How much does The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation give?

The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation reported 72 grants totaling $725,800 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 10 and 42 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.

What does The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation fund?

By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Health (24%), Religion (14%), Human Services (12%).

Who are The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation's largest grantees?

By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Prairie Ridge Church ($137k), Animal Rescue League of Iowa Inc ($76k), Iowa Health Foundation ($70k).

Does The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation fund new organizations?

In FY2024, 38% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.

Does The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation accept unsolicited applications?

Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

Where is The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation based?

The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation is based in IA.

Foundation Dossiers

Iowa · Private foundation

The Denny and Candy Elwell 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.

$726k
Granted FY2025(still arriving): 72
Grants FY2025: 42
Organizations funded FY2024: 38%
First-time grantees FY2024

Read the full brief

Median grant, FY2025: $5,000
Largest grant, FY2025: $75,000
Organizations funded a year: 10 to 42; FY2018 to FY2024
States reached, FY2025: 11
Total assets, FY2025: $4.3M
Applications: Preselected organizations only; Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2024, 38% of the organizations The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 45% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 55% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $115k went to new ones.

RenewedFirst-time

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

PhilanthropyArts & CultureHealthHuman ServicesEducationAnimalsOther

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.

The numbers by year

Fiscal year	Organizations funded	To those organizations	First-time grantees
FY2025still arriving	71	$676k	41%
FY2024	42	$257k	38%
FY2023	39	$152k	36%
FY2022	30	$138k	47%
FY2021	15	$87k	47%
FY2020	10	$42k	40%
FY2019	16	$71k	6%
FY2018	14	$75k	0%

96% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Health$414kReligion$244kHuman Services$214kArts & Culture$189kAnimals$154kPhilanthropy$101kEducation$97kFood & Nutrition$89kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Prairie Ridge Church	$137,000	2	n/a
Animal Rescue League of Iowa Inc	$75,500	9	0%
Iowa Health Foundation	$70,000	3	0%
Des Moines Childrens Museum	$65,000	4	3%
Scottsdale Bible Church	$61,500	7	n/a
World Food Prize Foundation	$42,500	4	0%
Blank Park Zoo Foundation Inc	$40,000	4	0%
Food Bank of Iowa	$40,000	5	0%
Young Women's Resource Center	$30,000	5	1%
Science Center of Iowa	$30,000	3	0%

Show all 71 grantees

All grantees of The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation by total granted
Grantee	Total granted	Years	Share of their budget
Prairie Ridge Church	$137,000	2	n/a
Animal Rescue League of Iowa Inc	$75,500	9	0%
Iowa Health Foundation	$70,000	3	0%
Des Moines Childrens Museum	$65,000	4	3%
Scottsdale Bible Church	$61,500	7	n/a
World Food Prize Foundation	$42,500	4	0%
Blank Park Zoo Foundation Inc	$40,000	4	0%
Food Bank of Iowa	$40,000	5	0%
Young Women's Resource Center	$30,000	5	1%
Science Center of Iowa	$30,000	3	0%
Garden Gate Ranch Inc	$30,000	4	1%
Ballet Des Moines	$28,000	9	1%
Des Moines Performing Arts	$27,500	8	0%
The Easter Seal Society Foundation	$25,000	1	n/a
Samaritan's Purse	$25,000	4	0%
The Ankeny Klothing Exchange	$25,000	4	4%
On With Life Inc	$25,000	1	0%
Wounded Warrior Project Inc	$22,500	5	0%
New Horizons Adult Day Center	$20,863	4	1%
Ankeny Community Chorus	$19,000	8	n/a
St Jude Children's Research Hospital Inc	$17,500	4	0%
Dental Connections Inc	$17,500	2	0%
Little White Schoolhouse Foundation	$15,300	1	n/a
The Salvation Army	$15,000	3	n/a
Childserve Foundation Inc	$15,000	1	0%
Smile Train Inc	$15,000	3	0%
Furry Friends Refuge	$12,500	4	1%
North Polk Cummunity School Foundation	$12,000	1	n/a
Ankeny Area Historical Society	$11,500	2	13%
Wings of Hope International	$11,000	1	13%
The Shriners' Hospital for Children	$11,000	2	0%
Grand View University	$11,000	2	0%
SCKIC Inc	$10,000	1	2%
Professionals for Charity	$10,000	1	2%
Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation	$10,000	3	0%
Kingdom Cares International	$10,000	1	1%
Zafar and Mir Foundation Inc	$10,000	1	2%
Drake University	$10,000	1	0%
Johnston Station Historical Society	$8,500	7	n/a
Iowa Barn Foundation	$8,500	7	1%
Strands of Strength Inc	$7,450	3	1%
John Wayne Birthplace Society	$5,500	2	0%
Special Olympics Iowa Inc	$5,500	2	0%
Homes of Oakridge Human Services	$5,000	1	0%
Site for Smiles and Smarts Inc	$5,000	1	n/a
Willkie House Inc	$5,000	1	1%
Ankeny Friends of the Arts	$5,000	1	1%
The Family Leader Inc	$5,000	1	1%
Granny Basketball League	$3,000	1	2%
Joppa	$2,500	1	0%
Families Forward	$2,500	1	0%
Ankeny After Prom Inc	$2,000	2	2%
New Mission Systems Inc	$2,000	1	0%
Military Recharge	$2,000	2	n/a
Iowa State Fair Foundation	$1,500	2	n/a
Wakonda Christian Church	$1,000	1	n/a
Prostate Cancer Foundation	$1,000	1	0%
Food at First	$1,000	1	0%
Ankeny Kiwanis Charitable Foundatio N	$1,000	1	2%
Mid-Iowa Council of Boy Scouts of America Inc	$1,000	1	0%
Resurrection Lutheran Church	$1,000	1	n/a
Faith Lutheran Church	$1,000	1	n/a
Variety - the Children's Charity of Iowa	$1,000	1	0%
Best Buddies International Inc	$1,000	1	0%
Ankeny First United Methodist Church	$1,000	1	n/a
Legion-Aires Drum and Bugle Corps	$500	1	0%
Wesleylife Foundation	$500	1	0%
Aheinz57 Pet Rescue & Transport Inc	$500	1	0%
Plymouth United Church of Christ	$500	1	n/a
Littleton Bible Chapel Inc	$500	1	n/a
Abundant Life Assembly of God Fredonia	$250	1	n/a

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 35 recipients with no EIN on record ($444k), not named here.

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation supplied at peak.

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured

Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 53.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community FdnIA51.7× affinity29 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn · Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino Inc · The West Bancorporation Foundation Inc · The Merchants Bonding Company Foundation · Meredith Corporation Foundation · EMC Insurance Foundation · Pella Rolscreen Foundation · Deb & Bob Pulver Foundation · Wt and Edna M Dahl Trust · Bookey Family Foundation · Bravo Greater Des Moines Inc · John Ruan Foundation Trust

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.

Compare The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation with peer funders

About The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation

How much does The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation give?: The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation reported 72 grants totaling $725,800 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 10 and 42 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
What does The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation fund?: By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Health (24%), Religion (14%), Human Services (12%).
Who are The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation's largest grantees?: By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Prairie Ridge Church ($137k), Animal Rescue League of Iowa Inc ($76k), Iowa Health Foundation ($70k).
Does The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation fund new organizations?: In FY2024, 38% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation accept unsolicited applications?: Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation?: Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn, Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino Inc, The West Bancorporation Foundation Inc.
Where is The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation based?: The Denny and Candy Elwell Foundation is based in IA.