Iowa · Nonprofit
UNITED WAYS OF IOWA
UNITED WAYS OF IOWA (Iowa) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $883,289 to it, the largest being LAURA AND JOHN ARNOLD FOUNDATION ($500,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.2M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $883k
- Net assets
- $361k
What United Ways of Iowa does
Mission
United Ways of Iowa brings together 21 local united ways from across the state of iowa to drive impact in education, income, and health. This collaboration takes the form of statewide networks, talent training, and public policy advocacy.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Statewide literacy program: americorp members work in local communities to assist with improving literacy rates.
$1,156,726 spent$433,734 earned by the program90% of program spendingCollaboration of the united ways across iowa.21 local united ways from across the state of iowa work together to drive impact in education, income, and health. This collaboration takes the form of statewide networks, talent training, and public policy advocacy.
$122,972 spent10% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,279,698.
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 2019 to 2020, from $256k to $868k (+239%).
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 64% · 2018 59% · 2019 62% · 2020 42% · 2021 54% · 2022 70% · 2023 66% · 2024 85% · 2025 62%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
62% of UNITED WAYS OF IOWA’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (61% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Kelli Soyer
Executive director
Board chair
Michella Friesen
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2022 and FY2023 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2018 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 3 funders, grant income rose $33k → $56k.
1 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 8% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $366k from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest United Way of Siouxland Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money UNITED WAYS OF IOWA raised.
From the IRS filings of UNITED WAYS OF 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
UNITED WAYS OF IOWA leans on a few funders — its largest provides 57% of grant income and the top three 70%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2018 85% · 2019 100% · 2020 76% · 2021 88% · 2022 30% · 2023 45% — 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
14% of UNITED WAYS OF IOWA's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 42% 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
UNITED WAYS OF IOWA draws 65% of its grant income from funders outside Iowa, across 4 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $70k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
UNITED WAYS OF IOWA's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 3 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 2,127 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding UNITED WAYS OF IOWA receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.5M on record.
- Corporation for National and Community Service$1.5M
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 UNITED WAYS OF 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
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
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 UNITED WAYS OF 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 UNITED WAYS OF IOWA?
- UNITED WAYS OF IOWA (Iowa) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $883,289 to it, the largest being LAURA AND JOHN ARNOLD FOUNDATION ($500,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does UNITED WAYS OF IOWA have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $883,289 in grants to UNITED WAYS OF IOWA, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of UNITED WAYS OF IOWA?
- LAURA AND JOHN ARNOLD FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $500,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like UNITED WAYS OF 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 12 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