· Private foundation
Steve and Gretchen Stenehjem Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Read this first · the figures below need context
100% of Steve and Gretchen Stenehjem Foundation’s FY2024 grant dollars went to American Endowment Foundation, not to grantees.
Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2024 names 0 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it. Everything below is therefore FY2023, the last year Steve and Gretchen Stenehjem Foundation named its own grantees at scale: 7 organizations, $155k. It is dated, not current.
Organizations named directly on the return
Amber years are those where most dollars went to a sponsor.
What you funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2022–2024.
Where the money goes
Your grants by size, and where they go.
By grant size · FY2023
- Under $10k9 grants · $21k
- $10k–50k4 grants · $85k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $50k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| Dr Kristen Stenehjem Medical Scholarship co UND Foundation | $50,000 |
| Stenehjem Family Band Endowment co UND Foundation | $30,000 |
| Trap Neuter and Rescue FoundationAngel's Wish | $25,000 |
| Stenehjem Family Cheer Endowment co UND Foundation | $17,000 |
| Teneo Network Inc | $12,500 |
| Make-A-Wish of North Dakota | $5,000 |
| Young Americas Foundation | $2,500 |
| Judicial Watch Inc | $2,500 |
| Leadership Institute | $2,500 |
| Media Research Center Inc | $2,500 |
| Heritage Foundation | $2,500 |
| Roughrider Policy Center | $1,500 |
| Center of the American Experiment | $1,000 |
| National Right to Work Foundation | $500 |
Do your dollars go where the need is?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.
Dollar for dollar, your grants (FY22–24) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 98% of your dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.
The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
To teach and disseminate educational materials to the public.
The Progress Texas Institute provides research and strategic communications on issues with the ultimate goal of increasing civic engagement.
The american enterprise institute is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening free enterprise. aei pursues these ideals through independent thinking and the…
Christianity Today is a global community inspired by evangelical conviction to advance the stories and ideas of the kingdom of God. Our mission is to elevate the storytellers and sages of the global church.
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan "fact tank" that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pew Research Center generates a foundation of facts that enriches the public dialogue and…
The mission of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is to develop strong, pragmatic and principled national security and defense policies building on the the expertise and experience of its staff and advisors. CNAS engages policy…
Iri advances freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political parties, civic institutions, open elections, democratic governance and the rule of law.
To establish and promote programs to protect the global climate, forests, wildlife and the natural environment, through research, advocacy, and investigation.
Anabaptist Foundation has been established to assist donors in channeling material resources within the Kingdom of Christ and to provide donors with financial counsel consistent with conservative Anabaptist beliefs and values.
Promote competition that protects consumers, businesses, and society.
American press institute acts as a scout on the frontier of technology and audience behavior to identify where change is occurring and helps news organizations learn how to implement and scale that change successfully so they have a…
National taxpayers union foundation (ntuf) provides crucial, impactful research and analysis showing americans how taxes, government spending, and regulations affect them. with our unique combination of policy expertise, outreach know-how,…
For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Heritage Foundation and the most unlike its peers is Trape Neuter and Rescue Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
10 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 10 of the 16 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.
Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee
Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them
A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Trape Neuter and Rescue Foundation ↗
- Who funds Teneo Network Inc ↗
- Who funds TURNING POINT USA INC ↗
- Who funds JUDICIAL WATCH INC ↗
- Who funds Leadership Institute ↗
- Who funds Young America's Foundation ↗
- Who funds MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER ↗
- Who funds THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Center of the American Experiment ↗
Government reliance of your grantees
Every dot is one organization Steve and Gretchen Stenehjem Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.
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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.