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· Private foundation

Watts Family 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.

$289k
Granted FY2025still arriving
24
Grants FY2025still arriving
5
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What you fund
0190% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY20202025.

Community Improvement$600kHuman Services$82kPublic Benefit$66kEducation$56kHealth$50kArts & Culture$42kCrime & Legal$30kReligion$27kOther$0
02FY2025 · 24 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k12 grants · $40k
  • $10k–50k11 grants · $149k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $100k
$10,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$5.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ARENACO$100,000
CITY OF NORTH LIBERTY$20,833
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE$20,000
CITY OF KETCHUM$15,000
FREE MEDICAL AND DENTAL CLINIC$15,000
LIFEWISE ACADEMY$12,500
Individual grant recipient$12,500
VERITAS CHURCH$12,000
RIVERSIDE THEATHER$11,000
HUALALAI OHANA FOUNDATION$10,000
Individual grant recipient$10,000
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM$10,000
IOWA CITY BIKE LIBRARY$5,000
NO FOOT TOO SMALL$5,000
Individual grant recipient$5,000
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY20–23, $40k) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 0% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Your grants skew toward lower-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%CAMP COURAGEOUS: $5k → 9%WAYPOINT SERVICES: $5k → 9%DEAFINITELY DOGS: $20k → 9%DEAFINITELY DOGS: $5k → 9%MATTHEW 25: $5k → 9%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

87%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$899k · 13 repeat orgs$131k to everyone else

13 repeat relationships — 10 still active in FY2025, 3 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

13
8

Total granted

$899k
$30k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+33%
+46%

Still filing today

38%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 65% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $101k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesEducationPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsPublic BenefitArts & CultureOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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

  • A
    ARENACO
    6× · 2020–2025 · $600k · revenue +969%
  • DV
    DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM
    3× · 2023–2025 · $30k · revenue +33%
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $30k · revenue +7%

Funded once

  • BC
    BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES INC
    one grant, 2020 · $10k
  • WS
    WAYPOINT SERVICESgraduated
    one grant, 2023 · $5k · revenue +55%
  • M2
    MATTHEW 25graduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · revenue +46%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Iowa Renewable Fuels Association

To promote the common business interests of member companies without profit and without the inuring of income to the benefit of any member company or individual. to present the executive, legislative, judicial and regulatory bodies…

Community Improvement
2
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
3
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.

4
United Way of East Central Iowa

Unite the caring power of communities to invest in effective solutions to improve people's lives.

Philanthropy
5
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
6
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
7
Impact Development Fund

Impact development fund helps people within our underserved communities seek fulfillment for themselves and their families by providing access to affordable living. we create these opportunities by delivering flexible capital to nonprofit…

Housing & Shelter
8
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.

9
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.

10
Iowa State University Foundation

Aligning donor passion and generosity to advance iowa state university's land grant ideals.

Education
11
Northeast Iowa Community Action Corp

Through dynamic partnerships, quality family services, advocacy and education, neicac advances community development and improves social and economic conditions for individuals and families with limited resources.

Human Services
12
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.

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Waypoint Services and the most unlike its peers is Arenaco. 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

17 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 20172025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 17 of the 36 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
17/17
Grantees still filing
11/17
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

ARENACO — $600,000 · Recreation & SportsARENACOCITY OF NORTH LIBERTY — $41,666 · OtherCITY OF NORTH LIBERTYIndividual grant recipient — $40,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient4THEKIDZ — $35,000 · Other4THEKIDZDOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM — $30,000 · OtherDOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION PROG…RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE — $30,000 · OtherRONALD MCDONALD HOUSEFREE MEDICAL AND DENTAL CLINIC — $25,000 · OtherFREE MEDICAL AND DENTAL CLINICIOWA CITY BIKE LIBRARY — $20,000 · OtherIOWA CITY BIKE LIBRARYCITY OF KETCHUM — $15,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient — $12,500 · OtherLIFEWISE ACADEMY — $12,500 · OtherVERITAS CHURCH — $12,000 · OtherBUTCH PETERSON LEGACY FOUNDATION — $11,400 · Other+11 more — $37,806 · Other+11 moreUNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA FOUNDATION — $30,000 · EducationHUALALAI OHANA FOUNDATION — $10,000 · Education+1 more — $1,000 · EducationDEAFINITELY DOGS — $25,000 · Human ServicesWAYPOINT SERVICES — $5,000 · Human ServicesMATTHEW 25 — $5,000 · Human ServicesCAMP COURAGEOUS OF IOWA — $5,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF JOHNSON COUNTY — $15,000 · PhilanthropyTHE NEW BOHEMIAN INNOVATION COLLABORATIVE INC — $5,000 · PhilanthropyGARY SINISE FOUNDATION — $1,000 · PhilanthropyRIVERSIDE THEATRE CO — $11,000 · Arts & CultureNO FOOT TOO SMALL — $9,400 · Public Benefit
Recreation & Sports$600,000Other$322,872Education$41,000Human Services$40,000Philanthropy$21,000Arts & Culture$11,000Public Benefit$9,400

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetARENACO — $600,000 over 6y, 18% of budgetDOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM — $30,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA FOUNDATION — $30,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetDEAFINITELY DOGS — $25,000 over 2y, 7.9% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF JOHNSON COUNTY — $15,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetRIVERSIDE THEATRE CO — $11,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetNO FOOT TOO SMALL — $9,400 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetWAYPOINT SERVICES — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMATTHEW 25 — $5,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCAMP COURAGEOUS OF IOWA — $5,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSHELTER HOUSE COMMUNITY SHELTER AND TRANSITION SERVICES — $2,306 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetGARY SINISE FOUNDATION — $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds ARENACO
  • Who funds DOMESTIC VIOLENCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM
  • Who funds UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN IOWA FOUNDATION
  • Who funds DEAFINITELY DOGS
  • Who funds COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF JOHNSON COUNTY
  • Who funds RIVERSIDE THEATRE CO
  • Who funds HUALALAI OHANA FOUNDATION
  • Who funds NO FOOT TOO SMALL
  • Who funds WAYPOINT SERVICES
  • Who funds THE NEW BOHEMIAN INNOVATION COLLABORATIVE INC
  • Who funds NORTH LIBERTY COMMUNITY PANTRY
  • Who funds MATTHEW 25
  • Who funds CAMP COURAGEOUS OF IOWA
  • Who funds SHELTER HOUSE COMMUNITY SHELTER AND TRANSITION SERVICES
  • Who funds GARY SINISE FOUNDATION
  • Who funds STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION
  • Who funds MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES USA INC

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Alliant Energy Foundation IncWI27.3× affinity11 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Alliant Energy Foundation Inc · GreenState Credit Union · Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation · Hodge Family Foundation · Rpc Inc Charitable Foundation · Hawkeye Area Community Action Program Inc · Community Foundation of Johnson County · First Interstate BancSystem Foundation Inc · Rohde Family Charitable Foundation · The Accel Foundation · The Kenneth K Kinsey Family Foundation · Midwestone Bank Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Watts Family Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
202122232425
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%your share of their income ↑0%15%30%45%60%share of the org’s income from government
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–60%
    typical government reliance, FY2025

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to Watts Family Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Watts Family 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 directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 36 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph