South Dakota · Private foundation
The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation
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.
- $4.4M
- Granted FY2024(still arriving)
- 57
- Grants FY2024
- 34
- Organizations funded FY2023
- 24%
- First-time grantees FY2023
- Median grant, FY2024
- $25,000
- Largest grant, FY2024
- $960,000
- Organizations funded a year
- 29 to 52
- FY2017 to FY2023
- States reached, FY2024
- 7
- Total assets, FY2024
- $86M
- Applications
- Preselected organizations only
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2023, 24% of the organizations The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 65% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2023, 35% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $2.3M 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024still arriving | 55 | $4.4M | 45% |
| FY2023 | 34 | $3.5M | 24% |
| FY2022 | 31 | $1.2M | 3% |
| FY2021 | 29 | $786k | 10% |
| FY2020 | 33 | $787k | 21% |
| FY2019 | 30 | $682k | 37% |
| FY2018 | 52 | $637k | 13% |
| FY2017 | 49 | $607k | n/a |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
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 FY2024, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Augustana University Association | $2,122,707 | 8 | 1% |
| South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation | $1,821,000 | 8 | 38% |
| Sioux Falls Zoo & Aquarium | $835,000 | 8 | 6% |
| Alzheimer's Disease Research Foundation | $410,000 | 4 | 0% |
| Wegner Arboretum Society | $300,000 | 1 | 35% |
| Feeding South Dakota | $223,000 | 8 | 0% |
| Call to Freedom | $130,000 | 6 | 1% |
| Mdrc | $120,000 | 2 | 0% |
| The Zachary & Elizabeth M Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation | $120,000 | 2 | 1% |
| The Banquet | $112,100 | 8 | 1% |
Show all 49 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 62 recipients with no EIN on record ($5.2M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 4 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 44 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.
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: Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation Inc · South Dakota Community Foundation · Midcontinent Foundation · Sanford Group Return · Avera Health · First Interstate BancSystem Foundation Inc · The Mike Cindy and Kylie Huether Family Foundation · Tenfold Foundation Inc · Sheldon F Reese Foundation · The James and Eloise Elmen Foundation · Levo Cares Foundation · Sioux Empire United Way Inc
How this is measured
Compare The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation with peer funders
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation?
Find your warmest path to The Robert and Rita Elmen 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 Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation
- How much does The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation give?
- The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation reported 57 grants totaling $4,428,707 in its FY2024 IRS filing. It funded between 29 and 52 organizations a year over FY2017 to FY2023.
- What does The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2024, its largest causes are Education (19%), Recreation & Sports (16%), Science & Tech (13%).
- Who are The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2024: Augustana University Association ($2.1M), South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation ($1.8M), Sioux Falls Zoo & Aquarium ($835k).
- Does The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2023, 24% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does The Robert and Rita Elmen 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 Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation Inc, South Dakota Community Foundation, Midcontinent Foundation.
- Where is The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation based?
- The Robert and Rita Elmen Foundation is based in SD.
Play a game based on Robert and Rita Elmen’s filings →