· Private foundation
The Robert and Mary Ellen Stephens
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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2022 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k13 grants · $13k
- $10k–50k2 grants · $34k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| NEW COVENANT COMMUNITY CHURCH | $21,500 |
| CBMC | $12,000 |
| YOUTH FOR CHRIST | $5,000 |
| THE GROVE CHURCH | $2,000 |
| NAVIGATORS | $1,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $1,000 |
| FRIENDSHIP HOME | $500 |
| CENTERPOINTE | $500 |
| SAMARITANS PURSE | $500 |
| THE SALVATION ARMY | $500 |
| COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP | $500 |
| FOOD BANK OF LINCOLN | $500 |
| NEBRASKA RIGHT TO LIFE EDUCATIONAL | $500 |
| CONCRETE CARES | $300 |
| STATE TROOPERS ASSOCIATION OF NE | $100 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY22–22, $1k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 70% of The Robert and Mary Ellen Stephens’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 68% of the giving stays in NE; by stated purpose, 17%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +10% since the first grant, against -16% for those funded once.
4 repeat relationships: 4 still active in FY2024, 0 since wound down; 11 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 85% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $7k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- NCNEW COVENANT COMMUNITY CHURCH3× · 2022–2024 · $64k
- CCBMC2× · 2022–2024 · $29k
- OYOMAHA YOUTH FOR CHRIST2× · 2023–2024 · $10k · revenue +10%
Funded once
- EMEvery Man A Warrior Incgraduatedone grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue +28%
- CCCORNHUKER COUNCIL BOY SCOUTSone grant, 2023 · $3k
- ALAMERICAN LEGIONone grant, 2023 · $1k
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.
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.
Hope gospel rescue mission is a christ centered ministry in york, nebraska. helping the hurting & homeless in the name of jesus christ.
Atlas is a mentor based, prayer driven ministry that provides personal development services to individuals and families who are hurting for a variety of reasons. atlas aims to be a safe, confidential place that offers our services for free…
The lawrence community shelter is the only emergency homeless shelter serving lawrence and douglas county in kansas. our mission is to provide a safe shelter and comprehensive services and programs in order to set people experiencing or at…
To perform the works of mercy in response to the call of god. our corporal works of mercy performed primarily include providing food, clothing, shelter, and prison ministry. our spiritual works of mercy performed primarily include…
This church will be that place of emergency where people can come any time of day or night. We will be a place that will lead people back to health both spiritually and naturally.
Provide temporary housing and assistance to homeless individuals in the lincoln, nebraska area.
Bridge of Hope empowers Lincoln County neighbors to overcome housing crises through resources, healing, and hope. We provide safe shelter, advocacy, and connections to community resources that help individuals and families work toward…
Lutheran indian ministries shares the gospel of jesus christ with native american people, encouraging them to proclaim christ's kingdom to their own and to others.
To promote, facilitate and develop or co-develop affordable housing in lincoln county, nebraska.
To provide and connect resources in western douglas county, nebraska for those whose needs are temporarily greater than their means.
To serve the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of lincoln's working poor, and homeless through outreach, advocacy, education, and the provision of food and shelter.
How this is measured
8 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. 8 of the 24 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 OMAHA YOUTH FOR CHRIST ↗
- Who funds Every Man A Warrior Inc ↗
- Who funds OPEN DOOR MISSION D/B/A OPEN DOOR MISSION & LYDIA HOUSE ↗
- Who funds FOOD BANK OF LINCOLN INC ↗
- Who funds SAMARITAN'S PURSE ↗
- Who funds FRIENDSHIP HOME OF LINCOLN INC ↗
- Who funds CENTERPOINTE INC ↗
- Who funds LINCOLN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL FOUNDATION SHORT TAX YEAR ENDED 5/31/2025 ↗
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: Lincoln Community Foundation Inc · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · National Philanthropic Trust · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization The Robert and Mary Ellen Stephens funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Robert and Mary Ellen Stephens. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Robert and Mary Ellen Stephens?
Find your warmest path to The Robert and Mary Ellen Stephens 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.
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