Iowa · Private foundation
The Nelson 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.
- $300k
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 5
- Grants FY2025
- 11
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 55%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $60,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $100,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 2 to 18
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 2
- Total assets, FY2025
- $4.1M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 55% of the organizations The Nelson Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 36% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 64% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $93k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 5 | $300k | 20% |
| FY2024 | 11 | $260k | 55% |
| FY2023 | 7 | $180k | 43% |
| FY2022 | 10 | $205k | 40% |
| FY2021 | 8 | $165k | 88% |
| FY2020 | 2 | $85k | 100% |
| FY2019 | 18 | $65k | 94% |
| FY2018 | 4 | $37k | 100% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Living History Farms Foundation | $190,000 | 4 | 2% |
| By Degrees Foundation | $160,000 | 4 | 9% |
| Anawim Housing Inc | $50,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Food Bank of Iowa | $50,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Children and Families of Iowa | $50,000 | 2 | 0% |
| Beyond the Fairways Foundation | $41,625 | 3 | 9% |
| Above and Beyond Cancer Inc | $35,500 | 2 | 3% |
| Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa | $35,000 | 2 | 1% |
| Dsquared Homes for the Homeless | $30,000 | 1 | 12% |
| University of California San Francisco Foundation | $30,000 | 1 | 0% |
Show all 29 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 23 recipients with no EIN on record ($831k), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget The Nelson Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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.
Open a dossier: Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino Inc · Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn · EMC Insurance Foundation · United Way of Central Iowa · Meredith Corporation Foundation · Chrysalis Foundation · Ita Group Foundation · The Merchants Bonding Company Foundation · Helen J and Thomas Nelson Urban Sr Charitable Foundation III · Fred Maytag Family Foundation · Krause Gentle Foundation · Golf Charitable Foundation of Greater Des Moines
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Nelson Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Nelson 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 Nelson Foundation
- How much does The Nelson Foundation give?
- The Nelson Foundation reported 5 grants totaling $300,000 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 2 and 18 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does The Nelson Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Food & Nutrition (26%), Education (20%), Arts & Culture (12%).
- Who are The Nelson Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: Living History Farms Foundation ($190k), By Degrees Foundation ($160k), Anawim Housing Inc ($50k).
- Does The Nelson Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 55% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Nelson 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 Nelson Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino Inc, Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn, EMC Insurance Foundation.
- Where is The Nelson Foundation based?
- The Nelson Foundation is based in IA.
Play a game based on Nelson’s filings →