Skip to content
Thomas & Linda Koehn Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Thomas & Linda Koehn 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.

$5.4M
Granted FY2025still arriving
23
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$1.4M
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0198% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$6.4MEducation$4.5MPhilanthropy$4.3MRecreation & Sports$2.5MEnvironment$1.9MScience & Tech$1.5MHealth$1.4MHuman Services$1.2MOther$0
02FY2025 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $13k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $85k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $637k
  • $250k+7 grants · $4.7M
$78,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$63M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER DES MOINES$1,400,000
Individual grant recipient$1,150,000
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER DES MOINES$602,000
DENTAL CONNECTIONS$575,000
BY DEGREES FOUNDATION$400,000
DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION$278,000
NAPLES CHILDREN & EDUCATION FOUNDATION$250,000
PRIMARY HEALTHCARE$125,000
DRAKE UNIVERSITY$100,000
UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWA$100,000
DES MOINES METRO OPERA FOUNDATION$84,000
WESLEY LIFE MEALS ON WHEELS$78,000
EVERGLADES FOUNDATION$50,000
VARIETY CHILDRENS CHARITY OF IOWA$50,000
HERITAGE CAROUSEL OF DES MOINES$50,000
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 (FY19–25, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 91% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 12%YOUTH AND SHELTER SERVICES: $809k → 17%HEALTH NETWORK FOUNDATION: $1k → 17%YOUTH AND SHELTER SERVICES: $186k → 17%HEALTH NETWORK FOUNDATION: $1k → 17%HEALTH NETWORK FOUNDATION: $1k → 17%HOPE MINISTRIES: $100k → 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

IL
NY
IA
OH
RI
CA
CO
VA
FL
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.

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$18M · 36 repeat orgs$4.6M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +25% since the first grant, against +10% for those funded once.

36 repeat relationships: 15 still active in FY2025, 21 since wound down; 6 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
35

Total granted

$18M
$3.0M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+25%
+10%

Still filing today

75%
51%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 52% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.6M 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 & CultureHealthEducationHuman ServicesEnvironmentPhilanthropyOther
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

  • CC
    CORNELL COLLEGE
    6× · 2017–2024 · $2.0M · revenue +39%
  • DM
    DES MOINES METRO OPERA FOUNDATION INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.0M · revenue +49%
  • GD
    GREATER DES MOINES BOTANICAL GARDEN
    8× · 2017–2024 · $1.5M · revenue +266%

Funded once

  • YA
    YOUTH AND SHELTER SERVICES INC
    one grant, 2023 · $995k · revenue +16%
  • DM
    DES MOINES ART CENTER EDMUNDSON ART FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2024 · $311k
  • IP
    IOWA PUBLIC RADIO INC
    one grant, 2023 · $250k · revenue -20%
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
Des Moines University Osteopathic Medical Center

To improve lives in our global community by educating diverse groups of highly competent and compassionate health professionals.

Education
2
University of Iowa Facilities Corporation

The university of iowa facilities corporation acquires and holds property for the benefit and use of the university of iowa.

—
3
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.

—
4
Midwest Dairy Association

Midwest dairy works with others to give consumers an excellent dairy experience increasing sales, fostering innovation, and inspiring consumer confidence of dairy products and practices.

—
5
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art

To excite, engage and educate through the arts.

Arts & Culture
6
DePauw University

Depauw university develops leaders the world needs through an uncommon commitment to the liberal arts. depauw's diverse and inclusive learning and living experience, distinctive in its rigorous intellectual engagement and its global and…

Education
7
State University of Iowa Alumni Association

Our mission is to strengthen the university of iowa through alumni engagement. we do this through our communications, alumni programs, and events.

—
8
Iowa Medical Society

Our mission is to advance the practice of medicine through advocacy, education, and engagement with physicians throughout iowa to ensure the highest quality of care for the patients they serve.

—
9
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation

This member-supported organization protects and restores iowa's land, water and wildlife for future generations. priorities include permanent land protection, promotion of improved land management and bringing new conservation…

Environment
10
State University of Iowa Foundation

The university of iowa center for advancement's mission is to advance the university of iowa through engagement and philanthropy. we serve our alumni and friends in the state and the region, throughout the country, and around the world. we…

Education
11
Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce

Our mission is to inspire the iowa city area to be greater by: 1) elevating business, 2) investing in strategic initiatives, and 3) advocating for the economic resiliency of the greater community.

—
12
Greater Des Moines Partnership

None

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Des Moines Community Playhouse; the most unlike its peers is World Food Prize 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

50 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. 50 of the 79 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
5
Early backer (in before they grew)
49/50
Grantees still filing
32/50
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DES MOINES METRO OPERA FOUNDATION INC: $1,964,095 · OtherDES MOINES METRO OPERA FOUNDATION INCFRIENDS OF DES MOINES PARKS: $1,200,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF DES MOINES PARKSIndividual grant recipient: $1,150,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipientDES MOINES SYMPHONY FOUNDATION: $1,052,101 · OtherDES MOINES SYMPHONY FOUNDATIONUNITED WAY: $600,000 · OtherUNITED WAYBY DEGREES FOUNDATION: $400,000 · OtherDENTAL CONNECTIONS INC: $642,278 · OtherDENTAL CONNECTIONS INC+44 more: $2,950,751 · Other+44 moreSCIENCE CENTER OF IOWA: $1,501,840 · Arts & CultureSCIENCE CENTER OF I…Edmundson Art Foundation Inc: $1,190,000 · Arts & CultureEdmundson Art Found…DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $590,335 · Arts & CultureDES MOINES SYMPHONY…IOWA PUBLIC RADIO INC: $250,000 · Arts & CultureIOWA PUBLIC RADIO I…HOYT SHERMAN PLACE FOUNDATION: $210,000 · Arts & Culture+8 more: $390,250 · Arts & Culture+8 moreCOMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN: $2,027,000 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY FDN OF…NAPLES CHILDREN FOUNDATION INC: $1,458,020 · PhilanthropyNAPLES CHILDREN …+1 more: $25,000 · PhilanthropyCORNELL COLLEGE: $1,965,000 · EducationCORNELL COL…DRAKE UNIVERSITY: $300,000 · EducationDRAKE UNIVE…IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $250,000 · EducationIOWA STATE …+1 more: $17,000 · EducationGREATER DES MOINES BOTANICAL GARDEN: $1,515,000 · EnvironmentNAPLES BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $165,000 · EnvironmentTHE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC: $77,500 · EnvironmentDES MOINES WATER WORKS PARK FOUNDATION: $1,200,000 · Recreation & SportsYOUTH AND SHELTER SERVICES INC: $994,530 · Human ServicesHOPE MINISTRIES: $100,000 · Human Services+2 more: $13,000 · Human Services
Other$9,959,225Arts & Culture$4,132,425Philanthropy$3,510,020Education$2,532,000Environment$1,757,500Recreation & Sports$1,200,000Human Services$1,107,530

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 budgetCOMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN: $2,027,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCORNELL COLLEGE: $1,965,000 over 6y, 1.0% of budgetDES MOINES METRO OPERA FOUNDATION INC: $1,964,095 over 9y, 23% of budgetGREATER DES MOINES BOTANICAL GARDEN: $1,515,000 over 8y, 21% of budgetSCIENCE CENTER OF IOWA: $1,501,840 over 2y, 11% of budgetNAPLES CHILDREN FOUNDATION INC: $1,458,020 over 9y, 2.1% of budgetDES MOINES WATER WORKS PARK FOUNDATION: $1,200,000 over 2y, 32% of budgetEdmundson Art Foundation Inc: $1,190,000 over 3y, 7.9% of budgetDES MOINES SYMPHONY FOUNDATION: $1,052,101 over 4y, 38% of budgetYOUTH AND SHELTER SERVICES INC: $994,530 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetDENTAL CONNECTIONS INC: $642,278 over 2y, 16% of budgetDES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION: $590,335 over 8y, 9.8% of budgetBY DEGREES FOUNDATION: $400,000 over 1y, 47% of budgetVARIETY - THE CHILDREN'S CHARITY OF IOWA: $320,000 over 9y, 1.0% of budgetDRAKE UNIVERSITY: $300,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetIOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION: $250,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetPRIMARY HEALTH CARE INC: $250,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetIOWA PUBLIC RADIO INC: $250,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetHOYT SHERMAN PLACE FOUNDATION: $210,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWA: $200,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetNAPLES BOTANICAL GARDEN INC: $165,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetTHE CONSERVANCY OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: $127,500 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetHOPE MINISTRIES: $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDES MOINES COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE: $100,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetDES MOINES HERITAGE CENTER: $100,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetHISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC: $100,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetELLIPSIS INC: $100,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetBROADLAWNS MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION: $80,000 over 4y, 4.7% of budgetTHE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC: $77,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetWHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $70,000 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetNAPLES ZOO INC: $25,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetWorld Food Prize Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetFOOD BANK OF IOWA: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetORCHARD PLACE: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDES MOINES PERFORMING ARTS: $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSimpson College: $17,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetON WITH LIFE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOLLIER COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSONOMA VALLEY VINTNERS & GROWERS FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBALLET DES MOINES: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetYMCA OF THE ROCKIES: $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNAPLES HISTORICAL SOCIETY INC: $8,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetARTIS-NAPLES INC: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMIND AND SPIRIT COUNSELING CENTER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSALISBURY HOUSE FOUNDATION: $5,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFeeding Dreams Inc: $5,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetHEALTHNETWORK FOUNDATION FKA HEALTH NET FOUNDATION INC: $3,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetOkoboji Protective Association: $1,000 over 1y, 1.1% 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.

  • Who funds COMMUNITY FDN OF GREATER DES MOINES F/K/A GREATER DES MOINES COMMUNITY FDN ↗
  • Who funds CORNELL COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds DES MOINES METRO OPERA FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds GREATER DES MOINES BOTANICAL GARDEN ↗
  • Who funds SCIENCE CENTER OF IOWA ↗
  • Who funds NAPLES CHILDREN FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds DES MOINES WATER WORKS PARK FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Edmundson Art Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds DES MOINES SYMPHONY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds YOUTH AND SHELTER SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds DENTAL CONNECTIONS INC ↗
  • Who funds DES MOINES SYMPHONY ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds BY DEGREES FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds VARIETY - THE CHILDREN'S CHARITY OF IOWA ↗
  • Who funds DRAKE UNIVERSITY ↗
  • Who funds IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PRIMARY HEALTH CARE INC ↗
  • Who funds IOWA PUBLIC RADIO INC ↗
  • Who funds HOYT SHERMAN PLACE FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWA ↗
  • Who funds NAPLES BOTANICAL GARDEN INC ↗
  • Who funds THE CONSERVANCY OF SOUTHWEST FLORIDA ↗
  • Who funds HOPE MINISTRIES ↗
  • Who funds DES MOINES COMMUNITY PLAYHOUSE ↗
  • Who funds DES MOINES HERITAGE CENTER ↗
  • Who funds HISTORIC ARNOLDS PARK INC ↗
  • Who funds ELLIPSIS INC ↗
  • Who funds BROADLAWNS MEDICAL CENTER FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds THE EVERGLADES FOUNDATION INC ↗

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.

Community Fdn of Grea…Bookey Family Foundat…EMC Insurance Foundat…Meredith Corporation …Prairie Meadows Race …John Ruan Foundation …The West Bancorporati…Gartner Family Founda…Wt and Edna M Dahl Tr…Kyle J & Sharon Kraus…The Merchants Bonding…William C Knapp Chari…
Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community FdnIA42.8× affinity21 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn · Bookey Family Foundation · EMC Insurance Foundation · Meredith Corporation Foundation · Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino Inc · John Ruan Foundation Trust · The West Bancorporation Foundation Inc · Gartner Family Foundation % Michael G Gartner · Wt and Edna M Dahl Trust · Kyle J & Sharon Krause Family Foundation · The Merchants Bonding Company Foundation · William C Knapp Charitable Fdn

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 Thomas & Linda Koehn Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Thomas & Linda Koehn Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 50%6%25%56%100%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 3%
  • Naples Botanical Garden Inc: 3% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
5get no government money at all
12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 Thomas & Linda Koehn Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Thomas & Linda Koehn 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 79 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 Thomas & Linda Koehn’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