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Josh and Susie Kimelman Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Josh and Susie Kimelman 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 FY2025still arriving
13
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$5k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2024.

Religion$95kArts & Culture$61kPhilanthropy$9kEducation$5kHealth$3kEnvironment$2kFood & Nutrition$2kAnimals$500
02FY2025 · 13 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,250
Median grant
3
States reached
$446k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DES MOINES METRO OPERA$5,000
CONGREGATION BETH EL$3,600
HAR ZION TEMPLE$3,200
TEMPLE BETH OR$3,050
TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE$3,000
DES MOINES SYMPHONY$1,500
DES MOINES ART CENTER$1,250
DES MOINES PUBLIC LIBRARY$1,000
GREATER DES MOINES PUBLIC ART FOUNDATION$1,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD$500
IOWA PUBLIC RADIO$500
JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DES MOINES$500
IOWA JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY$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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY18–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 8%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 51% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 8%HAR ZION TEMPLE: $3k → 7%CONGREGATION BETH EL: $4k → 11%JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DES MOINES: $2k → 5%DES MOINES METRO OPERA: $10k → 6%TEMPLE BETH OR: $3k → 8%HAR ZION TEMPLE: $3k → 7%CONGREGATION BETH EL: $4k → 11%JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DES MOINES: $1k → 5%DES MOINES METRO OPERA: $9k → 6%TEMPLE BETH OR: $3k → 8%HAR ZION TEMPLE: $3k → 7%CONGREGATION BETH EL: $4k → 11%DES MOINES METRO OPERA: $5k → 6%TEMPLE BETH OR: $3k → 8%HAR ZION TEMPLE: $3k → 7%CONGREGATION BETH EL: $4k → 11%DES MOINES METRO OPERA: $5k → 6%TEMPLE BETH OR: $3k → 8%HAR ZION TEMPLE: $3k → 7%CONGREGATION BETH EL: $3k → 11%DES MOINES METRO OPERA: $5k → 6%TEMPLE BETH OR: $3k → 8%HAR ZION TEMPLE: $3k → 7%DES MOINES METRO OPERA: $5k → 6%DES MOINES SYMPHONY: $2k → 10%TEMPLE BETH OR: $3k → 8%HAR ZION TEMPLE: $3k → 7%DES MOINES METRO OPERA: $4k → 6%DES MOINES SYMPHONY: $2k → 10%TEMPLE BETH OR: $3k → 8%HAR ZION TEMPLE: $3k → 7%DES MOINES METRO OPERA: $4k → 6%DES MOINES SYMPHONY: $2k → 10%DES MOINES SYMPHONY: $2k → 10%DES MOINES SYMPHONY: $2k → 10%TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE: $8k → 10%TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE: $8k → 10%CONGREGATION BETH EL: $6k → 10%CONGREGATION BETH EL: $3k → 10%CONGREGATION BETH EL: $3k → 10%TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE: $3k → 10%TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE: $3k → 10%TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE: $3k → 10%TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE: $3k → 10%TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE: $3k → 10%TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE: $3k → 10%DES MOINES ART CENTER: $2k → 10%DES MOINES ART CENTER: $1k → 10%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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 40% of Josh and Susie Kimelman Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 80% of the giving stays in IA; by stated purpose, 57%.

Josh and Susie Kimelman Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$188k · 14 repeat orgs$3k to everyone else

14 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
6

Total granted

$188k
$3k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+42%
+45%

Still filing today

50%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEnvironmentFood & NutritionHealthAnimalsOther
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

  • DM
    DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC
    8× · 2018–2025 · $45k · revenue +84%
  • DM
    DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION
    8× · 2018–2025 · $11k · revenue +52%
  • EA
    Edmundson Art Foundation Inc
    8× · 2018–2025 · $10k · revenue +20%

Funded once

  • IR
    IOWA RADIO READING INFORMATION SERVICE FOR THE BLIND
    one grant, 2022 · $875 · revenue -48%
  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2022 · $500
  • C
    CHRYSALIS
    one grant, 2022 · $500
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
Iowa Newspaper Association

To improve member newspapers

—
2
Des Moines Water Works Park Foundation

The des moines water works park foundation is dedicated to developing and executing the master plan created for water works park. the plan turns the park into a national model incorporating recreation, education and conservation within the…

Recreation & Sports
3
Des Moines Performing Arts

Engage the midwest in meaningful entertainment, education, and cultural activities. provide performing arts experiences that educate, inspire and challenge.

Community Improvement
4
Greater Des Moines Partnership Foundation
Philanthropy
5
Des Moines Jewish Foundation

The foundation was structured to encourage funding of the jewish federation of greater des moines, and is responsible for adding financial stability by broadening the funding base and thereby improving the ability of the des moines jewish…

—
6
Des Moines Golf and Country Club Educational Foundation
—
7
Greater Des Moines Convention & Visitors Bureau Inc

To promote and develop the visitors and convention industry in the greater des moines area and to encourage the utilization of facilities for visitors and conventions.

—
8
Common Good Iowa

Common good iowa engages iowans to create and advocate for research-based public policy that makes life better and more equitable for all who make iowa home.

—
9
Iowa City Unesco City of Literature

To build and support diverse communities of writers and audiences through the transformative power of story. We lead by inclusion and collaboration, celebrating the emotions, discovery and connections inspired by the written word in all…

Education
10
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art

To excite, engage and educate through the arts.

Arts & Culture
11
Iowa College Foundation

The foundation is organized to further the growth and development of private colleges and universities of higher education in iowa.

—
12
Des Moines Social Club

To provide a physical location for greater des moines residents to pursue their artistic passions.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden; the most unlike its peers is Animal Rescue League of Iowa Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

10 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. 10 of the 21 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
7/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

TIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE: $34,000 · OtherTIFERETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUEHAR ZION TEMPLE: $24,025 · OtherHAR ZION TEMPLETEMPLE BETH OR: $19,100 · OtherTEMPLE BETH ORCONGREGATION BETH EL: $17,750 · OtherCONGREGATION BETH ELCONGREGATION BETH EL: $12,700 · OtherCONGREGATION BETH ELDES MOINES PUBLIC LIBRARY: $5,500 · Other+5 more: $4,500 · OtherDES MOINES METRO OPERA INC: $45,300 · Arts & CultureDES MOINES METRO OPERA INCDES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $11,250 · Arts & CultureDES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATIONEdmundson Art Foundation Inc: $9,550 · Arts & CultureEdmundson Art Foundation Inc+2 more: $3,000 · Arts & CultureJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DES MOINES: $8,950 · PhilanthropyGREATER DES MOINES BOTANICAL GARDEN: $2,000 · EnvironmentFOOD BANK OF IOWA: $1,500 · Food & NutritionIOWA RADIO READING INFORMATION SERVICE FOR THE BLIND: $875 · HealthANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE OF IOWA INC: $500 · Animals
Other$117,575Arts & Culture$69,100Philanthropy$8,950Environment$2,000Food & Nutrition$1,500Health$875Animals$500

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDES MOINES METRO OPERA INC: $45,300 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetDES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $11,250 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetEdmundson Art Foundation Inc: $9,550 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetJEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DES MOINES: $8,950 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetGREATER DES MOINES BOTANICAL GARDEN: $2,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetGREATER DES MOINES PUBLIC ART FOUNDATION: $2,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetFOOD BANK OF IOWA: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetIOWA PUBLIC RADIO INC: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetIOWA RADIO READING INFORMATION SERVICE FOR THE BLIND: $875 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE OF IOWA INC: $500 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.

  • Who funds DES MOINES METRO OPERA INC ↗
  • Who funds DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds Edmundson Art Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds JEWISH FEDERATION OF GREATER DES MOINES ↗
  • Who funds GREATER DES MOINES BOTANICAL GARDEN ↗
  • Who funds GREATER DES MOINES PUBLIC ART FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds FOOD BANK OF IOWA ↗
  • Who funds IOWA PUBLIC RADIO INC ↗
  • Who funds IOWA RADIO READING INFORMATION SERVICE FOR THE BLIND ↗
  • Who funds ANIMAL RESCUE LEAGUE OF IOWA 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.

The Levitt FoundationBookey Family Foundat…Brenton FoundationMeredith Corporation …Lauridsen Family Foun…Gartner Family Founda…Mary K and Daniel M K…The Seidler FoundationWeathertop Foundation…Fred Maytag Family Fo…EMC Insurance Foundat…The Merchants Bonding…
The Levitt FoundationMD17.9× affinity6 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Levitt Foundation · Bookey Family Foundation · Brenton Foundation · Meredith Corporation Foundation · Lauridsen Family Foundation · Gartner Family Foundation % Michael G Gartner · Mary K and Daniel M Kelly Family Foundation C/O Dan Kelly · The Seidler Foundation · Weathertop Foundation F/K/A Thomas Nelson Urban Jr · Fred Maytag Family Foundation · EMC Insurance Foundation · The Merchants Bonding Company 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 Josh and Susie Kimelman Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Josh and Susie Kimelman 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%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    6report 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.

    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 21 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 Josh and Susie Kimelman’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