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Nels and Lucille Winther Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Nels and Lucille Winther Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$4k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$2k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2025.

Education$114kArts & Culture$85kPublic Safety & Disaster$61kRecreation & Sports$54kEnvironment$15kHealth$15kPhilanthropy$15k
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$222k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - KEARNEY$2,000
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - OMAHA$1,000
FORT HAYS STATE UNIVERSITY$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 (FY19–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%HAROLD WARP PIONEER VILLAGE FOUND: $25k → 8%DOANE UNIVERSITY: $500 → 9%MIDLAND UNIVERSITY: $500 → 11%BLUE HILL RURAL FIRE PROTECTION: $35k → 11%CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $500 → 12%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - OMAHA: $1k → 12%NEBRASKA WESLEYAN: $1k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA -: $2k → 13%WAYNE STATE COLLEGE: $2k → 13%CHADRON STATE COLLEGE: $1k → 16%NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE: $500 → 8%CITY OF MINDEN: $17k → 8%BLUE HILL EARLY LEARNING CENTER: $25k → 11%NEBRASKA WESLEYAN: $1k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA -: $2k → 13%WAYNE STATE COLLEGE: $1k → 13%MINDEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $15k → 8%BLUE HILL COMMUNITY SCHOOL: $15k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - LINCOLN: $3k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - KEARNEY: $2k → 13%DORDT UNIVERSITY: $1k → 8%CITY OF MINDEN: $15k → 8%BLUE HILL RURAL FIRE PROTECTION: $15k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - LINCOLN: $3k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA -: $2k → 13%KEARNEY COUNTY AG SOCIETY: $15k → 8%BLUE HILL PUBLIC SCHOOL: $11k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA -: $2k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA -: $2k → 13%KEARNEY COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $15k → 8%BLUE HILL GOLF ASSOCIATION: $9k → 11%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA -: $2k → 13%UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - KEARNEY: $1k → 13%MINDEN OPERA HOUSE: $15k → 8%BLUE HILL VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT: $6k → 11%MINDEN OPERA HOUSE: $15k → 8%BETHANY HOME: $15k → 8%MINDEN OPERA HOUSE: $12k → 8%MINDEN PUBLIC SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $10k → 8%KEARNEY CO HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10k → 8%FREDERICKSBURG CEMETERY: $8k → 8%MINDEN VOLUNTEER FIRE RESCUE: $6k → 8%BE THE GIFT NEBRASKA: $4k → 8%JENSEN MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $4k → 8%KEARNEY COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY: $3k → 8%MINDEN SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $2k → 8%JENSEN MEMORIAL LIBRARY: $1k → 8%AXTELL PUBLIC LIBRARY: $1k → 8%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.

45%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$161k · 14 repeat orgs$198k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +19% since the first grant, against +8% for those funded once.

14 repeat relationships: 2 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
23

Total granted

$161k
$197k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+19%
+8%

Still filing today

14%
35%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $500 went to new ones.

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

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

’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationArts & CulturePhilanthropyHealthRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • BH
    BLUE HILL RURAL FIRE PROTECTION
    2× · 2019–2021 · $50k
  • MO
    MINDEN OPERA HOUSE INC
    3× · 2019–2024 · $42k · revenue +14%
  • CO
    CITY OF MINDEN
    2× · 2019–2021 · $32k

Funded once

  • BH
    BLUE HILL EARLY LEARNING CENTER INC
    one grant, 2024 · $25k
  • HW
    HAROLD WARP PIONEER VILLAGE FOUND
    one grant, 2024 · $25k
  • KC
    KEARNEY COUNTY AG SOCIETY
    one grant, 2021 · $15k
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
Union College

Union college is a seventh-day adventist community of higher education, inspired by jesus christ, and dedicated to empowering students to learn, serve, and lead.

Education
2
Bethany College

Bethany college is a private, four-year liberal arts college whose mission is to educate, develop, and challenge individuals to reach for truth and excellence as they lead lives of faith, learning, and service.

Education
3
Simpson College

Through innovative learning opportunities, individual student attention, and an unwavering commitment to inclusive educational access, simpson college cultivates a diverse community of learners to lead lives of meaning and purpose.

Education
4
Augustana University Association

Inspired by lutheran scholarly tradition and the liberal arts, augustana provides an education of enduring worth that challenges the intellect, fosters integrity and integrates faith with learning and service in a diverse world.

Education
5
Nebraska Academy of Sciences
Science & Tech
6
Bethany Lutheran College Inc

Bethany lutheran college provides christian higher education in a challenging academic environment where personal mentoring guides students to pursue knowledge, truth, and discernment for productive and fulfilling lives.

Education
7
Luther College

Founded by the norwegian evangelical lutheran church in 1861, luther college is a four-year, residential liberal arts institution. luther welcomes students of all backgrounds to engage in a way of learning that moves beyond immediate…

Education
8
Nebraska Wesleyan University

Nebraska wesleyan university is an academic community dedicated to intellectual and personal growth within the context of a liberal arts education and in an environment of christian concern.

Education
9
Nebraska Methodist College of Nursing and Allied Health

Nebraska methodist college of nursing & allied health is a health professions institution providing education in healthcare related fields.

—
10
Hastings College

Hastings college is a private, co-education, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1882.

Education
11
Cornell College

Cornell college offers an innovative and rigorous learning community where faculty and staff collaborate with students to develop the intellectual curiosity, creativity and moral courage necessary for a lifetime of learning and engaged…

Education
12
Dean College

Dean college is a private, residential new england college grounded in a culture and tradition that all students deserve the opportunity to discover and exceed their greatest aspirations. a personal and transformative community since 1865,…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Midland University; the most unlike its peers is Blue Hill Golf Association. 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

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 38 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
10/10
Grantees still filing
8/10
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BLUE HILL RURAL FIRE PROTECTION: $50,000 · OtherBLUE HILL RURAL FIRE PROTECTIONCITY OF MINDEN: $32,000 · OtherCITY OF MINDENBLUE HILL EARLY LEARNING CENTER INC: $25,000 · OtherBLUE HILL EARLY LEARNING CENTER INCHAROLD WARP PIONEER VILLAGE FOUND: $25,000 · OtherHAROLD WARP PIONEER VILLAGE FOUNDKEARNEY COUNTY AG SOCIETY: $15,000 · OtherKEARNEY COUNTY AG SOCIETYBLUE HILL COMMUNITY SCHOOL: $15,000 · OtherBLUE HILL COMMUNITY SCHOOLMINDEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $15,000 · OtherMINDEN PUBLIC SCHOOLSUNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA -: $12,000 · OtherBLUE HILL PUBLIC SCHOOL: $10,880 · OtherMINDEN PUBLIC SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $10,000 · OtherKEARNEY CO HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $10,000 · Other+19 more: $54,705 · Other+19 moreMINDEN OPERA HOUSE INC: $42,000 · Arts & CultureMINDEN OPERA …KEARNEY COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $15,000 · PhilanthropyBETHANY HOME INC: $15,000 · HealthBlue Hill Golf Association: $9,250 · Recreation & SportsNORTHWESTERN COLLEGE: $1,000 · EducationDORDT UNIVERSITY: $1,000 · EducationMIDLAND UNIVERSITY: $500 · EducationDOANE UNIVERSITY: $500 · Education
Other$274,585Arts & Culture$42,000Philanthropy$15,000Health$15,000Recreation & Sports$9,250Education$3,000

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 budgetMINDEN OPERA HOUSE INC: $42,000 over 3y, 6.6% of budgetKEARNEY COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 8.3% of budgetBETHANY HOME INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBlue Hill Golf Association: $9,250 over 1y, 14% of budgetMINDEN SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $1,800 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetNORTHWESTERN COLLEGE: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetDORDT UNIVERSITY: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMIDLAND UNIVERSITY: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDOANE UNIVERSITY: $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 MINDEN OPERA HOUSE INC ↗
  • Who funds BLUE HILL EARLY LEARNING CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds KEARNEY COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BETHANY HOME INC ↗
  • Who funds Blue Hill Golf Association ↗
  • Who funds MINDEN SCHOOLS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds DORDT UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds MIDLAND UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds DOANE UNIVERSITY ↗

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 …Amazonsmile Foundation
The Blackbaud Giving FundSC9.8× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Blackbaud Giving 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 Nels and Lucille Winther Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Nels and Lucille Winther Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    5report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Nels and Lucille Winther Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Nels and Lucille Winther 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.

    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 38 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 Nels and Lucille Winther’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