Ohio · Nonprofit
Bluffton University
Bluffton University (Ohio) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,081,668 to it, the largest being THE AUSTIN E KNOWLTON FOUNDATION INC ($3,525,000). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $30M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $5.1M
- Net assets
- $57M
What Bluffton University does
Mission
Shaped by the historic peace church tradition and nourished by a desire for excellence in all phases of its programs, Bluffton University seeks to prepare students of all backgrounds for life as well as vocation, for responsible citizenship, for service to all peoples and, ultimately, for the purpose of god's universal kingdom.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Bluffton University provides an educational experience that promotes our four enduring values of discovery, community, respect and service. One can choose from 45 majors and more than 41 minors. Business administration, education, sport management, and nutrition and dietetics are among our largest majors. We also offer graduate programs in education and business. Our student aid program served 566 students and allows the institution to provide an education that helps students find their greater purpose.
$30,168,603 spentof which $13,588,454 as grants$27,053,617 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $30,168,603.
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. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2019 to 2020, from $74M to $70M (−5%).
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: 2017 0% · 2018 0% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 0% · 2022 0% · 2023 6% · 2024 0% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
7% of Bluffton University’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 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.
Board chair
Cheryl Hacker
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 10 funders to 14 funders, grant income fell $1.9M → $152k.
17 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 Bluffton University’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
Bluffton University leans on a few funders — its largest provides 69% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 93% · 2018 92% · 2019 34% · 2020 21% · 2021 41% · 2022 39% · 2023 24% — 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
45% of Bluffton University's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
93% of Bluffton University's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $708k arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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.
Against its field
Bluffton University receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $5.1M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding Bluffton University receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $4.1M on record.
- Department of Education$4.1M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like Bluffton University
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 Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
91% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Charitable Remainder Trusts (1) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Bluffton University: 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 Bluffton University?
- Bluffton University (Ohio) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,081,668 to it, the largest being THE AUSTIN E KNOWLTON FOUNDATION INC ($3,525,000). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Bluffton University have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $5,081,668 in grants to Bluffton University, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Bluffton University?
- THE AUSTIN E KNOWLTON FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,525,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Bluffton University find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. 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 Bluffton University →
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 40 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