Iowa · Nonprofit
Buena Vista University
Buena Vista University (Iowa) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,418,823 to it, the largest being Stine Family Foundation ($969,966). 47 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
Buena Vista University's funding base is broadening — from 15 funders to 35 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,681 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Community Foundation for Western Iowalocal
- Edward L Schwab Memorial Foundation Dacotah Bankportfolio match
- James J & Mildred M Postma Scholarship Fundportfolio match
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.
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 2% · 2021 5% · 2022 6% · 2023 1% · 2024 0% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
16% of Buena Vista University’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (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
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 15 funders to 35 funders, grant income rose $169k → $703k.
14 of 78 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 19% 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 Buena Vista University’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 78 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
Buena Vista University has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 22% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
36% 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 Buena Vista University.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 32% · 2018 28% · 2019 37% · 2020 29% · 2021 27% · 2022 20% · 2023 35% — growing more concentrated.
“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
44% of Buena Vista University's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
64% of Buena Vista University's grant income comes from Iowa funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $826k arriving through sponsors registered in 13 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 78 funders put you typical among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Community Foundation for Western IowalocalIA · funds 38 organizations near you
- Edward L Schwab Memorial Foundation Dacotah Bankportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- James J & Mildred M Postma Scholarship Fundportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Georgine McDonald Trust co Hickory Point Bank and Trustportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Pottawattamie County Housing Trust Fund InclocalIA · funds 13 organizations near you
- Southwest Iowa FoundationlocalNE · funds 10 organizations near you
- Wapello County FoundationlocalIA · funds 16 organizations near you
- Hispanic Scholarship Fundshared fundersCA · backs 60 organizations that share your funders
- United Way of Wapello County InclocalIA · funds 10 organizations near you
- Promise PartnerslocalIA · funds 12 organizations near you
- Lamson Howell Foundation InclocalVT · funds 14 organizations near you
- Iowa West FoundationlocalIA · funds 34 organizations near you
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Government funding Buena Vista University receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $9.5M on record.
- Department of Education$8.6M
- National Science Foundation$648k
- Department of Health and Human Services$330k
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 Buena Vista University
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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
86% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Bvu Fund LP Co Cambridge Associates LLC · partnership
- Charitable Remainder Trusts (3) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Buena Vista 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. How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Buena Vista University?
- Buena Vista University (Iowa) receives grants from 78 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,418,823 to it, the largest being Stine Family Foundation ($969,966). 47 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Buena Vista University have?
- IRS filings report 78 organizations giving $4,418,823 in grants to Buena Vista University, 47 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Buena Vista University?
- Stine Family Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $969,966 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Buena Vista University 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.
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 78funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing