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Kristen Lawless-Gustafson Family Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Kristen Lawless-Gustafson Family 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.

$165k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$567kPhilanthropy$337kHealth$38kAnimals$10kFood & Nutrition$9kYouth Development$7kHuman Services$5kCommunity Improvement$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $65k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$40,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$740k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HASTINGS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION$100,000
RONCALLI CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL$40,000
CUES SCHOOL SYSTEM$25,000
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 11%. 99% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%HOME FOR OUR TROOPS: $50 → 11%SAINT PAUL LUTHERAN SCHOOL: $1k → 10%HASTINGS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $100k → 11%NEBRASKA HUMANE SOCIETY: $9k → 12%THE WINGS PROGRAM: $500 → 11%MACC FUND: $500 → 17%BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF COLORADO: $4k → 8%RYLA ROTARY 6440: $1k → 7%ALMOST HOME FOUNDATION: $500 → 14%HASTINGS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $100k → 11%ST JAMES SCHOOL: $2k → 12%THE WINGS PROGRAM: $250 → 11%BEAR NECESSITIES PEDIATRIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $5k → 14%HASTINGS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $100k → 11%CUES SCHOOL SYSTEM: $50k → 12%HASTINGS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $100k → 11%CUES SCHOOL SYSTEM: $25k → 12%HEART MINISTRY CENTER: $9k → 12%CUES SCHOOL SYSTEM: $1k → 12%RONCALLI CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL: $40k → 12%RONCALLI CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL: $9k → 12%ST VINCENT DE PAUL: $20k → 12%OMAHA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $1k → 12%THE SALVATION ARMY: $5k → 12%SPIRIT CATHOLIC RADIO: $500 → 12%CHI HEALTH IMMANUEL: $13k → 12%BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS: $3k → 12%RBP SOUTH OMAHA SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $10k → 12%THE GIVING LAKE FOUNDATION: $300k → 12%THE GIVING LAKE FOUNDATION: $35k → 12%RITONYA BUSCHER SCHOLARSHIP (SOUTH OMAHA SCHOLASTIC FOUNDATION): $10k → 12%RITONYA BUSCHER SCHOLARSHIP (SOUTH OMAHA SCHOLASTIC FOUNDATION): $10k → 12%JOHN RITONYA MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND: $10k → 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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$881k · 6 repeat orgs$92k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +480% since the first grant, against +25% for those funded once.

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

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

6
17

Total granted

$881k
$92k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+480%
+25%

Still filing today

33%
41%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
HealthAnimalsFood & NutritionHousing & ShelterYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • HC
    HASTINGS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
    4× · 2022–2025 · $400k · revenue -20%
  • TG
    THE GIVING LAKE FOUNDATION
    2× · 2017–2021 · $335k
  • CS
    CUES SCHOOL SYSTEM
    3× · 2019–2025 · $76k

Funded once

  • SV
    ST VINCENT DE PAUL
    one grant, 2019 · $20k
  • AH
    ALEGENT HEALTH-IMMANUEL MEDICAL CENTERgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $13k · revenue +34%
  • RS
    RBP South Omaha Scholastic Fund Inc
    one grant, 2017 · $10k
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
Nevada Humane Society

To care for pets, find them homes and save lives.

Animals
2
Mutual of Omaha Foundation
Philanthropy
3
Ncs Hope Foundation

The nebraska cancer specialists (ncs) hope foundation is a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the lives of individuals and families in the community and the surrounding areas who are impacted by cancer treatment.

Human Services
4
The Omaha Home for Boys

The mission of the omaha home for boys is to support and strengthen youth, young adults, and families through services that inspire and equip them to lead independent and productive lives.

Human Services
5
University of Nebraska Foundation

The university of nebraska foundation grows relationships and resources that enable the university of nebraska to change lives and save lives.

Education
6
Habitat for Humanity of Omaha Inc

Habitat omaha brings people together to build homes and communities in a five-county area of eastern nebraska through its mission: we build strength, stability, and self-reliance through shelter. all habitat omaha services are provided…

Housing & Shelter
7
Central Nebraska Humane Society

To provide shelter to lost and homeless animals, to educate the community about the humane care and treatment of all animals, to advocate animal welfare and to further the bond between people and animals.

Animals
8
Home Buyers Assistance Foundation a Ne Corporation

To support first-time home buyers in nebraska, with an emphasis on low and moderate income individuals and communities. the foundation also works to offer housing relief to communities affected by natural disasters.

Housing & Shelter
9
Unmc Physicians

Our mission is to lead the world in transforming lives to create a healthy future for all individuals and communities through premier educational programs, innovative research and extraordinary patient care.

Health
10
Nebraska Human Resources Research Foundation

To discover individuals with exceptional capacity to positively influence the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of others; to explore the dimensions of human leadership and ways in which this potential can be maximized; to develop…

Public Benefit
11
Nebraska Community Foundation

The nebraska community foundation unleashes abundant local assets, inspires charitable giving, and connects ambitious people to build stronger communities and a greater nebraska.

Philanthropy
12
Regional West Health Services

Health care services for the people of western nebraska and eastern wyoming.

Health
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Nebraska Humane Society; the most unlike its peers is Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation. 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/11
Grantees still filing
7/11
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HASTINGS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $400,000 · OtherHASTINGS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATIONTHE GIVING LAKE FOUNDATION: $335,000 · OtherTHE GIVING LAKE FOUNDATIONCUES SCHOOL SYSTEM: $76,000 · OtherCUES SCHOOL SYSTEMRONCALLI CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL: $48,750 · Other+11 more: $72,000 · Other+11 moreALEGENT HEALTH-IMMANUEL MEDICAL CENTER: $12,500 · HealthBear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation: $5,000 · HealthWINGS PROGRAMS INC: $750 · HealthNEBRASKA HUMANE SOCIETY: $8,750 · AnimalsALMOST HOME FOUNDATION: $500 · AnimalsHEART MINISTRY CENTER: $8,750 · Food & NutritionBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF COLORADO INC: $4,200 · Youth DevelopmentOmaha Community Foundation: $1,000 · PhilanthropyHOMES FOR OUR TROOPS INC: $50 · Housing & Shelter
Other$931,750Health$18,250Animals$9,250Food & Nutrition$8,750Youth Development$4,200Philanthropy$1,000Housing & Shelter$50

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 budgetHASTINGS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 4y, 3.9% of budgetALEGENT HEALTH-IMMANUEL MEDICAL CENTER: $12,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetRBP South Omaha Scholastic Fund Inc: $10,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetNEBRASKA HUMANE SOCIETY: $8,750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHEART MINISTRY CENTER: $8,750 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF COLORADO INC: $4,200 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetOmaha Community Foundation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWINGS PROGRAMS INC: $750 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetALMOST HOME FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOMES FOR OUR TROOPS INC: $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.

The Blackbaud Giving …American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Blackbaud Giving FundSC10.7× affinity5 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Blackbaud Giving Fund · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · 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 Kristen Lawless-Gustafson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Kristen Lawless-Gustafson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%19%38%56%75%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get 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 · 0–75%
    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 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 Kristen Lawless-Gustafson 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