Funding search · EIN 316027287 · Dayton, OH

The Dayton Foundation

A grantmaking public charity (files IRS Form 990, Schedule I). Charities like this often run real grant programs with application cycles.

2,010
grants reported
$145.4M
total given
2021–2024
filing years
$15,000
median grant

Based on grants this organization reported to the IRS for tax years 20212024. This is what they filed, not a complete record of their giving, and recent years may be incomplete because filings lag.

What they fund

scholarshipsdaytoncentercarefoodpurchaseschooleducation

Funder website ↗Full IRS filings ↗How this is builtReport an error

Funding pattern

What this funder pays for, at what size, and how to position adjacent work. Read from their filings, with every number checked against the record.

Where the money goes

  • Dayton and Montgomery County arts, history, and cultural institutions
  • Local human services: food, housing, aging, homeless youth, hospice
  • Scholarships channeled to Ohio public universities and Dayton private schools
  • K-12 and early childhood education in the Dayton region
  • Animal welfare, parks, and nature education in the Miami Valley
  • Faith congregations and faith-based social services, mostly local

Typical grant

The median grant is $15,000 and half of everything falls between $8,500 and $40,000, so most of the 2,010 payments are modest and donor-directed. The seven-figure checks go to entrenched Dayton institutions that receive dozens of separate fund distributions bundled into one line, such as Area Agency on Aging PSA 2 at $2.0M, University of Dayton at $1.1M, and Dayton Performing Arts Alliance at $1.0M. Giving repeats heavily year over year to the same 908 recipients, since much of it flows from standing donor-advised and scholarship funds rather than one-time decisions.

Their words

Phrases from their own grant descriptions, worth speaking back to them.

  • VARIOUS PROJECTS
  • UNRESTRICTED
  • SCHOLARSHIPS
  • GENERAL OPERATIONS

Positioning adjacent work

  • Anchor the ask to Montgomery County or the Miami Valley by name; out-of-region work is rare and donor-specific.
  • Ask in the $10,000 to $40,000 range for a first grant unless you have a named fund behind you.
  • Connect to funded themes: early childhood literacy, aging services, workforce and college access, arts education.
  • Accept unrestricted or general operations framing; they fund it routinely and it lowers the review bar.

Worth knowing: This is a community foundation, so most dollars move through donor-advised funds and scholarship funds rather than a central program staff, which means the real decision maker is often a fundholder with an existing relationship to the grantee. Ohio takes 1,489 of 2,010 grants and Dayton proper dominates that; the New York and Florida grants are almost certainly individual donors giving outside the region, not a strategy you can pitch into.

1 grant matching “early childhood education · $141,831

  • $141,831

    St Vincent De Paul Social Services · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Unrestricted, early childhood education program (the imagination station)

Top recipients

Repeat recipients are the strongest signal of whether a funder has an open door or quietly re-funds the same organizations.

  • Ronald McDonald House Charities Dayton4 grants · $19.0M
  • Oakwood City School District4 grants · $8.3M
  • Learn To Earn Dayton4 grants · $7.9M
  • University of Dayton4 grants · $6.2M
  • Dayton History4 grants · $4.9M
  • Dayton Performing Arts Alliance4 grants · $4.5M
  • Dayton Early College Academy4 grants · $3.4M
  • The Foodbank4 grants · $2.9M
  • Friends of Aullwood4 grants · $2.5M
  • Area Agency On Aging Psa 22 grants · $2.5M

Giving over time

$30.5M
2021
$48.3M
2022
$34.0M
2023
$32.6M
2024

Grant history

The 100 largest of 2,010 grants.

  • $15.1M

    Ronald McDonald House Charities Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $7.2M

    Oakwood City School District · Dayton, OH · 2022

    Various projects

  • $3.8M

    Learn To Earn Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $3.3M

    Ronald McDonald House Charities Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $3.2M

    University of Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $3.2M

    Learn To Earn Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $2.6M

    Dayton History · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $2.1M

    The Foodbank · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $2.0M

    Area Agency On Aging Psa 2 · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Comcare census deficit, caredirector licenses & development, and addnaide software application

  • $1.6M

    Dayton Early College Academy · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $1.5M

    Dayton Performing Arts Alliance · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $1.3M

    Dayton Early College Academy · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $1.1M

    Dayton Performing Arts Alliance · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $1.1M

    Dayton Children'S Hospital Foundation · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $1.1M

    University of Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $1.1M

    University of Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $1.0M

    Dayton Performing Arts Alliance · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $958,774

    Dayton History · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $875,000

    County Corp · Dayton, OH · 2024

    To support the construction of the first 5 homes

  • $870,756

    Friends of Aullwood · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $862,849

    Dayton Performing Arts Alliance · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $828,681

    University of Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $752,707

    The Calvary Cemetery Association · Dayton, OH · 2022

    Various projects

  • $750,000

    Vanguard Charitable · Warwick, RI · 2023

    M. Christina manchester family fund

  • $746,503

    Dayton History · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $742,186

    Oakwood City School District · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $739,704

    Dayton Children'S Hospital Foundation · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $734,370

    The Calvary Cemetery Association · Dayton, OH · 2021

    Various projects

  • $670,000

    Aim for Seva · Saylorsburg, PA · 2023

    To build a school

  • $648,816

    Dayton History · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $584,052

    Learn To Earn Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $573,948

    Ymca of Greater Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $572,558

    Friends of Aullwood · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $570,000

    Montgomery County Law Enforcement Memorial Association · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Memorial project

  • $563,160

    Ronald McDonald House Charities Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $552,549

    Friends of Aullwood · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support

  • $551,343

    Friends of Aullwood · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Unrestricted , education program

  • $537,601

    Ohio'S Hospice of Dayton Foundation · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $501,500

    St Xavier High School · Cincinnati, OH · 2021

    General support and st. Xavier pool

  • $500,000

    Northern Michigan University Foundation · Marquette, MI · 2024

    Berry chair business school

  • $498,159

    Area Agency On Aging Psa 2 · Dayton, OH · 2021

    To cover the estimated deficit through 2/1/2024

  • $484,990

    Archbishop Alter High School · Kettering, OH · 2022

    General support and scholarships

  • $480,976

    Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $462,277

    Ohio'S Hospice of Dayton Foundation · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $440,454

    Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $437,681

    Dayton Early College Academy · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $434,267

    The Miami Valley School · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $422,737

    Ohio'S Hospice of Dayton Foundation · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $418,363

    Daybreak · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $412,543

    Dayton Live · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $410,750

    Wright State University · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Scholarships

  • $402,480

    Dayton Crayons To Classrooms · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $401,123

    Dayton Live · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $385,634

    United Way of the Greater Dayton Area · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $377,534

    United Way of the Greater Dayton Area · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Unrestricted

  • $367,125

    Wright State University · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Scholarships

  • $366,826

    Learn To Earn Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $355,891

    Ohio'S Hospice of Dayton Foundation · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $350,730

    Catholic Social Services of the Miami Valley · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $349,264

    Oakwood City School District · Dayton, OH · 2021

    Various projects

  • $343,571

    The Ohio State University · Columbus, OH · 2024

    Scholarships

  • $339,994

    United Way of the Greater Dayton Area · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $338,843

    Miami University · Oxford, OH · 2024

    Scholarships

  • $322,077

    United Way of the Greater Dayton Area · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $320,921

    Ymca of Greater Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $320,139

    Dayton Children'S Hospital Foundation · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $317,750

    Fisher Nightingale Houses · Wright Patterson Afb, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $312,707

    Sicsa · Washington Township, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $309,253

    Catholic Social Services of the Miami Valley · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $304,242

    Humane Society of Greater Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $298,459

    Wright State University · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $296,800

    Advocates for Basic Legal Equality · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $296,451

    The Muse Machine · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $292,666

    The Foodbank · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $289,475

    The Ohio State University · Columbus, OH · 2023

    Scholarships

  • $284,975

    Humane Society of Greater Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $282,695

    Dayton Contemporary Dance Company · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $282,389

    Dayton Children'S Hospital Foundation · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $279,400

    Daybreak · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $271,000

    Antioch College Corporation Dba Antioch College · Yellow Springs, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $270,523

    Sicsa · Washington Township, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $269,633

    Catholic Social Services of the Miami Valley · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $268,488

    Wright State University · Dayton, OH · 2022

    Scholarships

  • $267,248

    The Muse Machine · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $260,788

    Sicsa · Washington Township, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $257,211

    Miami University · Oxford, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $256,668

    The Ohio State University · Columbus, OH · 2022

    Scholarships

  • $254,262

    Humane Society of Greater Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $254,142

    Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley · Dayton, OH · 2023

    Various projects

  • $253,847

    Ohio Governors Imagination Library · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Montgomery county imagination library, dolly parton imagination library of preble county

  • $253,000

    Advocates for Basic Legal Equality · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and various projects

  • $250,917

    Dayton Contemporary Dance Company · Dayton, OH · 2022

    General support and various projects

  • $250,000

    Christ Hospital Foundation · Cincinnati, OH · 2023

    Integrative medicine fund & aim for wellbeing

  • $250,000

    Cincinnati Blue Line Foundation · Cincinnati, OH · 2023

    Capital campaign

  • $250,000

    Christ Hospital Foundation · Cincinnati, OH · 2022

    Integrative medicine fund & aim for wellbeing

  • $250,000

    Jesuit Conference · Washington, DC · 2022

    Professional services expenses

  • $247,643

    Dayton Metro Library Foundation · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $245,105

    Ywca of Dayton · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $240,942

    Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region · Dayton, OH · 2024

    Various projects

  • $239,050

    St Mary Development Corporation · Dayton, OH · 2021

    General support and assist in the funding of shawnee lofts

View all 2,010 grants →

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Source: IRS Form 990, Schedule I, as filed by this organization. These are grants already paid. Grants paid directly to individuals are reported to the IRS only as totals, so they do not appear as named lines here.