Iowa · Nonprofit
HUMANITIES IOWA
HUMANITIES IOWA (Iowa) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $443,459 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($295,043). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $115k
- Funders on record
- 8
- Grants received
- $443k
- Net assets
- $428k
What Humanities Iowa does
Mission
The mission of Humanities Iowa is to promote understanding and appreciation of the people, communities, culture, and stories of importance to iowa and the nation. Humanities Iowa (hi) is committed to bringing the humanities to the public through grant making, publications, interactive programming and events. Founded in 1971. We provide grants and partnerships to other non-profit organizations that further the humanities in the state, and we conduct our own programs that support the humanities across iowa. Each year we serve over 250,000 iowans with programming and projects like our speakers bureau. We have a strong commitment to sharing and supporting the humanities with all iowans, and to bringing the humanities to life.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Humanities Iowa sponsored over 210 public history programs across the state in 2023-programs that showcased iowa's wealth of home grown knowledge and talent to over 250,000 people. Programs included presentations on the lifework of "first lady of the farm" ruth buxton sayre and hot tamale louie, the story of zarif khan. Humanities Iowa remains committed to making extraordinary programming available to all iowans. During 2023 we: - awarded over 56,000 in grants to 32 iowa non-profits; - funded public programs at university of northern iowa, drake university, university, and other higher educational institutions around the state; - supported exhibits in sioux city, des moines, and cedar rapids; - partnered with siouxland public media, pomeroy historical society, dubuque arts council, pathfinders resource conservation and development and numerous historical societies; - partnered with the iowa student poet ambassador (ispa) program in 2023 to support incoming ambassador lola nakashima-brooke during her year of service.
$50,000 spentof which $50,000 as grants17% of program spendingHumanities Iowa sponsored over 200 public history programs across the state in 2021 - programs that showcased iowa's wealth of home grown knowledge and talent to thousands of iowans and beyond.
$243,825 spent83% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $293,825.
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 2021 to 2022, from $1.6M to $975k (−37%).
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 95% · 2018 78% · 2019 95% · 2020 95% · 2021 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
84% of HUMANITIES IOWA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (64% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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 held at 3 funders, grant income fell $36k → $24k.
2 of 8 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% 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 HUMANITIES IOWA’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
HUMANITIES IOWA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 67% of grant income and the top three 90%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
72% 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 HUMANITIES IOWA.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 100% · 2019 97% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 100% · 2023 85% — 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.
Where its funders are
HUMANITIES IOWA draws 69% of its grant income from funders outside Iowa, across 2 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $14k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
HUMANITIES IOWA's revenue fell 85% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 17,936 arts & culture nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding HUMANITIES IOWA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $3.7M on record.
- National Endowment for the Humanities$3.7M
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 HUMANITIES IOWA
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
86%
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 HUMANITIES IOWA: 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 HUMANITIES IOWA?
- HUMANITIES IOWA (Iowa) receives grants from 8 organizations whose IRS filings report $443,459 to it, the largest being FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS ($295,043). 2 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HUMANITIES IOWA have?
- IRS filings report 8 organizations giving $443,459 in grants to HUMANITIES IOWA, 2 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HUMANITIES IOWA?
- FEDERATION OF STATE HUMANITIES COUNCILS is the largest funder on record, with $295,043 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HUMANITIES IOWA 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 8 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