· Private foundation
Bestenlehner D and F Educational Tr
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| DRAKE UNIVERSITY | $4,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA | $4,000 |
| IOWA CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE | $4,000 |
| COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES | $4,000 |
| SOUTHEASTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE | $3,000 |
| 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 |
| UNIVERSITY OF IOWA | $3,000 |
| IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY | $3,000 |
| SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES | $2,936 |
| IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY | $2,936 |
| DES MOINES AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE | $2,936 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 93% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
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
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $15k went to new ones.
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- BCBRIAR CLIFF UNIVERSITY5× · 2018–2025 · $19k · revenue +4%
Buena Vista University2× · 2024–2025 · $13k · revenue +4%- SCSimpson College2× · 2018–2019 · $10k · revenue +25%
Funded once
- DFDMACC FOUNDATIONgraduatedone grant, 2023 · $11k · revenue +97%
- UOUNIV OF NORTHERN IOWA FBOone grant, 2023 · $8k
- RKROWAN KIDD CO IOWA STATE UNIVERSITYone grant, 2022 · $5k
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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.
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…
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…
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…
How this is measured
19 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. 19 of the 196 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
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
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Bestenlehner D and F Educational Tr funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bestenlehner D and F Educational Tr. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Bestenlehner D and F Educational Tr’s filings →