Iowa · Nonprofit
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA (Iowa) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,932,121 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWA ($2,473,000). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.0M
- Funders on record
- 67
- Grants received
- $7.9M
- Net assets
- $3.1M
What Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Iowa does
Mission
Our mission is to impact youth by empowering them to discover and achieve their goals through meaningful mentoring. Our vision consists of making a positive difference in the lives of our youth.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Community based mentoring: matches youth, ages 5-25, with adult role models 1-to-1 for guidance, support and unconditional friendship. They meet, at a minimum 4 hrs/month and are involved in a variety of activities. Professional staff supports matches in achieving their goals and helps ensure a fun, fulfilling experience and helps youth discover their personal potential and self-worth and develop the skills necessary to secure a better future.
$817,753 spent59% of program spendingSite-based mentoring: pairs k-8 children in positive 1-to-1 mentoring relationship with adult volunteers in school and workplace settings. K-5 children are visited at their school by their mentors and 6th-8th grade children are transported from their school to local businesses to meet with their mentors. Site-based programs focus on education needs, future goal- setting, workplace exposure, and relationship building.
$571,983 spent41% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,389,736.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $1.1M to $2.8M (+150%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2020 10% · 2021 7% · 2022 3% · 2023 7% · 2024 4% · 2025 23%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Bridget Cravens-Neely
CEO
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 25 funders, grant income rose $372k → $582k.
8 of 67 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 28% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 67 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 31% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
77% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 75% · 2018 54% · 2019 46% · 2020 43% · 2021 43% · 2022 66% · 2023 45% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
58% of BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 73% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
84% of BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA's grant income comes from Iowa funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.2M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Organizations like BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Iowa
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
95%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA?
- BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA (Iowa) receives grants from 67 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,932,121 to it, the largest being UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWA ($2,473,000). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA have?
- IRS filings report 67 organizations giving $7,932,121 in grants to BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA?
- UNITED WAY OF CENTRAL IOWA is the largest funder on record, with $2,473,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL IOWA find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Iowa. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Iowa →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 67 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing