Deer Creek Foundation
St Louis, MO · EIN 43-6052774. Reported 79 grants totalling $9,666,342 to 26 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. Deer Creek 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $80,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $50,000 and $155,000; the smallest was $151 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.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arch City Defenders | St Louis, MO | $1,940,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Earthjustice | San Francisco, CA | $1,225,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Constitutional Accountability Center | Washington, DC | $875,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Americans United for Separation of Church and State | Washington, DC | $675,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| Natural Resources Defense Council | New York, NY | $650,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Center for Progressive Reform | Washington, DC | $525,000 | 5 | 4 | 2024 |
| The John Muir Project of the Earth Island Institute | Big Bear City, CA | $480,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Crag Law Center | Portland, OR | $400,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Verified Voting Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $350,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Beyond Nuclear | Takoma Park, MD | $315,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Civil Rights Corps | Washington, DC | $300,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Tulane Environmental Law Clinic | New Orleans, LA | $300,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Public Justice Foundation | Washington, DC | $260,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Committee to Bridge the Gap | Ben Lomond, CA | $230,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Electronic Privacy Information Center | Washington, DC | $205,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Public Employees for Environmental Responsbilitiy | Silver Spring, MD | $160,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Wildearth Guardians | Santa Fe, NM | $150,000 | 4 | 3 | 2023 |
| Earthrise Law Clinic | Portland, OR | $135,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Cascadia Wildlands | Eugene, OR | $120,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| St Louis Public Schools Foundation | St Louis, MO | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Free and Fair Litigation Group | New York, NY | $85,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Lone Star Legal Aid | Houston, TX | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Northwest Environmental Defense Center | Portland, OR | $60,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Verified Voting Foundation | Philadelphia, PA | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Candid Learning | St Louis, MO | $6,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Charitable Contribution Passthrough From Foundation Partners Fund LLC | St Louis, MO | $342 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
23 of 26 (88%) received money in more than one year over the 4 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 81%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. 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.
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.
- Arch City Defenders
SUPPORT LITIGATION AGAINST ABUSES IN THE AMERICAN JUSTICE SYSTEM - Earthjustice
SUPPORT LITIGATION AND ADVOCACY FOR ENFORCEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS - Constitutional Accountability Center
SUPPORT LITIGATION AND EDUCATION EXPOSING COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE U.S. CONSTITUTION - Natural Resources Defense Council
FOR ADVOCACY AND LITIGATION PROTECTING PUBLIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH - Americans United for Separation of Church and State
SUPPORT EDUCATION, ADVOCACY, AND LITIGATION AGAINST RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION - Public Justice Foundation
FOR LITIGATION TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO COURTROOM JUSTICE BY FIGHTING AGAINST FORCED ARBITRATION, CLASS ACTION PROHIBITIONS, AND FEDERAL PREEMPTION.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 54 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | $2,220,151 | $75,000 |
| 2022 | 21 | $2,632,191 | $100,000 |
| 2023 | 20 | $2,392,000 | $72,500 |
| 2024 | 15 | $2,422,000 | $100,000 |
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.
Already committed for future years
Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Deer Creek Foundation has 21 of them, worth $2,025,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back -- and it also tells you how much of the next year's budget is already spoken for.
| Organization | Location | Approved |
|---|---|---|
| Earthjustice | San Francisco, CA | $225,000 |
| Earthjustice | San Francisco, CA | $200,000 |
| Earthjustice | San Francisco, CA | $200,000 |
| Center for Progressive Reform | Washington, DC | $150,000 |
| Verified Voting Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $125,000 |
| Americans United for Separation of Church and State | Washington, DC | $100,000 |
| Americans United for Separation of Church and State | Washington, DC | $100,000 |
| Public Justice Foundation | Washington, DC | $85,000 |
| Center for Progressive Reform | Washington, DC | $75,000 |
| Tulane Environmental Law Clinic | New Orleans, LA | $75,000 |
| Americans United for Separation of Church and State | Washington, DC | $75,000 |
| Center for Progressive Reform | Washington, DC | $75,000 |
| Center for Progressive Reform | Washington, DC | $75,000 |
| Public Justice Foundation | Washington, DC | $75,000 |
| Verified Voting Foundation | San Francisco, CA | $70,000 |
Where its money goes
Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 29% of this one's giving went to organizations in District of Columbia. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $80,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in District of Columbia.
- 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.
- 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
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Deer Creek 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: 800 Market St Suite 1650, St Louis, MO, 63101. 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 43-6052774 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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