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Iowa · Public charity

United Way of Spencer

UNITED WAY OF SPENCER distributes funds to local charities that have been collected in an organized concise manner from the public during its annual fund drive.

$369k
Granted FY2026(still arriving)
12
Itemized grants FY2026
11
Organizations funded FY2025
9%
First-time grantees FY2025
Read the full brief
Itemized, FY2026
$341k
The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2026
$12,750
Largest grant, FY2026
$166,000
Organizations funded a year
9 to 15
FY2021 to FY2025
States reached, FY2026
2
Total assets, FY2026
$1.2M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2025, 9% of the organizations United Way of Spencer funded were first-time grantees, receiving 1% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.

50%100%’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationCommunity ImprovementAnimalsOther
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.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2026still arriving12$341k8%
FY202511$665k9%
FY202415$565k33%
FY202310$461k100%
FY202210$134k10%
FY20219$113kn/a
95% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.

Human Services$981kCrime & Legal$317kPublic Safety & Disaster$279kCommunity Improvement$207kArts & Culture$43kYouth Development$25kReligion$18kEducation$15kOther$0

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2021 to FY2026, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

Show all 17 grantees
All grantees of United Way of Spencer by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Hartley Community Daycare$746,00044%
Centers Against Abuse & Sexual Assa$326,500328%
Grand Avenue Community Outreach$251,115449%
American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches$249,50040%
Hartley Improvement Foundation$112,5002n/a
Upper Des Moines Opportunity Inc$102,40040%
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Sio Sioux City$52,50041%
Clay County Council on Aging$33,500216%
Atlas of Spencer$32,75046%
Young Mens Christian Assoc of Spencer Iowa$27,00030%
Arts on Grand$23,75045%
Family Crisis Centers Inc$22,00030%
Friends of the Everly Public Library$14,5002n/a
The Dollywood Foundation$13,50010%
Lutheran Services in Iowa Inc$12,5002n/a
People for Pets$6,30012%
Lutheran Congregation in Mission for Christ$6,0001n/a

Plus 10 recipients with no EIN on record ($248k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

United Way of Spencer supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 13 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetHartley Community Daycare: $746,000 over 4y, 4.3% of budgetCenters Against Abuse & Sexual Assa: $326,500 over 3y, 28% of budgetGrand Avenue Community Outreach: $251,115 over 4y, 49% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $249,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetUpper Des Moines Opportunity Inc: $102,400 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetCatholic Charities of the Diocese of Sio Sioux City: $52,500 over 4y, 0.6% of budgetClay County Council on Aging: $33,500 over 2y, 16% of budgetAtlas of Spencer: $32,750 over 4y, 6.1% of budgetYoung Mens Christian Assoc of Spencer Iowa: $27,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetArts on Grand: $23,750 over 4y, 4.6% of budgetFamily Crisis Centers Inc: $22,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetThe Dollywood Foundation: $13,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPeople for Pets: $6,300 over 1y, 1.9% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 13.

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 Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community FdnIA18.8× affinity7 shared granteesties to 5 of 5Hover 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 · Siouxland Community Foundation · Alliant Energy Foundation Inc · Land O'Lakes Foundation · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Amazonsmile Foundation

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.

Compare United Way of Spencer with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to United Way of Spencer?

Find your warmest path to United Way of Spencer 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 United Way of Spencer

How much does United Way of Spencer give?
United Way of Spencer reported 12 itemized grants totaling $341,000, out of $369,340 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2026 IRS filing. It funded between 9 and 15 organizations a year over FY2021 to FY2025.
What does United Way of Spencer fund?
By grant dollars over FY2021 to FY2026, its largest causes are Human Services (51%), Crime & Legal (16%), Public Safety & Disaster (14%).
Who are United Way of Spencer's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2021 to FY2026: Hartley Community Daycare ($746k), Centers Against Abuse & Sexual Assa ($327k), Grand Avenue Community Outreach ($251k).
Does United Way of Spencer fund new organizations?
In FY2025, 9% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as United Way of Spencer?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Community Fdn of Greater Des Moines F/K/A Greater Des Moines Community Fdn, Siouxland Community Foundation, Alliant Energy Foundation Inc.
Where is United Way of Spencer based?
United Way of Spencer is based in IA.

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 27 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 e-file return for fiscal year 2026, released 2026. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

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