Iowa · Private foundation
Lee Endowment 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.
- $5k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 10
- Grants FY2025
- 11
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 27%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $83
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $2,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 11 to 14
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 2
- Total assets, FY2025
- $500k
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 27% of the organizations Lee Endowment Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 58% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 42% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 10 | $5k | 10% |
| FY2024 | 11 | $8k | 27% |
| FY2023 | 11 | $19k | 9% |
| FY2022 | 12 | $22k | 0% |
| FY2021 | 13 | $9k | 15% |
| FY2020 | 14 | $25k | 7% |
| FY2019 | 14 | $30k | 29% |
| FY2018 | 14 | $30k | 14% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Francis Lauer Youth Services | $20,107 | 7 | n/a |
| One Vision | $9,500 | 5 | 0% |
| Elderbridge Agency on Aging | $5,500 | 2 | 0% |
| Stebens Children's Theatre | $3,231 | 2 | 1% |
| Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa | $3,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Simpson College | $2,553 | 9 | 0% |
| North Iowa Transition Center Inc | $2,156 | 1 | n/a |
| United Way of North Central Iowa | $1,416 | 9 | 0% |
| Plymouth Area Fire Association Inc | $1,150 | 1 | n/a |
| Central Gardens of North Iowa Inc | $621 | 1 | 0% |
Show all 11 grantees
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Francis Lauer Youth Services | $20,107 | 7 | n/a |
| One Vision | $9,500 | 5 | 0% |
| Elderbridge Agency on Aging | $5,500 | 2 | 0% |
| Stebens Children's Theatre | $3,231 | 2 | 1% |
| Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa | $3,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Simpson College | $2,553 | 9 | 0% |
| North Iowa Transition Center Inc | $2,156 | 1 | n/a |
| United Way of North Central Iowa | $1,416 | 9 | 0% |
| Plymouth Area Fire Association Inc | $1,150 | 1 | n/a |
| Central Gardens of North Iowa Inc | $621 | 1 | 0% |
| Christmas Cheer Fund Inc | $102 | 2 | 10% |
Plus 19 recipients with no EIN on record ($131k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Lee Endowment Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: Farrer Endowment Foundation · Bertha Stebens Charitable Foundation · First Citizens Bank Charitable Foundation · Stratford Foundation · The David & Phyllis Murphy Charitable Foundation · Kinney-Lindstrom Foundation Inc · Alliant Energy Foundation Inc · Beth E Reinhart Charitable Trust · Tomson Family Foundation Trust · Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Lee Endowment Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Lee Endowment 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.
About Lee Endowment Foundation
- How much does Lee Endowment Foundation give?
- Lee Endowment Foundation reported 10 grants totaling $5,322 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 11 and 14 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Lee Endowment Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (25%), Education (21%), Youth Development (18%).
- Who are Lee Endowment Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Francis Lauer Youth Services ($20k), One Vision ($10k), Elderbridge Agency on Aging ($6k).
- Does Lee Endowment Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 27% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Lee Endowment 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 Lee Endowment Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Farrer Endowment Foundation, Bertha Stebens Charitable Foundation, First Citizens Bank Charitable Foundation.
- Where is Lee Endowment Foundation based?
- Lee Endowment Foundation is based in IA.
Play a game based on Lee Endowment’s filings →