Our Mission
The Johnson Family Foundation (JFF) supports the development of healthy, vibrant and just communities where individuals, families, and the next generation of leaders will thrive.
JFF funds programs to improve the health of our environment; promote equality and social progress; and support education and youth.
Since our inception, JFF has awarded more than $50 Million in Grants.
Featured Grantees
Our Grantmaking Priorities
LGBTQ ISSUES
As part of our commitment to advancing equality and social progress, we envision a world free from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, where LGBTQ people are empowered to lead healthy and productive lives. We make investments to promote the mental health and well-being of LGBTQ people across the lifespan, empower LGBTQ youth and build the capacity of the movement for LGBTQ equality.
VERMONT
We envision a Vermont place-based Stewardship and Sustainability program as the most effective approach to finding pathways out of poverty, sharing equitably our limited common resources, and reinvigorating participation in community and democracy. We understand Stewardship as the responsibility to protect the commons for the future benefit and well-being of all people. Sustainability encourages the promotion of vibrant, engaged societies that respect and protect the natural and cultural heritage of their communities.
COLORADO
Our Colorado funding is focused on several nonprofits that enhance educational opportunities, enrich the arts, preserve our environment, and provide support for those most in need. We also make investments in Telluride to help stimulate and diversify the economy through supporting an entrepreneurship ecosystem, to improve access to healthcare, and to expand educational opportunities for youth. We have an ongoing long-term commitment to supporting the most critical nonprofits that are improving the quality of life in the Telluride region.
JUSTICE
We envision a world in which all members of society have the opportunity and ability to participate fully in civic life. This portfolio seeks to address the unequal distribution of resources that play a large role in determining the quality of life for individuals and communities, including education that prepares youth for college, career, and economic self-determination; access to government institutions and processes; and nutritious, affordable food.
JFF IS NOT CURRENTLY ACCEPTING UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS
Our Grantmaking History
Below are links to JFF's detailed grant history from 1991 to 2022:
2021 - 2022
2016 - 2020
2011 - 2015
2006 - 2010
2001 - 2005
1996 - 2000
1991 - 1995
Our Team
Dylan Hoos | Executive Director
dhoos(at)jffnd.org
Dylan Hoos has been working with JFF since 2015 and has served as the executive director for the past two years. Prior to serving as executive director, Dylan served as a consultant, program manager, program officer, and chief operating officer at JFF.
He leads JFF’s Colorado and LGBTQ grantmaking and oversees JFF’s grantmaking interests across all portfolios. His grantmaking experience ranges from large-scale national advocacy and policy development to rural community building. Previously, Dylan worked at the Telluride Foundation to help structure and implement new economic development programs in rural communities on the Western Slope of Colorado. In his time with the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation, Dylan helped design procedures for the execution of over $40 million in grants focused on early childhood education and leveling the playing field for those living in poverty and adversity.
Dylan holds a degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia where he also studied architecture. He serves as chair of the board of directors of Mountainfilm and on the executive committee of the Fund for a Safer Future. Dylan is based in Telluride, Colorado.
Dylan is passionate about the outdoors. For five summers, he guided outdoor adventure trips in California, Colorado, and Puerto Rico. He spends his free time skiing, mountain climbing, and traveling.
Jamison Lerner | Program Officer
jlerner(at)jffnd.org
Jamison Lerner (Jamie) joined the Johnson Family Foundation in the spring of 2017 and leads JFF’s grantmaking in Vermont. Jamie enjoys seeing small, community-led efforts thrive. He brings a variety of experiences in community engagement and event organizing, having served as the Poultney Historical Society’s Annual Fundraising Event Coordinator and on the Poultney Earth Fair Planning Committee. In the spring of 2019, Jamie co-founded REclaimED, a nonprofit community hub and makerspace with the goal of creating educational opportunities for youth and to provide a space and tools to use for Poultney and the surrounding communities.
He currently serves on the board of the Poultney Historical Society and as a board member emeritus of REclaimeED. Jamie is also an alumnus of the Vermont Changemakers Table, a group of Vermonters seeking to collaborate and bring positive change to the state of Vermont. Jamie is from Geneseo, New York, and graduated from Green Mountain College with a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology and minors in History and Asian Studies. Jamie lives in Rutland, Vermont, with his wife, daughter, son, and two little dogs. He loves astronomy and finds great joy in reading a Kurt Vonnegut novel under a tree on a hot summer day.
Mia Legaspi-Cavin | Program Officer
mlegaspi-cavin(at)jffnd.org
Mia Legaspi-Cavin joined the Johnson Family Foundation in the summer of 2022 as their newest Program Officer. In this role, Mia helps guide the justice portfolio grantmaking and an emerging fellowship program. Mia has deep experience in leading systems change in collaboration with those most impacted. In previous roles, she strengthened youth-adult partnerships and implemented healing practices in traditionally toxic environments.
From 2019 to 2022, Mia worked on the Vera Institute of Justice's Restoring Promise Initiative where she helped shape the technical assistance strategy and partnered with incarcerated people and corrections staff to improve prison conditions and culture. Prior to working at Vera, Mia spent nearly five years with the Osborne Association as a program manager for the young adult mentoring programs. During her tenure at Osborne, she focused on building an empowerment model through prioritization of leadership development. She also added an employment component to programming and organized citywide peer leadership opportunities for young adults.
Additionally, Mia has worked on a New York City-based action research project driving success through a partnership at the Intergenerational Change Initiative between young adults and the project team -holistically- addressing systemic barriers. Mia holds a bachelor’s in law, societies, and justice from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in youth studies from the City University of New York. She currently teaches a capstone course at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice.
Frank
Richard D. Burns | Senior Advisor
rdburns(at)jffnd.org
Richard D. Burns is Senior Advisor at JFF and is the interim executive director of GLAD, the LGBTQ impact litigation firm. He has served as interim executive director of JFF, the Drug Policy Alliance, Lambda Legal, the North Star Fund, PENCIL, the Funding Exchange, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, and the Stonewall Community Foundation.
He is chair of the founding board of directors of the American LGBTQ+ Museum. He was previously the chief operating officer of the Arcus Foundation and was executive director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City for 22 years, from 1986 to 2009.
Richard is a trustee of the Proteus Fund, the New York City AIDS Memorial Park and served on the advisory board of the Center for HIV Law & Policy from 2005 through 2022. He recently retired from the board of Nonprofit New York and was a longtime member of the selection committee of The New York Community Trust Nonprofit Excellence Awards. Richard is a graduate of Hamilton College and Northeastern University School of Law.
Kathleen Valentine Sturgeon | Consultant
Kathy Sturgeon was instrumental in helping to establish JFF and has supported staff and board since its inception. Kathy continues to guide select family grants.
