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George and Audrey Gaukler Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

George and Audrey Gaukler Family Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$340k
Granted FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$300k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its fieldRead
04Through 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 2025.

Recreation & Sports$921kEducation$130kPhilanthropy$105kArts & Culture$24kAnimals$5kInternational$2kHuman Services$2kHealth$1k
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $15k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $25k
  • $250k+1 grant · $300k
$1,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$1.8M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Valley City Park District$300,000
Bridges Art Council$15,000
Valley City Bares County Library$10,000
Sheyenne Valley Community Foundatio$5,000
Sheynne Valley Friends of Animals$5,000
United Nations Childrens Fund$1,000
Village Family Service Center$1,000
Barnes County Historical Society$1,000
Doctors Without Borders$1,000
The Salvation Army$500
CHI Health at Home Care$100
SMP Health$50
Open Door Center$50
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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%Illusion Theater: $8k → 11%United Nations Childrens Fund: $1k → 17%American Cancer Society: $1k → 13%VCSU Foundation: $500k → 12%Kindred Youth Baseball: $1k → 12%Grand Forks Foundation for Education: $5k → 13%The Salvation Army: $500 → 9%Doctors Without Borders: $1k → 17%Valley City Park District: $300k → 12%FM Area Foundation: $5k → 12%Valley City Park District: $100k → 12%Village Family Service Center: $1k → 12%Valley City State University Foundation: $100k → 12%Sheyenne Valley Community Foundation: $25k → 12%Sheyenne Valley Community Foundation: $25k → 12%Valley City Park District: $20k → 12%Bridges Art Council: $15k → 12%Sheyenne Valley Community Foundation: $10k → 12%Sheyenne Valley Community Foundation: $10k → 12%Sheyenne Valley Community Foundation: $10k → 12%Valley City Bares County Library: $10k → 12%Sheyenne Valley Community Foundatio: $5k → 12%Sheyenne Valley Community Foundation: $5k → 12%Sheynne Valley Friends of Animals: $5k → 12%Education Foundation for Valley City Public Schools: $5k → 12%Barnes County Historical Society: $1k → 12%North Dakota Winter Show Foundation: $100 → 12%CHI Health at Home Care: $100 → 12%SMP Health: $50 → 12%Open Door Center: $50 → 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 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
North Dakota State University Foundation

Building enduring relationships that maximize advocacy and philanthropy to support North Dakota State University.

Education
2
South Dakota Community Foundation

Receive and administer charitable gifts and permanent endowments primarily for the benefit of south dakotans. work with donors, charities, and community leaders to strengthen philanthropy in south dakota.

Philanthropy
3
The Vermont Community Foundation

The vermont community foundation helps to build philanthropic resources to sustain healthy and vital vermont communities. the foundation connects and mobilizes people through giving to multiply the impact of philanthropy.

Philanthropy
4
Minnesota Council on Foundations

MCF is a vibrant philanthropic community connecting, strengthening and mobilizing the power of philanthropy to advance prosperity and equity.

—
5
South Dakota Voices for Peace

Sd voices for peace provides five programming areas to assist vulnerable communities access services throughout the state: legal services, multilingual outreach, training and education, advocacy and civic engagement and rapid response.

—
6
Great Plains Food Bank

End hunger together.

Food & Nutrition
7
Feeding South Dakota

To eliminate hunger in south dakota.

Food & Nutrition
8
Missoula Community Foundation

To enhance community vitality by inspiring community giving and strengthening nonprofits

Community Improvement
9
Nd Association of Counties

NDACo provides leadership and services to foster effective and efficient government for the good of all counties.

—
10
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Inc

The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits informs, promotes, connects and strengthens individual nonprofits and the nonprofit sector.

Philanthropy
11
Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico

The Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico serves as a community resource, connects donors to needs, and supports charitable organizations in their work.

Philanthropy
12
Omaha Community Foundation

To serve the community by cultivating generosity and strengthening nonprofits.

Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation Corporation; the most unlike its peers is Sheyenne Valley Friends of Animals. 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

11 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. 11 of the 24 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)
4
Early backer (in before they grew)
11/11
Grantees still filing
6/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

VCSU Foundation: $500,000 · OtherVCSU FoundationVALLEY CITY PARK DISTRICT: $420,000 · OtherVALLEY CITY PARK DISTRICTVALLEY CITY STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $100,000 · OtherVALLEY CITY STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION+15 more: $66,300 · Other+15 moreSHEYENNE VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $90,000 · PhilanthropySHEYENNE …FARGO-MOORHEAD AREA FOUNDATION CORPORATION: $5,000 · PhilanthropySheyenne Valley Friends of Animals: $5,000 · AnimalsKINDRED YOUTH BASEBALL: $1,000 · Recreation & SportsAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $1,000 · HealthMEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC: $1,000 · International
Other$1,086,300Philanthropy$95,000Animals$5,000Recreation & Sports$1,000Health$1,000International$1,000

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 budgetVALLEY CITY STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetSHEYENNE VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $90,000 over 7y, 8.3% of budgetSheyenne Valley Friends of Animals: $5,000 over 1y, 5.8% of budgetGRAND FORKS FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetFARGO-MOORHEAD AREA FOUNDATION CORPORATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKINDRED YOUTH BASEBALL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOpen Door Center: $50 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.

Blue Cross Blue Shiel…Sanford Group ReturnBnsf Railway Foundati…Sheyenne Valley Commu…Fargo-Moorhead Area F…Otto Bremer TrustAmerican Online Givin…Amazonsmile Foundation
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota Caring FoundationND15.6× affinity5 shared granteesties to 7 of 7Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota Caring Foundation · Sanford Group Return · Bnsf Railway Foundation · Sheyenne Valley Community Foundation · Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation Corporation · Otto Bremer Trust · American Online Giving Foundation 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 George and Audrey Gaukler Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from George and Audrey Gaukler Family 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%1%3%4%5%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 · 0–5%
    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.
    04Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to George and Audrey Gaukler Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to George and Audrey Gaukler Family 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 24 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 George and Audrey Gaukler 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