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Associated Colleges of the Midwest at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Associated Colleges of the Midwest

The ASSOCIATED COLLEGES OF THE MIDWEST (acm), a consortium of residential liberal arts colleges, enriches residential liberal arts education and strengthens members through collaboration.

$663k
Granted FY2025still arriving
9
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$135k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Education$3.3M
02FY2025 · 9 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 9 grants below total $645,558, the rows itemized in this filing. The $663,308 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $17,750 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $50k
  • $50k–250k7 grants · $595k
$61,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$18M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COLORADO COLLEGE$135,417
MACALESTER COLLEGE$130,500
ST OLAF COLLEGE$94,167
GRINNELL COLLEGE$67,000
CARLETON COLLEGE$61,000
BELOIT COLLEGE$55,000
RIPON COLLEGE$52,000
LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY$39,474
COE COLLEGE$11,000
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 (FY21–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 85% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%ST OLAF COLLEGE: $196k → 11%MACALESTER COLLEGE: $131k → 14%GRINNELL COLLEGE: $70k → 9%COE COLLEGE: $158k → 9%LUTHER COLLEGE: $15k → 10%LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY: $113k → 7%RIPON COLLEGE: $126k → 9%BELOIT COLLEGE: $114k → 10%COLORADO COLLEGE: $135k → 9%LAKE FOREST COLLEGE: $85k → 8%KNOX COLLEGE: $86k → 15%MONMOUTH COLLEGE: $18k → 16%BIG TEN ACADEMIC ALLIANCE: $26k → 19%ST OLAF COLLEGE: $159k → 11%MACALESTER COLLEGE: $110k → 14%GRINNELL COLLEGE: $67k → 9%COE COLLEGE: $72k → 9%LUTHER COLLEGE: $14k → 10%LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY: $87k → 7%RIPON COLLEGE: $72k → 9%BELOIT COLLEGE: $87k → 10%COLORADO COLLEGE: $111k → 9%LAKE FOREST COLLEGE: $70k → 8%MONMOUTH COLLEGE: $10k → 16%BIG TEN ACADEMIC ALLIANCE: $26k → 19%ST OLAF COLLEGE: $94k → 11%MACALESTER COLLEGE: $91k → 14%GRINNELL COLLEGE: $52k → 9%COE COLLEGE: $11k → 9%LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY: $59k → 7%RIPON COLLEGE: $52k → 9%BELOIT COLLEGE: $55k → 10%COLORADO COLLEGE: $86k → 9%LAKE FOREST COLLEGE: $44k → 8%BIG TEN ACADEMIC ALLIANCE: $12k → 19%ST OLAF COLLEGE: $87k → 11%MACALESTER COLLEGE: $29k → 14%COE COLLEGE: $6k → 9%LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY: $39k → 7%RIPON COLLEGE: $15k → 9%BELOIT COLLEGE: $5k → 10%ST OLAF COLLEGE: $75k → 11%CORNELL COLLEGE: $144k → 9%CARLETON COLLEGE: $61k → 11%CARLETON COLLEGE: $59k → 11%CARLETON COLLEGE: $25k → 11%CARLETON COLLEGE: $16k → 11%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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.0M · 13 repeat orgs$241k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +32% since the first grant, against +15% for those funded once.

13 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
2

Total granted

$3.0M
$230k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
+15%

Still filing today

92%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time
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

  • SO
    ST OLAF COLLEGE
    5× · 2021–2025 · $612k · revenue +38%
  • MACALESTER COLLEGE
    4× · 2021–2025 · $361k · revenue +77%
  • TC
    THE COLORADO COLLEGE
    3× · 2021–2025 · $333k · revenue +12%

Funded once

  • CC
    CORNELL COLLEGE
    one grant, 2021 · $144k · revenue 0%
  • KC
    KNOX COLLEGE
    one grant, 2021 · $86k · revenue +15%
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
Dickinson College

Dickinson college provides a useful, innovative and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship

Education
2
Albright College

As a diverse community of learners, we cultivate integrity, curiosity, connection and resilience.

Education
3
Lewis & Clark College

Lewis & clark is a premier private higher education institution offering an exceptional education in an inclusive environment. by fostering critical thinking, innovation, creativity, civic engagement, and leadership, both inside and…

Education
4
Endicott College

Endicott college offers students a vibrant academic environment that remains true to its founding principle of integrating professional and liberal arts with experiential learning. for more information see schedule o.

Education
5
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
6
Lafayette College

Chartered in 1826, lafayette college is dedicated to excellence in undergraduate education. students are engaged in a transformative educational experience that bridges the liberal arts, engineering, and interdisciplinary study. the…

Education
7
Hillsdale College

Hillsdale college is a private liberal arts college with approximately 1,500 students. founded in 1844, the college remains, in the words of its articles of association, "grateful to god for the inestimable blessings resulting from the…

Education
8
Lehigh University

The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…

Education
9
Pomona College

Throughout its history, pomona college has educated men and women of exceptional promise. we gather individuals, regardless of financial circumstances, into a small residential community that is strongly rooted in southern california yet…

Education
10
Mcdaniel College Inc

Mcdaniel college is a diverse student-centered community committed to excellence in the liberal arts & sciences and professional studies with careful mentoring and attention to the individual. mcdaniel changes lives. we challenge students…

Education
11
California Lutheran University

The mission of the university is to educate leaders for a global society who are strong in character and judgment, confident in their identity and vocation, and committed to service and justice.

Education
12
Barton College

Founded in 1902, barton college is a four-year, private, liberal arts college located in wilson, n.c. the barton experience focuses on academic excellence within a wide range of professional and liberal arts programs leading to…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Carleton College; the most unlike its peers is The Big Ten Conference Inc. 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

15 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. 15 of the 16 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
15/15
Grantees still filing
11/15
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ST OLAF COLLEGE: $611,655 · EducationST OLAF COLLEGEMACALESTER COLLEGE: $360,570 · EducationMACALESTER COLLEGETHE COLORADO COLLEGE: $333,044 · EducationTHE COLORADO COLLEGELAWRENCE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: $299,068 · EducationLAWRENCE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSINRIPON COLLEGE: $265,190 · EducationRIPON COLLEGEBELOIT COLLEGE: $261,233 · EducationBELOIT COLLEGELake Forest College: $199,049 · EducationLake Forest CollegeTHE TRUSTEES OF GRINNELL COLLEGE: $188,168 · EducationTHE TRUSTEES OF GRINNELL COLLEGECARLETON COLLEGE: $160,541 · EducationCARLETON COLLEGECORNELL COLLEGE: $144,315 · Education+4 more: $153,768 · EducationCOE COLLEGE: $236,498 · OtherCOE COLLEG…THE BIG TEN CONFERENCE INC: $63,406 · OtherTHE BIG TE…
Education$2,976,601Other$299,904

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

25%50%75%100%$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetST OLAF COLLEGE: $611,655 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMACALESTER COLLEGE: $360,570 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTHE COLORADO COLLEGE: $333,044 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLAWRENCE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN: $299,068 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetRIPON COLLEGE: $265,190 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetBELOIT COLLEGE: $261,233 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetLake Forest College: $199,049 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetTHE TRUSTEES OF GRINNELL COLLEGE: $188,168 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCARLETON COLLEGE: $160,541 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCORNELL COLLEGE: $144,315 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetKNOX COLLEGE: $85,511 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BIG TEN CONFERENCE INC: $63,406 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLUTHER COLLEGE: $28,677 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMONMOUTH COLLEGE: $28,580 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCOE COLLEGE: $11,000 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

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.

AbbVie FoundationMorgan Stanley Global…National Philanthropi…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
AbbVie FoundationIL12.7× affinity4 shared granteesties to 8 of 8Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: AbbVie Foundation · Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Associated Colleges of the Midwest funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Associated Colleges of the Midwest. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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.

    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 16 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Associated Colleges of the Midwest’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