Nebraska · Nonprofit
DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION
DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Nebraska) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $952,674 to it, the largest being Lincoln Community Foundation Inc ($397,838). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.2M
- Funders on record
- 16
- Grants received
- $953k
- Net assets
- $-53754
What Dimensions Educational Research Foundation does
Mission
Dimensions Educational Research Foundation provides research-based workshops, design consultations and hands-on resources to elementary schools, early childhood programs, nature centers, arboretums, botanical gardens, parks, zoos, wildlife refuges, national forest visitor centers and other organizations throughout the united states interested in helping children connect more deeply with the natural world. It also runs the dimensions early education programs, which serve as primary research classrooms for on-going research efforts. The organization operates a bimonthly publication focused on supporting early childhood professionals worldwide in their efforts to craft early childhood environments where adults and children thrive.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The organization provides hands-on, field-tested resources to schools, nature centers, national forests, parks and wildlife refuges, zoos, arboretums and early childhood programs.
$1,081,166 spent$1,326,320 earned by the program37% of program spendingThe organization operates a bimonthly publication focused on supporting early childhood professionals worldwide in their efforts to craft early childhood environments where adults and children thrive.
$968,447 spent$499,322 earned by the program33% of program spendingThe organization provides educational programs to the public youth of the state of nebraska.
$742,656 spent$830,320 earned by the program26% of program spendingThe organization provides various other services related to early childhood educational and outdoor classrooms.
$112,105 spent$162,360 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: $2,904,374.
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 2024 to 2025, from $4.4M to $3.8M (−15%).
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 13% · 2021 28% · 2022 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
8% of DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Tara Schroeder
CEO
Board chair
John Nimmo
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2021 and FY2022 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base held at 6 funders, grant income rose $81k → $81k.
4 of 16 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 59% 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 DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 72%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
61% 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 DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 49% · 2018 51% · 2019 47% · 2020 44% · 2021 85% · 2022 37% · 2023 50% — broadly stable.
“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
20% of DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 44% 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
59% of DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $391k that is directly attributable, 71% of it comes from funders outside Nebraska, across 6 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $562k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION's revenue fell 34% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $899k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$850k
- Department of the Interior$49k
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 DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION
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 Nebraska
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 40 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION: 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 DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION (Nebraska) receives grants from 16 organizations whose IRS filings report $952,674 to it, the largest being Lincoln Community Foundation Inc ($397,838). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 59% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 16 organizations giving $952,674 in grants to DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION?
- Lincoln Community Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $397,838 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DIMENSIONS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Nebraska. 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 Dimensions Educational Research →
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 16 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing