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Donald a & Verna M Peterson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Donald a & Verna M Peterson 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.

$25k
Granted FY2024still arriving
1
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
States reached
$25k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0189% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Environment$45kAnimals$44kEducation$33kReligion$5kHealth$2kInternational$1kArts & Culture$1kOther$0
02FY2024 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$207k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NATURAL LAND INSTITUTE$25,000
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 52% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 10%TILLERS INTERNATIONAL: $10k → 12%BELOIT COLLEGE: $13k → 10%HINSDALE HUMANE SOCIETY: $10k → 7%EVANGELICAL COVENANT CHURCH: $200 → 7%WRIGHT IN KANKAKEE: $1k → 14%PROVIDENCE LIFE SERVICES: $2k → 14%NATURAL LAND INSTITUTE: $25k → 15%TILLERS INTERNATIONAL: $3k → 12%HINSDALE HUMANE SOCIETY: $4k → 7%CHICAGO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 14%MORTON ARBORETUM: $10k → 7%CHICAGO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 14%BENEDICTINE UNIVERSITY: $10k → 7%CHICAGO ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 14%BENEDICTINE UNIVERSITY: $10k → 7%MORTON ARBORETUM: $10k → 7%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.

71%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$102k · 6 repeat orgs$42k to everyone else

6 repeat relationships: 0 still active in FY2024, 6 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
4

Total granted

$102k
$17k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+8%
+27%

Still filing today

67%
100%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 0% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $25k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’20’21’22’23’24
AnimalsEnvironmentEducationArts & CultureReligionHealthOther
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

  • Chicago Zoological Society
    3× · 2021–2023 · $30k · revenue +43%
  • TM
    THE MORTON ARBORETUM
    2× · 2022–2023 · $20k · revenue +8%
  • HH
    HINSDALE HUMANE SOCIETY
    2× · 2021–2023 · $14k · revenue +3%

Funded once

  • BELOIT COLLEGE
    one grant, 2017 · $13k · revenue +6%
  • RH
    REST HAVEN ILLIANA CHRISTIAN CONVALESCENT HOME
    one grant, 2020 · $2k · revenue -39%
  • SP
    SAMARITAN'S PURSEgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · $1k · revenue +134%
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
Lincoln Park Zoological Society

Lincoln park zoo is dedicated to connecting people with nature by providing a free, family-oriented wildlife experience in the heart of chicago and by advancing the highest quality of animal care, horticulture, education, science and…

Animals
2
Saint Xavier University

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…

Education
3
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
4
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
5
President and Trustees of Bates College

Bates is a college of the liberal arts and sciences, and is a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor, and to assuring in all of its efforts the dignity of each individual, and access to…

Education
6
Racine Zoological Society Inc

The mission of the racine zoological society is to foster an enlightening and affordable wildlife experience that improves the bond between people and nature. the society will provide for the recreation and education of the people, the…

Animals
7
Lake Forest College

Provide post-secondary education leading to a baccalaureate degree. Program service expenditures are made in conjunction with the operation of a liberal arts college spread over 107 acres with approximately 63 educational and support…

Education
8
Loyola University

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…

Education
9
Marine Biological Laboratory

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a world-renowned center for biological discovery and training that is notably affiliated with more than 60 Nobel Prize winners. Research is conducted by full-time faculty as well as hundreds of the…

Science & Tech
10
Taylor University

The mission of Taylor University is to develop servant-leaders marked with a passion to minister Christ's redemptive love, grace, and truth to a world in need.

Education
11
Bradley University

Bradley university empowers students for immediate and sustained success in their personal and professional endeavors by combining professional preparation, liberal arts and sciences, and co-curricular experiences. alongside our dedication…

Education
12
Rockford University

To educate men & women to lead responsible lives by means of a curriculum grounded in liberal arts learning and complemented and extended by professional and practical experience, through the total academic and co-curricular experience,…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Chicago Zoological Society; the most unlike its peers is Samaritan's Purse. 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

9 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. 9 of the 11 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)
9/9
Grantees still filing
7/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NATURAL LAND INSTITUTE: $25,000 · EnvironmentNATURAL LAND INSTITUTETHE MORTON ARBORETUM: $20,000 · EnvironmentTHE MORTON ARBORETUMChicago Zoological Society: $30,000 · AnimalsChicago Zoological SocietyHINSDALE HUMANE SOCIETY: $14,000 · AnimalsHINSDALE HUMANE SOCIETYBenedictine University: $20,000 · EducationBenedictine UniversityBELOIT COLLEGE: $12,500 · EducationBELOIT COLLEGEIndividual grant recipient: $13,000 · OtherIndividual gra…EVANGELICAL COVENANT CHURCH: $5,200 · OtherEVANGELICAL CO…REST HAVEN ILLIANA CHRISTIAN CONVALESCENT HOME: $2,000 · HealthSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $1,000 · ReligionWRIGHT IN KANKAKEE: $1,000 · Arts & Culture
Environment$45,000Animals$44,000Education$32,500Other$18,200Health$2,000Religion$1,000Arts & Culture$1,000

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 budgetChicago Zoological Society: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNATURAL LAND INSTITUTE: $25,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetTHE MORTON ARBORETUM: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBenedictine University: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHINSDALE HUMANE SOCIETY: $14,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetBELOIT COLLEGE: $12,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetREST HAVEN ILLIANA CHRISTIAN CONVALESCENT HOME: $2,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAMARITAN'S PURSE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWRIGHT IN KANKAKEE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

Donor Advised Charita…Amazonsmile Foundation
Donor Advised Charitable Giving IncCO7.5× affinity5 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile 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 Donald a & Verna M Peterson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Donald a & Verna M Peterson 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%10%20%30%40%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–40%
    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 11 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.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record but names no grant recipient in the published copy, so the figures above are from FY2024, the most recent year this funder’s grantee list reached the public record.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Donald a & Verna M Peterson’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