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Deb & Bob Pulver Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Deb & Bob Pulver 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.

$760k
Granted FY2024still arriving
27
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$1.6MHealth$929kRecreation & Sports$424kArts & Culture$264kAnimals$171kYouth Development$125kHuman Services$110kReligion$70kOther$0
02FY2024 · 27 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k18 grants · $42k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $117k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $350k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$2,500
Median grant
5
States reached
$19M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GREATER DES MOINES PUBLIC ART FOUNDATION$250,000
MANHATTAN COLLEGE$200,000
BLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION$150,000
STRANDS OF STRENGTH INC$45,750
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION$21,052
MERCYONE DES MOINES FOUNDATION$20,000
ABOVE & BEYOND CANCER$10,500
HIGHLANDS CHURCH$10,000
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF HOPE$10,000
VARIETY - THE CHILDREN'S CHARITY IN IOWA$7,250
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EQUESTRIAN SPORTS (SCES)$7,000
ARIZONA HUMANE SOCIETY$5,000
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER DES MOINES$3,000
GENESIS YOUTH FOUNDATION$2,500
CYSTIC FIBROSIS FOUNDATION - IOWA CHAPT$2,500
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 (FY17–24, $36k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%YOUNG WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER: $2k → 10%YOUNG WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER: $1k → 10%DOROTHY'S HOUSE: $5k → 10%CHILDSERVE FOUNDATION: $25k → 10%OAKRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES: $2k → 10%OAKRIDGE NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES: $1k → 10%PUPPY JAKE FOUNDATION: $250 → 10%PUPPY JAKE FOUNDATION: $250 → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

NY
MA
IA
CA
MO
KY
VA
MD
AZ
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.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.3M · 33 repeat orgs$500k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against +34% for those funded once.

33 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2024, 15 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

33
19

Total granted

$3.3M
$96k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+34%

Still filing today

76%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $404k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesAnimalsEducationRecreation & 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

  • IS
    IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION
    2× · 2017–2019 · $400k · revenue +76%
  • IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
    6× · 2019–2024 · $382k · revenue +22%
  • IH
    IOWA HEALTH FOUNDATION
    7× · 2017–2024 · $326k · revenue +38%

Funded once

  • CF
    CHILDSERVE FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $25k · revenue +81%
  • EF
    EVERYSTEP FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $25k
  • GO
    GREAT OUTDOORS FOUNDATIONgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $25k · revenue +73%
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
University of Iowa Facilities Corporation

The university of iowa facilities corporation acquires and holds property for the benefit and use of the university of iowa.

—
2
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.

—
3
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.

—
4
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.

—
5
United Way of East Central Iowa

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

Philanthropy
6
Iowa Credit Union Foundation

Founded in 1995 as the philanthropic arm of the iowa credit union league and guided by the credit union philosophy of "people helping people", the iowa credit union foundation (the foundation) works to champion financial well-being for…

Unclassified
7
American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa

The union works to advocate and advance a public policy agenda to support and protect the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of iowa. it works to maintain throughout the united states the rights of free…

—
8
Minnesota State Fair Foundation

The minnesota state fair foundation's mission is to preserve and improve the historic minnesota state fairgrounds and support state fair programs and projects in agriculture, arts & culture, education, the environment, and history.

Philanthropy
9
Iowa College Foundation

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

—
10
Iowa Medical Society

Our mission is to advance the practice of medicine through advocacy, education, and engagement with physicians throughout iowa to ensure the highest quality of care for the patients they serve.

—
11
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
12
Des Moines Water Works Park Foundation

The des moines water works park foundation is dedicated to developing and executing the master plan created for water works park. the plan turns the park into a national model incorporating recreation, education and conservation within the…

Recreation & Sports
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Iowa Health Foundation; 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

42 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. 42 of the 60 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)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
41/42
Grantees still filing
30/42
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Manhattan University: $1,200,000 · EducationManhattan UniversityIOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $382,345 · EducationIOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION+2 more: $1,750 · EducationBLANK CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: $206,000 · OtherBLANK CHILDREN'S HO…IOWA HEALTH FOUNDATION JOHN STODDARD CANCER CENTER: $127,000 · OtherIOWA HEALTH FOUNDAT…MERCYONE DES MOINES FOUNDATION: $102,000 · OtherMERCYONE DES MOINES…LUTHERAN CHURCH OF HOPE: $40,000 · OtherLUTHERAN CHURCH OF …HIGHLANDS CHURCH: $30,000 · OtherVARIETY - THE CHILDREN'S CHARITY OF IOWA: $27,102 · OtherEVERYSTEP FOUNDATION: $25,000 · OtherCHILDSERVE FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 · Other+26 more: $69,950 · Other+26 moreIOWA HEALTH FOUNDATION: $326,000 · HealthIOWA HEALTH FOU…STRANDS OF STRENGTH INC: $112,550 · HealthSTRANDS OF STRE…RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF CENTRAL IOWA INC: $75,500 · HealthRONALD MCDONALD…+3 more: $14,500 · HealthIOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION: $400,000 · Recreation & SportsIOWA STATE F…SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EQUESTRIAN SPORTS: $14,500 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $2,250 · Recreation & SportsGREATER DES MOINES PUBLIC ART FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $15,470 · Arts & CultureBLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 · AnimalsGREAT OUTDOORS FOUNDATION: $25,000 · AnimalsArizona Humane Society: $18,350 · Animals+2 more: $2,000 · AnimalsBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CENTRAL IOWA: $119,400 · Youth Development
Education$1,584,095Other$652,052Health$528,550Recreation & Sports$416,750Arts & Culture$265,470Animals$195,350Youth Development$119,400

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetManhattan University: $1,200,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetIOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $382,345 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetIOWA HEALTH FOUNDATION: $326,000 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetGREATER DES MOINES PUBLIC ART FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetBLANK PARK ZOO FOUNDATION INC: $150,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CENTRAL IOWA: $119,400 over 5y, 2.6% of budgetSTRANDS OF STRENGTH INC: $112,550 over 4y, 7.2% of budgetRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF CENTRAL IOWA INC: $75,500 over 4y, 2.6% of budgetVARIETY - THE CHILDREN'S CHARITY OF IOWA: $27,102 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDSERVE FOUNDATION INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetGREAT OUTDOORS FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetArizona Humane Society: $18,350 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EQUESTRIAN SPORTS: $14,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetABOVE AND BEYOND CANCER INC: $11,500 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetFOOD BANK OF IOWA: $7,500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWEST DES MOINES COMMUNITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $6,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetARIZONA MUSICFEST INC: $5,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER DES MOINES BOTANICAL GARDEN: $5,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetPHOENIX ART MUSEUM: $5,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCHILDREN AND FAMILY URBAN MINISTRIES D/B/A CHILDREN AND FAMILY URBAN MOVEMENT: $4,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMIND AND SPIRIT COUNSELING CENTER: $3,900 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetDES MOINES WINE FESTIVAL FOUNDATION: $3,270 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetYOUNG WOMEN'S RESOURCE CENTER: $3,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHOMES OF OAKRIDGE HUMAN SERVICES: $2,500 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetArizona Dressage Association: $2,250 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetHEALTHY BIRTH DAY INC: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSTATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA FOUNDATION: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTWO PUPS WELLNESS FUND: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetARIZONA SCIENCE CENTER: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetELLIPSIS INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE ARIZONA ANIMAL WELFARE LEAGUE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetIOWA FOUNDATION FOR AGRICULTURAL ADVANCE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetEdmundson Art Foundation Inc: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED STATES DRESSAGE FEDERATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPUPPY JAKE FOUNDATION: $500 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWorld Food Prize Foundation: $300 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWEST DES MOINES FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION: $250 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetLitShop: $250 over 1y, 0.2% 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…Prairie Meadows Race …The Merchants Bonding…Ita Group FoundationBookey Family Foundat…The West Bancorporati…EMC Insurance Foundat…R & R Realty Group Fo…Gartner Family Founda…William C Knapp Chari…Wt and Edna M Dahl Tr…
Meredith Corporation FoundationIA40× affinity17 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 · Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino Inc · The Merchants Bonding Company Foundation · Ita Group Foundation · Bookey Family Foundation · The West Bancorporation Foundation Inc · EMC Insurance Foundation · R & R Realty Group Foundation · Gartner Family Foundation % Michael G Gartner · William C Knapp Charitable Fdn · Wt and Edna M Dahl Trust

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

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Deb & Bob Pulver Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Deb & Bob Pulver Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    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 60 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 Deb & Bob Pulver’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