FundersNebraska

Bettenhausen Family Foundation

Lincoln, NE · EIN 47-0836745. Reported 179 grants totalling $675,090 to 81 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$675,090granted, 2021-2024
81organizations funded
77%of grantees funded again the next year
$4,492,911assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Bettenhausen Family Foundation did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $500 and $2,500; the smallest was $50 and the largest $80,770. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
55 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
94 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
16 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
9 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
3 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
2 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which the organization received money -- more than one means a real relationship rather than a one-off.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Lincoln Community FoundationLincoln, NE$217,650442024
Berean ChurchLincoln, NE$95,450442024
Unl FoundationLincoln, NE$34,300442024
City ImpactLincoln, NE$30,000332024
Firth Rural Fire DistrictFirth, NE$25,000112022
Lincoln Christian School FoundationLincoln, NE$22,000442024
The 1890 FoundationWashington, DC$22,000112024
Pregnancy CenterLincoln, NE$19,100442024
Haines Christian CenterHaines, AK$18,500442024
People's City MissionLincoln, NE$14,600442024
Nebraska Community FoundationLincoln, NE$10,000442024
Youth for ChristLincoln, NE$10,000442024
Lincoln Children's ZooLincoln, NE$9,000442024
Child Evangelism FellowshipLincoln, NE$8,000442024
The Hope VentureLincoln, NE$8,000442024
Nebraska Family AllianceLincoln, NE$7,500332024
Center for People in NeedLincoln, NE$6,000442024
Child Advocacy CenterLincoln, NE$6,000222022
Spring Creek Praire Audubon CenterDenton, NE$6,000442024
The Garden FellowshipIndio, CA$6,000222024
Food Bank of LincolnLincoln, NE$5,000442024
Living Life Reformed ChurchFirth, NE$5,000112021
Panama Area Community FoundationPanama, NE$5,000222024
Voices of HopeLincoln, NE$5,000442024
Hooker County FoundationMullen, NE$4,800442024
Unf Chartiable Gift FundLincoln, NE$4,800222022
Mourning HopeLincoln, NE$4,600222023
Friendship Home of LincolnLincoln, NE$4,000222023
LighthouseLincoln, NE$3,800442024
Desert Springs ChurchPalm Desert, CA$3,750442024
Bryan Health FoundationLincoln, NE$3,550442024
Sheldon Art AssociationLincoln, NE$3,200332024
Cedars Home for ChildrenLincoln, NE$3,100332024
Bright LightsLincoln, NE$3,000222023
Camp SonshineRoca, NE$3,000332024
Friends of LiedLincoln, NE$3,000222023
Women in Investing NebraskaLincoln, NE$2,400112023
Women Investing in NebraskaLincoln, NE$2,400112024
Christian HeritageWalton, NE$2,000222024
Faith Bible ChurchLincoln, NE$2,000222024
Jacob's Well Natural AreaWimberly, TX$2,000222024
Matt Talbot Kitchen & OutreachLincoln, NE$2,000442024
Overflow FoundationAiken, SC$2,000222024
Young LifeHarlan, IA$1,500222023
Desert Community FoundationPalm Desert, CA$1,450442024
Junior AchievementLincoln, NE$1,250442024
Friends of the RossLincoln, NE$1,100222022
Stonecraft MinistriesKansas City, MO$1,050222022
Duo MinistriesLincoln, NE$1,000222024
Foundation for Liincoln Public SchLincoln, NE$1,000112023
Foundation for Lincoln Public SchLincoln, NE$1,000112024
Kairos Prison MinistryDebary, FL$1,000112024
Lincoln Children's MuseumLincoln, NE$1,000112023
Lincoln Ice Hockey AssociationLincoln, NE$1,000112021
Mayo Clinic FoundationRochester, MN$1,000112023
PeoplelinkPetaluma, CA$1,000112021
Univ of Indiana Urology FoundationBloomington, IN$1,000112021
Young LifeColorado Springs, CO$1,000112024
Lincoln's Symphony OrchestraLincoln, NE$940332024
Joshua Collingsworth FoundationLincoln, NE$500112024
University of AlbertaEdmonton, Alberta$500112022
Citylight Lincoln ChurchLincoln, NE$250112024
Cystic Fibrosis FoundationBethesda, MD$200222024
Rise AcademyOmaha, NE$200112022
Juniper RefugeLincoln, NE$150112024
Nebraska Asthma CoalitionOmaha, NE$150112023
Architectural Foundation of NeLincoln, NE$100112021
Christ Lutheran ChurchLincoln, NE$100112022
Colonial WilliamsburgWilliamsburg, VA$100112021
First Presbyterian ChurchLincoln, NE$100112023
Fox Valley Christian ActionSt Charles, IL$100112024
Juvenile Diabetes FoundationNew York, NY$100112021
National Society to Prevent BlindneChicago, IL$100112024
Shelly County Historical MuseumHarlan, IA$100112022
South Gate United Methodist ChurchLincoln, NE$100112024
Thunderbird Scholarship FundRancho Mirage, CA$100112021
Wounded Warrior ProjectJacksonville, FL$100112022
York Community FoundationYork, NE$100112023
First Plymouth ChurchLincoln, NE$50112024
Hastings CollegeHastings, NE$50112024
Jim Ager Golf CourseLincoln, NE$50112024

46 of 81 (57%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 77%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. A high number means its list is close to settled and a newcomer has to displace someone; a low one means it is still moving money around, which is where an opening is.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 105 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
16 grants
Arts & Culture
14 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
13 grants
Community Improvement
9 grants
Health Care
8 grants
Youth Development
8 grants
Religion
8 grants
Education
7 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202135$156,270$1,000
202244$172,390$1,500
202349$157,480$1,500
202451$188,950$1,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 90% of this one's giving went to organizations in Nebraska. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Nebraska
$610K
District of Columbia
$22K
Alaska
$18K
California
$12K
Texas
$2K
South Carolina
$2K
Iowa
$2K
Florida
$1K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are the strongest available signal that two funders have overlapping priorities, and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Lincoln Community Foundation Inc33 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund30 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc23 shared recipientsAssurity Life Foundation17 shared recipientsNatl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc16 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc16 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Nebraska.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Bettenhausen Family Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 6041 Village Dr, Lincoln, NE, 68516. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 47-0836745 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.