Skip to content
Taylor Vern & Esther Char Trust at a glance

· Private foundation

Taylor Vern & Esther Char Trust

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.

$39k
Granted FY2025still arriving
4
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2018 to 2025.

Education$140kPhilanthropy$33kYouth Development$26kHousing & Shelter$24kHealth$14kPublic Benefit$13kReligion$11kArts & Culture$7kOther$0
02FY2025 · 4 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k2 grants · $14k
  • $10k–50k2 grants · $25k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$671k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC$15,000
NORTHWEST PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL$10,000
GRAND ISLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION$8,500
GRAND ISLAND LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL$5,000
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 (FY18–22, $4k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%NEBRASKA CHILDRENS HOME SOCIETY INC: $3k → 12%HOPE HARBOR INC: $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.

78%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$189k · 17 repeat orgs$55k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against +2% for those funded once.

17 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 14 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

17
15

Total granted

$189k
$50k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+2%

Still filing today

71%
67%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
EducationHousing & ShelterHuman ServicesPhilanthropyArts & CultureYouth DevelopmentOther
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

  • CC
    CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2022–2025 · $36k · revenue +195%
  • HC
    HALL COUNTY LEADERSHIP UNLIMITED INC
    5× · 2020–2024 · $13k · revenue +80%
  • NE
    NORTHWEST EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC
    4× · 2018–2021 · $12k · revenue +27%

Funded once

  • CL
    CHRYSALIS LUTHERAN HOMES INC
    one grant, 2022 · $10k · revenue +22%
  • YM
    Young Mens Christian Association of Metr
    one grant, 2019 · $6k
  • NP
    NORTHWEST PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2023 · $5k
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
Central Nebraska Growth Foundation

To engage in economic development activities and to engage in other activities and programs to benefit and support the grand island area economic development corporation or perform or carry out the functions or purposes of the corporation…

Community Improvement
2
Grand Island Public Library Foundation

Assist city library

—
3
Grand Island Area Chamber of Commerce Inc

To provide membership and benefits to the local business community and to promote community development and education.

—
4
Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services Corp

The organization is committed to providing immediate relief to midtown manhattan's homeless population. through our mainchance drop-in center, we offer basic necessities (food, clothing, showers, and chairs for respite) and a range of…

Human Services
5
Lincoln County Community Development Corporation

To promote, facilitate and develop or co-develop affordable housing in lincoln county, nebraska.

Philanthropy
6
Central Nebraska Community Action Partnership Inc

Partnering with individuals and families to encourage economic stability to gain independence through community-based solutions.

—
7
Grow Grand Island Inc

The organization's mission is to develop a collaborative and comprehensive approach to business and community growth and progress in grand island.

Community Improvement
8
Grand Heritage Foundation Inc

Support for the grand community center

Recreation & Sports
9
Grand Island Youth Baseball Inc

Establish, maintain and manage a little league baseball program for the youth of grand island ne

—
10
Heartland Lutheran High School Foundation

Provide tuition assistance

Education
11
Grand Forks Homes Inc

To provide low income housing to eligible persons in grand forks, nd.

Housing & Shelter
12
North Central Development Center Inc

To promote and coordinate economic development, education, and quality of life through strengthened communication in north central nebraska.

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Grand Island Public Schools Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Grand Island Music Series. 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

24 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. 24 of the 34 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)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
23/24
Grantees still filing
13/24
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

NORTHWEST PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL: $15,000 · OtherNORTHWEST PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLHALL COUNTY LEADERSHIP UNLIMITED INC: $12,500 · OtherHALL COUNTY LEADERSHIP UNLIMITED INCNORTHWEST EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $12,200 · OtherNORTHWEST EDUCATION FOUNDATION INCHeartland Lutheran High School: $11,000 · OtherHeartland Lutheran High SchoolYoung Mens Christian Association of Metr: $6,050 · OtherYoung Mens Christian Association of Me…THIRD CITY COMMUNITY CLINC INC: $6,000 · OtherTHIRD CITY COMMUNITY CLINC INCBOOKS 4 KIDS PROGRAM: $5,038 · OtherBOOKS 4 KIDS PROGRAMGRAND ISLAND LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL: $5,000 · OtherGRAND ISLAND LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOLCENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE: $5,000 · OtherCENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGENORTHWEST PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $5,000 · OtherNORTHWEST PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATIONGRAND ISLAND EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $4,017 · Other+4 more: $6,200 · Other+4 moreCENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $36,000 · EducationCENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATI…LITERACY COUNCIL OF GRAND ISLAND INC: $21,000 · EducationLITERACY COUNCIL OF GRAND ISLAND I…GRAND ISLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $17,700 · EducationGRAND ISLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDA…CENTRAL CATHOLIC DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION: $7,500 · EducationCENTRAL CATHOLIC DEVELOPMENT FOUND…GREATER GRAND ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $27,500 · PhilanthropyGREATER GRAND I…GRACE FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 · PhilanthropyGRACE FOUNDATIO…HEARTLAND UNITED WAY INC: $5,000 · PhilanthropyHEARTLAND UNITE…CHRYSALIS LUTHERAN HOMES INC: $10,000 · Housing & ShelterCHRYSALIS LU…MOSAIC: $8,500 · Housing & ShelterMOSAICGRAND ISLAND AREA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $7,500 · Housing & ShelterGRAND ISLAND…CROSSROADS CENTER INC: $5,000 · Housing & ShelterCROSSROADS C…JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF LINCOLN INC: $13,500 · Youth DevelopmentGIRL SCOUTS SPIRIT OF NEBRASKA: $1,000 · Youth DevelopmentGrand Island Music Series: $4,500 · Arts & CultureSTUHR MUSEUM OF THE PRAIRIE PIONEER: $2,000 · Arts & CultureNEBRASKA CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY INC: $2,500 · Human ServicesCHRISTMAS CHEER: $2,000 · Human ServicesHOPE HARBOR INC: $1,000 · Human ServicesCENTRAL NEBRASKA HUMANE SOCIETY: $750 · Animals
Other$93,005Education$82,200Philanthropy$37,500Housing & Shelter$31,000Youth Development$14,500Arts & Culture$6,500Human Services$5,500Animals$750

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 budgetCENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION INC: $36,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetGREATER GRAND ISLAND COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $27,500 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetLITERACY COUNCIL OF GRAND ISLAND INC: $21,000 over 5y, 4.1% of budgetGRAND ISLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOUNDATION: $17,700 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF LINCOLN INC: $13,500 over 6y, 0.4% of budgetHALL COUNTY LEADERSHIP UNLIMITED INC: $12,500 over 5y, 1.3% of budgetNORTHWEST EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $12,200 over 4y, 2.4% of budgetCHRYSALIS LUTHERAN HOMES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMOSAIC: $8,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetGRAND ISLAND AREA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC: $7,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCENTRAL CATHOLIC DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION: $7,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTHIRD CITY COMMUNITY CLINC INC: $6,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetGRACE FOUNDATION INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCROSSROADS CENTER INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHEARTLAND UNITED WAY INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBRAVEHOODS: $2,500 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetNEBRASKA CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTUHR MUSEUM OF THE PRAIRIE PIONEER: $2,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGIRL SCOUTS SPIRIT OF NEBRASKA: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOPE HARBOR INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCENTRAL NEBRASKA HUMANE SOCIETY: $750 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCRANE RIVER THEATER COMPANY INC: $700 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.

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.

Sn Bud and Gloria Wol…Edgar & Frances Reyno…Greater Grand Island …Claussen E & M Charit…The Sherwood Foundati…Nebraska Community Fo…Robert B Daugherty Fo…Fred & Amanda Glade F…Kaufmann-Cummings Fou…Bnsf Railway Foundati…Peter Kiewit Foundati…First Interstate Banc…
Sn Bud and Gloria Wolbach Charitable FoundatiNE34.8× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Sn Bud and Gloria Wolbach Charitable Foundati · Edgar & Frances Reynolds Foundation Inc · Greater Grand Island Community Foundation · Claussen E & M Charitable Tuw · The Sherwood Foundation · Nebraska Community Foundation · Robert B Daugherty Foundation · Fred & Amanda Glade Foundation · Kaufmann-Cummings Foundation C/0 Richard Rabe · Bnsf Railway Foundation · Peter Kiewit Foundation · First Interstate BancSystem Foundation Inc

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 Taylor Vern & Esther Char Trust funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Taylor Vern & Esther Char Trust. 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%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    9report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    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 34 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 Taylor Vern & Esther Char’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