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Donald E Nielsen Foundation Inc at a glance

· Private foundation

Donald E Nielsen Foundation Inc

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$250k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0186% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Philanthropy$2.6MPublic Benefit$2.3MPublic Safety & Disaster$1.0MEducation$952kHuman Services$925kArts & Culture$783kCommunity Improvement$750kRecreation & Sports$630kOther$0
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $11k
  • $10k–50k5 grants · $97k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $717k
  • $250k+1 grant · $250k
$32,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$17M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Individual grant recipient$250,000
BURT COUNTY FAIR FOUNDATION$200,000
Individual grant recipient$200,000
Individual grant recipient$175,000
WAKEFIELD COMMUNITY CENTER$80,503
Individual grant recipient$61,000
ROSALIE RURAL FIRE DEPARTMENT$32,000
HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE PUBLIC SCHOOL$25,000
Individual grant recipient$20,000
SUNSHINE CENTER$10,000
BEEMER SENIOR CENTER$10,000
NEBRASKA STATE PATROL FOUNDATION$9,000
RELAY FOR LIFE$1,500
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 (FY18–22, $119k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%HAVEN HOUSE FAMILY SERVICES CENTER: $50k → 13%ATI FOUNDATION: $10k → 7%ROOTS TO WINGS: $50k → 7%DECATUR SENIOR CENTER: $9k → 12%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.

44%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$4.3M · 20 repeat orgs$5.5M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +392% since the first grant, against +19% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 13 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
65

Total granted

$4.3M
$5.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+392%
+19%

Still filing today

20%
22%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 52% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $518k 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
Human ServicesCommunity ImprovementEducationPhilanthropyArts & CultureRecreation & 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

  • CC
    CUMING COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INC
    4× · 2018–2024 · $525k · revenue +517%
  • BC
    BURT COUNTY FAIR FOUNDATION
    3× · 2019–2025 · $335k · revenue +54% · 69% of their budget
  • FO
    FRIENDS OF OAKLAND FOUNDATION INC
    3× · 2017–2020 · $105k · revenue +392% · 34% of their budget

Funded once

  • ES
    EDUCATIONAL SERVICE UNIT 2
    one grant, 2021 · $536k
  • BR
    BANCROFT RURAL VOL FIRE RESCUE DE
    one grant, 2019 · $300k
  • FA
    FORT ATKINSON FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2021 · $250k · revenue -71%
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
Poweshiek County Fair Foundation
Recreation & Sports
2
American Veterans Park

The foundation raised funds to build and maintain a memorial to veterans of the military from cuming county nebraska

Recreation & Sports
3
Cozad Development Corporation

Foster Business Development in Cozad, NE

—
4
North Dakota Masonic Foundation
—
5
Humboldt Community Foundation Inc

General Community Betterment

Philanthropy
6
South Dakota State Fair Foundation

To support activities designed to enhance, improve, expand and continue the south dakota state fair as an agricultural, educational, developmental and entertainment venue in the state

Community Improvement
7
Iowa Automotive Heritage Foundation
Science & Tech
8
Iowa Sculpture Festival

Educational and cultural for iowa sculpture festival held annually in newton, iowa

—
9
Dallas County Fair Foundation

Raise funds to support the dallas county fair association; provide fundraising efforts to improve the infrastructure and programming provided to the residents of dallas county iowa.

Public Benefit
10
The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation
Philanthropy
11
North Central Kansas Housing Opportunities Inc
Community Improvement
12
Iowa West Foundation
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Midlands Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Susan Laflesche Picotte Center. 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

22 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 22 of the 93 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
8
Early backer (in before they grew)
20/22
Grantees still filing
12/22
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

CITY OF WEST POINT NE: $1,500,000 · OtherCITY OF WEST POINT NEEDUCATIONAL SERVICE UNIT 2: $535,500 · OtherEDUCATIONAL SERVICE UNIT 2BLAIR FAMILY YMCA: $450,000 · OtherBLAIR FAMILY YMCABANCROFT RURAL VOL FIRE RESCUE DE: $300,000 · Other+72 more: $5,253,324 · Other+72 moreWEST POINT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,955,000 · PhilanthropyWEST POINT COMMUNITY F…MIDLANDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $350,000 · PhilanthropyMIDLANDS COMMUNITY FOU…+2 more: $95,000 · PhilanthropyCUMING COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INC: $525,000 · Community ImprovementBURT COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION: $200,000 · Community ImprovementHISTORIC BRYANT HOUSE INC: $75,000 · Community ImprovementFORT ATKINSON FOUNDATION: $250,000 · Arts & CultureGeneration Diamond Corporation: $100,000 · Arts & CultureBURT COUNTY FAIR FOUNDATION: $335,012 · Recreation & SportsHAVEN HOUSE FAMILY SERVICES CENTER: $50,000 · Human ServicesROOTS TO WINGS INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesATI FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Human ServicesDECATUR SENIOR CENTER: $8,500 · Human ServicesSUSAN LAFLESCHE PICOTTE CENTER: $50,000 · EducationTekamah-Herman Public Schools Foundation: $25,000 · EducationBANCROFT-ROSALIE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $16,300 · Education
Other$8,038,824Philanthropy$2,400,000Community Improvement$800,000Arts & Culture$350,000Recreation & Sports$335,012Human Services$118,500Education$91,300

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWEST POINT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1,955,000 over 5y, 63% of budgetCUMING COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INC: $525,000 over 4y, 24% of budgetMIDLANDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $350,000 over 2y, 4.9% of budgetBURT COUNTY FAIR FOUNDATION: $335,012 over 3y, 69% of budgetFRIENDS OF OAKLAND FOUNDATION INC: $105,000 over 3y, 34% of budgetGeneration Diamond Corporation: $100,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetHISTORIC BRYANT HOUSE INC: $75,000 over 1y, 53% of budgetTEKAMAH COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $70,000 over 1y, 25% of budgetHAVEN HOUSE FAMILY SERVICES CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetHAPPY DAYS SENIOR CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 60% of budgetROOTS TO WINGS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetSUSAN LAFLESCHE PICOTTE CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetNEBRASKA STATE PATROL FOUNDATION INC: $48,100 over 2y, 22% of budgetCATTLEMEN'S BALL OF NEBRASKA INC: $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTekamah-Herman Public Schools Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 6.9% of budgetATI FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetDECATUR SENIOR CENTER: $8,500 over 1y, 12% 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 WEST POINT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds CUMING COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INC ↗
  • Who funds MIDLANDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BURT COUNTY FAIR FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds FORT ATKINSON FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BURT COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION ↗
  • Who funds THE WEST POINT AUDITORIUM FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE INC ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF OAKLAND FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds Generation Diamond Corporation ↗
  • Who funds HISTORIC BRYANT HOUSE INC ↗

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.

Friends of Oakland Fo…Fremont Area Communit…The Sherwood Foundati…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Friends of Oakland Foundation IncNE13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 0 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Friends of Oakland Foundation Inc · Fremont Area Community Foundation · The Sherwood Foundation · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 E Nielsen Foundation Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Donald E Nielsen Foundation Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 Donald E Nielsen Foundation Inc?

    Find your warmest path to Donald E Nielsen Foundation Inc 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 93 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Donald E Nielsen’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