Iowa · Nonprofit
CENTRAL COLLEGE
CENTRAL COLLEGE (Iowa) receives grants from 114 organizations whose IRS filings report $28,098,841 to it, the largest being THE GEISLER-PENQUITE FOUNDATION ($11,336,741). 75 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $70M
- Funders on record
- 114
- Grants received
- $28M
- Net assets
- $119M
What Central College does
Mission
Central College is a residential liberal arts college dedicated to helping students discover and develop their greatest potential. Guided by its ecumenical christian tradition, the college community engages in vigorous, open inquiry in pursuit of academic excellence. The college nurtures the developoment of the mind, while fostering spiritual and emotional maturity and physical well-being. Central integrates career prepartation with the development of values essential to responsible citizenship, empowering graduates for effective service in local, national, and international communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Provided educational services related to classroom teaching, laboratory experiences, and program service to 1,109 students, including 1,044 receiving institutional financial assistance.
$24,527,605 spentof which $8,939,942 as grants$19,682,968 earned by the program52% of program spendingExpenses related to providing personal services and activities for students at a residential college, including counseling, extra-curricular activities, wellness, admissions, and student government.
$10,708,307 spent$1,418,254 earned by the program23% of program spendingProvided room and board on a residential campus to 1,014 students living in residential units and 1,010 students with board contracts.
$10,292,365 spent$13,155,236 earned by the program22% of program spendingGovernment-sponsored trio programs - expenses of federal grant program
$1,988,898 spent$2,107,876 earned by the program4% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $47,517,175.
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 2020 to 2021, from $182M to $196M (+8%).
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: 2025 7%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
32% of CENTRAL COLLEGE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than 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
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
Tej Dhawan
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 34 funders to 50 funders, grant income rose $1.2M → $1.7M.
24 of 114 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% 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 CENTRAL COLLEGE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 114 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
CENTRAL COLLEGE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 40% of grant income and the top three 56%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 30% · 2018 28% · 2019 29% · 2020 21% · 2021 54% · 2022 19% · 2023 12% — 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 CENTRAL COLLEGE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 66% 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
76% of CENTRAL COLLEGE's grant income comes from Iowa funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $4.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 15 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
CENTRAL COLLEGE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding CENTRAL COLLEGE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $21.3M on record.
- Department of Education$21.0M
- National Science Foundation$235k
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 CENTRAL COLLEGE
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
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CENTRAL COLLEGE: 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 CENTRAL COLLEGE?
- CENTRAL COLLEGE (Iowa) receives grants from 114 organizations whose IRS filings report $28,098,841 to it, the largest being THE GEISLER-PENQUITE FOUNDATION ($11,336,741). 75 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CENTRAL COLLEGE have?
- IRS filings report 114 organizations giving $28,098,841 in grants to CENTRAL COLLEGE, 75 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CENTRAL COLLEGE?
- THE GEISLER-PENQUITE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $11,336,741 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CENTRAL COLLEGE 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 Central College →
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 114 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