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Ann Smeltzer Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Ann Smeltzer Charitable Trust

Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$224k
Granted FY2024still arriving
17
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$50k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Employment$1.0MArts & Culture$344kHuman Services$163kPublic Benefit$89kEnvironment$75kEducation$74kYouth Development$30kFood & Nutrition$24kOther$0
02FY2024 · 17 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k8 grants · $44k
  • $10k–50k8 grants · $130k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$9.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$50,103
THE FORT MUSEUM AND FRONTIER VILLAGE$30,000
FORT DODGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$22,000
BLANDEN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION$18,500
FORT DODGE BAND BOOSTERS$15,000
FORT DODGE AREA SYMPHONY$14,000
FORT DODGE FINE ARTS ASSOCIATION$10,000
HAWKEYE COMMUNITY THEATRE$10,000
COMEDIA MUSICA PLAYERS$10,000
IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE$8,000
STAGE DOOR PRODUCTIONS$8,000
WEBSTER COUNTY EXTENSION & OUTREACH$6,000
FORT DODGE PUBLIC LIBRARY$6,000
Individual grant recipient$6,000
FORT DODGE COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT$6,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%SHIVE-HATTERY: $14k → 5%HARCOURT COMMUNITY CENTER: $8k → 13%PURDUE UNIVERSITY: $6k → 19%YWCA VINCENT HOUSE: $22k → 15%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $258k → 13%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE & OTHERS: $188k → 13%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE & OTHERS: $177k → 13%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE & OTHERS: $145k → 13%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE & OTHERS: $131k → 13%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE & OTHERS: $93k → 13%OTHER RECIPIENTS: $50k → 13%FRIENDS OF WEBSTER COUNTY CONSERVATION: $50k → 13%FORT DODGE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION: $32k → 13%OTHER RECIPIENTS: $32k → 13%BLANDEN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $31k → 13%FORT DODGE FINE ARTS ASSOCIATION: $30k → 13%THE FORT MUSEUM AND FRONTIER VILLAGE: $30k → 13%THE FORT MUSEUM AND FRONTIER VILLAGE: $26k → 13%FRIENDS OF WEBSTER COUNTY CONSERVATION: $25k → 13%FORT DODGE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION: $25k → 13%FORT DODGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $22k → 13%BLANDEN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $20k → 13%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $19k → 13%BLANDEN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION: $19k → 13%OTHER RECIPIENTS: $16k → 13%FORT DODGE COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT: $16k → 13%FORT DODGE BAND BOOSTERS: $15k → 13%HAWKEYE COMMUNITY THEATRE: $15k → 13%FORT DODGE AREA SYMPHONY: $14k → 13%FORT DODGE AREA SYMPHONY: $13k → 13%FORT DODGE COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT: $12k → 13%FORT DODGE AREA SYMPHONY: $12k → 13%FORT DODGE COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT: $11k → 13%FORT DODGE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $11k → 13%FORT DODGE FINE ARTS ASSOCIATION: $10k → 13%FORT DODGE BAND BOOSTERS: $10k → 13%COMEDIA MUSICA PLAYERS: $10k → 13%COMEDIA MUSICA PLAYERS: $10k → 13%BLANDEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM: $10k → 13%HAWKEYE COMMUNITY THEATRE: $10k → 13%HAWKEYE COMMUNITY THEATRE: $10k → 13%COMEDIA MUSICA PLAYERS: $10k → 13%COMEDIA MUSICA PLAYERS: $10k → 13%FORT DODGE CHORAL SOCIETY: $9k → 13%STAGE DOOR PRODUCTIONS: $9k → 13%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $8k → 13%STAGE DOOR PRODUCTIONS: $8k → 13%COMMUNITY FOUNDATION AND UNITED WAY: $7k → 13%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

95%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.7M · 21 repeat orgs$93k to everyone else

21 repeat relationships: 17 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

21
13

Total granted

$1.7M
$93k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

0%
+152%

Still filing today

29%
31%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEnvironmentFood & NutritionYouth DevelopmentEducationOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • BC
    Blanden Charitable Foundation
    3× · 2022–2024 · $69k · revenue +78%
  • FD
    FORT DODGE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
    2× · 2021–2022 · $57k · revenue +0%
  • HC
    Hawkeye Community Theatre
    3× · 2022–2024 · $35k · revenue +39% · 28% of their budget

Funded once

  • YV
    YWCA VINCENT HOUSE
    one grant, 2022 · $22k
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2023 · $14k
  • BM
    BLANDEN MEMORIAL ART MUSEUM
    one grant, 2021 · $10k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Iowa Automotive Heritage Foundation
Science & Tech
2
Fort Madison Area Chamber of Commerce

The mission of the fort madison chamber of commerce is to promote retail and commercial development as well as tourism in fort madison and the surrounding area.

—
3
Sioux City Community Theater

Promotion of and presentation of dramatic arts

Arts & Culture
4
Wabeno Area Players
Arts & Culture
5
Enid Community Theatre Inc

To provide a wide spectrum of high quality theatrical entertainment to a broad audience in Enid and the surrounding communities, and to provide a setting for nonprofessional actors, directors, designers, and technicians to learn and…

Arts & Culture
6
Iowa Sculpture Festival

Educational and cultural for iowa sculpture festival held annually in newton, iowa

—
7
Seward Arts Council
—
8
Campbell County Arts Council Inc

Public service of the arts for the Campbell County, SD, community.

Arts & Culture
9
Fremont County Historical Society

Restoration and display of historical items pertinent to fremont county, iowa

—
10
Iowa 80 Trucking Museum
Arts & Culture
11
Fort Madison Rodeo Corporation

Promoting and improving the general welfare of the citizens of fort madison, iowa, and its immediate vicinity.

—
12
Community Arts Council of Blount County
Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Shellabration Inc; the most unlike its peers is Friends of Webster County Conservation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

12 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 12 of the 34 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/12
Grantees still filing
6/12
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE & OTHERS: $734,215 · OtherIOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE & OTHERSIOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $285,000 · OtherIOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGEIndividual grant recipient: $98,190 · OtherIndividual grant recipientTHE FORT MUSEUM AND FRONTIER VILLAGE: $56,000 · Other+20 more: $325,714 · Other+20 moreBlanden Charitable Foundation: $69,000 · Arts & CultureBlanden Charita…FORT DODGE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION: $57,300 · Arts & CultureFORT DODGE HIST…FORT DODGE FINE ARTS ASSOCIATION: $40,000 · Arts & CultureFORT DODGE FINE…The Comedia Musica Players: $40,000 · Arts & CultureThe Comedia Mus…Hawkeye Community Theatre: $35,000 · Arts & CultureHawkeye Communi…SHELLABRATION INC: $9,000 · Arts & CultureFRIENDS OF WEBSTER COUNTY CONSERVATION: $75,000 · EnvironmentATHLETICS FOR EDUCATION AND SUCCESS INC: $5,000 · EducationTHE LORDS CUPBOARD COMMUNITY PANTRY: $3,500 · Food & NutritionNORTH CENTRAL IOWA AG IN THE CLASSROOM: $2,500 · Youth Development
Other$1,499,119Arts & Culture$250,300Environment$75,000Education$5,000Food & Nutrition$3,500Youth Development$2,500

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100kgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFRIENDS OF WEBSTER COUNTY CONSERVATION: $75,000 over 2y, 34% of budgetBlanden Charitable Foundation: $69,000 over 3y, 19% of budgetFORT DODGE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION: $57,300 over 2y, 13% of budgetThe Comedia Musica Players: $40,000 over 4y, 24% of budgetHawkeye Community Theatre: $35,000 over 3y, 28% of budgetSHELLABRATION INC: $9,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetMAIN STREET FORT DODGE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetTHE LORDS CUPBOARD COMMUNITY PANTRY: $3,500 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetNORTH CENTRAL IOWA AG IN THE CLASSROOM: $2,500 over 1y, 1.5% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds FRIENDS OF WEBSTER COUNTY CONSERVATION ↗
  • Who funds Blanden Charitable Foundation ↗
  • Who funds FORT DODGE HISTORICAL FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds FORT DODGE FINE ARTS ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds The Comedia Musica Players ↗
  • Who funds Hawkeye Community Theatre ↗
  • Who funds STAGE DOOR PRODUCTIONS ↗
  • Who funds SHELLABRATION INC ↗
  • Who funds MAIN STREET FORT DODGE INC ↗
  • Who funds ATHLETICS FOR EDUCATION AND SUCCESS INC ↗
  • Who funds THE LORDS CUPBOARD COMMUNITY PANTRY ↗
  • Who funds NORTH CENTRAL IOWA AG IN THE CLASSROOM ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Catherine Vincent…United Way and Commun…Amazonsmile Foundation
The Catherine Vincent Deardorf Charitable FoundationIA26.4× affinity10 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Catherine Vincent Deardorf Charitable Foundation · United Way and Community Foundation of Greater Fort Dodge · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Ann Smeltzer Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Ann Smeltzer Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Ann Smeltzer Charitable Trust?

    Find your warmest path to Ann Smeltzer Charitable Trust through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 34 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Ann Smeltzer’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home