Skip to content
Plinth

· Private foundation

Bestenlehner D and F Educational Tr

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$120k
Granted FY2025still arriving
63
Grants FY2025still arriving
8
States reached
$4k
Largest
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20182025.

Education$792k
02FY2025 · 63 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

$1,468
Median grant
8
States reached
$2.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA$4,000
DRAKE UNIVERSITY$4,000
IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE$4,000
COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES$4,000
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA$3,000
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY$3,000
BUENA VISTA UNIVERSITY$3,000
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY$3,000
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY$3,000
SOUTHEASTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE$3,000
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA$3,000
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY$3,000
IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE$2,936
DES MOINES AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE$2,936
SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES$2,936
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

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

show:

Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 93% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%WAYNE STATE COLLEGE: $734 → 13%GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE: $1k → 9%WINONA STATE UNIVERSITY: $1k → 14%BEMIDJI STATE UNIVERSITY: $1k → 17%BUENA VISTA UNIVERSITY: $1k → 10%DRAKE UNIVERSITY: $4k → 10%ELLSWORTH COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $734 → 11%NORTH IOWA AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $1k → 12%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $4k → 13%BRIAR CLIFF UNIVERSITY: $1k → 13%SOUTHEASTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $3k → 15%University of Iowa: $8k → 15%PCI ACADEMY: $1k → 17%WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY: $734 → 21%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN LA CROSSE: $1k → 12%NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY: $1k → 8%COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES: $4k → 7%SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES: $3k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA: $1k → 20%BUENA VISTA UNIVERSITY: $1k → 10%DES MOINES AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $3k → 10%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $3k → 13%BRIAR CLIFF UNIVERSITY: $1k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $1k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN LA CROSSE: $1k → 12%UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA: $1k → 20%BUENA VISTA UNIVERSITY: $1k → 10%DES MOINES AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $1k → 10%IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $1k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $1k → 15%BUENA VISTA UNIVERSITY: $1k → 10%DES MOINES AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $1k → 10%UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $1k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $1k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $1k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $1k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $1k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $1k → 15%UNIVERSITY OF IOWA: $734 → 15%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

Which US states your grants reach

MN
WI
MI
NV
SD
IA
CO
NE
MO
NC
TX

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

59%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$413k · 40 repeat orgs$285k to everyone else

40 repeat relationships — 16 still active in FY2025, 24 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

40
149

Total granted

$413k
$270k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+8%
+22%

Still filing today

28%
4%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
    BRIAR CLIFF UNIVERSITY
    5× · 2018–2025 · $19k · revenue +4%
  • Buena Vista University
    2× · 2024–2025 · $13k · revenue +4%
  • SC
    Simpson College
    2× · 2018–2019 · $10k · revenue +25%

Funded once

  • DF
    DMACC FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $11k · revenue +97%
  • UO
    UNIV OF NORTHERN IOWA FBO
    one grant, 2023 · $8k
  • RK
    ROWAN KIDD CO IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2022 · $5k

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

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Dordt University

As an institution of higher education committed to the reformed christian perspective, dordt university equips students, alumni, and the broader community to work effectively toward christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary…

Education
2
Augustana University Association

Inspired by lutheran scholarly tradition and the liberal arts, augustana provides an education of enduring worth that challenges the intellect, fosters integrity and integrates faith with learning and service in a diverse world.

Education
3
Union College

Union college is a seventh-day adventist community of higher education, inspired by jesus christ, and dedicated to empowering students to learn, serve, and lead.

Education
4
Saint Xavier University

Saint xavier university, a catholic institution inspired by the heritage of the sisters of mercy, educates persons to search for truth, think critically, communicate effectively and serve wisely and compassionately in support of human…

Education
5
Cornell College

Cornell college offers an innovative and rigorous learning community where faculty and staff collaborate with students to develop the intellectual curiosity, creativity and moral courage necessary for a lifetime of learning and engaged…

Education
6
St Ambrose University

Mission statement: an inclusive, catholic, and diocesan community of learners, st. ambrose university empowers all ambrosians to act courageously, to seek wisdom through faith and reason, to work for justice, and to lead lives of service.…

Education
7
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
8
Benedictine University

Benedictine University is an inclusive academic community dedicated to teaching and learning, scholarship and service, truth and justice, as inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition, the social teaching of the Church, and the…

Education
9
Doane University

Doane university creates distinctive educational experiences, immersed in the liberal arts, to prepare our students for careers and lives grounded in inquiry, ethics, and a commitment to lead and serve in the global community.

Education
10
Augsburg University

Augsburg university educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders.the augsburg experience is supported by an engaged community that is committed to intentional diversity in its…

Education
11
Walsh University Inc

Walsh university is an independent, coeducational catholic, liberal arts and sciences institution dedicated to educating its students to become leaders in service to others through a values-based education with an international perspective…

Education
12
Loyola University

Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit and Catholic institution of higher education, welcomes students of diverse backgrounds and prepares them to lead meaningful lives with and for others; to pursue truth, wisdom, and virtue; and to work…

Education

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Briar Cliff University and the most unlike its peers is Dmacc Foundation. 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

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

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 19 of the 196 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
19/19
Grantees still filing
13/19
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY — $105,227 · OtherIOWA STATE UNIVERSITYUniversity of Northern Iowa — $52,974 · OtherUniversity of Northern IowaUniversity of Iowa — $42,490 · OtherUniversity of IowaDES MOINES AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE — $32,313 · Other+175 more — $375,024 · Other+175 moreBRIAR CLIFF UNIVERSITY — $18,744 · EducationBRIAR CLIFF UN…Buena Vista University — $12,931 · EducationBuena Vista Un…DMACC FOUNDATION — $11,477 · EducationDMACC FOUNDATI…Simpson College — $10,161 · EducationSimpson Colleg…Creighton University — $8,200 · EducationCreighton Univ…GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE — $4,137 · EducationDRAKE UNIVERSITY — $4,000 · EducationWARTBURG COLLEGE — $3,655 · Education+9 more — $17,039 · Education+9 more
Other$608,028Education$90,344

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetBRIAR CLIFF UNIVERSITY — $18,744 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetBuena Vista University — $12,931 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDMACC FOUNDATION — $11,477 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSimpson College — $10,161 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCreighton University — $8,200 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE — $4,137 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLORAS COLLEGE — $4,001 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDRAKE UNIVERSITY — $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWARTBURG COLLEGE — $3,655 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSDSM&T CENTER FOR ALUMNI RELATIONS & ADVANCEMENT — $2,936 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVITERBO UNIVERSITY — $2,667 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetALLEN COLLEGE — $2,318 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUPPER IOWA UNIVERSITY — $2,250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY — $2,240 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMOUNT MARTY UNIVERSITY — $2,237 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWILLIAM PENN UNIVERSITY — $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMORNINGSIDE UNIVERSITY — $945 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetClarke University of Dubuque Iowa — $882 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetST MARYS UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA — $882 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

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

  • Who funds BRIAR CLIFF UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds Buena Vista University
  • Who funds DMACC FOUNDATION
  • Who funds Simpson College
  • Who funds Creighton University
  • Who funds GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE
  • Who funds LORAS COLLEGE
  • Who funds DRAKE UNIVERSITY
  • Who funds WARTBURG COLLEGE

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Roy J Carver Charitable TrustIA22.1× affinity8 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Roy J Carver Charitable Trust · Pella Rolscreen Foundation · Willard E and Ella P Thompson Educational Fund · Fahrney Education Fdtn Trust · Marguerite V Brown · W D & Shirley Schafer-Ray Educational Trust · Special Needs Foundation of Des Moines County · W E Ruebush Foundation · La Amundson Ohana Foundation · The Eagle Foundation · Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation Inc · United Way Worldwide

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Bestenlehner D and F Educational Tr funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2025
202122232425
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%your share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    6report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 196 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph