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Betts Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Betts Foundation

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.

$13k
Granted FY2024still arriving
4
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0190% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.

Religion$35kPhilanthropy$30kHealth$14kArts & Culture$5kEducation$4kRecreation & Sports$4kHuman Services$2kEnvironment$2kOther$0
02FY2024 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k3 grants · $3k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$2,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$377k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Mind and Spirit Counseling Center$10,000
Great Outdoor Foundation - ICON Watertrails$2,000
Scottish Rite Park$1,100
Community Foundation Greater Des Moines$250
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:

Its human-services grants (FY19–21, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%JOPPA: $400 → 10%JOPPA: $400 → 10%JOPPA: $400 → 10%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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$86k · 10 repeat orgs$14k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against -1% for those funded once.

10 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2024, 9 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

10
9

Total granted

$86k
$11k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
-1%

Still filing today

40%
56%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 76% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24
HealthCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesCrime & LegalEducationAnimalsOther
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

  • WC
    WESTMINSTER CHURCH
    3× · 2019–2021 · $31k
  • UW
    UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWA
    3× · 2019–2021 · $30k · revenue -19%
  • MA
    MIND AND SPIRIT COUNSELING CENTER
    2× · 2023–2024 · $11k · revenue -8%

Funded once

  • DRAKE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2023 · $4k · revenue -1%
  • GO
    GREAT OUTDOORS FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $2k · revenue +5%
  • DM
    DES MOINES PERFORMING ARTS
    one grant, 2019 · $1k · revenue -11%
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
Common Good Iowa

Common good iowa engages iowans to create and advocate for research-based public policy that makes life better and more equitable for all who make iowa home.

—
2
Greater Des Moines Partnership

None

Community Improvement
3
United Way of North Central Iowa

Seeking to build a stronger, more caring community by forming partnerships with businesses, community experts, education & health & human service agencies to achieve targeted outcomes & sustained changes in community conditions which will…

Philanthropy
4
United Way of East Central Iowa

Unite the caring power of communities to invest in effective solutions to improve people's lives.

Philanthropy
5
Des Moines Public Library Foundation

Raise funds and advocate provide for the des moines public library system.

Philanthropy
6
Des Moines University Osteopathic Medical Center

To improve lives in our global community by educating diverse groups of highly competent and compassionate health professionals.

Education
7
Midwest Dairy Association

Midwest dairy works with others to give consumers an excellent dairy experience increasing sales, fostering innovation, and inspiring consumer confidence of dairy products and practices.

—
8
Iowa College Foundation

The foundation is organized to further the growth and development of private colleges and universities of higher education in iowa.

—
9
Greater Des Moines Convention & Visitors Bureau Inc

To promote and develop the visitors and convention industry in the greater des moines area and to encourage the utilization of facilities for visitors and conventions.

—
10
Upper Des Moines Opportunity Inc

Upper des moines opportunity, inc. is dedicated to helping build stronger communities by addressing the effects of poverty on individuals and families.upper des moines opportunity, inc. will strengthen communities through: the promotion of…

Community Improvement
11
Grand View University

Engages, equips and empowers learners to explore their vocations, fulfill their potential and serve the world.

Education
12
Illinois College

Illinois college is a co-educational institution of higher education learning providing a four-year educational program leading to the baccalaureate degree. illinois college is a community committed to the highest standards of scholarship…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/a Greater Des Moines Community Fdn; the most unlike its peers is I Have a Dream 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

11 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. 11 of the 22 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)
11/11
Grantees still filing
4/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WESTMINSTER CHURCH: $30,650 · OtherWESTMINSTER CHURCHUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWA: $30,000 · OtherUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWAMIND AND SPIRIT COUNSELING CENTER: $10,500 · OtherMIND AND SPIRIT COUNSELING CENTER+13 more: $16,650 · Other+13 moreDRAKE UNIVERSITY: $4,000 · EducationELLIPSIS INC: $2,600 · HealthGREAT OUTDOORS FOUNDATION: $1,500 · AnimalsDES MOINES PERFORMING ARTS: $1,300 · Community ImprovementJOPPA: $1,200 · Human ServicesDES MOINES FILM SOCIETY: $1,000 · Arts & Culture
Other$87,800Education$4,000Health$2,600Animals$1,500Community Improvement$1,300Human Services$1,200Arts & Culture$1,000

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

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWA: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMIND AND SPIRIT COUNSELING CENTER: $10,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetDRAKE UNIVERSITY: $4,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetELLIPSIS INC: $2,600 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREAT OUTDOORS FOUNDATION: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDES MOINES PERFORMING ARTS: $1,300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetJOPPA: $1,200 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSCOTTISH RITE PARK INC: $1,100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDES MOINES FILM SOCIETY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN: $250 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.

  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWA ↗
  • Who funds MIND AND SPIRIT COUNSELING CENTER ↗
  • Who funds DRAKE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds ELLIPSIS INC ↗
  • Who funds GREAT OUTDOORS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds DES MOINES PERFORMING ARTS ↗
  • Who funds JOPPA ↗
  • Who funds SCOTTISH RITE PARK INC ↗
  • Who funds DES MOINES FILM SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN ↗
  • Who funds I HAVE A DREAM FOUNDATION ↗

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.

Wt and Edna M Dahl Tr…Mary K and Daniel M K…The West Bancorporati…The Merchants Bonding…John Ruan Foundation …R & R Realty Group Fo…Meredith Corporation …The Blackbaud Giving …American Online Givin…The Bank of America C…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …
Wt and Edna M Dahl TrustIA15.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Wt and Edna M Dahl Trust · Mary K and Daniel M Kelly Family Foundation C/O Dan Kelly · The West Bancorporation Foundation Inc · The Merchants Bonding Company Foundation · John Ruan Foundation Trust · R & R Realty Group Foundation · Meredith Corporation Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund

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 Betts Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Betts Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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 22 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

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    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