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Nebraska · Private foundation

Ja Woollam 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.

$238k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
5
Grants FY2025
14
Organizations funded FY2024
21%
First-time grantees FY2024
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2025
$5,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$215,376
Organizations funded a year
5 to 18
FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025
3
Total assets, FY2025
$29M
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 21% of the organizations Ja Woollam Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 17% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 83% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $32k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EnvironmentEducationArts & CultureAnimalsPhilanthropyHealthOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving4$233k0%
FY202414$188k21%
FY202312$90k67%
FY20227$114k14%
FY20215$68k20%
FY20208$1.2M25%
FY201918$2.6M39%
FY201816$276k38%
96% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Religion$2.3MRecreation & Sports$1.2MEducation$970kEnvironment$721kArts & Culture$80kPhilanthropy$31kPublic Benefit$13kScience & Tech$4kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

ME
WI
MI
NY
WY
CA
UT
NE
VA
MD
NM
DC

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Show all 39 grantees
All grantees of Ja Woollam Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
St James Township$2,250,2702n/a
University of Nebraska Foundation$737,90070%
Southeast Community College Educational Foundation$158,40071%
Headwaters Land Conservancy$116,30046%
Pretty Lake Vacation Camp Inc$102,00055%
Little Traverse Conservancy Inc$100,00011%
Nebraska Trails Foundation Inc$100,000120%
The Nebraska Land Trust Inc$65,00063%
Wachiska Audubon Society Inc$35,840118%
Land Conservancy of West Michigan$35,00021%
New Mexico State Univ Fdn Inc$24,53220%
National Arbor Day Foundation$22,00020%
Keweenaw Community Forest Company$21,33210%
Sheridan Community Land Trust$15,00030%
Natural Resources Defense Council Inc$15,00010%
World Wildlife Fund Inc$10,50030%
Oval Beach Preservation Society$10,000146%
Michigan Maritime Museum Inc$10,00010%
Net Foundation for Television$10,00010%
The Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools$10,00010%
The Groundwater Foundation$10,00021%
The Wilderness Society$6,00020%
Charlevoix Area Community Pool$5,00010%
Stand for Schools$5,00011%
Trout Unlimited Michigan Council$5,00011%
Wabanaki Youth in Science Inc$3,0003n/a
Nebraska Conservation Voters$2,50011%
Opensky Policy Institute$2,50020%
The Nebraska Communities Playhouse$2,00010%
Dog & Cat Shelter Inc$2,00020%
Weber State University$2,0001n/a
Heartland United Way Inc$2,00010%
National Multiple Sclerosis Society$1,1251n/a
Wikimedia Foundation Inc$1,00010%
Nebraska Academy of Sciences$1,00011%
Nebraska Children & Families Foundation$1,00010%
The Food Group Inc$1,00010%
Six Rivers Land Conservancy Fka Six Rivers Regional Land Conservancy$1,00010%
Gathering Waters Inc$1,00010%

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 21 recipients with no EIN on record ($1.2M), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Ja Woollam Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 1 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 35 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUniversity of Nebraska Foundation: $737,900 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetSoutheast Community College Educational Foundation: $158,400 over 7y, 0.6% of budgetHeadwaters Land Conservancy: $116,300 over 4y, 6.4% of budgetPretty Lake Vacation Camp Inc: $102,000 over 5y, 4.5% of budgetLittle Traverse Conservancy Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetNebraska Trails Foundation Inc: $100,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetThe Nebraska Land Trust Inc: $65,000 over 6y, 3.2% of budgetWachiska Audubon Society Inc: $35,840 over 1y, 18% of budgetLand Conservancy of West Michigan: $35,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetNew Mexico State Univ Fdn Inc: $24,532 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNational Arbor Day Foundation: $22,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetKeweenaw Community Forest Company: $21,332 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSheridan Community Land Trust: $15,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetNatural Resources Defense Council Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWorld Wildlife Fund Inc: $10,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOval Beach Preservation Society: $10,000 over 1y, 46% of budgetMichigan Maritime Museum Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNet Foundation for Television: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetThe Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetThe Groundwater Foundation: $10,000 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetThe Wilderness Society: $6,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCharlevoix Area Community Pool: $5,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetStand for Schools: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetTrout Unlimited Michigan Council: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetNebraska Conservation Voters: $2,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetOpensky Policy Institute: $2,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetThe Nebraska Communities Playhouse: $2,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetDog & Cat Shelter Inc: $2,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetHeartland United Way Inc: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetWikimedia Foundation Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNebraska Academy of Sciences: $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetNebraska Children & Families Foundation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Food Group Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSix Rivers Land Conservancy Fka Six Rivers Regional Land Conservancy: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetGathering Waters Inc: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 35.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Cooper FoundationNE26.1× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Cooper Foundation · Lincoln Community Foundation Inc · Nebraska Community Foundation · The Sherwood Foundation · First Interstate BancSystem Foundation Inc · Lee and Debbie Stuart Family Foundation · Assurity Life Foundation · Duncan Family Trust · The Holland Foundation · Land Trust Alliance Inc · The Lozier Foundation · Charles Stewart Mott 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.

Compare Ja Woollam Foundation with peer funders

About Ja Woollam Foundation

How much does Ja Woollam Foundation give?
Ja Woollam Foundation reported 5 grants totaling $238,376 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 5 and 18 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does Ja Woollam Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Religion (42%), Recreation & Sports (23%), Education (18%).
Who are Ja Woollam Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: St James Township ($2.3M), University of Nebraska Foundation ($738k), Southeast Community College Educational Foundation ($158k).
Does Ja Woollam Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2024, 21% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does Ja Woollam Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as Ja Woollam Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Cooper Foundation, Lincoln Community Foundation Inc, Nebraska Community Foundation.
Where is Ja Woollam Foundation based?
Ja Woollam Foundation is based in NE.

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 63 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

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