How much does Center for Rural Affairs give?

Center for Rural Affairs reported 3 itemized grants totaling $327,676, out of $665,826 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 3 and 11 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.

What does Center for Rural Affairs fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Community Improvement (39%), Food & Nutrition (30%), Science & Tech (12%).

Who are Center for Rural Affairs's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Economic Empowerment Center ($1.0M), Practical Farmers of Iowa ($479k), Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska ($263k).

Does Center for Rural Affairs fund new organizations?

In FY2024, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Which funders back the same organizations as Center for Rural Affairs?

Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Farm Aid Inc, Clif Family Foundation, Tides Foundation.

Where is Center for Rural Affairs based?

Center for Rural Affairs is based in NE.

Foundation Dossiers Mostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

Nebraska · Public charity

Center for Rural Affairs

To cultivate strong communities rooted in social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, and opportunity for all.

$666k
Granted FY2025(still arriving): 3
Itemized grants FY2025: 10
Organizations funded FY2024: 50%
First-time grantees FY2024

Read the full brief

Itemized, FY2025: $328k; The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2025: $72,291
Largest grant, FY2025: $250,000
Organizations funded a year: 3 to 11; FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025: 1
Total assets, FY2025: $38M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 50% of the organizations Center for Rural Affairs funded were first-time grantees, receiving 28% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 72% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $66k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

Food & NutritionEnvironmentInternationalHuman ServicesArts & CultureHealthOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2025still arriving	3	$328k	67%
FY2024	10	$234k	50%
FY2023	11	$189k	73%
FY2022	6	$246k	67%
FY2021	3	$141k	0%
FY2020	5	$1.2M	20%
FY2019	7	$172k	71%
FY2018	7	$90k	86%

100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Community Improvement$1.0MFood & Nutrition$813kScience & Tech$326kPublic Benefit$250kEnvironment$140kEducation$36kHealth$26kHuman Services$23kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Economic Empowerment Center	$1,000,000	1	10%
Practical Farmers of Iowa	$479,204	6	3%
Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska	$263,451	8	n/a
Second House Collaborative	$250,000	1	n/a
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association	$74,192	4	1%
Regents of the University of California	$55,938	2	n/a
Community Alliance With Family Farmers	$53,155	2	2%
Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture	$45,500	2	0%
Grow Nebraska	$37,000	2	0%
Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development	$32,000	1	0%

Show all 37 grantees

All grantees of Center for Rural Affairs by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Economic Empowerment Center	$1,000,000	1	10%
Practical Farmers of Iowa	$479,204	6	3%
Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska	$263,451	8	n/a
Second House Collaborative	$250,000	1	n/a
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association	$74,192	4	1%
Regents of the University of California	$55,938	2	n/a
Community Alliance With Family Farmers	$53,155	2	2%
Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture	$45,500	2	0%
Grow Nebraska	$37,000	2	0%
Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development	$32,000	1	0%
Buffalo County Community Health Partners Inc	$26,344	2	2%
Multiplier	$25,000	1	0%
Black Oaks Center for Sustainable Renewable Living	$25,000	1	2%
Rural Advancement Foundation Internation	$25,000	2	1%
Seafood Ninja Inc	$25,000	1	n/a
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Omaha Inc	$23,100	1	1%
Iowa Environmental Council	$22,250	1	1%
Drake University	$20,000	1	0%
Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Inc	$20,000	1	n/a
Land Stewardship Project	$17,000	1	0%
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders	$15,000	1	1%
Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey Inc	$15,000	1	1%
Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society	$13,575	1	n/a
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center	$13,000	1	0%
Congressional Hunger Center Inc	$12,000	1	0%
Florida Certified Organic Growers and Consumers Inc	$11,000	1	0%
Two Paddles LLC	$10,000	1	n/a
Dakota Rural Action	$10,000	1	2%
Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Assoc	$8,800	1	1%
EMPOWERING FAMILIES of Nebraska Inc	$8,500	1	3%
California Farmlink	$8,000	1	0%
Bob Heuer and Associates	$7,000	1	n/a
Big Muddy Urban Farm Inc	$6,686	1	5%
Whiteclay Makerspace	$6,028	1	1%
Blackpeoplewhohike LLC	$5,750	1	n/a
Metropolitan Community College	$5,701	1	n/a
Sara May Brubacher Steinbrink Sky Chief Springs LLC	$5,385	1	n/a

Plus 1 recipient with no EIN on record ($11k), not named here.

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Center for Rural Affairs supplied at peak.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 26.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Farm Aid IncMA26.1× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Farm Aid Inc · Clif Family Foundation · Tides Foundation · The Sherwood Foundation · The Schmidt Family Foundation · Rsf Social Finance Inc · UNFI Foundation · WK Kellogg Foundation · The McKnight Foundation · Patagoniaorg · Impactassetsinc · Earth Island Institute Inc

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.

Compare Center for Rural Affairs with peer funders

About Center for Rural Affairs

How much does Center for Rural Affairs give?: Center for Rural Affairs reported 3 itemized grants totaling $327,676, out of $665,826 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 3 and 11 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does Center for Rural Affairs fund?: By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Community Improvement (39%), Food & Nutrition (30%), Science & Tech (12%).
Who are Center for Rural Affairs's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Economic Empowerment Center ($1.0M), Practical Farmers of Iowa ($479k), Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska ($263k).
Does Center for Rural Affairs fund new organizations?: In FY2024, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as Center for Rural Affairs?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Farm Aid Inc, Clif Family Foundation, Tides Foundation.
Where is Center for Rural Affairs based?: Center for Rural Affairs is based in NE.