· 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2025.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
How this is measured
By grant size · FY2026
- Under $10k5 grants · $36k
- $10k–50k5 grants · $85k
- $50k–250k2 grants · $221k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| HARTLEY COMMUNITY DAYCARE | $166,000 |
| AMERICAN RED CROSS | $55,000 |
| UPPER DES MOINES OPPORTUNITY | $30,000 |
| OUTREACH OF SPENCER | $17,500 |
| CATHOLIC CHARITIES | $14,250 |
| CLAY COUNTY COUNCIL ON AGING | $12,750 |
| CAASA | $10,000 |
| ATLAS OF SPENCER | $8,250 |
| FAMILY CRISIS CENTER | $8,000 |
| LUTHERAN SERVICES OF IOWA | $7,000 |
| ARTS ON GRAND | $6,250 |
| TRINITY PRESCHOOL | $6,000 |
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 (FY23–26, $628k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 12%. 40% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
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 +15% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.
23 repeat relationships: 11 still active in FY2026, 12 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2026 (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 FY2026, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $6k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- HCHARTLEY COMMUNITY DAYCARE4× · 2023–2026 · $746k · revenue +148%
- ANAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches4× · 2023–2026 · $250k · revenue +22%
- CCCLAY COUNTY COUNCIL ON AGING2× · 2024–2026 · $34k · revenue +78%
Funded once
THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATIONone grant, 2024 · $14k · revenue 0%- IGIndividual grant recipientone grant, 2022 · $9k
- PFPEOPLE FOR PETSone grant, 2024 · $6k · revenue 0%
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.
Provide support, resources, and hope for a better future to persons affected by domestic abuse, sexual assault and other crisis.
Crossroads of crawford county is a christian outreach for the people and communities in crawford county, in iowa. it seeks to match people with resources which fit their personal or family needs while encouraging and supporting them though…
Immigration counseling and advocacy for minority senior citizens
The organization endeavors to provide safe emergency and transitional shelter and meals to homeless adults along with resource assistance to move clients beyond homelessness and toward independent living.
Educating, advocating for, and connecting community action agencies to amplify a unified voice in service of iowans facing economic hardship.
To provide guardianship and trustee services to vulnerable individuals in iowa. services also include representative payee.
The mission of crisis intervention service (cis) is to provide persons affected by domestic violence, sexual assault and homicide with professional, confidential, 24-hour services including safety and support and to prevent violence in our…
Child day care center
To provide a highly structured environment which emphasizes a safety and security to all juveniles while serving as a deterrent to criminal and anti-social behaviors. Working youth in the center and communities.
To improve the health and well-being of all by empowering communities, organizations, and people to take informed actions to prevent and mitigate the lifelong effects of childhood adversity.
To assist in the provision of a better life for iowa's low-income residents, through assistance to the community action organization located within the state.
How this is measured
14 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 14 of the 27 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 HARTLEY COMMUNITY DAYCARE ↗
- Who funds CENTERS AGAINST ABUSE & SEXUAL ASSA ↗
- Who funds GRAND AVENUE COMMUNITY OUTREACH ↗
- Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
- Who funds UPPER DES MOINES OPPORTUNITY INC ↗
- Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF SIO SIOUX CITY ↗
- Who funds CLAY COUNTY COUNCIL ON AGING ↗
- Who funds ATLAS OF SPENCER ↗
- Who funds YOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOC OF SPENCER IOWA ↗
- Who funds ARTS ON GRAND ↗
- Who funds FAMILY CRISIS CENTERS INC ↗
- Who funds THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds LUTHERAN SERVICES IN IOWA INC ↗
- Who funds PEOPLE FOR PETS ↗
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: 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
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization United Way of Spencer funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from United Way of Spencer. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
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.
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