Funders › Wisconsin

Fahrney Education Fdtn Trust

Milwaukee, WI · EIN 42-6295370. Reported 74 grants totalling $998,175 to 28 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$6,700median grant
$998,175granted, 2021-2024
28recipients, as named on its returns
82%of grantees funded again the next year
$5,415,039assets, 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. Fahrney Education Fdtn Trust 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 $6,700. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,850 and $16,750; the smallest was $2,500 and the largest $73,925. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
30 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
14 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
18 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
8 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
4 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
University of IowaIowa City, IA$257,275442024
Iowa State UniversityAmes, IA$153,350442024
Indian Hills Community CollegeOttumwa, IA$112,300442024
University of Northern IowaCedar Falls, IA$82,650442024
Simpson CollegeIndianola, IA$67,550442024
Central CollegePella, IA$65,575442024
Wartburg CollegeWaverly, IA$36,450442024
St Ambrose UniversityDavenport, IA$33,450442024
Buena Vista UniversityOttumwa, IA$27,750442024
William Penn UniversityOskaloosa, IA$27,150442024
Drake UniversityDes Moines, IA$20,775442024
Coe CollegeCedar Rapids, IA$18,050332023
Grand View UniversityDes Moines, IA$18,050332023
Kirkwood Community CollegeCedar Rapids, IA$14,850442024
University of DubuqueDubuque, IA$7,800222024
Cornell CollegeMount Vernon, IA$6,200222022
Des Moines UniversityAnkeny, IA$6,200222022
Iowa Wesleyan UniversityMt Pleasant, IA$6,200222022
Mount Mercy UniversityCedar Rapids, IA$6,200222022
Faith Baptist Bible CollegeAnkeny, IA$5,700112021
Luther CollegeDecorah, IA$5,300222024
Waldorf UniversityForest City, IA$3,350112022
Allen CollegeWaterloo, IA$2,850112021
Grinnell CollegeGrinnell, IA$2,850112021
Loras CollegeDubuque, IA$2,800112023
Marshalltown Community CollegeMarshalltown, IA$2,500112024
Mercy College of Health SciencesDes Moines, IA$2,500112024
Ne Iowa Community College - PeostaPeosta, IA$2,500112024

20 of 28 (71%) 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.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 46 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.

Education
45 grants
Religion
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202121$251,875$7,125
202219$281,400$6,700
202317$232,400$2,800
202417$232,500$7,500

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

Iowa City, IA
$257K
Ames, IA
$153K
Ottumwa, IA
$140K
Cedar Falls, IA
$83K
Indianola, IA
$68K
Pella, IA
$66K
Des Moines, IA
$41K
Cedar Rapids, IA
$39K

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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.

Roy J Carver Charitable Trust15 shared recipientsIowa College Foundation15 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc15 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund15 shared recipientsThe Blackbaud Giving Fund15 shared recipientsCommunity Fdn of Greater Des Moines14 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $6,700. 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 Fahrney Education Fdtn Trust's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). 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: Po Box 0634, Milwaukee, WI, 53201. 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 42-6295370 · 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.