· Private foundation
Willis and Reba Johnson's 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 you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2024.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k4 grants · $2k
- $10k–50k4 grants · $70k
- $50k–250k7 grants · $700k
- $250k+3 grants · $5.7M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE | $4,985,535 |
| ENGAGE YOUR DESTINY | $500,000 |
| HOPE SMILES | $250,000 |
| THE BRETT BOYER FOUNDATION | $200,000 |
| THE SALVATION ARMY | $100,000 |
| THE NRA FOUNDATION | $100,000 |
| SAMARITAN'S PURSE | $100,000 |
| ROLLING HILLS COMMUNITY CHURCH | $100,000 |
| SEED COMPANY | $50,000 |
| VIETNAM VETERANS ASSOC OF MIDDLE TN | $50,000 |
| E3 PARTNERS MINISTRY | $25,000 |
| MIDDLE TENNESSEE COUNCIL | $20,000 |
| FAITHFULLY RESTORED | $15,000 |
| SCOTT HAMILTON CARES FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| WILLIAMSON COUNTY CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER INC DBA DAVIS HOUSE CHILD | $2,000 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Your human-services grants (FY17–24, $1.3M) land where the poverty rate runs at 4%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 1% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
Which US states your grants reach
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
Who you back again
Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.
15 repeat relationships — 12 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 6 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, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $177k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
- HSHOPE SMILES8× · 2017–2024 · $1.3M · revenue +816% · 31% of their budget
- TBTHE BRETT BOYER FOUNDATION INC5× · 2020–2024 · $750k · revenue +744%
- NFNRA FOUNDATION INC4× · 2020–2024 · $500k · revenue +34%
Funded once
- SDSOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITYone grant, 2021 · $1.0M
- TBTHE BRETT BOYER FOUNDATION TOTALone grant, 2018 · $509k
- TLTHE LEAVEN TOTALone grant, 2018 · $125k
Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
Nashville public radio's mission is to be the most trusted & independent nashville voice, connecting our communities through non-partisan journalism, compelling storytelling, civil conversation and music discovery.
To rescue, restore, and resource women and children from the bondage of human trafficking and addiction.
Sof is called to empower warriors to find purpose, be resilient, and live well. we develop and provide customized treatment plans for veterans through our national network of partners.
The focus of the ministry is to establish christian camps and retreats that will reach men and women who have been affected by post traumatic stress disorder with the gospel of jesus christ, and equip them to recognize, manage, and…
Time of grace is for people who want more growth and less struggle in their spiritual walk. we share the truth of god's word simply and clearly through television, print, and digital media that people view millions of times each month. we…
The sanctuary counseling center provides affordable counseling to full-time vocational ministry workers and their families in memphis.
Rahab House is deeply committed to the rescue, refuge, and restoration of human trafficking survivors. We provide comprehensive support that encompasses immediate safety and connections to long-term restorative care in alignment with the…
The mission of worship 24/7 is to ignite a passion for god through worship that results in a life of generosity, discipleship, evangelism, generosity and service.
Nashville cares exists to end the hiv epidemic, promote comprehensive sexual health and end sexual health stigmatization and discrimination through prevention, education, treatment, support, advocacy, and strategic partnership.
Following christ's example, we recognize the dignity of all people and serve our neighbors.
The specific purpose of this corporation is to present a biblical, christian ministry of the gospel, hope, encouragement and strength to as many people as possible. the intent of those who will conduct this corporation's work is to present…
Lead our community's efforts to house, support, empower and advocate for families experiencing homelessness.
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Nashville Rescue Mission and the most unlike its peers is Museum of the Bible. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.
Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.
Your grantees are a median of 16 years old; the field is 18. You back the younger end — and your money leans older still.
The field is 21% startups (under 5 years old) — 5% of your grantees by number, and just 20% of your money.
The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 13% of the field you don’t fund.
Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.
20 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 20 of the 37 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds MUSEUM OF THE BIBLE ↗
- Who funds ENGAGE YOUR DESTINY ↗
- Who funds HOPE SMILES ↗
- Who funds THE BRETT BOYER FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds NRA FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds E3 Partners Ministry ↗
- Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE ↗
- Who funds MODERN WIDOWS CLUB INC ↗
- Who funds VOLUNTEER FLORIDA FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds THE BLEXIT FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds ALPHA CLINICS ↗
- Who funds FAITHFULLY RESTORED ↗
- Who funds SCOTT HAMILTON CARES FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds WEST NASHVILLE DREAM CENTER ↗
- Who funds PEOPLE LOVING NASHVILLE ↗
- Who funds NASHVILLE RESCUE MISSION ↗
- Who funds ROCKETOWN OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE ↗
- Who funds WILLIAMSON COUNTY CHILD ADVOCACY CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds TENNESSEE SHERIFFS ASSOCIATION ↗
- Who funds Franklin Firefighters Association ↗
The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: Adair Foundation · The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee Inc · Servant Foundation · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · The Healing Trust Formerly Baptist Healing Hospital Trust · Nashville Predators Foundation · Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund · Greater Horizons · Christian Community Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Willis and Reba Johnson's Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
- Volunteer Florida Foundation Inc — 2% of income from government
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Willis and Reba Johnson's Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Willis and Reba Johnson's 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.