FundersOhio

Dbj Foundation

Cleveland, OH · EIN 34-1661482. Reported 36 grants totalling $3,355,000 to 20 organizations across tax years 2023-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$22,500median grant
$3,355,000granted, 2023-2024
20organizations funded
84%of grantees funded again the next year
$23.7Massets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Dbj Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $22,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $15,000 and $75,000; the smallest was $10,000 and the largest $1,000,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$10,000 - $25,000
18 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
4 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
7 grants
$100,000 and Up
7 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Eiteljorg MuseumIndianapolis, IN$1,150,000222024
North Point Educational Service CenterSandusky, OH$1,000,000222024
Santa Fe OperaSanta Fe, NM$250,000112023
Cleveland Rape Crisis CenterCleveland, OH$200,000222024
Cleveland Food BankCleveland, OH$125,000222024
Cleveland Sight CenterCleveland, OH$125,000222024
The Point FoundationLos Angeles, CA$100,000222024
Cornucopia IncLakewood, OH$50,000112023
Indiana University FoundationBloomington, IN$50,000222024
United Cerebral Palsy of Greater ClevelaCleveland, OH$45,000222024
Boys Hope Girls HopeSt Louis, MO$40,000222024
Project Angel FoodLos Angeles, CA$35,000222024
Legal Aid Society of ClevelandCleveland, OH$30,000222024
Project Open HandSan Francisco, CA$30,000222024
The City Missionlaura's HomeAliso Viejo, CA$25,000222024
The Gathering PlaceTulsa, OK$25,000222024
Vocational Guidance ServicesCleveland, OH$25,000222024
Attica Consolidated School CorporationAttica, IN$20,000112024
The Trevor ProjectWest Hollywood, CA$20,000222024
Open Doors AcademyCleveland, OH$10,000112023

16 of 20 (80%) received money in more than one year over the 2 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 84%, across 1 year-to-year transition. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

Plus 37 grants to individuals totalling $2,405,000 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 25 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
4 grants
Food & Nutrition
4 grants
Arts & Culture
3 grants
Employment
3 grants
Youth Development
3 grants
Mental Health
2 grants
Human Services
2 grants
Diseases & Disorders
2 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202319$1,345,000$20,000
202417$2,010,000$25,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 48% of this one's giving went to organizations in Ohio. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Ohio
$1.6M
Indiana
$1.2M
New Mexico
$250K
California
$210K
Missouri
$40K
Oklahoma
$25K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc11 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund10 shared recipientsThe Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc9 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program8 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc8 shared recipientsThe Blackbaud Giving Fund8 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $22,500. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Ohio.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in OhioEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Dbj Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 600 Superior Avenue East 2430, Cleveland, OH, 44114. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 34-1661482 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.