· Private foundation
Swenson Family 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k4 grants · $20k
- $10k–50k10 grants · $290k
- $50k–250k13 grants · $1.2M
- $250k+6 grants · $4.6M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| UNIVERSITY MN DULUTH | $1,600,000 |
| CHOC CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION | $1,000,000 |
| CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY | $500,000 |
| CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY | $500,000 |
| CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY | $500,000 |
| FRIENDS OF HOLY INNOCENTS | $500,000 |
| UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SUPERIOR FOUNDATION INC | $218,041 |
| UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SUPERIOR FOUNDATION INC | $218,041 |
| UNIVERSITY MN DULUTH | $132,000 |
| THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION | $125,000 |
| OLIVE CREST | $100,000 |
| OCEAN INSTITUTE | $70,000 |
| LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS | $62,500 |
| HUNGRY FOR MUSIC | $62,500 |
| FIRST EVANGICAL COVENANT CHURCH | $50,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY18–24, $221k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 47% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 6% of Swenson Family Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
35 repeat relationships: 16 still active in FY2025, 19 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $215k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- UOUNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-SUPERIOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS FOUNDATION INC7× · 2019–2025 · $8.8M · revenue +100% · 65% of their budget
- CLCALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY9× · 2017–2025 · $7.1M · revenue +18%
- CFCHOC FOUNDATION6× · 2019–2025 · $3.2M · revenue +60%
Funded once
- ILIMAGINATION LIBRARY INCone grant, 2022 · $125k
SHARE OUR STRENGTHone grant, 2023 · $125k · revenue +8%- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2020 · $100k
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.
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.
Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…
Inspired by lutheran scholarly tradition and the liberal arts, augustana provides an education of enduring worth that challenges the intellect, fosters integrity and integrates faith with learning and service in a diverse world.
The primary mission of furman as a liberal arts institution is to provide a distinctive education in fine arts, humanities, social sciences, mathematics and the sciences, as well as selected professional disciplines.
University of the sciences prepares students to become leaders, innovators, and skilled practitioners in the sciences, the health professions, and related disciplines. we deliver excellence in teaching, research, and service through a safe…
Since 1890, whitworth has held fast to its founding mission of providing "an education of mind and heart" through rigorous intellectual inquiry guided by dedicated christian scholars.
Los angeles pacific university exists to deliver high quality, accessible christ-centered education to learners everywhere.
Scu is a catholic and jesuit institution that makes student learning its central focus, promotes faculty and staff learning in its various forms, and exhibits organizational learning.
Ashland university, guided by our christian heritage, is a comprehensive, private university that provides a transformative learning experience, shaping graduates who work, serve and lead with integrity in their local, national, and global…
Arizona christian university provides a biblically-integrated, liberal arts education equipping graduates to serve the lord jesus christ in all aspects of life, as leaders of influence and excellence.
Provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to global security.
Lawrence university of wisconsin, through its undergraduate residential college and conservatory of music, educates students in the liberal arts and sciences. the university is devoted to excellence and integrity in all of its activities…
The university's goal in the coming decade is to advance learning through the integration of teaching, research and service to others. the core of this goal is to prepare graduates to engage with the world and lead lives of meaning. to do…
How this is measured
29 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 29 of the 60 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-SUPERIOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS FOUNDATION INC ↗
- Who funds CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds CHOC FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF HOLY INNOCENTS ↗
- Who funds OCEAN INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds OLIVE CREST ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds Segerstrom Center for the Arts ↗
- Who funds SHARE OUR STRENGTH ↗
- Who funds FURNISHING HOPE INC ↗
- Who funds LUTHERAN CHURCH CHARITIES FUND ↗
- Who funds Achievement Institute for STEM Scholars ↗
- Who funds THE DAVID SHELDRICK WILDLIFE TRUST USA INC ↗
- Who funds BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY ↗
- Who funds EDUCATION THROUGH MUSIC ↗
- Who funds ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE ↗
- Who funds LUTHERAN BIBLE TRANSLATORS INC ↗
- Who funds HUNGRY FOR MUSIC ↗
- Who funds SUPERIOR PUBLIC MUSEUMS ↗
- Who funds GIVSUM 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.
Open a dossier: Orange County Community Foundation · AbbVie Foundation · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Charities Aid Foundation America · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · American Endowment Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Swenson Family Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Swenson Family Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Swenson Family Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Swenson Family 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.
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