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Burnett Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Burnett Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$206k
Granted FY2024still arriving
12
Grants FY2024still arriving
3
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead

Read this first · the figures below need context

85% of Burnett Family Foundation’s FY2025 grant dollars went to Community Fdn Of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2025 names 8 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2024, the last year Burnett Family Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 10 organizations, $206k. It is dated, not current.

Organizations named directly on the return

6
’17
4
’18
3
’19
5
’20
5
’21
7
’22
5
’23
10
’24
8
’25

Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.

01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Animals$297kArts & Culture$239kFood & Nutrition$171kHealth$148kHuman Services$52kHousing & Shelter$50kPublic Benefit$50kReligion$24kOther$0
02FY2024 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $18k
  • $10k–50k3 grants · $38k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $150k
$5,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$3.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DES MOINES SYMPHONY$100,000
WWPF$50,000
VARIETY CLUB OF IOWA$17,500
BLANK PARK ZOO$10,000
CHILDSERVE$10,000
B WELL FOUNDATION$5,000
ANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE OF IOWA$5,000
CREATIVE EXPRESSION WORKSHOPS$2,500
FOOD BANK OF IOWA$2,500
AGAPE$1,000
JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION$1,000
WATER WORKS FOUNDATION$1,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY18–18, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $1k → 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.

78%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.0M · 11 repeat orgs$275k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +61% since the first grant, against +16% for those funded once.

11 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call). Read against FY2024, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

11
17

Total granted

$1.0M
$106k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+61%
+16%

Still filing today

73%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 41% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $108k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
AnimalsArts & CultureCommunity ImprovementHuman ServicesFood & NutritionRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • BP
    BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC
    7× · 2018–2025 · $316k · revenue +71%
  • DM
    DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
    4× · 2017–2025 · $230k · revenue +61%
  • FB
    FOOD BANK OF IOWA
    7× · 2019–2025 · $180k · revenue +90%

Funded once

  • AH
    ANAWIM HOUSING INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +34%
  • I
    IPTV
    one grant, 2023 · $25k
  • CS
    COLBY SAWYER FUND
    one grant, 2023 · $15k
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 Botanical Garden

Exploring, explaining and celebrating the world of plants.

Environment
3
Family Promise of Greater Des Moines

To provide shelter and services to families experiencing homelessness

—
4
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
5
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.

—
6
Des Moines Public Library Foundation

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

Philanthropy
7
Feeding South Dakota

To eliminate hunger in south dakota.

Food & Nutrition
8
Iowa Farm Bureau Foundation

Building iowa's values by recognizing and responding to significantchanges in iowa - those that fundamentally affect families and communities.

Housing & Shelter
9
Iowa Bird Rehabilitation

The organization's mission is to address the immediate needs of sick, injured, and orphaned wild birds, with the goal to return them to the wild and help educate and bring awareness to the global issue that birds are dissappearing at an…

Animals
10
River Bend Food Reservoir

To lead the community wide effort to end hunger in eastern iowa and western illinois. we will do this by leveraging partnerships to help people in need to stabilize their lives, engaging the public on hunger issues, advocating on behalf of…

Food & Nutrition
11
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.

—
12
United Way of East Central Iowa

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

Philanthropy
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 World Food Prize 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

20 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. 20 of the 38 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/20
Grantees still filing
16/20
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

COMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN: $995,544 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER…+1 more: $400 · PhilanthropyCHILDSERVE INC: $135,000 · OtherCHILDSERVE INCWWPF: $50,000 · OtherWWPFVARIETY - THE CHILDREN'S CHARITY OF IOWA: $48,000 · OtherVARIETY - THE CHILDR…ANAWIM HOUSING INC: $25,000 · OtherANAWIM HOUSING INCIPTV: $25,000 · OtherIPTVPLYMOUTH CHURCH: $22,800 · OtherPLYMOUTH CHURCHCOLBY SAWYER FUND: $15,000 · OtherMAIN STREET GUTHRIE CENTER: $20,000 · Other+21 more: $68,400 · Other+21 moreBLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC: $316,000 · AnimalsBLANK PARK ZOO …+1 more: $5,000 · AnimalsDES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $230,000 · Arts & CultureDES MOINES …BRENTON ARBORETUM INC: $10,000 · Arts & CultureFOOD BANK OF IOWA: $179,700 · Food & NutritionDES MOINES WATER WORKS PARK FOUNDATION: $100,000 · Recreation & SportsCENTRAL IOWA SHELTER & SERVICES: $30,000 · Housing & Shelter
Philanthropy$995,944Other$409,200Animals$321,000Arts & Culture$240,000Food & Nutrition$179,700Recreation & Sports$100,000Housing & Shelter$30,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetBLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC: $316,000 over 7y, 3.1% of budgetDES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $230,000 over 4y, 3.8% of budgetFOOD BANK OF IOWA: $179,700 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetCHILDSERVE INC: $135,000 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetVARIETY - THE CHILDREN'S CHARITY OF IOWA: $48,000 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetCENTRAL IOWA SHELTER & SERVICES: $30,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetANAWIM HOUSING INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMAIN STREET GUTHRIE CENTER: $20,000 over 2y, 15% of budgetBRENTON ARBORETUM INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetB WELL FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE OF IOWA INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $2,200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDES MOINES PERFORMING ARTS: $1,450 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEMPLOYEE & FAMILY RESOURCES INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAGAPE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMIND AND SPIRIT COUNSELING CENTER: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWorld Food Prize Foundation: $400 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.

Meredith Corporation …Community Fdn of Grea…John Ruan Foundation …William C Knapp Chari…Ita Group FoundationBookey Family Foundat…The West Bancorporati…The Merchants Bonding…Prairie Meadows Race …Obrien Fitzpatrick Fo…Windsor Charitable Fo…Thomas & Linda Koehn …
Meredith Corporation FoundationIA23.9× affinity9 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Meredith Corporation Foundation · Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn · John Ruan Foundation Trust · William C Knapp Charitable Fdn · Ita Group Foundation · Bookey Family Foundation · The West Bancorporation Foundation Inc · The Merchants Bonding Company Foundation · Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino Inc · Obrien Fitzpatrick Foundation · Windsor Charitable Foundation · Thomas & Linda Koehn 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 Burnett Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Burnett Family 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%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    7report 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, 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 38 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 Burnett Family’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