Nebraska · Nonprofit
THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION
THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION (Nebraska) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,792,595 to it, the largest being INAVALE FOUNDATION INC ($3,018,300). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $2.5M
- Funders on record
- 55
- Grants received
- $9.8M
- Net assets
- $26M
What The Willa Cather Foundation does
Mission
To advance willa cather's legacy locally and beyond through education, preservation, and the arts.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The foundation provided upkeep and maintenance on historic buildings and preservation of archival collections. All historic buildings and collections relate directly to the life and times of willa cather.
$936,169 spentof which $19,917 as grants67% of program spendingThe foundation provided various seminars, conferences, guided tours, and educational programs on the life, times, and settings of willa cather. Arts programs and exhibitions are also provided regularily in its restored red cloud opera house, which figured prminently in the life of young willa cather.
$444,200 spent$195,642 earned by the program32% of program spendingThe foundation provided numerous educational scholarships for individuals who were furthering literary education.
$9,000 spentof which $9,000 as grants1% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,389,369.
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 $18M to $21M (+22%).
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 2% · 2019 12% · 2020 4% · 2021 2% · 2022 9% · 2023 10% · 2024 25% · 2025 22%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
80% of THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 12 funders to 24 funders, grant income rose $285k → $631k.
12 of 55 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 55 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
THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 31% of grant income and the top three 62%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
41% 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 THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 44% · 2018 46% · 2019 79% · 2020 25% · 2021 87% · 2022 13% · 2023 16% — 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
45% of THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION draws 60% of its grant income from funders outside Nebraska, across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.7M 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.
Against its field
THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $869k on record.
- Department of the Interior$415k
- Institute of Museum and Library Services$250k
- National Endowment for the Humanities$194k
- National Endowment for the Arts$10k
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 THE WILLA CATHER 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 Nebraska
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
72% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Moon Block Real Estate LLC · partnership
- The Red Cloud Hotel LLC · partnership
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE WILLA CATHER 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.
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 THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION?
- THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION (Nebraska) receives grants from 55 organizations whose IRS filings report $9,792,595 to it, the largest being INAVALE FOUNDATION INC ($3,018,300). 37 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 55 organizations giving $9,792,595 in grants to THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION, 37 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION?
- INAVALE FOUNDATION INC is the largest funder on record, with $3,018,300 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE WILLA CATHER FOUNDATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Nebraska. 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 55 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