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Nichols Company Charitable Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Nichols Company Charitable Trust

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$319k
Granted FY2025still arriving
37
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$50k
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, FY2020 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$196kCrime & Legal$150kInternational$123kHuman Services$122kEducation$97kCommunity Improvement$76kHousing & Shelter$52kEmployment$40kOther$0
02FY2025 · 37 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k16 grants · $23k
  • $10k–50k20 grants · $246k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
$10,000
Median grant
4
States reached
$3.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
POLICE FOUNDATION OF KANSAS CITY$50,000
OPERATION BREAKTHROUGH$20,000
THE NELSON GALLERY FOUNDATION$20,000
SALVATION ARMY$20,000
KANSAS CITY PARKS FOUNDATION$20,000
HISTORIC KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION$16,000
COMMUNITY LINC$10,000
UNITED WAY OF GREATER KANSAS CITY$10,000
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY$10,000
HOPE FAITH MINISTRIES INC$10,000
KC COMMON GOOD$10,000
CITY UNION MISSION$10,000
KC REPERTORY THEATER$10,000
ULI - THE URBAN LAND INSTITUTE$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $83k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 62% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $5k → 14%THE SHADOW BUDDY FOUNDATION: $5k → 5%SYNERGY SERVICES INC: $2k → 8%American National Red Cross: $687 → 14%LEAD TO READ: $25k → 8%Sleepyhead Beds: $5k → 15%PAWSPERITY INC: $5k → 15%YMCA OF GREATER KANSAS CITY: $5k → 15%SLEEPYHEAD BEDS: $3k → 15%PAWSPERITY INC: $1k → 15%HAPPY BOTTOMS: $1k → 15%SLEEPYHEAD BEDS: $5k → 15%HOPE FAITH MINISTRIES INC: $10k → 15%HOPE FAITH MINISTRIES: $5k → 15%MAYORS CHRISTMAS TREE ASSOCIATION: $5k → 15%HOPE HOUSE INC: $2k → 15%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.

69%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$667k · 25 repeat orgs$305k to everyone else

25 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2025, 14 since wound down; 26 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

25
19

Total granted

$667k
$137k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+10%
+15%

Still filing today

84%
74%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 47% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $168k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’25
Human ServicesArts & CultureEducationHousing & ShelterYouth DevelopmentHealthOther
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

  • OB
    OPERATION BREAKTHROUGH INC
    4× · 2020–2025 · $63k · revenue +23%
  • ST
    STARLIGHT THEATRE ASSOCIATION OF KANSAS CITY INC
    4× · 2020–2023 · $40k · revenue +22%
  • KC
    KC COMMON GOOD INC
    3× · 2020–2025 · $30k · revenue +701%

Funded once

  • NI
    NEWHOUSE INC
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue -9%
  • LT
    LEAD TO READ INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +26%
  • AL
    ASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF KANSAS CITYgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue +28%
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
North Central Kansas Housing Opportunities Inc
Community Improvement
2
Kc People's Fund
Philanthropy
3
Bike Share Kc

Bike share kc provides the greater kansas city area with a bike share system designed for transportation, recreation, and exercise.

Human Services
4
Kc Tenants

KC Tenants organizes to ensure that everyone in Kansas City has a safe, accessible, and truly affordable home.

Civil Rights
5
Kansas City Artists Coalition Inc

The kansas city atrtists coalition is a nonprofit organization that promotes visual arts awareness

Arts & Culture
6
Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City

Leading the way to the best kc region by convening innovative leaders, collaborating with like-minded organizations, advocating for positive change, and helping small businesses grow.

—
7
Convention & Visitors Bureau of Greater Kansas City

To create global passion for kansas city. we do this through sales and marketing efforts to attract visitors and conventions to kansas city.

—
8
Kansas Association of Community Action Programs Inc

Kacap supports community action agencies and other human services organizations in thier local, state and national efforts to end poverty.

Public Benefit
9
Kansas Business Hall of Fame Inc
—
10
Kansas City Community Land Trust

Acquire and develop real estate to provide safe, decent, and affordable housing to low-income homeowners while working to ensure a culturally, ethnically, and economically diverse and stable community where generations can thrive in place.

Housing & Shelter
11
Kansas City Museum Foundation Inc

The kansas city museum foundation preserves, interprets, and celebrates kansas city through collections, exhibitions, and bold programs that reflect the city's evolution and spirit, and engage visitors in unfolding stories about kansas…

Arts & Culture
12
Bionexus Kc

We inspire thinkers from different disciplines to combine their efforts for a common purpose: healthcare innovation.(continued on schedule o)from bioinformatics to cancer research and beyond, we stimulate collaboration and help bring…

Science & Tech
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Habitat for Humanity of Kansas City; the most unlike its peers is Northland Animal Welfare Society Inc. 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

53 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. 53 of the 71 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
53/53
Grantees still filing
31/53
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

KANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: $45,000 · OtherKANSAS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLSNelson-Atkins Museum of Art: $40,000 · OtherNelson-Atkins Museum of ArtNEWHOUSE INC: $25,000 · OtherNEWHOUSE INCASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF KANSAS CITY: $25,000 · OtherASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF KANSAS CITYSALVATION ARMY: $20,000 · OtherKANSAS CITY PARKS FOUNDATION: $20,000 · OtherGIVING THE BASICS INC: $18,868 · OtherHISTORIC KANSAS CITY FOUNDATION: $16,000 · OtherUnited Way of Greater Kansas City Inc: $15,000 · OtherKANSAS CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY: $15,000 · OtherKC COMMON GOOD INC: $30,000 · OtherKC COMMON GOOD INCProspect Business Association: $20,000 · Other+26 more: $119,500 · Other+26 morePOLICE FOUNDATION OF KANSAS CITY: $150,000 · Crime & LegalPOLICE FOUNDATION…STARLIGHT THEATRE ASSOCIATION OF KANSAS CITY INC: $40,000 · Arts & CultureSTARLIGHT THEATR…TROOST MARKET COLLECTIVE: $25,000 · Arts & CultureTROOST MARKET CO…THE NELSON GALLERY FOUNDATION: $20,000 · Arts & CultureTHE NELSON GALLE…KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $20,000 · Arts & CultureKANSAS CITY SYMP…KAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $15,000 · Arts & CultureKAUFFMAN CENTER …KEMPER MUSEUM OPERATING FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Arts & CultureKEMPER MUSEUM OP…CITY OF FOUNTAINS FOUNDATION: $10,000 · Arts & CultureCITY OF FOUNTAIN…+1 more: $1,000 · Arts & CultureOPERATION BREAKTHROUGH INC: $62,500 · EducationOPERATION B…THE NIA PROJECT: $10,000 · EducationTHE NIA PRO…GREAT JOBS KC INC: $10,000 · EducationGREAT JOBS …PARTNERSHIP FOR REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL PREPARATION - KANSAS CITY INC: $10,000 · EducationPARTNERSHIP…+3 more: $3,000 · EducationLEAD TO READ INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesLEAD TO R…Hope Faith Ministries Inc: $15,000 · Human ServicesHope Fait…SLEEPYHEAD BEDS: $12,500 · Human ServicesSLEEPYHEA…PAWSPERITY INC: $6,000 · Human ServicesPAWSPERIT…American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $5,687 · Human ServicesAmerican …SHADOW BUDDIES FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · Human ServicesSHADOW BU…YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY: $5,000 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN…MAYORS CHRISTMAS TREE ASSOCIATION: $5,000 · Human ServicesMAYORS CH…+3 more: $4,000 · Human ServicesJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF MIDDLE AMERICA INC: $60,000 · InternationalCOMMUNITY LINC: $15,000 · Housing & ShelterCity Union Mission: $11,000 · Housing & ShelterTHE FARMER'S HOUSE INC: $5,000 · Housing & ShelterRESTART INC: $5,000 · Housing & Shelter+1 more: $1,000 · Housing & Shelter
Other$409,368Crime & Legal$150,000Arts & Culture$141,000Education$95,500Human Services$83,187International$60,000Housing & Shelter$37,000

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 budgetPOLICE FOUNDATION OF KANSAS CITY: $150,000 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetOPERATION BREAKTHROUGH INC: $62,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF MIDDLE AMERICA INC: $60,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetSTARLIGHT THEATRE ASSOCIATION OF KANSAS CITY INC: $40,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetKC COMMON GOOD INC: $30,000 over 3y, 4.0% of budgetNEWHOUSE INC: $25,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetLEAD TO READ INC: $25,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetTROOST MARKET COLLECTIVE: $25,000 over 2y, 24% of budgetASSISTANCE LEAGUE OF KANSAS CITY: $25,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetTHE NELSON GALLERY FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetProspect Business Association: $20,000 over 2y, 9.4% of budgetKANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $20,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetGIVING THE BASICS INC: $18,868 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetKAUFFMAN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITY LINC: $15,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetUnited Way of Greater Kansas City Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetHope Faith Ministries Inc: $15,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSLEEPYHEAD BEDS: $12,500 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetCity Union Mission: $11,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGREAT JOBS KC INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHARVESTERS - THE COMMUNITY FOOD NETWORK: $10,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetKEMPER MUSEUM OPERATING FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetKANSAS CITY URBAN YOUTH ACADEMY INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetJUNIOR LEAGUE OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI: $10,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetPARTNERSHIP FOR REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL PREPARATION - KANSAS CITY INC: $10,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetBELLES OF THE AMERICAN ROYAL ORGANIZATION: $10,000 over 1y, 5.9% of budgetPAWSPERITY INC: $6,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $5,687 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSHADOW BUDDIES FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetWAYSIDE WAIFS INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE FARMER'S HOUSE INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNORTHLAND ANIMAL WELFARE SOCIETY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetGreater Kansas City Community Foundation: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER KANSAS CITY: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPOLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE OF KC INC: $5,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetMAYORS CHRISTMAS TREE ASSOCIATION: $5,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetRESTART INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBREAKTHROUGH T1D: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMISSOURI COLLEGES FUND INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBLACK ARCHIVES OF MID-AMERICA INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBIKE WALK KC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetROSE BROOKS CENTER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHAPPYBOTTOMS: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE RABBIT HOLE KC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF KANSAS CITY: $1,000 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.

Greater Kansas City C…The Kansas City Royal…United Way of Greater…Ewing Marion Kauffman…William T Kemper Foun…The Sunderland Founda…Oppenstein Brothers F…Health Forward Founda…Commerce Bancshares F…Hallmark Corporate Fo…The H & R Block Found…Jewish Community Foun…
Greater Kansas City Community FoundationMO54.7× affinity30 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Greater Kansas City Community Foundation · The Kansas City Royals Foundation · United Way of Greater Kansas City Inc · Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation · William T Kemper Foundation Commerce Bank Trustee · The Sunderland Foundation · Oppenstein Brothers Foundation · Health Forward Foundation · Commerce Bancshares Foundation · Hallmark Corporate Foundation · The H & R Block Foundation · Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City

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 Nichols Company Charitable Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Nichols Company Charitable Trust. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    17report 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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Nichols Company Charitable Trust?

    Find your warmest path to Nichols Company Charitable Trust 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 71 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 Nichols Company’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