· Private foundation
Holmes Foundation
Its FY2018 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
Read this first · the figures below need context
52% of Holmes Foundation’s FY2018 grant dollars went to Mayo Clinic, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2018 names 4 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2017, the last year Holmes Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 6 organizations, $9k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2018.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| DES MOINES COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE | $2,500 |
| BERGMAN ACADEMY | $2,500 |
| BALLET DES MOINES | $1,000 |
| POP WRIGHT POSITIVE OUTREACH | $1,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $1,000 |
| PUPPY JAKE FOUNDATION | $500 |
| YMCA OF GREATER DES MOINES | $250 |
| ADVENTURES IN MISSIONS | $100 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–17, $500) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +96% since the first grant, against +57% for those funded once.
3 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2017, 0 since wound down; 7 grantees were first funded in FY2017 (too recent to call). Read against FY2017, the last year this funder named its own grantees directly; its giving has since run through a sponsor, which reports no donor behind each grant.
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2018, 62% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- BABERGMAN ACADEMY2× · 2017–2018 · $4k · revenue +96%
- IGIndividual grant recipient2× · 2017–2018 · $3k
- TYTHE YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER DES MOINES2× · 2017–2018 · $500 · revenue -46%
Funded once
- DMDES MOINES COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSEgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $3k · revenue +57%
- DMDES MOINES PERFORMING ARTSgraduatedone grant, 2018 · $1k · revenue +36%
- PWPOP WRIGHT POSITIVE OUTREACHone grant, 2017 · $1k
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.
7 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. 7 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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.
Open a dossier: Meredith Corporation Foundation · John Ruan Foundation Trust · MidAmerican Energy Foundation · Bookey Family Foundation · EMC Insurance Foundation · The Merchants Bonding Company Foundation · Amg Charitable Gift Foundation · Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Holmes Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Holmes Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Play a game based on Holmes’ filings →