Iowa · Nonprofit
LUTHER COLLEGE
LUTHER COLLEGE (Iowa) receives grants from 150 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,675,831 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($8,673,333). 93 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $121M
- Funders on record
- 150
- Grants received
- $30M
- Net assets
- $304M
What Luther College does
Mission
Founded by the norwegian evangelical lutheran church in 1861, Luther College is a four-year, residential liberal arts institution. Luther welcomes students of all backgrounds to engage in a way of learning that moves beyond immediate interests and encourages students to build a life of consequence. At the heart of a luther education is an understanding of the way faith and learning intersect and in turn connect students to the larger world. Luther offers more than 80 majors, minors, and preprofessional programs.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Instruction: luther offers 42 majors, 42 minors and interdisciplinary minors, and 4 preprofessional and specific programs. Luther's signature paideia program, an interdisciplinary course series offered for more than 47 years, helps integrate learning and builds community through shared academic experience. The college's music program, in which students train in performance, conducting, composition, and education, has five choirs, two bands, three orchestras and two jazz bands, many of which tour nationally and internationally. A vibrant off-campus student program draws approximately 66% of students to study abroad prior to graduation. Luther has 142 full-time faculty (approximatly 92 percent with a terminal degree) and a 9.3:1 student-faculty ratio. Total enrollment was 1,369 fte students in the fall of 2024. 354 students graduated in the 2024-25 academic year.
$74,519,245 spentof which $49,739,918 as grants$70,093,338 earned by the program71% of program spendingAcademic support and student services: the center for academic enrichment provides services, based on best practices in learning assistance, including needs assessment, student-to-student tutoring, and one-on-one instruction with professional staff. In collaboration with faculty and other staff, cae coordinates specialized services for students with disabilities, manages the academic alert system, and supports initiatives of the advising program. Academic advising is done by faculty. Research and technology support are provided through an extensive library program. The college has more than 100 student organizations along with college ministries, health services, and recreation and wellness programs. Approximately 70% of students are engaged in work study to serve the luther community, gain important work experience, and earn money toward expenses.
$17,653,789 spent$1,900,718 earned by the program17% of program spendingAuxiliary enterprises: Luther College maintains a rural residential campus to enhance the educational experience of the student body with room and board programs designed to encourage a spirit of collegiality and conversation beyond the classroom and laboratory. In fall 2024, luther's residence halls housed 1,310 students or 96% of total fall enrollment. 1,206 students used the college's dining service.
$12,673,212 spent$15,741,335 earned by the program12% of program spendingPublic service: offerings to the broader community include a college radio station, conferences and seminars, a performing arts series and a variety of programs in the arts, athletics, sciences, and leadership development for high school students.research: the college receives grants for faculty/student research collaboration, particularly in the sciences. The college dedicates space, resources, and faculty time for collaborative investigation with students. Research projects across the curriculum occur during the academic year and in the summer.
$549,001 spent1% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $105,395,247.
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 $292M to $330M (+13%).
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 1% · 2018 1% · 2019 1% · 2020 2% · 2021 3% · 2022 4% · 2023 1% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
17% of LUTHER COLLEGE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (14% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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
J Robert Paulson Jr
Chairperson
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2023 and FY2024 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 37 funders to 61 funders, grant income rose $912k → $5.6M.
35 of 150 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% 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 LUTHER COLLEGE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 150 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
LUTHER COLLEGE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 29% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
63% 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 LUTHER COLLEGE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 17% · 2018 47% · 2019 64% · 2020 14% · 2021 18% · 2022 60% · 2023 39% — 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
44% of LUTHER COLLEGE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 62% 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
58% of LUTHER COLLEGE'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 $12M that is directly attributable, 78% of it comes from Iowa funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $17M arriving through sponsors registered in 18 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
LUTHER COLLEGE holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 684 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025
Government funding LUTHER COLLEGE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10.9M on record.
- Department of Education$10.1M
- National Science Foundation$703k
- Department of Agriculture$89k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$9k
- Department of the Interior$8k
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 LUTHER 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
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 3 states
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Luther College Wind Energy Project LLC · disregarded
- Luther College Ventures Inc · corp_trust
- Charitable Remainder Unitrusts (25) · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LUTHER 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 LUTHER COLLEGE?
- LUTHER COLLEGE (Iowa) receives grants from 150 organizations whose IRS filings report $29,675,831 to it, the largest being GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC ($8,673,333). 93 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does LUTHER COLLEGE have?
- IRS filings report 150 organizations giving $29,675,831 in grants to LUTHER COLLEGE, 93 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LUTHER COLLEGE?
- GS DONOR ADVISED PHILANTHROPY FUND FOR WEALTH MANAGEMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $8,673,333 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LUTHER 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 Luther 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 150 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