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The Ethel S Abbott Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Ethel S Abbott Charitable 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.

$1.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
32
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$190k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Education$915kArts & Culture$868kAnimals$842kHealth$647kRecreation & Sports$396kPhilanthropy$392kEnvironment$252kYouth Development$217kOther$0
02FY2025 · 32 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k6 grants · $29k
  • $10k–50k16 grants · $212k
  • $50k–250k10 grants · $870k
$12,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$40M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDATION$190,000
OMAHA DISCOVERY TRUST$105,000
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION$100,000
OMAHA BOTANICAL LAURITZEN GARDENS$100,000
LAKE CUNNINGHAM DEVELOPMENT TRUST$75,000
LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO$75,000
WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION$75,000
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION$50,000
JOSLYN ART MUSEUM$50,000
BELLVUE UNIVERSITY$50,000
SPECIAL OLYMPICS NEBRASKA$25,000
THE MALONE CENTER$20,000
LIVING HISTORY FARMS FOUNDATION$20,000
AMERICAN RED CROSS$20,000
HEARTLAND CANCER FOUNDATION$15,000
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, $125k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%CASA FOR YORK COUNTY: $3k → 11%SHARE A FARE INC: $10k → 12%MCLINDON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $7k → 19%CASA FOR YORK COUNTY: $2k → 11%SHARE A FARE INC: $10k → 12%MCLINDON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $4k → 19%SHARE A FARE INC: $10k → 12%SHARE A FARE INC: $10k → 12%OPEN DOOOR MISSION: $40k → 12%JUNIPER REFUGE: $10k → 13%JUNIPER REFUGE: $10k → 13%JUNIPER REFUGE: $10k → 13%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.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
MT
IL
IA
CO
NE
NM
LA
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.
$3.8M · 49 repeat orgs$1.1M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +19% since the first grant, against +13% for those funded once.

49 repeat relationships: 21 still active in FY2025, 28 since wound down; 8 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

49
60

Total granted

$3.8M
$881k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+19%
+13%

Still filing today

78%
65%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $211k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
HealthArts & CultureEducationRecreation & SportsHuman 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

  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION
    6× · 2020–2025 · $600k · revenue +31%
  • OZ
    OMAHA ZOO FOUNDATION
    3× · 2021–2023 · $500k · revenue +5%
  • LC
    LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO
    6× · 2020–2025 · $332k · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • OI
    OUTLOOK-NEBRASKA INC
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +21%
  • NC
    NORTHEAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2020 · $100k · revenue +21%
  • CR
    CALLAWAY RURAL FIRE BOARD
    one grant, 2020 · $75k
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
Omaha Parks Foundation

The mission of the omaha parks foundation is to improve, promote, preserve, protect, and support omaha's parks and recreation system. we engage in initiatives that make our parks system more accessible, inclusive, and beneficial to all…

Environment
2
Museum of Nebraska Art

The museum of nebraska art (mona) celebrates the history of nebraska's visual art for diverse audiences. mona collects, preserves, researches, exhibits, and interprets the work of artists who were born, lived, trained, or worked in…

Arts & Culture
3
Nebraska Medical Foundation

To support activities, including the awarding of scholarships to medical students, promote the wellness and health of citizens in nebraska, provide education on medical subjects, and other research projects consistent with its activities.

Health
4
Share Omaha

Our mission is to help nonprofits fulfill theirs.

Philanthropy
5
Omaha Economic Development Corporation

The mission of oedc is to implement economic development projects, housing, and community revitalization programs that create jobs, business ownership opportunities and other economic benefits for area residents.

—
6
Lincoln County Community Development Corporation

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

Philanthropy
7
Voices for Children in Nebraska

Voices for children in nebraska is the independent voice building pathways to opportunity for all children and families through research, policy and community engagement.

—
8
Hastings Museum

The mission of the hastings museum is to bring to life the natural and cultural history of hastings, adams county and the great plains of nebraska through the use of educational programs, exhibits and films.

—
9
Nebraska Children & Families Foundation

Nebraska children's mission is to create positive change for children through community engagement. our vision is a nebraska where all children will have the resources and support to reach their full potential. our values are (1)…

Philanthropy
10
Nebraska Organ Recovery System

We transform lives through organ and tissue donation.

Health
11
Nebraska Game and Parks Foundation

The organization is focused on the future of parks, wildlife management and conservation of nebraska.

Environment
12
One Omaha

One omaha empowers people where they live with education, training, and engagement to develop thriving neighborhoods.

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Nebraska Community Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Lienemann Charitable Foundation Inc. 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

86 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. 86 of the 119 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.

5
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
20
Early backer (in before they grew)
85/86
Grantees still filing
52/86
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION: $600,000 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF NEBRASK…Bellevue University: $125,000 · EducationBellevue UniversityOMAHA DISCOVERY TRUST: $105,000 · EducationOMAHA DISCOVERY TRUSTNORTHEAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $100,000 · EducationNORTHEAST COMMUNITY C…HASTINGS COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $40,000 · Education+4 more: $19,000 · EducationOMAHA BOTANICAL LAURITZEN GARDENS: $171,500 · OtherOMAHA BOTANICAL LAURITZEN GARDENSMONTE & LISA FROEHLICH FOUNDATION: $110,000 · OtherMONTE & LISA FROEHLICH FOUNDATIONMISSOURI RIVER BASIN LEWIS & CLARK VISITOR CENTER FOUNDATION: $100,000 · OtherMISSOURI RIVER BASIN LEWIS & CLARK V…CALLAWAY RURAL FIRE BOARD: $75,000 · OtherOUTLOOK-NEBRASKA INC: $100,000 · OtherOUTLOOK-NEBRASKA INC+73 more: $1,119,089 · Other+73 moreOMAHA ZOO FOUNDATION: $500,000 · AnimalsOMAHA ZOO FOUNDATI…LINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO: $332,200 · AnimalsLINCOLN CHILDREN'S…NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDATION: $240,000 · Arts & CultureNEBRASKA STATE…THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION: $175,000 · Arts & CultureTHE WILLA CATH…LIVING HISTORY FARMS FOUNDATION: $80,000 · Arts & CultureLIVING HISTORY…JOSLYN ART MUSEUM: $50,000 · Arts & CultureJOSLYN ART MUS…NORTH PLATTE AREA CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $25,000 · Arts & CultureBlue River Arts Council Inc: $25,000 · Arts & Culture+6 more: $57,226 · Arts & Culture+6 moreCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL & MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $95,000 · HealthCHILDREN'S…HEALING KADI FOUNDATION: $90,000 · HealthHEALING KA…OUTLOOK ENRICHMENT: $75,000 · HealthOUTLOOK EN…RADIO TALKING BOOK SERVICE INC: $72,000 · HealthRADIO TALK…CHASE COUNTY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION IN: $50,000 · HealthCHASE COUN…ANGELS AMONG US: $30,000 · HealthANGELS AMO…The Tabitha Foundation Inc: $24,000 · Health+5 more: $54,000 · Health+5 moreNEBRASKA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $250,000 · PhilanthropyMETRO AREA YOUTH FOUNDATION: $15,000 · PhilanthropyFITTING FUTURES: $10,000 · PhilanthropyLAKE CUNNINGHAM DEVELOPMENT TRUST: $175,000 · EnvironmentTHE NEBRASKA LAND TRUST INC: $40,000 · EnvironmentNATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Environment
Education$989,000Other$1,675,589Animals$832,200Arts & Culture$652,226Health$490,000Philanthropy$275,000Environment$240,000

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 budgetUNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA FOUNDATION: $600,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetOMAHA ZOO FOUNDATION: $500,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetLINCOLN CHILDREN'S ZOO: $332,200 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetNEBRASKA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetNEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDATION: $240,000 over 3y, 5.8% of budgetLAKE CUNNINGHAM DEVELOPMENT TRUST: $175,000 over 4y, 4.8% of budgetTHE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION: $175,000 over 4y, 3.0% of budgetBellevue University: $125,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetOMAHA DISCOVERY TRUST: $105,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetOUTLOOK-NEBRASKA INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetNORTHEAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $100,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL & MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $95,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetHEALING KADI FOUNDATION: $90,000 over 6y, 6.8% of budgetLIVING HISTORY FARMS FOUNDATION: $80,000 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetOUTLOOK ENRICHMENT: $75,000 over 3y, 4.3% of budgetRADIO TALKING BOOK SERVICE INC: $72,000 over 6y, 6.9% of budgetLINCOLN SPORTS FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetOMAHA SPORTS COMMISSION: $50,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetCHASE COUNTY HOSPITAL FOUNDATION IN: $50,000 over 2y, 11% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF LINCOLN INC: $50,000 over 2y, 3.4% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS NEBRASKA INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetBUILDERS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetTHE NEBRASKA LAND TRUST INC: $40,000 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetHASTINGS COLLEGE FOUNDATION: $40,000 over 4y, 26% of budgetOPEN DOOR MISSION D/B/A OPEN DOOR MISSION & LYDIA HOUSE: $40,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSHARE A FARE INC: $40,000 over 4y, 34% of budgetCORNHUSKER COUNCIL 324 BOY SCOUTS AMERICA INC: $40,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetLINCOLN HOUSING CHARITIES: $30,000 over 3y, 35% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE COMMISSION FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED INC: $30,000 over 3y, 87% of budgetJUNIPER REFUGE: $30,000 over 3y, 6.6% of budgetADAPTIVE SPORTS PROGRAM NEW MEXICO INC: $30,000 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetANGELS AMONG US: $30,000 over 2y, 1.6% of budgetNORTH PLATTE AREA CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $25,000 over 1y, 24% of budgetBETHLEHEM HOUSE: $25,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budgetNATIONAL ARBOR DAY FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetBlue River Arts Council Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetNEBRASKA HEALTH CARE FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 2y, 2.9% of budgetThe Tabitha Foundation Inc: $24,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetYAZDA: $20,000 over 1y, 4.7% of budgetIOWA DONOR NETWORK: $20,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetAPPLIED INFORMATION MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE: $15,926 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHIRD CITY COMMUNITY CLINC INC: $15,000 over 2y, 1.9% of budgetMETRO AREA YOUTH FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetLINCOLN CHILDREN'S MUSEUM: $15,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetMCLINDON FAMILY FOUNDATION: $10,534 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetMIDWEST COVENANT HOME INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCIVIC NEBRASKA: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSTUHR MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% 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.

The Sherwood Foundati…Lincoln Community Fou…Robert B Daugherty Fo…Cooper FoundationPeter Kiewit Foundati…D F Dillon FoundationLienemann Charitable …Nebraska Community Fo…The Lozier FoundationHirschfeld Family Fou…Abel FoundationBnsf Railway Foundati…
The Sherwood FoundationNE53.8× affinity26 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Sherwood Foundation · Lincoln Community Foundation Inc · Robert B Daugherty Foundation · Cooper Foundation · Peter Kiewit Foundation · D F Dillon Foundation · Lienemann Charitable Foundation Inc · Nebraska Community Foundation · The Lozier Foundation · Hirschfeld Family Foundation Inc · Abel Foundation · Bnsf Railway 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 Ethel S Abbott Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Ethel S Abbott Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    19report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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 Ethel S Abbott Charitable Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Ethel S Abbott Charitable 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 119 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 Ethel S Abbott’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