Skip to content

Iowa · Nonprofit

Masonic Service Association

Masonic Service Association (Iowa) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $915,310 to it, the largest being THE MASONIC CHARITABLE FOUNDATION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF MAINE ($116,727). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$932k
Funders on record
31
Grants received
$915k
Net assets
$2.0M
17/31 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 29%
01What it does

What Masonic Service Association does

Mission

The mission of the Association is the service of mankind through education and enlightenment, financial relief, Masonic visitation, ministering to, comforting, and relieving the members of the fraternity and their dependents.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Disaster Relief Fund - When requested by a U.S. or international Masonic Grand Lodge, The MSA will issue a Disaster Appeal following a specific natural disaster. All donations received are distributed to the Grand Lodge for local disaster relief distribution. MSA has been conducting this program since 1923 and has distributed more than $10 million in aid. The summary of gross account of relief since 1923 is available on MSA's webpage.

    $319,917 spentof which $253,954 as grants
    71% of program spending
  2. Hospital Visitation - MSA administers a program of certified volunteers who visit and assist at VA Medical Centers and state Veterans Hospitals throughout the United States. The program operates under the U.S. Veterans Administration Volunteer Services oversight, and provides more than 100,000 hours of volunteer services annually. This program is funded by donations from members of the Masonic fraternity. Donations are used to reimburse volunteers for expenses, fund events for veterans, and provide comfort items for veterans.

    $24,034 spent
    5% of program spending
  3. Education / Publications - Informational and educational items, including newsletters, books, brochures, digests, and other materials for the use in the non-profit Masonic Community, have been published by MSA since the origination of the organization in 1919. MSA continues its expansion of online communications to increase the outreach of its masonic materials. The MSA website - WWW.MSANA.COM - has been improved and the online store is gaining usage.

    $108,011 spent
    24% of program spending

The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $451,962.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($2.3M) Expenses 100 ($1.9M) Net assets 100 ($2.2M)2018 Revenue 75 ($1.7M) Expenses 103 ($2.0M) Net assets 77 ($1.7M)2019 Revenue 31 ($707k) Expenses 41 ($784k) Net assets 79 ($1.8M)2020 Revenue 28 ($631k) Expenses 25 ($473k) Net assets 88 ($2.0M)2021 Revenue 31 ($697k) Expenses 36 ($696k) Net assets 92 ($2.1M)2022 Revenue 29 ($656k) Expenses 40 ($777k) Net assets 76 ($1.7M)2023 Revenue 31 ($711k) Expenses 26 ($508k) Net assets 88 ($2.0M)2024 Revenue 41 ($932k) Expenses 51 ($972k) Net assets 88 ($2.0M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (41)Expenses (51)Net assets (88)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 2017 to 2018, from $2.3M to $1.7M (−23%).

$2.3M
$1.7M
$1.8M
$2.0M
$2.1M
$1.7M
$2.0M
$2.0M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

92% of Masonic Service Association’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (62% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 12,439 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

$347k
’17
−$267k
’18
−$77k
’19
$158k
’20
$954
’21
−$121k
’22
$203k
’23
−$40k
’24
7.0
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.

Board chair

Lanny R Sander

Executive Commission Chair

As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed778610101010
Joined·+2+1+2+4+0+0+0
No longer listed·2040000
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 7 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $106k → $95k.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
total
funders
7
11
11
10
9
11
6
7
7

5 of 31 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 4% 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 Masonic Service Association’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 31 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

Masonic Service Association has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 13% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left

83% 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 Masonic Service Association.

13%
largest funder
38%
top three
~12
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 58% · 2018 27% · 2019 33% · 2020 34% · 2021 27% · 2022 26% · 2023 36% — 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

33% of Masonic Service Association's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 55% 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

Masonic Service Association draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside Iowa, across 17 states in all.

ME
ND
MN
MI
MA
OH
PA
UT
CO
WV
DE
NM
NC
DC
OK
MS
TX

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. $38k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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

Masonic Service Association's revenue fell 59% between 2017 and 2024.

Operating margin−4% · below the median
Months of reserve7.0mo · below the median
Revenue growth (annualized)−12% · bottom quartile

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,971 community improvement nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024

Organizations like Masonic Service Association

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

05Profile & governance

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

Where the money goes

94% of spending goes to programs.

Program 94%Management 5%Fundraising 1%

Governance

9
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

95%

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 Masonic Service Association: 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.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

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 Masonic Service Association?
Masonic Service Association (Iowa) receives grants from 31 organizations whose IRS filings report $915,310 to it, the largest being THE MASONIC CHARITABLE FOUNDATION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF MAINE ($116,727). 17 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does Masonic Service Association have?
IRS filings report 31 organizations giving $915,310 in grants to Masonic Service Association, 17 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of Masonic Service Association?
THE MASONIC CHARITABLE FOUNDATION OF THE GRAND LODGE OF MAINE is the largest funder on record, with $116,727 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like Masonic Service Association 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 31 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