FundersTexas

Nita Thiessen Foundation

Paris, TX · EIN 87-3917175. Reported 92 grants totalling $2,724,595 to 48 organizations across tax years 2022-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$10,000median grant
$2,724,595granted, 2022-2024
48organizations funded
77%of grantees funded again the next year
$3,861,888assets, 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. Nita Thiessen 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 $10,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $20,000; the smallest was $1,500 and the largest $300,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
4 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
11 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
57 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
9 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
1 grant
$100,000 and Up
10 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
Impact ChurchParis, TX$400,000222024
Lighthouse Mission ChurchHoney Grove, TX$351,000222024
Tigertown Mennonite Evangelical ChurchHoney Grove, TX$300,000222024
Roots & Wings IncHoney Grove, TX$260,000332024
Centro De Rehabilitacion Luz En Mi Camino AcCuauhtemoc, Chihu$200,000112024
Vida 180El Paso, TX$200,000222024
His Little FeetWindsor, CO$75,000332024
Victory Life ChurchDurant, OK$60,000112024
Word of Life Fellowship IncSchroon Lake, NY$60,000332024
Depot Christian SchoolGreenville, TX$45,000222024
Medi-Chair IncTucson, AZ$42,795112023
Adult Teen Chalenge of TexasDeport, TX$40,000112024
Como Volunteer Fire DepartmentComo, TX$40,000332024
Downtown Food PantryParis, TX$37,000332024
CASA for Kids Red River ValleyParis, TX$32,000332024
Lamar County Young LifeParis, TX$32,000332024
Brookston VfdBrookston, TX$30,000332024
Cash VfdGreenville, TX$30,000332024
Direct VfdSumner, TX$30,000332024
Hopewell VfdSumner, TX$30,000332024
Lamar Point VfdParis, TX$30,000332024
Paris Area Homeschool Athletic AssocParis, TX$30,000332024
Red River Valley Down Syndrome SocietyParis, TX$30,000222024
Sulphur Springs VfdSulphur Springs, TX$30,000332024
Tigertown VfdSumner, TX$30,000332024
Children's Advocacy Center of ParisParis, TX$27,000332024
Lamar County Meals on WheelsParis, TX$27,000332024
Lamar County United WayParis, TX$27,000332024
City of Reno TexasReno, TX$25,000112022
Hopninj AcDurango$25,000112024
Paris Pregnancy Care CenterParis, TX$25,000222024
Chips FoundationParis, TX$15,000222024
Cmm College of TheologyCharlotte, NC$10,000112023
Crazy About You MinistriesDenison, TX$10,000112024
Ennis Volunteer Fire DeptEnnis, TX$10,000112023
Roxton VfdRoxton, TX$10,000112022
Roxton Volunteer Fire DeptRoxton, TX$10,000112024
Steinreich Bible SchoolSubette, KS$10,000112023
Straight From the HeartParis, TX$10,000112024
Telephone VfdTelephone, TX$10,000112024
Foundations for NationsRiverton, WY$5,300112022
Rural CompassionWinkler$5,000112023
Rural CompassionWinkler, Mb$5,000112024
Victory Life RehabBen Wheeler, TX$5,000112022
General Council of the Assemblies of GodSpringfield, MO$3,000112023
Wash MastersParis, TX$2,500112022
Jehovah Jireh Food PantryComo, TX$1,500112022
Lake Fork StablesYantis, TX$1,500112022

26 of 48 (54%) received money in more than one year over the 3 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 2 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.

Plus 2 grants to individuals totalling $1,000 -- 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 recipient's own IRS classification, for the 24 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Religion
10 grants
Public Safety & Disaster Relief
4 grants
Diseases & Disorders
4 grants
Human Services
3 grants
Education
2 grants
Youth Development
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202225$237,800$10,000
202332$836,795$10,000
202435$1,650,000$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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 82% of this one's giving went to organizations in Texas. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Texas
$2.2M
Cuauhtemoc, Chihu
$200K
Colorado
$75K
New York
$60K
Oklahoma
$60K
Arizona
$43K
Durango
$25K
Kansas
$10K

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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.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc5 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc4 shared recipientsNatl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc4 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund4 shared recipientsServant Foundation3 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation3 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $10,000. 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 Texas.
  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.

Related guides

Foundations funding human services in TexasEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Nita Thiessen 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: Po Box 1083, Paris, TX, 75461. 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 87-3917175 · 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.