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The Nelson Foundation at a glance

· 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 FY2025still arriving
5
Grants FY2025still arriving
2
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Food & Nutrition$449kEducation$340kArts & Culture$217kHealth$169kYouth Development$155kHousing & Shelter$98kAnimals$85kRecreation & Sports$54kOther$0
02FY2025 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k2 grants · $65k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $235k
$60,000
Median grant
2
States reached
$4.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
DOWLING CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL$100,000
BY DEGREES FOUNDATION$75,000
LIVING HISTORY FARMS FOUNDATION$60,000
EASTER SEALS OF IOWA$35,000
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION$30,000
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 (FY19–24, $118k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, 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%D Squared Homes For the Homeless: $30k → 11%World Food Program USA: $13k → 14%ORPHAN CARE ALLIANCE: $15k → 15%ORPHAN CARE ALLIANCE: $10k → 15%CHILDREN AND FAMILIES OF IOWA: $25k → 10%Children and Families of Iowa: $25k → 10%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

IA
IN
CA
MO
KY
AZ
NM
AR
DC
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.

56%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$972k · 15 repeat orgs$764k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +21% since the first grant, against -1% for those funded once.

15 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2025, 11 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

15
36

Total granted

$972k
$734k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+21%
-1%

Still filing today

53%
47%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 90% 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 & CultureHuman ServicesEducationYouth DevelopmentPhilanthropyFood & NutritionOther
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

  • LH
    LIVING HISTORY FARMS FOUNDATION
    4× · 2018–2025 · $190k · revenue +18%
  • BD
    BY DEGREES FOUNDATION
    4× · 2020–2025 · $160k · revenue +39%
  • AH
    ANAWIM HOUSING INC
    2× · 2021–2022 · $50k · revenue +19%

Funded once

  • IS
    IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
    one grant, 2017 · $375k
  • FB
    FOOD BANK OF IOWAgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $50k · revenue +42%
  • DH
    Dsquared Homes for the Homeless
    one grant, 2023 · $30k · revenue -9%
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
Common Good Iowa

Common good iowa engages iowans to create and advocate for research-based public policy that makes life better and more equitable for all who make iowa home.

—
2
The Foundation for the Iowa City Community School District

The foundation for the iowa city community school district connects the community with our schools to ensure every student has extraordinary learning experiences. together we empower teachers and district staff and inspire students to…

—
3
Iowa Credit Union Foundation

Founded in 1995 as the philanthropic arm of the iowa credit union league and guided by the credit union philosophy of "people helping people", the iowa credit union foundation (the foundation) works to champion financial well-being for…

Unclassified
4
Greater Des Moines Partnership

None

Community Improvement
5
Des Moines Childrens Museum

To build the foundation of lifelong learning by promoting the power of play.

Arts & Culture
6
Iowa Association of Business and Industry Foundation

To deliver programs and to conduct research for the benefit of students, educators, emerging leaders and employers that expand their knowledge and enhance their individual responsibility and leadership skills.

Youth Development
7
Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity Inc

Seeking to put god's love into action, habitat for humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope to realize our vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live. greater des moines habitat for humanity…

Housing & Shelter
8
Iowa State University Foundation

Aligning donor passion and generosity to advance iowa state university's land grant ideals.

Education
9
Iowa 4-H Foundation

The iowa 4-h foundation provides financial resources for youth development through 4-h.

—
10
Family Promise of Greater Des Moines

To provide shelter and services to families experiencing homelessness

—
11
West Des Moines Community Schools Foundation

To actively seek private funds (and to coordinate funds entrusted to its care) that ensure each student, regardless of his or her means, has the opportunity to reach his or her fullest potential.

Philanthropy
12
Greater Des Moines Partnership Foundation
Philanthropy
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Children and Families of Iowa; the most unlike its peers is Guardian Scholars Foundation. 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

26 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. 26 of the 52 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)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/26
Grantees still filing
13/26
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY: $374,991 · OtherIOWA STATE UNIVERSITYBY DEGREES FOUNDATION: $160,000 · OtherBY DEGREES FOUNDATIONDOWLING CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL: $103,993 · OtherDOWLING CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOLIowa Healthiest State: $75,000 · OtherIowa Healthiest StateEASTER SEALS OF IOWA: $63,638 · OtherEASTER SEALS OF IOWAANAWIM HOUSING INC: $50,000 · OtherEaster Seals: $49,500 · OtherBOYS & GIRLS CLUB: $45,000 · Other+27 more: $267,744 · Other+27 moreLIVING HISTORY FARMS FOUNDATION: $190,000 · Arts & CultureLIVING HISTORY…DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $25,000 · Arts & CultureDES MOINES SYM…SCIENCE CENTER OF IOWA: $13,000 · Arts & CultureSCIENCE CENTER…+1 more: $1,500 · Arts & CultureCHILDREN AND FAMILIES OF IOWA: $50,000 · Human ServicesDsquared Homes for the Homeless: $30,000 · Human ServicesORPHAN CARE ALLIANCE INC: $25,000 · Human ServicesFRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INC: $13,000 · Human ServicesFOOD BANK OF IOWA: $50,000 · Food & NutritionKNOCK AND DROP IOWA: $5,000 · Food & NutritionUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $30,000 · EducationIOWA SAFE SCHOOLS: $15,000 · EducationCatching the Dream: $5,000 · EducationBEYOND THE FAIRWAYS FOUNDATION: $41,625 · PhilanthropyGUARDIAN SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $7,000 · PhilanthropyBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CENTRAL IOWA: $35,000 · Youth DevelopmentPURSUIT OF INNOVATION: $10,000 · Youth Development
Other$1,189,866Arts & Culture$229,500Human Services$118,000Food & Nutrition$55,000Education$50,000Philanthropy$48,625Youth Development$45,000

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 budgetLIVING HISTORY FARMS FOUNDATION: $190,000 over 4y, 2.0% of budgetBY DEGREES FOUNDATION: $160,000 over 4y, 8.8% of budgetANAWIM HOUSING INC: $50,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetFOOD BANK OF IOWA: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHILDREN AND FAMILIES OF IOWA: $50,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetBEYOND THE FAIRWAYS FOUNDATION: $41,625 over 3y, 8.6% of budgetABOVE AND BEYOND CANCER INC: $35,500 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetBOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF CENTRAL IOWA: $35,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetDsquared Homes for the Homeless: $30,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEAST HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetORPHAN CARE ALLIANCE INC: $25,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetDES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetIowa Legal Aid: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCAN PLAY: $20,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetIOWA SAFE SCHOOLS: $15,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE WORLD FOOD PROGRAM INC: $13,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSCIENCE CENTER OF IOWA: $13,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetPURSUIT OF INNOVATION: $10,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetHEIFER PROJECT INTERNATIONAL: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetHOME OPPORTUNITIES MADE EASY INC: $8,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGUARDIAN SCHOLARS FOUNDATION: $7,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetKNOCK AND DROP IOWA: $5,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetCatching the Dream: $5,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetTHE YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GREATER DES MOINES: $1,625 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetEdmundson Art Foundation Inc: $1,500 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

Prairie Meadows Race …Community Fdn of Grea…EMC Insurance Foundat…United Way of Central…Meredith Corporation …Chrysalis FoundationIta Group FoundationThe Merchants Bonding…Helen J and Thomas Ne…Fred Maytag Family Fo…Krause Gentle Foundat…Golf Charitable Found…
Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino IncIA38× affinity16 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

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
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 Nelson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Nelson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%4%8%15%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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 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.

    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 52 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 Nelson’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