FundersKansas

Ronald O Thomas Foundation

Pittsburg, KS · EIN 26-1856223. Reported 49 grants totalling $441,310 to 24 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$3,300median grant
$441,310granted, 2021-2024
24organizations funded
58%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,225,118assets, 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. Ronald O Thomas 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 $3,300. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,682 and $10,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $75,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
3 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
23 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
10 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
5 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
7 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
1 grant

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
PointforwardPittsburg, KS$100,000222024
Pittsburg State UniversityPitssburg, KS$75,000332023
Sek Humane SocietyPittsburg, KS$52,245442024
City of Baxter Springs - Dog ParkBaxter Springs, KS$40,421112021
Mt Carmel FoundationPittsburg, KS$27,500112021
Frankies Friends Charitable PetTampa, FL$25,000332023
Umass-Amherst-Thomas FoundationAmherst, MA$20,000222024
Sek Animal AdvocatesPittsburg, KS$13,300222024
Proud Animal Lovers ShelterParsons, KS$11,299332024
Hub of HopeRogers, AR$10,000222024
Kansas Special OlympicsMission, KS$8,500332023
Baxter Police Aux Ar-15Baxter Springs, KS$7,500112022
Baxter Springs Chamber of CommerceBaxter Springs, KS$7,500112024
Girl ScoutsPittsburg, KS$5,045442024
Christmas With a CopBaxter Springs, KS$5,000112024
City of Pittsburg Parks & RecPittsburg, KS$5,000112023
Hope for You Breast CancerJoplin, MO$5,000112023
Joplin Humane SocietyJoplin, MO$5,000112022
Baxter Springs Presbyterian PeoBaxter Springs, KS$4,500222024
Guardians of the ChildrenSan Antonio, TX$4,000332024
Alzheimers AssociationChicago, IL$3,500332024
The Presbyterian ChurchPittsburg, KS$3,500222022
City of Chandler Az K9 FundChandler, AZ$2,000222022
Miracle Ear FoundationPittsburg, KS$500112023

15 of 24 (62%) 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 58%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 26 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Animal Welfare
10 grants
Recreation & Sports
3 grants
Education
3 grants
Diseases & Disorders
3 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 grants
Food & Nutrition
2 grants
Community Improvement
1 grant
Human Services
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202111$114,508$3,300
202212$89,947$3,500
202314$137,175$3,000
202412$99,680$5,000

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. 83% of this one's giving went to organizations in Kansas. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Kansas
$367K
Florida
$25K
Massachusetts
$20K
Missouri
$10K
Arkansas
$10K
Texas
$4K
Illinois
$4K
Arizona
$2K

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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.

American Online Giving Foundation Inc4 shared recipientsPaypal Charitable Giving Fund4 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation of Southeast Kansas3 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund3 shared recipientsNetwork for Good3 shared recipientsFreeman Health System2 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $3,300. 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 Kansas.
  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.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Ronald O Thomas 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: 1511 Woodland Drive, Pittsburg, KS, 66762. 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 26-1856223 · 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.