Gwendolyn L Stearns Foundation Inc
Rapid City, SD · EIN 31-1737658. Reported 114 grants totalling $1,631,994 to 39 recipients across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. Gwendolyn L Stearns Foundation Inc did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $14,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $20,000; the smallest was $3,150 and the largest $30,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Day Center of the Black Hills | Rapid City, SD | $100,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Seventh Circuit CASA Program | Rapid City, SD | $95,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Feeding South Dakota | Sioux Falls, SD | $80,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Rural America Initiatives | Rapid City, SD | $80,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Starting Strong | Rapid City, SD | $80,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Alliance for Substance Abuse Preven | Rapid City, SD | $70,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Lifeways Inc | Rapid City, SD | $65,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Consumer Credit Counseling | Rapid City, SD | $63,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Catholic Social Services | Rapid City, SD | $60,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Rapid City Urban | Rapid City, SD | $60,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Rapid City Arts Council | Rapid City, SD | $56,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Working Against Violence | Rapid City, SD | $55,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Kiwanis | Rapid City, SD | $52,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Front Porch Coalition | Rapid City, SD | $50,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Cornerstone Rescue Mission | Rapid City, SD | $45,647 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Suncatchers Therapeutic | Rapid City, SD | $45,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Western South Dakota Senior Service | Rapid City, SD | $45,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Allied Arts Fund Drive Inc | Rapid City, SD | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Core Community Organized Resources | Box Elder, SD | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Journey on Inc | Lead, SD | $40,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Passages Womens Transitional Living | Rapid City, SD | $40,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Rapid City Club for Boys | Rapid City, SD | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Retired Senior Volunteer Program | Rapid City, SD | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| United Way | Rapid City, SD | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Volunteers of America Dakotas | Rapid City, SD | $27,500 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Rapid City Beautification | Rapid City, SD | $27,150 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Black Hills Area Community Foundati | Rapid City, SD | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lutheran Social Services of Sd Foun | Sioux Falls, SD | $25,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Black Hills Works Inc | Rapid City, SD | $21,697 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Girl Scouts | Rapid City, SD | $20,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Oneheart | Rapid City, SD | $19,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Youth & Family Services | Rapid City, SD | $17,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Dakota Wesleyan University | Mitchell, SD | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wellspring Inc Dba Wellfully | Rapid City, SD | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Friends of the Children - He Sapa | Rapid City, SD | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| St Isaac Jogues | Rapid City, SD | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| United Way of the Black Hills | Rapid City, SD | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| YMCA of Rapid City | Rapid City, SD | $10,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Girl Scouts-Dakota Horizons | Rapid City, SD | $7,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
32 of 39 (82%) 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 83%, 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 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.
- Feeding South Dakota
TO ELIMINATE HUNGER IN SOUTH DAKOTA - Adult Day Center of the Black Hills
PROVIDING DAYTIME CARE FOR AGING - Seventh Circuit CASA Program
COURT ADVOCATES FOR ABUSED CHILDREN - Front Porch Coalition
IMPLEMENT STRATEGY FOR SUICIDE PREV - Lifeways Inc
PREVENTION CLASSES FOR AT-RISK YOUTH - Rapid City Urban
SUPPORT PUBLIC PARKS IN RAPID CITY
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 36 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | $418,634 | $15,000 |
| 2022 | 26 | $374,500 | $12,000 |
| 2023 | 28 | $404,500 | $15,000 |
| 2024 | 31 | $434,360 | $15,000 |
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
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $14,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in South Dakota.
- 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.
- 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 Gwendolyn L Stearns Foundation Inc'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: 243 Founders Park Drive, Rapid City, SD, 57702. 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 31-1737658 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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