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William a Kerr Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

William a Kerr 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.

$800k
Granted FY2025still arriving
50
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Environment$869kCommunity Improvement$753kArts & Culture$414kHuman Services$269kRecreation & Sports$263kFood & Nutrition$251kEducation$210kHealth$183kOther$0
02FY2025 · 50 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k25 grants · $98k
  • $10k–50k19 grants · $352k
  • $50k–250k6 grants · $350k
$10,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$16M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BE WELL CAFE$100,000
CONGREGATION B'NAI TIKVAH$50,000
THE RUTH BANCROFT GARDENS INC$50,000
JOHN MUIR LAND TRUST$50,000
LAS TRAMPAS SCHOOL INC$50,000
MOUNT DIABLO INTERPRETIVE ASSOCIATION (MDIA)$50,000
SEED ST LOUIS$40,000
ROSATI-KAIN ACADEMY$30,000
LINDSAY WILDLIFE EXPERIENCE$25,000
DOORWAYS INTERFAITH RESIDENCE$25,000
PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION$25,000
FORT GONDO INC$25,000
LEAGUE OF VOLUNTEER ENTHUSIASTS OF KDHX$25,000
LINK STL INC$25,000
SHOW ME ARTS FOUNDATION$17,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY21–25, $282k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 29% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CARING SOLUTIONS: $1k → 11%LIFELINE AID GROUP: $8k → 11%GATEWAY HOUSING FIRST: $5k → 21%LAS TRAMPAS SCHOOL INC: $50k → 9%LAS TRAMPAS SCHOOL INC: $50k → 9%LAS TRAMPAS SCHOOL INC: $50k → 9%LAS TRAMPAS SCHOOL INC: $25k → 9%LAS TRAMPAS SCHOOL INC: $25k → 9%LINK STL INC: $25k → 21%LINK STL INC: $20k → 21%LINK STL INC: $12k → 21%LINK STL INC: $10k → 21%STL VILLAGE: $1k → 21%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.

92%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.5M · 68 repeat orgs$303k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +10% since the first grant, against -1% for those funded once.

68 repeat relationships: 33 still active in FY2025, 35 since wound down; 17 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

68
29

Total granted

$3.5M
$146k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+10%
-1%

Still filing today

69%
52%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 80% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $157k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEnvironmentHuman ServicesHealthEducationYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • BW
    Be Well Cafe
    5× · 2021–2025 · $538k · revenue +172% · 65% of their budget
  • TR
    The Ruth Bancroft Garden Inc
    5× · 2021–2025 · $300k · revenue +9%
  • MD
    MT DIABLO INTERPRETIVE ASSOCIATION
    4× · 2022–2025 · $217k · revenue +39%

Funded once

  • DT
    DBA THE JEWISH NEWS OF NORTHERN CA
    one grant, 2022 · $27k
  • SL
    St Louis ArtWorks
    one grant, 2021 · $20k · revenue +2%
  • SF
    SAN FRANCISCO JEWISH COMMUNITY
    one grant, 2021 · $15k
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
Open Space Cncl for the St Louis Region

Founded in 1965, the Open Space Council works independently and collaboratively to conserve and sustain land, water and other natural resources throughout the St. Louis Region.

Environment
2
Community Builders Network of Metro St Louis

The Community Builders Network of Metro St. Louis (CBN) is a coalition of community building organizations, including both place-based nonprofits and supporting partners. Our mission is to gather community leaders of all backgrounds to…

Community Improvement
3
Sonoma Botanical Garden
—
4
Art St Louis

Art St Louis is a nonprofit community art organization and gallery dedicated to enriching lives through the creative activity of our region's contemporary visual artists. Through exhibition, education, and exchange, we connect and inspire…

Arts & Culture
5
Greater St Louis Inc

Greater st. louis, inc. brings together business and civic leaders to create jobs, drive inclusive economic growth, and increase the st. louis metro area's global competitiveness. we speak with a unified voice, lead with a bold agenda, and…

Community Improvement
6
St Louis Economic Development Partnership

Economic development.

—
7
The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust

The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust leads and inspires action to conserve and enhance the landscape of the Mountains to Sound Greenway, ensuring a long-term balance between people and nature.

Environment
8
The Saint Louis Zoo Association

The saint louis zoo association was established to support and enhance the saint louis zoo by providing facilities, funds, and advice. the association provides direct financial support to the zoo for renovations, new facilities, programs,…

Animals
9
Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust

LANLT's mission is to grow healthier, safer, and stronger communities by creating urban parks and community gardens that remedy the critical lack of green and recreational spaces in greater Los Angeles' underserved neighborhoods.

Environment
10
St Louis Community Foundation

To promote the possibilities of charitable giving, helping charitable citizens understand how they can effectively provide for the community they love and the causes they care deeply about.

Philanthropy
11
Sequoia Riverlands Trust

We conserve the lands and waters of California's heartland.

Environment
12
Sustainable Conservation

Sustainable Conservation advances the collaborative stewardship of Californias land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people. For over three decades, Sustainable Conservation has built coalitions of people with different…

Environment
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Missouri Botanical Garden Board of Trustees; the most unlike its peers is Northern California Sled Dog Rescue. 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

76 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. 76 of the 114 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
75/76
Grantees still filing
40/76
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CONGREGATION B NAI TIKVAH: $175,000 · OtherCONGREGATION B NAI TIKVAHPACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION: $95,000 · OtherPACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATIONIndividual grant recipient: $85,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientMISSOURI PARKS FOUNDATION: $60,000 · OtherCHOICE IN AGING: $90,000 · OtherCHOICE IN AGINGWALNUT CREEK LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $65,000 · OtherRosati-Kain Academy: $57,500 · Other+72 more: $790,515 · Other+72 moreThe Ruth Bancroft Garden Inc: $300,000 · EnvironmentThe Ruth Bancroft Gard…SEED ST LOUIS: $200,000 · EnvironmentSEED ST LOUISJohn Muir Land Trust prev Muir Heritage Land Trust: $160,000 · EnvironmentJohn Muir Land Trust p…MISSOURI STATE PARKS FOUNDATION: $40,000 · EnvironmentMISSOURI STATE PARKS F…+5 more: $44,000 · Environment+5 moreBe Well Cafe: $537,500 · EmploymentBe Well CafeDiablo Regional Arts Association: $72,000 · Arts & CultureDiablo Reg…LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM: $70,000 · Arts & CultureLINDSAY WI…CINEMA ST LOUIS: $54,000 · Arts & CultureCINEMA ST …GREAT EXPLORATIONS INC: $43,000 · Arts & CultureGREAT EXPL…MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $30,000 · Arts & CultureMISSOURI H…LEAGUE OF VOLUNTEER ENTHUSIASTS OF COMMUNITY RADIO STL: $25,000 · Arts & CultureLEAGUE OF …St Louis ArtWorks: $20,000 · Arts & CultureSt Louis A…THE SHELDON ARTS FOUNDATION: $17,000 · Arts & CultureLANDMARKS ASSOCIATION OF ST LOUIS INC: $15,500 · Arts & Culture+2 more: $11,500 · Arts & CultureLas Trampas School Inc: $200,000 · Human ServicesLINKSTL INC: $66,800 · Human Services+4 more: $15,000 · Human ServicesMT DIABLO INTERPRETIVE ASSOCIATION: $217,000 · Recreation & SportsTRAILNET INC: $35,000 · Recreation & SportsSAVE MOUNT DIABLO: $13,500 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $4,000 · Recreation & SportsDREAM BUILDERS 4 EQUITY: $175,000 · Youth DevelopmentSt Louis Bicycle Works Inc: $45,000 · Youth Development+2 more: $2,000 · Youth Development
Other$1,418,015Environment$744,000Employment$537,500Arts & Culture$358,000Human Services$281,800Recreation & Sports$269,500Youth Development$222,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBe Well Cafe: $537,500 over 5y, 65% of budgetThe Ruth Bancroft Garden Inc: $300,000 over 5y, 3.9% of budgetMT DIABLO INTERPRETIVE ASSOCIATION: $217,000 over 4y, 22% of budgetLas Trampas School Inc: $200,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetSEED ST LOUIS: $200,000 over 5y, 4.9% of budgetDREAM BUILDERS 4 EQUITY: $175,000 over 5y, 6.6% of budgetJohn Muir Land Trust prev Muir Heritage Land Trust: $160,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetPACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION: $95,000 over 5y, 0.6% of budgetCHOICE IN AGING: $90,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetDiablo Regional Arts Association: $72,000 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetLINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM: $70,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetLINKSTL INC: $66,800 over 4y, 18% of budgetWALNUT CREEK LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $65,000 over 3y, 15% of budgetRosati-Kain Academy: $57,500 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetCINEMA ST LOUIS: $54,000 over 4y, 2.7% of budgetSt Louis Bicycle Works Inc: $45,000 over 5y, 1.6% of budgetGREAT EXPLORATIONS INC: $43,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetMISSOURI STATE PARKS FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetTRAILNET INC: $35,000 over 5y, 1.0% of budgetMISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetJOHN MUIR HEALTH FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTRUTH WINS OUT INC: $28,700 over 5y, 21% of budgetINTERFAITH RESIDENCE D/B/A DOORWAYS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetLEAGUE OF VOLUNTEER ENTHUSIASTS OF COMMUNITY RADIO STL: $25,000 over 1y, 4.5% of budgetTRI-VALLEY CONSERVANCY: $20,000 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetSt Louis ArtWorks: $20,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetREGIONAL PARKS FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetMONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BOARD OF TRUSTEES: $17,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTHE SHELDON ARTS FOUNDATION: $17,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetLANDMARKS ASSOCIATION OF ST LOUIS INC: $15,500 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetFIREFIGHTERS BURN INSTITUTE: $15,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetCharlotte Maxwell Clinic: $15,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetWK PRESERVATION GROUP INC: $15,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetFOOD BANK OF CONTRA COSTA AND SOLANO: $14,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetSAVE MOUNT DIABLO: $13,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHOME WORKS - THVP: $12,500 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetWinter Nights Family Shelter Inc: $10,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetARTICA: $10,500 over 5y, 4.8% of budgetNorthern California Sled Dog Rescue: $10,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetBay Area LEEDS: $10,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetWalnut Creek Open Space Foundation: $9,500 over 3y, 10% of budgetConnect Pinellas Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 55% of budgetPride St Louis Inc: $7,500 over 1y, 3.7% of budgetNational Network of Abortion Funds: $7,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE GREEN HOUSE VENTURE: $7,000 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetPlanned Parenthood Great Rivers-Missouri: $6,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetARCHCITY DEFENDERS: $6,000 over 4y, 0.0% 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.

  • Who funds Be Well Cafe ↗
  • Who funds The Ruth Bancroft Garden Inc ↗
  • Who funds MT DIABLO INTERPRETIVE ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Las Trampas School Inc ↗
  • Who funds SEED ST LOUIS ↗
  • Who funds DREAM BUILDERS 4 EQUITY ↗
  • Who funds John Muir Land Trust prev Muir Heritage Land Trust ↗
  • Who funds PACIFIC CREST TRAIL ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds CHOICE IN AGING ↗
  • Who funds Diablo Regional Arts Association ↗
  • Who funds LINDSAY WILDLIFE MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds LINKSTL INC ↗
  • Who funds WALNUT CREEK LIBRARY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Rosati-Kain Academy ↗
  • Who funds CINEMA ST LOUIS ↗
  • Who funds St Louis Bicycle Works Inc ↗
  • Who funds GREAT EXPLORATIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds MISSOURI STATE PARKS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TRAILNET INC ↗
  • Who funds MISSOURI HISTORICAL SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds JOHN MUIR HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds TRUTH WINS OUT INC ↗
  • Who funds INTERFAITH RESIDENCE D/B/A DOORWAYS ↗
  • Who funds LEAGUE OF VOLUNTEER ENTHUSIASTS OF COMMUNITY RADIO STL ↗
  • Who funds TRI-VALLEY CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds St Louis ArtWorks ↗
  • Who funds REGIONAL PARKS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM FOUNDATION ↗

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.

St Louis Community Fo…St Louis Community Fo…United Way of Greater…Trio Foundation of St…Washington UniversityEmployees Community F…Regional Cultural and…Commerce Bancshares F…St Louis Philanthropi…Youthbridge Community…Moneta Group Charitab…East Bay Community Fo…
St Louis Community Foundation IncMO56.2× affinity30 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: St Louis Community Foundation Inc · St Louis Community Foundation · United Way of Greater St Louis Inc · Trio Foundation of St Louis · Washington University · Employees Community Fund of the Boeing Company · Regional Cultural and Performing Arts Development Commission · Commerce Bancshares Foundation · St Louis Philanthropic Organization · Youthbridge Community Foundation · Moneta Group Charitable Foundation · East Bay Community 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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization William a Kerr Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from William a Kerr Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →median 1%
  • Great Explorations Inc: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
2get no government money at all
20report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
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.

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 114 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 William a Kerr’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