Skip to content

· Private foundation

Pemberton Fam Char Fndtn

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.

$344k
Granted FY2025still arriving
7
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$86k
Largest
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$757kEducation$632kReligion$505kHuman Services$127kPhilanthropy$41k
02FY2025 · 7 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k6 grants · $258k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $86k
$43,045
Median grant
3
States reached
$5.7M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
UMKC FOUNDATION$86,089
THE BOWEN CENTER FOR THE$43,045
EDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY$43,045
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY$43,045
KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE$43,045
LYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY$43,045
THE COLONIAL CHURCH$43,045
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 (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 84% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%THE BOWEN CENTER FOR THE: $43k → 14%COLONIAL CHURCH IN PRAIRIE VILLAGE: $47k → 5%KANSAS CITY CENTER FOR FAMILY: $84k → 8%EDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $47k → 11%KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE: $47k → 15%BOWEN THEORY ACADEMY: $47k → 13%PEMBERTON FAMILY CHARITABLE: $41k → 14%COLONIAL CHURCH IN PRAIRIE VILLAGE: $44k → 5%EDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $44k → 11%KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE: $44k → 15%BOWEN THEORY ACADEMY: $44k → 13%THE COLONIAL CHURCH: $43k → 5%EDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $43k → 11%KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE: $43k → 15%BOWEN CTR FOR STUDY OF FAMILY: $37k → 13%COLONIAL CHURCH IN PRAIRIE VILLAGE: $41k → 5%EDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $41k → 11%KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE: $41k → 15%THE COLONIAL CHURCH: $41k → 5%EDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $41k → 11%KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE: $41k → 15%COLONIAL CHURCH PRAIRIE VILLAGE: $37k → 5%EDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $37k → 11%KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATER: $37k → 15%UMKC FOUNDATION: $86k → 15%UMKC FOUNDATION: $81k → 15%UMKC FOUNDATION: $94k → 15%UMKC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: $87k → 15%UMKC FOUNDATION: $74k → 15%KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $47k → 15%LYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY: $47k → 15%LYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY: $44k → 15%KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $44k → 15%KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $43k → 15%LYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY: $43k → 15%UMKC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: $41k → 15%UMKC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: $41k → 15%KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $41k → 15%LYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY: $41k → 15%LYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY: $41k → 15%KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $41k → 15%KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $37k → 15%LYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY: $37k → 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.

88%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.8M · 9 repeat orgs$242k to everyone else

9 repeat relationships: 6 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

9
4

Total granted

$1.8M
$199k

Still filing today

56%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $43k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationOther
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

  • UF
    UMKC FOUNDATION
    4× · 2022–2025 · $335k · revenue +94%
  • KC
    KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $252k · revenue +32%
  • LO
    LYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $252k · revenue +76%

Funded once

  • KC
    KANSAS CITY CENTER FOR FAMILY
    one grant, 2020 · $84k
  • PF
    PEMBERTON FAMILY CHARITABLE
    one grant, 2024 · $41k
  • BC
    BOWEN CTR FOR STUDY OF FAMILY
    one grant, 2023 · $37k
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
04the grantee network

5 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. 5 of the 14 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)
5/5
Grantees still filing
4/5
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE INC: $252,266 · Arts & CultureKANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE INCLYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY INC: $252,265 · Arts & CultureLYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY INCKANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $252,265 · Arts & CultureKANSAS CITY SYMPHONYUMKC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: $169,203 · OtherUMKC SCHOOL OF MEDICINECOLONIAL CHURCH IN PRAIRIE VILLAGE: $131,605 · OtherCOLONIAL CHURCH IN PRAIRIE VILLAGEBOWEN THEORY ACADEMY: $90,553 · OtherBOWEN THEORY ACADEMYKANSAS CITY CENTER FOR FAMILY: $84,035 · OtherKANSAS CITY CENTER FOR FAMILYTHE COLONIAL CHURCH: $83,715 · OtherTHE COLONIAL CHURCHTHE BOWEN CENTER FOR THE: $43,045 · OtherTHE BOWEN CENTER FOR THEPEMBERTON FAMILY CHARITABLE: $40,670 · OtherPEMBERTON FAMILY CHARITABLEBOWEN CTR FOR STUDY OF FAMILY: $36,946 · OtherCOLONIAL CHURCH PRAIRIE VILLAGE: $36,946 · OtherUMKC FOUNDATION: $335,328 · EducationUMKC FOUNDATIONEDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $252,267 · EducationEDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
Arts & Culture$756,796Other$716,718Education$587,595

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetUMKC FOUNDATION: $335,328 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetEDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY: $252,267 over 6y, 1.1% of budgetKANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE INC: $252,266 over 6y, 0.9% of budgetLYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY INC: $252,265 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetKANSAS CITY SYMPHONY: $252,265 over 6y, 0.3% 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 UMKC FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds EDEN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY ↗
  • Who funds KANSAS CITY REPERTORY THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds LYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY INC ↗
  • Who funds KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY ↗

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Pemberton Fam Char Fndtn funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Pemberton Fam Char Fndtn. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    1report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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 14 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 Pemberton Fam Char Fndtn’s filings →

    More from the funding graph