About Johnson Family Foundation
The Johnson Family Foundation concentrates its giving on elite local education and community institutions, with the vast majority of dollars directed to a single independent school in the Racine area. Aside from large, repeat support to Prairie School, the foundation makes sizable gifts to regional civic assets (the Racine Zoo) and place-based conservation (Lake Owen), while occasionally funding an international or diaspora project (The Exuma Foundation). Their portfolio indicates a preference for high-dollar, high-impact gifts to a small number of recognizable organizations rather than many small grants.
Focus Areas
Independent private K–12 education (Prairie School, Racine area)Regional zoological and public science institutions (Racine Zoo)Local watershed and lake conservation (Lake Owen Association)Place-based international/community development (The Exuma Foundation)
Who They Fund
unspecified / not stated
Giving Approach
Highly concentrated giving: a small number of large gifts with repeated, multi-grant support to one primary beneficiary (Prairie School), plus a few major standalone grants to local civic and conservation organizations.
Funding Style
About Johnson Family Foundation
Johnson Family Foundation’s recent grant history is defined by one repeated relationship: Prairie School in Racine received $1,310,000 in 2023, $1,201,500 in 2024, and $1,203,000 in 2025, all unrestricted. That pattern shows a funder comfortable making large, sustained gifts to a small number of institutions rather than spreading support broadly. Beyond that core commitment, the foundation has also backed Racine Zoo with a $300,000 unrestricted grant and supported community institutions such as Lake Owen Association Inc with $200,000. Its giving includes place-based support in Wisconsin and selected grants to organizations outside the state, including The Exuma Foundation and Cornell University. The grant list suggests a preference for flexible funding, with unrestricted awards appearing across education, civic, conservation, and community-serving organizations. Across those categories, the foundation’s largest commitments cluster around organizations it appears to know well, especially in Racine and nearby Wisconsin communities.
What Johnson Family Foundation Funds
Education is the clearest theme in the portfolio. Prairie School alone received more than $3.7 million across three recent grants, all unrestricted, and Cornell University also appears with multiple $50,000 grants plus a $15,000 award. The foundation also supported International School of Brooklyn with a $15,000 unrestricted grant and Norfolk Academy with $16,500. Community well-being is another thread: Journey to Living Free Inc received $50,000 in 2023, $50,000 in 2024, and $40,000 in 2025, while Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin and Racine County Food Bank each received $30,000 in 2025. Conservation and place-based amenities show up as well, including a $200,000 grant to Lake Owen Association Inc and a $300,000 grant to Racine Zoo. These gifts are all unrestricted, indicating room for recipients to allocate support where they see fit.
How Johnson Family Foundation Gives
Typical grants are modest relative to the foundation’s largest awards: the distribution sits at p25 $2,500, median $4,000, and p75 $10,000. At the same time, the recent list includes a small set of much larger unrestricted commitments, so the portfolio is bimodal rather than tightly clustered. Recipients also reappear across multiple years, most clearly Prairie School, Journey to Living Free Inc, Cornell University, Lake Owen Association Inc, The Exuma Foundation, and Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. The foundation does not fund individuals and does not make program-related investments. Every listed recent grant is unrestricted, suggesting a flexible approach to use of funds.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$3.5M
Total Assets
$67.6M
Total Revenue
$4.2M
Total Expenses
$3.7M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $3K and $10K, with a median of $4K.
25th Percentile
$3K
Median
$4K
75th Percentile
$10K
Geographic Reach
National14 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
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