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Pennebaker Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Pennebaker Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$19k
Granted FY2025still arriving
18
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$4k
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, FY2017 to 2025.

Education$47kArts & Culture$35kRecreation & Sports$29kPublic Safety & Disaster$26kHuman Services$17kYouth Development$12kHealth$7kFood & Nutrition$5kOther$0
02FY2025 · 18 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$366k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS$4,250
NEW LONDON FIRE AND RESCUE$2,000
NEW LONDON AG FOUNDATION$1,250
NL JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION$1,000
MT PLEASANT MUSIC CHARITIES INC$1,000
NL TIGER TRAP SHOOTING$1,000
SOUTHEAST IOWA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$1,000
DOLLARS FOR SCHOLARS$1,000
HENRY COUNTY CONSERVATION DEPARTMEN$1,000
Individual grant recipient$1,000
DOVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY$1,000
HENRY COUNTY HERITAGE TRUST$500
ALCOHOL AND DRUG DEPENDENCY SERVICE$500
NEW LONDON COMMUNITY CHILD CARE CEN$500
SWEDISH HERITAGE SOCIETY FOUNDATION$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 (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%YOUNG HOUSE FAMILY SERVICES: $2k → 15%IOWA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY: $2k → 12%MT PLEASANT MUSIC CHARITIES INC: $2k → 12%MT PLEASANT MUSIC CHARITIES INC: $2k → 12%MT PLEASANT MUSIC CHARITIES INC: $2k → 12%MT PLEASANT MUSIC CHARITIES INC: $2k → 12%DOVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%HENRY COUNTY HELP TO OTHERS (H2O): $2k → 12%SOUTHEAST IOWA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: $2k → 12%MT PLEASANT HISTORIC PRESERVATION: $2k → 12%HENRY COUNTY HERITAGE TRUST: $1k → 12%MT PLEASANT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRI: $1k → 12%MT PLEASANT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRI: $1k → 12%NEW LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENT: $7k → 12%NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: $6k → 12%NEW LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENT: $5k → 12%NEW LONDON COMM & SCHOOL FOUNDATION: $5k → 12%NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: $5k → 12%NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: $4k → 12%NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: $4k → 12%NEW LONDON JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOC: $4k → 12%NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: $4k → 12%NEW LONDON JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOC: $4k → 12%NEW LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENT: $3k → 12%NEW LONDON JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOC: $3k → 12%NEW LONDON CHILD CARE CENTER: $3k → 12%NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: $3k → 12%NEW LONDON CHILD CARE CENTER: $3k → 12%NEW LONDON JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOC: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENT: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOC: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON FIRE AND RESCUE: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON FIRE AND RESCUE: $2k → 12%NL JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON DOLLARS FOR SCHOLARS: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON FIRE RESCUE: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON DOLLARS FOR SCHOLARS: $2k → 12%DOVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $2k → 12%NL TIGER TRAP SHOOTING: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENT: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON DOLLARS FOR SCHOLARS: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: $2k → 12%MT UNION TTT: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON CHILD CARE CENTER: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON DOLLARS FOR SCHOLARS: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS CLARK: $1k → 12%MT UNION TTT: $2k → 12%NEW LONDON AG FOUNDATION: $1k → 12%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.

91%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$163k · 28 repeat orgs$17k to everyone else

28 repeat relationships: 12 still active in FY2025, 16 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
9

Total granted

$163k
$13k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

-29%
+12%

Still filing today

18%
11%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 78% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4k 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 & CultureRecreation & SportsEducationHealthOther
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

  • NL
    NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
    7× · 2017–2025 · $27k
  • NL
    NEW LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENT
    5× · 2017–2021 · $19k
  • NL
    NEW LONDON JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION
    5× · 2017–2021 · $15k · revenue +10%

Funded once

  • NL
    NEW LONDON COMM & SCHOOL FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2017 · $5k
  • MP
    MT PLEASANT HISTORIC PRESERVATION
    one grant, 2020 · $2k
  • NL
    NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS CLARK
    one grant, 2023 · $1k
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
Iowa Automotive Heritage Foundation
Science & Tech
2
Iowa 80 Trucking Museum
Arts & Culture
3
Iowa Swine Jackpot Association Inc

Agriculture Education event with Youth

Youth Development
4
Union County Historical Society

Preservation of union county iowa hisorical information and artifacts.

—
5
Williamsburg Iowa Historical Society
Arts & Culture
6
Webster County Agricultural Associa

To provide a 4-h county fair.

—
7
Des Moines Area Association of Realtors Foundation
Education
8
Sioux County Historical Society

To preserve and celebrate the rich story of northwest iowa's dutch immigrant history and culture.

—
9
Antique Preservation Assoc

Operation of the Iowa Aviation Museum

Arts & Culture
10
Technology Association of Iowa Education Foundation
Community Improvement
11
Fremont County Historical Society

Restoration and display of historical items pertinent to fremont county, iowa

—
12
Wasco Co Historical Museum
Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Young House Family Services Inc; the most unlike its peers is Iowa Wesleyan University. 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

9 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. 9 of the 43 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)
9/9
Grantees still filing
3/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLS: $27,304 · OtherNEW LONDON COMMUNITY SCHOOLSNEW LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENT: $18,500 · OtherNEW LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENTMT PLEASANT MUSIC CHARITIES INC: $13,000 · OtherMT PLEASANT MUSIC CHARITIES INCIndividual grant recipient: $9,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientNEW LONDON DOLLARS FOR SCHOLARS: $9,000 · OtherNEW LONDON DOLLARS FOR SCHOLARSDOVER HISTORIAL SOCIETY INC: $7,400 · OtherNEW LONDON CHILD CARE CENTER: $7,000 · OtherYOUNG HOUSE FAMILY SERVICES INC: $6,500 · Other+29 more: $57,664 · Other+29 moreNEW LONDON JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION: $14,750 · Recreation & SportsNEW LONDO…HENRY COUNTY HERITAGE TRUST INC: $4,766 · Arts & CultureMIDWEST OLD SETTLERS & THRESHERS: $2,500 · Arts & CultureSWEDISH HERITAGE SOCIETY FOUNDATION INC: $500 · Arts & CultureNEW LONDON AG FOUNDATION: $1,250 · EducationALCOHOL & DRUG DEPENDENCY SERVICES OF SOUTHEAST IOWA: $500 · Health
Other$155,368Recreation & Sports$14,750Arts & Culture$7,766Education$1,250Health$500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetNEW LONDON JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION: $14,750 over 5y, 7.0% of budgetYOUNG HOUSE FAMILY SERVICES INC: $6,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetHENRY COUNTY HERITAGE TRUST INC: $4,766 over 8y, 0.9% of budgetIowa Wesleyan University: $4,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMIDWEST OLD SETTLERS & THRESHERS: $2,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetNEW LONDON AG FOUNDATION: $1,250 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetSWEDISH HERITAGE SOCIETY FOUNDATION INC: $500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetALCOHOL & DRUG DEPENDENCY SERVICES OF SOUTHEAST IOWA: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUNITY ACTION OF SOUTHEAST IOWA: $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 NEW LONDON JUNIOR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds YOUNG HOUSE FAMILY SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds HENRY COUNTY HERITAGE TRUST INC ↗
  • Who funds Iowa Wesleyan University ↗
  • Who funds MIDWEST OLD SETTLERS & THRESHERS ↗
  • Who funds NEW LONDON AG FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds SWEDISH HERITAGE SOCIETY FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds ALCOHOL & DRUG DEPENDENCY SERVICES OF SOUTHEAST IOWA ↗

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.

William M & Donna J H…Community Fdn of Grea…Amazonsmile Foundation
William M & Donna J Hoaglin Foundation IncIA22.1× affinity8 shared granteesties to 2 of 2Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: William M & Donna J Hoaglin Foundation Inc · Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn · 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 Pennebaker Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Pennebaker Foundation. 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%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    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 Pennebaker Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Pennebaker 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 43 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 Pennebaker’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