Iowa · Nonprofit
FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES
FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES (Iowa) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $684,123 to it, the largest being GREATER CEDAR RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($167,752). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $158k
- Funders on record
- 32
- Grants received
- $684k
- Net assets
- $614k
What Families Helping Families does
Mission
To support iowas children in foster care by providing services to help with their mental and overall well-being and alleviating some of the finacial stressors caregivers face when taking on these children.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Shoe Voucher Program: Through collaboration with the Kiwanis Club of Cedar Rapids and other community organizations, children in foster care were eligible to receive one new pair of shoes through our Shoe Voucher Program. This is for children in foster care ages 4-18 years old. We updated the program requirements and better served our clients by upping our shoe voucher amount and offering children two brand-new pairs of shoes a year through our partnership with Kiwanis and Kohl's. We now offer $50 for ages 4-7, and two new pairs of shoes at their local Kohl's. $75 for children 8-18 years of age for two brand new pairs of shoes at their local Kohls. Last fiscal year we gave out over 708 shoe vouchers to children in foster care across Iowa.
$34,916 spent$39,720 earned by the program33% of program spendingClothing Closet: Our Clothing Closet is open and free for families to bring their foster children in to shop for any season. Children in foster care move an average of seven times before the age of 18 and leave their temporary homes abruptly. FHF helps with these transitions and provides families with the essentials that a child may need. Our Clothing Closet provides diapers, wipes, car seats, high chairs, and clothes for ages infant-18 years of age. This fiscal year, our Clothing The closet was utilized more than 1,000 times for caregivers and families to shop.
$11,652 spent$13,048 earned by the program11% of program spendingSpread Your Wings: Spread Your Wings is our scholarship program so kids can participate in extracurricular activities. We believe children who engage in athletic activities, music, dance, or similar pursuits develop self-confidence and establish meaningful relationships. This scholarship program is for ages 2-18. Children can sign up for music lessons, dances, sports, and camps. FHF covers membership fees, apparel, and any equipment needed. Each child receives a $500 scholarship for their chosen activities; FHF gave out 255 scholarships this fiscal year, and exceeded our budgeted amount of $25,000 and ended with $31,000.
$49,254 spent$24,161 earned by the program46% of program spendingBack-to-School Rally: A Back-to-School Rally is held each year for our children in foster care to help them prepare and be ready to go back to school and achieve academic success. This fiscal year, FHF served over 375 children for our Back-To-School Rally.
$0 spent0% of program spendingSenior Celebration/Senior Photos: With a graduation rate for foster children of only 52%, FHF takes time to celebrate our seniors through our Senior Celebration. FHF helps with party décor and sends congratulations with a card for this special occasion. Last fiscal year FHF helped 20 seniors celebrate this milestone.
$2,362 spent$1,700 earned by the program2% of program spendingHappy Birthday Bundles: Continuing with the celebrations, to show our appreciation for our children in foster care, FHF put together Happy Birthday Bundles that included party décor, cake for making, and cake accessories needed to bake the cake. This fiscal year, we helped 100 children in foster care celebrate their birthdays.
$2,270 spent$1,100 earned by the program2% of program spendingSoaring Towards Success: Due to the instability of our children moving homes and their traumatic experiences, school often falls behind. We offer a tutoring program aimed at helping these kids in their academic journey and completion of high school. We get these children one-on-one attention for school topics with a tutor in their area. FHF assisted 21 children in this program this fiscal year.
$6,243 spent$10,335 earned by the program6% of program spendingOuter Country Clothing Closet: FHF added a new partnership with Goodwill of the Heartland. We extended our Clothing Closet Services through a program called OCCC (Outer County Clothing Closet), where each child can apply to receive $30 shopping vouchers for their local Goodwill. The participating locations are Bettendorf, Burling, Clinton, Davenport, Fairfield, Keokuk, Muscatine, and Washington Iowa. We assisted over 300 families and children with their clothing options if they were too far away from our Cedar Rapids location to come in and shop in our Clothing Closet.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 8 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $106,697.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 2021 to 2022, from $398k to $618k (+55%).
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: 2021 32% · 2023 0% · 2024 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
58% of FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (91% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 8 funders to 13 funders, grant income rose $75k → $83k.
9 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 48% 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 FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 32 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
FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% 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
57% 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 FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 53% · 2018 63% · 2019 46% · 2020 41% · 2021 57% · 2022 23% · 2023 39% — 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
35% of FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES'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
56% of FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES's grant income comes from Iowa funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $331k 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.
Against its field
FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 13,917 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 13,917 human services nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES
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
56% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
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 FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES: 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 FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES?
- FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES (Iowa) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $684,123 to it, the largest being GREATER CEDAR RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($167,752). 20 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES have?
- IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $684,123 in grants to FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES, 20 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES?
- GREATER CEDAR RAPIDS COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $167,752 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FAMILIES HELPING FAMILIES 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 Families Helping Families →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 32 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