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Nebraska Humanities Council at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Nebraska Humanities Council

Humanities nebraska helps nebraskans explore what connects us and makes us human.

$1.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
20
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$516k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$2.8MEducation$609kCivil Rights$105kHuman Services$95kPhilanthropy$53kYouth Development$38kPublic Benefit$37kReligion$35kOther$0
02FY2025 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 20 grants below total $698,540, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,088,735 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $390,195 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k12 grants · $84k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $98k
  • $250k+1 grant · $516k
$8,900
Median grant
1
States reached
$388k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NEBRASKA FOUNDATION FOR THE$516,000
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT LINCOLN$22,005
NEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY$15,000
AFRICAN CULTURE CONNECTION$15,000
VISION MAKER MEDIA$13,800
OMAHA PERFORMING ARTS$12,400
ELKHORN VALLEY MUSEUM$10,000
THE DURHAM MUSEUM$10,000
THE HOUSE OF AFROS$9,700
NEBRASKA NATIONAL GUARD MUSEUM$8,900
WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION$8,770
BEMIS CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART$7,600
LINCOLN CROSSROADS MUSIC FESTIVAL$7,500
NEBRASKA WRITERS COLLECTIVE$7,000
TOGETHER WE ACHIEVE MIRACLES INC$6,500
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:

Its human-services grants (FY22–22, $21k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%INDIAN CENTER INC: $11k → 13%EL CENTRO DE LAS AMERICAS: $11k → 13%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.

Which US states its grants reach

MT
WI
NY
MA
IN
NE
KS
DC
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.

83%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.2M · 54 repeat orgs$632k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +29% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.

54 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 39 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

54
64

Total granted

$3.2M
$598k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+29%
+21%

Still filing today

91%
70%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 95% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $34k 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
Arts & CultureEducationCivil RightsPhilanthropyYouth DevelopmentPublic BenefitOther
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

  • NF
    NEBRASKA FOUNDATION FOR THE HUMANITIES
    3× · 2021–2025 · $970k · revenue +39% · 77% of their budget
  • NW
    NEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY
    9× · 2017–2025 · $124k · revenue +21%
  • TW
    THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION
    9× · 2017–2025 · $107k · revenue +57%

Funded once

  • CN
    CELEBRATING NEBRASKA STATEHOOD INC
    one grant, 2017 · $20k · revenue -99%
  • TD
    THE DURHAM MUSEUM FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $19k · revenue +447%
  • NH
    Nebraska History Museum
    one grant, 2020 · $18k
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
Northeastern Nevada Historical Soci

Northeastern nevada historcial society is dedicated to the preservation of the hertitage, culture, and natural history of northeastern nevada. our ongoing goals are to establish a western art center and nourish the western culture that…

Arts & Culture
2
North Central Nevada Historical Society

Public museum dedicated to the collection, preservation, promotion, and exhibition of the history, pre-history, natural history, and cultural heritage of north central nevada.

—
3
Museum of Nebraska Art

The museum of nebraska art (mona) celebrates the history of nebraska's visual art for diverse audiences. mona collects, preserves, researches, exhibits, and interprets the work of artists who were born, lived, trained, or worked in…

Arts & Culture
4
Richardson County Historical Society Inc

Museum depicting history of richardson county, nebraska

—
5
Seward Arts Council
—
6
Museum of the Plains

The purposeof the museum of the plains is to preserve significant objects of the past. the museum fo the plains is an encyclopedic history museum established to bring about a better understanding and appreciation by the community and…

Arts & Culture
7
Plains Historical Society

Preserve and protect cultural, historical, and scientific items to foster and to promote learning of kimball county, nebraska culture and history.

Arts & Culture
8
Wasco Co Historical Museum
Arts & Culture
9
Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation

The nebraska state historical society foundation's mission is to support the preservation, interpretation and appreciation of nebraska history.

Arts & Culture
10
Adams County Historical Society

Services include providing public with educational resources including research, maps, photos, and historical news of adams county, nebraska.

—
11
Dakotaland Museum

The organization is dedicated to preserving, restoring and educating others about the history of the region.

—
12
Nebraska Humanities Council

Humanities nebraska helps nebraskans explore what connects us and makes us human.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Hastings Museum; the most unlike its peers is Harold Warp Pioneer Village 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

108 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 108 of the 125 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
33
Early backer (in before they grew)
100/108
Grantees still filing
66/108
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NEBRASKA FOUNDATION FOR THE HUMANITIES: $969,858 · OtherNEBRASKA FOUNDATION FOR THE HUMANITIESBOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA: $333,567 · OtherBOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA+47 more: $661,883 · Other+47 moreTHE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION: $107,488 · Arts & CultureTHE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATIONAFRICAN CULTURE CONNECTION: $104,065 · Arts & CultureAFRICAN CULTURE CONNECTIONTHE DURHAM MUSEUM: $91,125 · Arts & CultureTHE DURHAM MUSEUMNEBRASKA WRITERS COLLECTIVE: $67,838 · Arts & CultureNEBRASKA PUBLIC MEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $67,500 · Arts & CultureASIAN COMMUNITY AND CULTURAL CENTER: $63,790 · Arts & CultureEL MUSEO LATINO: $59,755 · Arts & Culture+49 more: $810,617 · Arts & Culture+49 moreNEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $123,589 · EducationCONCORDIA UNIVERSITY: $45,000 · EducationMETROPOLITAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $20,992 · EducationCreighton University: $19,100 · EducationLINCOLN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $16,000 · EducationBRIGHT LIGHTS INC: $15,565 · EducationCENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $12,500 · EducationWESSELS LIVING HISTORY FARM: $12,000 · Education+2 more: $13,015 · EducationJOHN G NEIHARDT FOUNDATION: $36,627 · PhilanthropyLEXINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $28,288 · PhilanthropyTHE DURHAM MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC: $19,110 · PhilanthropyKEARNEY AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $12,515 · PhilanthropyLincoln Community Foundation Inc: $12,000 · PhilanthropyINCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES: $70,500 · Civil RightsNEBRASKA CIVIC ENGAGEMENT TABLE: $8,904 · Civil RightsTOGETHER WE ACHIEVE MIRACLES INC: $23,500 · Crime & LegalCOMPLETELY KIDS: $13,314 · Youth DevelopmentPRAIRIE LOFT CENTER: $9,000 · Youth Development
Other$1,965,308Arts & Culture$1,372,178Education$277,761Philanthropy$108,540Civil Rights$79,404Crime & Legal$23,500Youth Development$22,314

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 budgetNEBRASKA FOUNDATION FOR THE HUMANITIES: $969,858 over 3y, 77% of budgetNEBRASKA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $123,589 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION: $107,488 over 9y, 0.7% of budgetAFRICAN CULTURE CONNECTION: $104,065 over 7y, 9.3% of budgetTHE DURHAM MUSEUM: $91,125 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetINCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES: $70,500 over 3y, 3.1% of budgetNEBRASKA WRITERS COLLECTIVE: $67,838 over 8y, 2.3% of budgetNEBRASKA PUBLIC MEDIA FOUNDATION INC: $67,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetASIAN COMMUNITY AND CULTURAL CENTER: $63,790 over 7y, 1.1% of budgetEL MUSEO LATINO: $59,755 over 6y, 2.4% of budgetNET FOUNDATION FOR TELEVISION: $58,500 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCONCORDIA UNIVERSITY: $45,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNEBRASKA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL INC: $44,800 over 5y, 2.8% of budgetGREAT PLAINS THEATRE COMMONS: $41,500 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetBEMIS CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS INC: $37,575 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetJOHN G NEIHARDT FOUNDATION: $36,627 over 3y, 16% of budgetBUFFALO COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $36,500 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetNET FOUNDATION FOR RADIO: $36,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE MIDWEST THEATER: $35,230 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetJOSLYN CASTLE TRUST INC: $33,538 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetSTRATEGIC AIR COMMAND & AEROSPACE MUSEUM: $32,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetLEGACY OF THE PLAINS MUSEUM INC: $31,500 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetSTUHR MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $31,500 over 2y, 1.5% of budgetHAMILTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $30,300 over 3y, 5.4% of budgetLEXINGTON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $28,288 over 3y, 2.3% of budgetWashington County Historical Association: $28,000 over 3y, 4.5% of budgetKREGEL WINDMILL FACTORY MUSEUM: $27,000 over 2y, 13% of budgetLINCOLN CROSSROADS FESTIVAL: $26,750 over 4y, 63% of budgetDAWSON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $24,200 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetTOGETHER WE ACHIEVE MIRACLES INC: $23,500 over 3y, 13% of budgetHISTORY NEBRASKA FOUNDATION: $22,716 over 2y, 19% of budgetFLATWATER SHAKESPEARE COMPANY: $22,066 over 3y, 11% of budgetCRANE RIVER THEATER COMPANY INC: $21,828 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetGREAT PLAINS BLACK HISTORY MUSEUM: $21,728 over 2y, 7.7% of budgetTHE TRI-FAITH INITIATIVE OF OMAHA NEBRASKA: $21,000 over 2y, 2.1% of budgetMETROPOLITAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $20,992 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY INC: $20,700 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetKANEKO: $20,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetTHE HOUSE OF AFROS CAPES & CURLS INC: $19,200 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetTHE DURHAM MUSEUM FOUNDATION INC: $19,110 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetCreighton University: $19,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetFRIENDS OF HOMESTEAD NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK: $19,050 over 2y, 7.4% of budgetHEARTLAND MUSEUM OF MILITARY VEHICL: $18,510 over 2y, 17% of budgetBlue Barn Theatre: $18,000 over 2y, 1.1% of budgetJOSLYN ART MUSEUM: $18,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetElkhorn Valley Historical Society of Norfolk: $17,500 over 2y, 7.2% of budgetMONTANA HISTORY FOUNDATION: $17,200 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetHALL COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $16,500 over 2y, 8.0% 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 Sherwood Foundati…Peter Kiewit Foundati…Lincoln Community Fou…The Lozier FoundationCooper FoundationWeitz Family Foundati…Robert B Daugherty Fo…Nac Development Corpo…Nebraska Community Fo…The Holland FoundationUnion Pacific Foundat…Annette and Paul Smit…
The Sherwood FoundationNE86.8× affinity45 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Sherwood Foundation · Peter Kiewit Foundation · Lincoln Community Foundation Inc · The Lozier Foundation · Cooper Foundation · Weitz Family Foundation · Robert B Daugherty Foundation · Nac Development Corporation · Nebraska Community Foundation · The Holland Foundation · Union Pacific Foundation · Annette and Paul Smith Charitable Fund

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 Nebraska Humanities Council funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Nebraska Humanities Council. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 6%
  • The Center for Independent Documentary Inc: 6% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
35report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 125 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 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 Nebraska Humanities Council’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