives Foundation, Maine Community Foundation Inc.
- Where is WC and EJ Thornton Foundation based?
- WC and EJ Thornton Foundation is based in CO.
Play a game based on WC and EJ Thornton’s filings →