FundersSouth Dakota

Orrion and Edith Barger Memorial

Chamberlain, SD · EIN 26-1875189. Reported 150 grants totalling $1,671,388 to 56 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$1,671,388granted, 2021-2024
56organizations funded
67%of grantees funded again the next year
$9,116,989assets, 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. Orrion and Edith Barger Memorial 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 $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,500 and $10,000; the smallest was $250 and the largest $100,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
3 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
59 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
46 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
23 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
10 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
7 grants
$100,000 and Up
2 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
City of ChamberlainChamberlain, SD$626,0972842024
Chamberlain School District FoundatChamberlain, SD$257,000522024
City of KimballPukwana, SD$47,219542024
Lake Francis Case DevelopmentChamberlain, SD$42,000222024
Chamberlain Swim TeamChamberlain, SD$40,000112022
Buffalo County Fire Protection DistGann Valley, SD$36,000222023
Lake Francis Case Economic DevelopmChamberlain, SD$35,000532024
Chamberlain School DistrictChamberlain, SD$30,000112021
Fishing for a CureChamberlain, SD$30,000442024
Grandview Properties IncChamberlain, SD$30,000112022
Helping Ends Meet Food ProgramChamberlain, SD$30,000432024
Town of KennebecKennebec, SD$30,000112022
Missouri Valley Crisis CenterChamberlain, SD$28,800442024
Kimball School DistrictKimball, SD$27,500222023
Town of RelianceReliance, SD$27,370222023
Chs Clay Target TeamPukwana, SD$20,000442024
Dakota State UniversityMadison, SD$20,000442024
St James Catholic ChurchChamberlain, SD$20,000442024
St Joseph Indian SchoolChamberlain, SD$20,000442024
United Church of ChristChamberlain, SD$20,000442024
Presho Volunteer Fire DeptPresho, SD$16,000112022
The Children's ArkChamberlain, SD$15,000222024
Rocs KimballKimball, SD$14,200332024
Central Dakota Development CorpKennebec, SD$13,500112023
Academy Volunteer Fire DepartmentAcademy, SD$13,000112021
Tri-County Cheer & Dance IncOacoma, SD$12,500222024
Pukwana Fire DeptPukwana, SD$12,400112021
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6436Chamberlain, SD$10,500222024
Cath Diocese of Sioux FalSioux Falls, SD$10,000442024
Chamberlain-Coacoma Area ChamberChamberlain, SD$10,000112022
Chamberlain-Oacoma Area ChamberChamberlain, SD$10,000112022
Red Cross of SdSioux Falls, SD$10,000442024
Salvation Army of South DakotaOmaha, NE$10,000442024
Chamberlain High SchoolChamberlain, SD$8,000442024
Kimball High SchoolKimball, SD$8,000442024
Lyman School DistrictPresho, SD$8,000442024
The Childrens ArkChamberlain, SD$8,000112021
First Circuit CASAMitchell, SD$7,800442024
Town of OacomaChamberlain, SD$7,500112021
St Joseph's Indian SchoolChamberlain, SD$6,000112022
Tri-County LandfillReliance, SD$5,872112023
Central Plains Evangelical Free ChuChamberlain, SD$5,000112024
Chamberlain-Oacoma Area Chamber ofChamberlain, SD$4,000112024
Kimball Center Food PantryKimball, SD$3,500222022
Kimball Economic Development CorpKimball, SD$3,500112021
Kimball Ambulance DistrictKimball, SD$3,300112021
Kwl High School Trap ClubKimball, SD$3,000112023
Missouri Valley Ambulance ServiceChamberlain, SD$3,000112021
St Joseph's Catholic ChurchFort Thompson, SD$2,380112022
Brule County Child Protection TeamChamberlain, SD$2,000112024
Embe - Girls on the RunSioux Falls, SD$2,000112021
Junior Achievement of South DakotaSioux Falls, SD$2,000112024
Kimball American LegionKimball, SD$2,000112024
Junior Achievement of SdSioux Falls, SD$1,200112022
Kimball Area Horizons Team - KimbalKimball, SD$1,000112024
Middle America Communication SolutiOacoma, SD$250112024

28 of 56 (50%) 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 67%, across 3 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. 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 $2,000 -- 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 26 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Education
8 grants
Community Improvement
8 grants
Health Care
4 grants
Human Services
2 grants
International Affairs
2 grants
Recreation & Sports
1 grant
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202136$396,200$5,000
202237$464,099$5,000
202335$441,239$5,000
202442$369,850$4,000

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. 99% of this one's giving went to organizations in South Dakota. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

South Dakota
$1.7M
Nebraska
$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.

South Dakota Community Foundation11 shared recipientsFirst Interstate Bancsystem Foundation7 shared recipientsSioux Falls Area Community4 shared recipientsThrivent Financial for Lutherans3 shared recipientsXcel Energy Foundation3 shared recipientsCharities Aid Foundation America3 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. 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 South Dakota.
  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 Orrion and Edith Barger Memorial'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 609, Chamberlain, SD, 57325. 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 26-1875189 · 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.