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Iowa · Nonprofit

IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION

IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION (Iowa) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,858,404 to it, the largest being Richard O Jacobson Foundation ($12,715,999). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$7.1M
Funders on record
32
Grants received
$17M
Net assets
$21M
19/32 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 79%
01What it does

What Iowa State Fair Foundation does

Mission

Raise funds for renovation and preservation of the historic Iowa State Fairgrounds by soliciting gifts, donations, bequests and grants to help finance infrastructure projects to guarantee the Fair continues to be Iowa's great celebration, a salute to the state's best in ag, industry, entertainment and achievement.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. The Shivers Plaza was developed to revitalize an underused area at the fairgrounds. The space features open seating, thoughtful landscaping, a new restroom facility and convenient access to nearby concession stands.

    $1,058,522 spent
    13% of program spending

  2. Development of the Fun Forest Playground which is a one and a half acre wooded children's play area featuring a fully accessible, sensory-friendly space with ramps, smooth stable surfaces and an agricultural-heritage theme which hosts daily children's entertainment and weekday activities

    $421,286 spent
    5% of program spending

  3. Displays for 4H Building

    $202,563 spent
    3% of program spending

  4. The top program service project expenses were itemized pursuant to instruction. The remaining program service expenditures consisted of promotion and advertising expense and smaller renovation and maintenance expense to the State Fairgrounds. See Part IX for an itemization of other program services expenditures

    $6,159,327 spent
    79% of program spending

The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,841,698.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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.

100 = 20202020 Revenue 100 ($8.4M) Expenses 100 ($13M) Net assets 100 ($9.4M)2021 Revenue 43 ($3.6M) Expenses 44 ($5.6M) Net assets 101 ($9.5M)2022 Revenue 158 ($13M) Expenses 47 ($6.1M) Net assets 178 ($17M)2023 Revenue 63 ($5.3M) Expenses 50 ($6.5M) Net assets 166 ($16M)2024 Revenue 176 ($15M) Expenses 50 ($6.5M) Net assets 255 ($24M)2025 Revenue 84 ($7.1M) Expenses 80 ($10M) Net assets 221 ($21M)
202020212022202320242025
Revenue (84)Expenses (80)Net assets (221)Peer revenue range

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 $11M to $21M (+87%).

$11M
$11M
$21M
$23M
$26M
$24M
202020212022202320242025
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2020 59% · 2021 0% · 2022 45% · 2023 0% · 2024 41% · 2025 0%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

63% of IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (13% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 2,898 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.

−$4.5M
’20
−$2.0M
’21
$7.2M
’22
−$1.2M
’23
$8.4M
’24
−$3.2M
’25
24
months of
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

Peter Cownie

Executive Director

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

202020212022202320242025
Listed171818181818
Joined·+1+0+3+0+2
No longer listed·00302
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $746k → $4.2M.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
'26*
total
Mercy Health Network Incunclassified
$20k
funders
9
7
9
7
12
12
12
7
8
1

10 of 32 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 14% 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 IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION’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

IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 75% of grant income and the top three 86%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

75%
largest funder
86%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 37% · 2018 58% · 2019 93% · 2020 52% · 2021 50% · 2022 97% · 2023 95% — 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

39% of IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

100% of IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Iowa funders.

WI
IA
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Iowa out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 9 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 1,767 recreation & sports nonprofits its size.

Operating margin−46% · bottom quartile
Months of reserve24.0mo · top quartile
Revenue growth (annualized)−3% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,767 recreation & sports nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025

Organizations like IOWA STATE FAIR 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 Iowa

Sioux City Parks and Recreation Foundation Inc77%Iowa 4-H Foundation76%Iowa Parks Foundation75%Ida County Agricultural Society75%Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation74%Grundy County Agricultural Society74%Linn County Fair Association74%Central Iowa Fair Association74%

Nationally

Illinois Fairgrounds Foundation79%Missoula Fairgrounds Foundation77%Sioux City Parks and Recreation Foundation Inc77%Oregon State Fair Foundation76%Iowa 4-H Foundation76%Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Foundation76%Indiana State Fair Foundation Inc75%Missouri State Fair Foundation75%
05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

76% of spending goes to programs.

Program 76%Management 12%Fundraising 12%

Governance

15
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

61%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IA

Part of a family of 3 related entities

  • Iowa State Fair Authority · exempt
  • Iowa State Fairgrounds Trust · exempt
  • Iowa State Fairgrounds Trust · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for IOWA STATE FAIR 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.

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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 IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION?
IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION (Iowa) receives grants from 32 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,858,404 to it, the largest being Richard O Jacobson Foundation ($12,715,999). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 32 organizations giving $16,858,404 in grants to IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION?
Richard O Jacobson Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $12,715,999 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like IOWA STATE FAIR FOUNDATION 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 2020–2025), 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