· Private foundation
Willard And Ruth Johnson Charitable Foundation
Its FY2024 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 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k7 grants · $38k
- $10k–50k37 grants · $856k
- $50k–250k10 grants · $879k
- $250k+1 grant · $650k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| St Lukes United Methodist Church | $650,000 |
| Vanderbilt University | $157,500 |
| Massachusetts General Hospital | $150,000 |
| Cassie's Place | $137,500 |
| The University of The South | $100,000 |
| Maryville College | $75,000 |
| Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Insitutute | $55,000 |
| Cardigan Mountain School | $54,166 |
| Brookwood Community | $50,000 |
| Kinkaid School | $50,000 |
| Avon Old Farms School | $50,000 |
| Houston Botanic Garden | $40,000 |
| Edwin L Cox School of Business | $40,000 |
| University of St Thomas | $35,000 |
| St Thomas High School | $35,000 |
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 (FY17–24, $249k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 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
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +39% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.
109 repeat relationships: 45 still active in FY2024, 64 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (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 FY2024, 88% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $295k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CPCASSIES PLACE8× · 2017–2024 · $683k · revenue +216%
- MCMARYVILLE COLLEGE8× · 2017–2024 · $600k · revenue +11%
Vanderbilt University7× · 2017–2024 · $529k · revenue +74%
Funded once
- NGNora's Gift Foundation Incgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $50k · revenue +59%
- KAKIPP Academyone grant, 2017 · $30k
- TCTEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITYgraduatedone grant, 2021 · $30k · revenue +31%
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.
Plant, protect and promote trees all over the greater Houston area.
Family, School, and Church united in the education and support of each child - this is the founding premise upon which Presbyterian School nurtures and challenges its students. The school provides an educational program of the highest…
TWCA is an independent, Christ-centered college preparatory school that integrates learning with biblical faith and challenges our students to reach their highest potential - intellectually, creatively, physically, and socially - for the…
See Schedule OThe purpose of Awty International School (Awty) is to create an environment where students experience excellence every day to make their mark on the world alongside their community, in a spirit of curiosity, courage and…
The HISD Foundation is dedicated to mobilizing the local community to support innovative priorities in HISD to improve outcomes for all students in the district. Our mission is to fund projects and programs of merit that fall outside of…
To create transformative learning experiences that empower a diverse community of students to lead lives of intellectual curiosity, personal integrity, and compassionate contribution to a more just world.
Provide quality education for students from pre school through middle school using the Montessori method of learning and teaching.
St. Peter Catholic High School empowers students to be models of faith through Catholic spiritual formation, while providing a creative and comprehensive education in career and technical pathways.
See Schedule O. The Fay School ("the School") is a nonsectarian, not-for-profit, co-educational school in which children of diverse talents and backgrounds with strong academic abilities are offered a high-quality education in a secure,…
To ensure that the student body experiences balanced intellectual, psychological, social and spiritual development, aimed at enabling them to become active productive members of society where they live and work.
The mission of Royal Public Schools is to spark students' natural curiosity and love of learning while providing the knowledge and skills they need to lead successful and fulfilling lives.
To recognize the accomplishments and contributions of our outstanding Texas business leaders and to perpetuate and inspire the values of entrepreneurial spirit, personal integrity, and community leadership in all generations of Texans.
How this is measured
93 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 93 of the 170 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 CASSIES PLACE ↗
- Who funds MARYVILLE COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds Vanderbilt University ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH ↗
- Who funds THE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds THE PRESIDIO LA BAHIA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CARDIGAN MOUNTAIN SCHOOL ↗
- Who funds The Kinkaid School Inc ↗
- Who funds THE GEORGE W BUSH FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds MIDLAND COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Houston Botanic Garden ↗
- Who funds St John's School ↗
- Who funds STAR OF HOPE MISSION ↗
- Who funds Hillcrest School Inc ↗
- Who funds GIRLS PREPARATORY SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds AVON OLD FARMS SCHOOL INC ↗
- Who funds Good Samaritan Foundation of Texas Inc ↗
- Who funds The W Oscar Neuhaus Memorial Foundation ↗
- Who funds WOMEN OF PADER UGANDA ↗
- Who funds My Connect Community ↗
- Who funds MENTORING ALLIANCE ↗
- Who funds The Brookwood Community Inc ↗
- Who funds REFLECTION MINISTRIES OF TEXAS INC ↗
- Who funds University of St Thomas ↗
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: J Squared Family Foundation · Greater Houston Community Foundation · The Brown Foundation Inc · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · The William Stamps Farish Fund · Shell USA Company Foundation · Vivian L Smith Foundation · Abell-Hanger Foundation · The Elkins Foundation · Strake Foundation · Beal Foundation · MD Anderson Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Willard And Ruth Johnson Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Willard And Ruth Johnson Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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