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Illinois · Private foundation

The Erwin and Linda Arends 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.

$40k
Granted FY2024(still arriving)
23
Grants FY2024
28
Organizations funded FY2023
50%
First-time grantees FY2023
Read the full brief
Median grant, FY2024
$1,000
Largest grant, FY2024
$6,300
Organizations funded a year
6 to 28
FY2017 to FY2023
States reached, FY2024
4
Total assets, FY2024
$104k
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 50% of the organizations The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 27% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 73% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $11k went to new ones.

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

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

’18’19’20’21’22’23
Human ServicesHealthEducationArts & CulturePhilanthropyAnimalsOther
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 yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2024still arriving18$40k17%
FY202328$42k50%
FY202225$54k40%
FY202121$42k38%
FY202014$32k50%
FY201917$54k47%
FY20186$18k50%
FY20179$54kn/a
94% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Education$177kFood & Nutrition$38kRecreation & Sports$30kReligion$25kHuman Services$22kArts & Culture$21kYouth Development$4kPublic Safety & Disaster$4kOther$0

Where its grants go

Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.

Which US states its grants reach

IL
WI
NY
MO
VA
AR
DC
HI
LA
GA
FL

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Show all 33 grantees
All grantees of The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Millikin University$75,70080%
Decatur Public Schools Foundation$40,23932%
University of Illinois Foundation$30,40070%
Decatur Parks Foundation Inc$29,00062%
Northeast Community Fund$26,20070%
Richland Community College Foundation$16,30020%
Cunningham Childrens Home of Urbana Il$11,50070%
Good Samaritan Inn$8,00021%
Chaddock Childrens Foundation$8,00040%
Symphony Orchestra Guild of Decatur$7,78071%
Five Cities Baroque Foundation$7,0001n/a
Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary$5,0003n/a
Richland Community College$5,0001n/a
Children's Museum of Illinois$3,00011%
The Salvation Army$2,7004n/a
Dove Inc$2,5005n/a
Decatur Public Library Foundation$2,00035%
United Way of Decatur and Mid Il$2,00020%
Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation$1,39620%
Macon County Casa$1,30040%
Decatur Area Arts Council Inc$1,25030%
Macon Resources Inc$1,00020%
Maui Health Foundation$1,00010%
American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches$1,00010%
The Shriners' Hospital for Children$80020%
Girl Scouts of Central Illinois$75010%
Decatur and Macon County Animal Shelter Foundation$70020%
Baby Talk Inc$55030%
Governor Oglesby Mansion Inc$5001n/a
Meals on Wheels$50011%
Sertoma Inc$25010%
Feeding America$25010%
Decatur Municipal Band$1001n/a

What it could do for these grantees

Plus 29 recipients with no EIN on record ($42k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetMillikin University: $75,700 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetDecatur Public Schools Foundation: $40,239 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetUniversity of Illinois Foundation: $30,400 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetDecatur Parks Foundation Inc: $29,000 over 6y, 1.9% of budgetNortheast Community Fund: $26,200 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetRichland Community College Foundation: $16,300 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCunningham Childrens Home of Urbana Il: $11,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetGood Samaritan Inn: $8,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetChaddock Childrens Foundation: $8,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetSymphony Orchestra Guild of Decatur: $7,780 over 7y, 1.0% of budgetChildren's Museum of Illinois: $3,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDecatur Public Library Foundation: $2,000 over 3y, 5.5% of budgetUnited Way of Decatur and Mid Il: $2,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetStephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation: $1,396 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMacon County Casa: $1,300 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetDecatur Area Arts Council Inc: $1,250 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetMacon Resources Inc: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetMaui Health Foundation: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Shriners' Hospital for Children: $800 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGirl Scouts of Central Illinois: $750 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDecatur and Macon County Animal Shelter Foundation: $700 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBaby Talk Inc: $550 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMeals on Wheels: $500 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSertoma Inc: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFeeding America: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budget

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 26.

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.

The Community Foundation of Macon CountyIL42.9× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Community Foundation of Macon County · Andreas Foundation · Amherst F Hardy Foundation · James Millikin Trust A · John Ullrich Foundation Trust Busey Trust Co - Trustee · Ts & Juanita Ballance Foundation · United Way of Decatur and Mid Il · Henry M Staley Declaration of Charit Tr D/B/A Staley Family Foundation · Edward Whinnery Trust · Howard G Buffett Foundation · Michael D Andreas Foundation · Pilling Family 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.

Compare The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation?

Find your warmest path to The Erwin and Linda Arends 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.

About The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation

How much does The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation give?
The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation reported 23 grants totaling $40,375 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 6 and 28 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
What does The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Education (53%), Food & Nutrition (11%), Recreation & Sports (9%).
Who are The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Millikin University ($76k), Decatur Public Schools Foundation ($40k), University of Illinois Foundation ($30k).
Does The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation fund new organizations?
In FY2023, 50% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Does The Erwin and Linda Arends 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 Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include The Community Foundation of Macon County, Andreas Foundation, Amherst F Hardy Foundation.
Where is The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation based?
The Erwin and Linda Arends Foundation is based in IL.

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 62 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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