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Roy and Leona Nelson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Roy and Leona Nelson Foundation

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.

$196k
Granted FY2025still arriving
25
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$45k
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.

Education$773kHealth$131kPhilanthropy$103kHuman Services$60kHousing & Shelter$37kYouth Development$26kFood & Nutrition$21kAnimals$16kOther$0
02FY2025 · 25 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k19 grants · $40k
  • $10k–50k6 grants · $156k
$2,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$2.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences$45,000
Spokane Colleges Foundation$30,000
Whitworth University$22,500
Northwest Nazarene University$22,500
Eastern Washington University Foundation$18,000
Lewis-Clark State College$18,000
Garden Terrace Senior Living$5,000
Alatheia Therapeutic Riding Center$5,000
Tri-Cities Union Gospel Mission$5,000
National Alliance for Mental Illness - Coeur d'Alene$3,500
United Way of North Idaho$2,000
Second Harvest Food Bank$2,000
Morning Star Boys Ranch$2,000
Individual grant recipient$2,000
Odyssey Youth Movement$1,500
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 (FY20–23, $6k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 55% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%Family Promise of the Palouse: $1k → 16%Seven Acres Foundation: $3k → 9%Okanogan County Community Action Council: $1k → 17%Spokane Eastside Reunion Association: $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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.0M · 34 repeat orgs$75k to everyone else

34 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 20 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

34
39

Total granted

$1.0M
$53k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+26%
+27%

Still filing today

59%
49%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $22k 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
EducationHuman ServicesAnimalsFood & NutritionYouth DevelopmentHousing & ShelterOther
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

  • WU
    WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY
    6× · 2020–2025 · $146k · revenue +15%
  • NN
    NORTHWEST NAZARENE UNIVERSITY INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $144k · revenue +23%
  • SC
    SPOKANE COLLEGES FOUNDATION
    6× · 2020–2025 · $105k · revenue +214%

Funded once

  • TL
    Tri-county Library
    one grant, 2024 · $5k
  • NA
    National Alliance for Mental Illness - Coeur d'Alen
    one grant, 2024 · $4k
  • SA
    Seven Acres Foundation
    one grant, 2021 · $3k · 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
Chelan Valley Hope

Chelan Valley Hope is a gross-roots local social services agency 'hub' for compassionate connections and resources since 2009. We empower people to improve their own lives by giving them a hand up; not just a hand-out. We do this by…

Human Services
2
Community Foundation of Snohomish County

The Community Foundation of Snohomish County (the Foundation) is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Washington. The Foundation serves as a community foundation, supporting a broad spectrum of…

Philanthropy
3
Snoqualmie Valley Food Bank

Our mission is to provide food and key resources to help our neighbors and community thrive. we lead the effort to feed, educated and advocate ending hunger in the snoqualmie valley and beyond.

Food & Nutrition
4
Transitions

Transitions works to end poverty and homelessness for women and children in Spokane, Washington.

Human Services
5
United Way of Snohomish County

United way of snohomish county improves lives for families in snohomish county by bringing people, resources, and strategy together.

Philanthropy
6
Women & Children's Free Restaurant & Community Kitchen

We help meet the nutritional and social needs of low-income women and children in Spokane County by providing healthy meals at no charge at the restaurant and through partner agencies.

—
7
Skagit Valley Hospitality House Association

To reflect the heart of God by feeding, sheltering, clothing, healing and empowering those in need. Programs include housing, a cafe and job training system, shelter resources, and more. Our core values are: compassion, respect, joy and…

Housing & Shelter
8
Port Angeles Food Bank

Nourishing our community. the port angeles food bank is the main food bank in clallam county, providing food to 13 other area pantries and meal programs as well as providing food to over 5,000 individuals per month.

Food & Nutrition
9
Partners Inland Northwest

Partners inland northwest is the sole source of comprehensive community and social services in spokane valley, serving low income and disadvantaged residents between the city of spokane and the idaho border.

Human Services
10
Tenino Community Service Center

Tenino Community Service Center/Tenino Food Bank Plus is a deep-rooted community-based service center dedicated to feeding those within the Tenino school district (Tenino and Bucoda) that may be disadvantaged. In addition, it is our…

Food & Nutrition
11
Rainier Valley Food Bank

Our mission is to nourish with good food, empower with knowledge, and serve with compassion.

Unclassified
12
Butte Emergency Food Bank

Provide food for individuals in need

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Catholic Charities of Spokane; the most unlike its peers is Odyssey Youth Center. 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

46 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. 46 of the 85 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)
9
Early backer (in before they grew)
45/46
Grantees still filing
30/46
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY: $146,250 · EducationWHITWORTH UNIVERSITYNORTHWEST NAZARENE UNIVERSITY INC: $144,000 · EducationNORTHWEST NAZARENE UNIVERSITY INCSPOKANE COLLEGES FOUNDATION: $105,000 · EducationSPOKANE COLLEGES FOUNDATIONPACIFIC NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES: $94,500 · EducationPACIFIC NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCESHERITAGE UNIVERSITY: $81,000 · EducationHERITAGE UNIVERSITYEastern Washington University Foundation: $51,000 · EducationEastern Washington University FoundationBIG BEND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $45,000 · EducationBIG BEND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATIONNORTH IDAHO COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $45,000 · EducationNORTH IDAHO COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC+3 more: $6,500 · EducationLEWIS-CLARK STATE COLLEGE: $99,000 · OtherLEWIS-CLARK STATE COLLEGEWenatchee Valley College: $45,000 · OtherWenatchee Valley CollegeServe Wenatchee: $30,000 · OtherServe WenatcheeSecond Harvest Food Bank: $11,500 · OtherUnion Gospel Mission: $11,250 · OtherNational Alliance for Mental Illness - Coeur d'Alene: $10,500 · Other+50 more: $100,750 · Other+50 moreCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NCW: $100,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY…+1 more: $1,000 · PhilanthropySeattle Area Youth for Christ: $10,000 · Youth DevelopmentMorning Star Boys Ranch: $5,000 · Youth DevelopmentBoys & Girls Club of Spokane County: $4,500 · Youth DevelopmentSpokane Humane Society: $3,000 · AnimalsYAKIMA HUMANE SOCIETY: $3,000 · AnimalsWENATCHEE VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $3,000 · AnimalsKOOTENAI HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $3,000 · AnimalsPRIEST RIVER ANIMAL RESCUE INC: $750 · Animals+1 more: $250 · AnimalsVANESSA BEHAN: $12,500 · Crime & LegalCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SPOKANE: $4,000 · Human ServicesSeven Acres Foundation: $2,500 · Human ServicesSPOKANE EASTSIDE REUNION ASSOCIATION: $1,000 · Human ServicesOKANOGAN COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL INC: $1,000 · Human ServicesSAFETY NET SPOKANE: $1,000 · Human ServicesFAMILY PROMISE OF THE PALOUSE INC: $1,000 · Human Services
Education$718,250Other$308,000Philanthropy$101,000Youth Development$19,500Animals$13,000Crime & Legal$12,500Human Services$10,500

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetWHITWORTH UNIVERSITY: $146,250 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHWEST NAZARENE UNIVERSITY INC: $144,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetSPOKANE COLLEGES FOUNDATION: $105,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NCW: $100,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetPACIFIC NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES: $94,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHERITAGE UNIVERSITY: $81,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetEastern Washington University Foundation: $51,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetBIG BEND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $45,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetNORTH IDAHO COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $45,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetVANESSA BEHAN: $12,500 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetSeattle Area Youth for Christ: $10,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetGARDEN TERRACE SENIOR LIVING: $7,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetLIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES: $5,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetMorning Star Boys Ranch: $5,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetBoys & Girls Club of Spokane County: $4,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SPOKANE: $4,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSpokane Humane Society: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetYAKIMA HUMANE SOCIETY: $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetFriends of the Winthrop Pub Library: $3,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetWENATCHEE VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetKOOTENAI HUMANE SOCIETY INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSPOKANE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION: $2,500 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetSeven Acres Foundation: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetUNITED WAY OF NORTH IDAHO INC: $2,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetODYSSEY YOUTH CENTER: $1,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetBLUE MOUNTAIN ACTION COUNCIL: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetVolunteer Food & Resource Center: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWALLACE DISTRICT MINING MUSEUM INC: $1,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetSPOKANE EASTSIDE REUNION ASSOCIATION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetLake Chelan Food Bank: $1,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetOKANOGAN COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMETHOW HOUSING TRUST: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetROD'S HOUSE: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTRI-CITIES FOOD BANK: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSAFETY NET SPOKANE: $1,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetISAACS BOOKSHELF: $1,000 over 1y, 2.8% of budgetUNION GOSPEL MISSION OF YAKIMA WASH: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFAMILY PROMISE OF THE PALOUSE INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetWomen Helping Women Fund: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDHOOD CANCER COALITION: $1,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetThe Big Table: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNorthwest Natural Resources Institute: $1,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetPRIEST RIVER ANIMAL RESCUE INC: $750 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetSECOND CHANCE ANIMAL ADOPTION INC: $250 over 1y, 0.2% 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 WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds NORTHWEST NAZARENE UNIVERSITY INC ↗
  • Who funds SPOKANE COLLEGES FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF NCW ↗
  • Who funds PACIFIC NORTHWEST UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES ↗
  • Who funds HERITAGE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds Eastern Washington University Foundation ↗
  • Who funds BIG BEND COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds VANESSA BEHAN ↗
  • Who funds Seattle Area Youth for Christ ↗
  • Who funds GARDEN TERRACE SENIOR LIVING ↗
  • Who funds LIGHTHOUSE CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES ↗
  • Who funds Morning Star Boys Ranch ↗
  • Who funds Boys & Girls Club of Spokane County ↗
  • Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SPOKANE ↗
  • Who funds Spokane Humane Society ↗
  • Who funds YAKIMA HUMANE SOCIETY ↗
  • Who funds Friends of the Winthrop Pub Library ↗
  • Who funds WENATCHEE VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds KOOTENAI HUMANE SOCIETY INC ↗
  • Who funds SPOKANE PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Seven Acres Foundation ↗

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.

Innovia FoundationThe Avista FoundationSecond Harvest Inland…Community Foundation …Northwest Harvest EmmLamb Weston Charitabl…M J Murdock Charitabl…First Interstate Banc…Seattle FoundationMulticare Health Syst…School's Out Washingt…Women Helping Women F…
Innovia FoundationWA43.3× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Innovia Foundation · The Avista Foundation · Second Harvest Inland Northwest · Community Foundation of Ncw · Northwest Harvest Emm · Lamb Weston Charitable Foundation · M J Murdock Charitable Trust · First Interstate BancSystem Foundation Inc · Seattle Foundation · Multicare Health System · School's Out Washington · Women Helping Women 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 Roy and Leona Nelson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Roy and Leona Nelson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
    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 Roy and Leona Nelson Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Roy and Leona Nelson 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 85 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 Roy and Leona Nelson’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