FundersIowa

Carleen and Eugene Grandon

Cedar Rapids, IA · EIN 20-1134857. Reported 80 grants totalling $5,337,578 to 34 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$50,000median grant
$5,337,578granted, 2021-2024
34organizations funded
88%of grantees funded again the next year
$31.4Massets, 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. Carleen and Eugene Grandon 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 $50,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $20,000 and $100,000; the smallest was $3,500 and the largest $220,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
1 grant
$5,000 - $10,000
6 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
14 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
14 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
19 grants
$100,000 and Up
26 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
Zach Johnson FoundationCedar Rapids, IA$661,000442024
Theatre Cedar RapidsCedar Rapids, IA$600,000442024
St Luke's FoundationCedar Rapids, IA$550,000332024
Cedar Rapids Opera TheatreCedar Rapids, IA$425,000442024
Orchestra IowaCedar Rapids, IA$406,600442024
Community Health Free ClinicCedar Rapids, IA$400,000442024
YMCA of Cedar Rapids Metropolitan AreaCedar Rapids, IA$400,000442024
Mount Mercy UniversityCedar Rapids, IA$225,000332024
Catherine Mcauley Center IncCedar Rapids, IA$200,000332024
St Lukes Foundation St Lukes Child Protection CenterCedar Rapids, IA$200,000112021
Tanager PlaceCedar Rapids, IA$194,000442024
Kirkwood Community College FdtnCedar Rapids, IA$175,000442024
Four Oaks Family and Children's ServicesCedar Rapids, IA$174,500442024
Eastern Iowa Health CenterCedar Rapids, IA$100,000112024
Hope Community Development AssocCedar Rapids, IA$90,000222024
Kids First Law CenterCedar Rapids, IA$75,000332024
Matthew 25Cedar Rapids, IA$50,000112024
Mirrorbox TheatreCedar Rapids, IA$50,000222023
Willis Dady Emergency ShelterCedar Rapids, IA$50,000332024
Red Cedar Chamber MusicMarion, IA$40,000442024
Growing Real Opportunities for Work at Kazimour Farm & Orchard IncCedar Rapids, IA$30,000112024
ChildserveJohnston, IA$29,618112023
Iowa Legal AidDes Moines, IA$25,000112024
Miracles in MotionSwisher, IA$25,000112021
Waypoint ServicesCedar Rapids, IA$25,000112024
Cedar Rapids Museum of ArtCedar Rapids, IA$20,000222024
Iowa Art Works Inc D/B/a Iowa Ceramics Ctr & Glass StuidoCedar Rapids, IA$20,000112024
Marion CaresMarion, IA$20,000112021
Harmony School of Music IncCedar Rapids, IA$18,500112024
African American Heritage MuseumCedar Rapids, IA$15,000332024
Boys and Girls Club of the CorridorCedar Rapids, IA$15,000112024
Five Seasons Chamber MusicCedar Rapids, IA$14,000222024
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cedar Rapids and Eastern IowaCedar Rapids, IA$9,360112021
Cedar Rapids Community Schools FdnCedar Rapids, IA$5,000112024

20 of 34 (59%) 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 88%, 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 the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 47 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Arts & Culture
18 grants
Human Services
6 grants
Health Care
5 grants
Crime & Legal
4 grants
Education
4 grants
Mental Health
4 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
4 grants
Recreation & Sports
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202116$1,309,360$75,000
202217$1,256,000$50,000
202319$1,308,418$50,000
202428$1,463,800$27,500

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

Cedar Rapids, IA
$5.2M
Marion, IA
$60K
Johnston, IA
$30K
Des Moines, IA
$25K
Swisher, IA
$25K

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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.

Greater Cedar Rapids Community21 shared recipientsAlliant Energy Foundation Inc17 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc16 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc14 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund13 shared recipientsUnited Way of East Central Iowa12 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $50,000. 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 Iowa.
  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 Carleen and Eugene Grandon'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: Po Box 1230, Cedar Rapids, IA, 52406. 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 20-1134857 · 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.