Funders › Iowa

Charlotte and William Hinson

West Des Moines, IA · EIN 42-1394928. Reported 157 grants totalling $304,000 to 56 recipients across tax years 2022-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$304,000granted, 2022-2025
56recipients, as named on its returns
82%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,727,868assets, 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. Charlotte and William Hinson 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 $1,000 and $2,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $11,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
143 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
11 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
3 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Des Moines Symphony AssociationDes Moines, IA$35,500442025
First Congregational Church UccWaterloo, IA$31,000442025
University of Northern Iowa FoundationCedar Falls, IA$21,000442025
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony OrchestraCedar Falls, IA$18,000442025
Uni Suzuki SchoolCedar Falls, IA$11,000442025
Cornell CollegeMount Vernon, IA$10,000442025
Central Iowa Jazz AssociationAnkeny, IA$9,000222023
Dumbarton House Fund for the FutureWashington DC, DC$8,000112025
Westlake Village SymphonyNewburg Park, CA$7,000332025
Edmundson Art Foundation IncDes Moines, IA$6,500332024
Iowa Heartland Habitat for HumanityWaterloo, IA$6,400332025
National Society of Colonial Dames of AmericaDes Moines, IA$6,000222024
University of Iowa FoundationIowa City, IA$6,000332025
Northeast Iowa Food BankWaterloo, IA$5,200442025
Bridgehaven Pregnancy Support CenterCedar Rapids, IA$5,000332025
Des Moines Area Religious CouncilDes Moines, IA$5,000442025
Furry Friends RefugeWest Des Moines, IA$5,000442025
Society of the Cincinnatti in the State of NhWestport, CT$5,000442025
Turner Center Jazz OrchestraAnkeny, IA$5,000222025
Cedar Valley AboretumWaterloo, IA$4,000442025
Cedar Valley HospiceWaterloo, IA$4,000442025
Cedar Valley United WayWaterloo, IA$4,000442025
Curtis Institute of MusicPhiladelphia, PA$4,000442025
Drake University Law SchoolDes Moines, IA$4,000442025
Granger House Victorian MuseumMarion, IA$4,000222023
Hawkeye Area Community Action Program IncHiawatha, IA$4,000442025
Hillsdale CollegeHillsdale, ME$4,000442025
International Myeloma FoundationNorth Hollywood, CA$4,000442025
Junior Achievement of Eastern IowaWaterloo, IA$4,000442025
Life Animal RescueAgoura, CA$4,000442025
Malibu Friends of MusicMalibu, CA$4,000442025
The Job FoundationCedar Falls, IA$4,000442025
The Leadership InstituteArlington, VA$4,000442025
American Society of Music Arrangers & ComposersStudio City, CA$3,000332024
Artstart Inc - RhinelanderRhinelander, WI$3,000332024
House of HopeWaterloo, IA$3,000332024
Love Inc of the Cedar ValleyCedar Falls, IA$2,400222025
Americans for Independent LivingWaterloo, IA$2,000222025
Families & Children's Council of Black Hawk County IncWaterloo, IA$2,000222024
Fix NationLos Angeles, CA$2,000222025
Linn-Mar OrchestrasMarion, IA$2,000222025
Los Angeles Jazz SocietyVan Nuys, CA$2,000222023
Multiple Myeloma Research FoundationNorwalk, CT$2,000222023
Orchestra Iowa - Cedar Rapids Symphony OrchestraCedar Rapids, IA$2,000222023
Salisbury House FoundationDes Moines, IA$2,000222023
Science Center of IowaDes Moines, IA$2,000222023
Simi Valley Jazz ClubNewbury Park, CA$2,000112022
The Grout Museum IncWaterloo, IA$2,000222025
Waterloo Visiting Nurses AssociationWaterloo, IA$2,000222023
Can-Play Fka Courage League SportsWest Des Moines, IA$1,000112023
Courage League SportsWest Des Moines, IA$1,000112022
Friends of Sulgrave ManorRichmond Va, VA$1,000112024
Linn-Mar School FoundationMarion, IA$1,000112025
Retrieving Freedom IncWaverly, IA$1,000112023
Walnut Hill School for the ArtsNatick, MA$1,000112025
YWCA of Black Hawk CountyWaterloo, IA$1,000112022

47 of 56 (84%) 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 82%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is unusually consistent. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

Plus 36 grants to individuals totalling $68,000 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

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 activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 92 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Arts & Culture
26 grants
Education
17 grants
Human Services
13 grants
Animal Welfare
5 grants
Housing & Shelter
5 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
4 grants
Youth Development
4 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202239$80,000$1,000
202343$69,000$1,000
202439$75,000$1,000
202536$80,000$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

80% of its giving went to organizations in Iowa. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Iowa
$244K
California
$28K
District of Columbia
$8K
Connecticut
$7K
Virginia
$5K
Pennsylvania
$4K
Maine
$4K
Wisconsin
$3K

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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 a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

American Online Giving Foundation Inc26 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund23 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc19 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program15 shared recipientsMax and Helen Guernsey12 shared recipientsCharities Aid Foundation America11 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  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 Charlotte and William Hinson's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: 4924 Cedar Drive, West Des Moines, IA, 50266. 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 42-1394928 · 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.

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