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The Estelle S and Robert a Long Ellis Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Estelle S and Robert a Long Ellis Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$338k
Granted FY2025still arriving
22
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$2.2MEducation$342kCommunity Improvement$50kYouth Development$46kEnvironment$30kHuman Services$25kReligion$23kHealth$18kOther$0
02FY2025 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k10 grants · $53k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $135k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $150k
$10,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$5.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NATIONAL WWI MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL$100,000
KANSAS CITY BALLET$50,000
SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART-KU ENDOWMENT$25,000
NATIONAL TOY AND MINIATURE MUSEUM$25,000
KANSAS SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL BALLET$15,000
LYRIC OPERA$10,000
STARLIGHT$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
PARK UNIVERSITY$10,000
KANSAS CITY YOUNG AUDIENCES$10,000
UNICORN THEATRE$10,000
POWELL GARDENS$10,000
SPINNING TREE THEATRE$7,500
BACH ARIA SOLOISTS$5,000
EARLYST ART$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 (FY20–25, $35k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%SYNERGY SERVICES: $10k → 8%UNITED INNER CITY SERVICES: $5k → 15%EARLYST ART: $5k → 15%EARLYST ART: $5k → 15%UNITED INNER CITY SERVICES: $5k → 15%EARLYST ART: $5k → 15%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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 36 repeat orgs$214k to everyone else

36 repeat relationships: 18 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 4 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
16

Total granted

$2.9M
$184k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+3%
+13%

Still filing today

61%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 91% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $30k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureHealthEducationHuman ServicesYouth 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

  • TH
    THE HARRY S TRUMAN LIBRARY INSTITUTE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
    4× · 2019–2022 · $240k · revenue +9%
  • NW
    NATIONAL WWI MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL
    4× · 2022–2025 · $200k · revenue +130%
  • KC
    KANSAS CITY ACTORS THEATRE INC
    7× · 2017–2023 · $90k · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • NM
    NATIONAL MUSEUM OF TOYS AND MINIATURES
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue +10%
  • NM
    NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART
    one grant, 2018 · $35k
  • RU
    ROCKHURST UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2022 · $25k · revenue -10%
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
Kansas City Chamber Orchestra Inc

The performance of fine classical music in both public and education outreach program concerts, utilizing talented local musicians, and frequently in partnership with other arts and community organizations.

—
2
Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City

The mission of The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City is to educate and inspire our community by presenting and promoting appreciation for African-American culture through our stories.

Arts & Culture
3
Kansas City Artists Coalition Inc

The kansas city atrtists coalition is a nonprofit organization that promotes visual arts awareness

Arts & Culture
4
Kansas City Public Theatre

Kansas City Public Theatre provides access to the arts through year-round theatre entertainment free of charge to the public This mission is carried out in two activities first by producing aesthetically and ideologically diverse new works…

Arts & Culture
5
Metropolitan Arts Council of Greater Kansas City

The mission of the arts council of metropolitan kansas city (dba artskc - regional arts council) is to advance lives through the arts. it does this through key initiatives that support our work: we bring together people, resources and…

Arts & Culture
6
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

To enrich the lives of everyone in our community through extraordinary and diverse performing arts experiences. these experiences are provided through programs, customer service, and education.(continued on schedule o)programs: showcase a…

Arts & Culture
7
Kansas City Symphony

Its mission is to perform great performances for greater audiences. the kansas city symphony will achieve this mission by: - developing an uncompromising performance standard. - advancing the profile and value of the orchestra locally,…

Arts & Culture
8
Spire Chamber Ensemble

Spire Chamber Ensemble inspires educates and enriches the Kansas City metropolitan community through the transformational power of choral music performed at the highest artistic level.

Arts & Culture
9
Kansas City Repertory Theatre Inc

To inspire, entertain and open minds by creating transformative theatre experiences for all.

Arts & Culture
10
Kc Fringe Festival Inc

Our mission is to attract diverse people, nuture artists, and strengthen kansas city economically by producing cultural, education, accessible, and affordable events that connect audiences, artists, businesses, and civic organizations. the…

Arts & Culture
11
Starlight Theatre Association of Kansas City Inc

Connecting our community through live arts experiences that entertain, inspire, and engage

Arts & Culture
12
Music-Arts Institute

Music/arts institute, greater kansas city's community school of performing arts, teaches students, young and old alike, to embrace beauty and professionalism in the arts. shaping tomorrow's performers is the task to which the distinguished…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Kansas City Young Audiences Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Harry S Truman Library Institute National and International Affairs. 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

36 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. 36 of the 56 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)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
36/36
Grantees still filing
19/36
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

KANSAS CITY BALLET ASSOCIATION: $720,000 · Arts & CultureKANSAS CITY BALLET ASSOCIATIONNATIONAL WWI MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL: $200,000 · Arts & CultureNATIONAL WWI MUSEUM AND MEMORIALKANSAS CITY YOUNG AUDIENCES INC: $122,500 · Arts & CultureKANSAS CITY YOUNG AUDIENCES INCKANSAS SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL BALLET INC: $100,000 · Arts & CultureKANSAS SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL BALLET INCKANSAS CITY ACTORS THEATRE INC: $90,000 · Arts & CultureKANSAS CITY ACTORS THEATRE INCUNICORN THEATRE: $60,000 · Arts & Culture+18 more: $301,500 · Arts & Culture+18 moreSPENCER MUSEUM OF ART: $345,000 · OtherSPENCER MUSEUM OF ARTSPENCER MUSEUM OF ART-KU ENDOWMENT: $250,000 · OtherSPENCER MUSEUM OF ART-KU ENDOWMENTNATIONAL WORLD WAR I MUSEUM: $125,000 · OtherNATIONAL WORLD WAR I MUSEUMNATIONAL TOY AND MINIATURE MUSEUM: $50,000 · OtherSYNERGY: $50,000 · OtherPOWELL GARDENS INC: $40,000 · Other+17 more: $248,500 · Other+17 moreTHE HARRY S TRUMAN LIBRARY INSTITUTE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: $240,000 · EducationTHE HARRY S …PARK UNIVERSITY: $67,000 · EducationPARK UNIVERS…ROCKHURST UNIVERSITY: $25,000 · EducationROCKHURST UN…UNITED INNER CITY SERVICES INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesSYNERGY SERVICES INC: $10,000 · Human ServicesGILDA'S CLUB KANSAS CITY: $15,000 · HealthMATTIE RHODES MEMORIAL SOCIETY D/B/A MATTIE RHODES CENTER: $5,000 · HealthINCLUSION CONNECTIONS INC: $2,500 · HealthBOYS CLUB OF GREATER KANSAS CITY: $15,000 · Youth Development
Arts & Culture$1,594,000Other$1,108,500Education$332,000Human Services$35,000Health$22,500Youth Development$15,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetKANSAS CITY BALLET ASSOCIATION: $720,000 over 9y, 1.2% of budgetTHE HARRY S TRUMAN LIBRARY INSTITUTE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: $240,000 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetNATIONAL WWI MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL: $200,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetKANSAS CITY YOUNG AUDIENCES INC: $122,500 over 8y, 1.4% of budgetKANSAS SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL BALLET INC: $100,000 over 8y, 6.2% of budgetKANSAS CITY ACTORS THEATRE INC: $90,000 over 7y, 3.6% of budgetPARK UNIVERSITY: $67,000 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetUNICORN THEATRE: $60,000 over 4y, 1.9% of budgetNATIONAL MUSEUM OF TOYS AND MINIATURES: $50,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetLYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY INC: $50,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetPOWELL GARDENS INC: $40,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetHEART OF AMERICA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL: $30,000 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetSPINNING TREE THEATRE: $25,000 over 4y, 3.8% of budgetROCKHURST UNIVERSITY: $25,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBACH ARIA SOLOISTS INC: $25,000 over 5y, 3.2% of budgetUNITED INNER CITY SERVICES INC: $25,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCity In Motion Dance Theater City In Motion Dance Theater: $23,500 over 5y, 5.1% of budgetCITY OF FOUNTAINS FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 8.1% of budgetBOYS CLUB OF GREATER KANSAS CITY: $15,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetArts Engagement Foundation of Kansas City: $15,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetGILDA'S CLUB KANSAS CITY: $15,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetINTERURBAN ARTHOUSE: $10,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetARTS COUNCIL OF JOHNSON COUNTY: $10,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetSYNERGY SERVICES INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMETROPOLITAN ENSEMBLE THEATRE: $10,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetYOUTH CHORUS OF KANSAS CITY INC: $6,500 over 2y, 9.2% of budgetBAND OF ANGELS CORP: $5,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetMATTIE RHODES MEMORIAL SOCIETY D/B/A MATTIE RHODES CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetTHE RABBIT HOLE KC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHEARTLAND MENS CHORUS: $5,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetKANSAS CITY JAZZ ORCHESTRA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetBASE ACADEMY OF MUSIC: $5,000 over 1y, 3.1% of budgetINCLUSION CONNECTIONS INC: $2,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetWORNALL-MAJORS HOUSE MUSEUMS INC: $1,500 over 1y, 0.6% 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.

  • Who funds KANSAS CITY BALLET ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds THE HARRY S TRUMAN LIBRARY INSTITUTE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL WWI MUSEUM AND MEMORIAL ↗
  • Who funds KANSAS CITY YOUNG AUDIENCES INC ↗
  • Who funds KANSAS SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL BALLET INC ↗
  • Who funds KANSAS CITY ACTORS THEATRE INC ↗
  • Who funds PARK UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds UNICORN THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds NATIONAL MUSEUM OF TOYS AND MINIATURES ↗
  • Who funds LYRIC OPERA OF KANSAS CITY INC ↗
  • Who funds POWELL GARDENS INC ↗
  • Who funds HEART OF AMERICA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL ↗
  • Who funds SPINNING TREE THEATRE ↗
  • Who funds ROCKHURST UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds BACH ARIA SOLOISTS INC ↗
  • Who funds UNITED INNER CITY SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds City In Motion Dance Theater City In Motion Dance Theater ↗
  • Who funds CITY OF FOUNTAINS FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds BOYS CLUB OF GREATER KANSAS CITY ↗
  • Who funds Arts Engagement Foundation of Kansas City ↗
  • Who funds GILDA'S CLUB KANSAS CITY ↗
  • Who funds INTERURBAN ARTHOUSE ↗
  • Who funds ARTS COUNCIL OF JOHNSON COUNTY ↗
  • Who funds SYNERGY SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds METROPOLITAN ENSEMBLE THEATRE ↗

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 Francis Family Fo…Greater Kansas City C…Muriel McBrien Kauffm…Richard J Stern Found…Jewish Community Foun…R a Long Foundation 6…Metropolitan Arts Cou…The H & R Block Found…Ewing Marion Kauffman…William T Kemper Foun…The Sunderland Founda…Copaken Family Founda…
The Francis Family FoundationMO57.5× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Francis Family Foundation · Greater Kansas City Community Foundation · Muriel McBrien Kauffman Family Foundation · Richard J Stern Foundation for the Arts Commerce Bank Trustee · Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City · R a Long Foundation 600 Plaza West Bldg · Metropolitan Arts Council of Greater Kansas City · The H & R Block Foundation · Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation · William T Kemper Foundation Commerce Bank Trustee · The Sunderland Foundation · Copaken Family Foundation

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 The Estelle S and Robert a Long Ellis Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Estelle S and Robert a Long Ellis Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The Estelle S and Robert a Long Ellis Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Estelle S and Robert a Long Ellis 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.

    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 56 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 Estelle S and Robert a Long Ellis’ 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
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    $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