FundersWyoming

Plank Stewardship Initiative

Sheridan, WY · EIN 46-4491120. Reported 25 grants totalling $509,579 to 20 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$23,000median grant
$509,579granted, 2021-2024
20organizations funded
71%of grantees funded again the next year
$7,005,230assets, 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. Plank Stewardship Initiative 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 $23,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $9,000 and $27,000; the smallest was $1,800 and the largest $46,600. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
3 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
5 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
6 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
11 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
Quivira CoalitionSanta Fe, NM$69,100222024
Intertribal Agriculture CouncilBillings, MT$68,000222024
Women in Ranching IncCohagen, MT$55,100222024
Winnett Aces IncWinnett, MT$49,500222024
Crook County Natural Resource DistrictSundance, WY$31,670112022
Crook County Natural Resource DistSundance, WY$29,549112021
Montana Land RelianceHelena, MT$27,000112024
Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem AssociationDouglas, WY$27,000112024
Wyoming Stock Growers Endowment TrCheyenne, WY$27,000112023
Sheridan County Mt Conservation DistrictPlentywood, MT$25,200112024
Johnson County Fire Relief FundBuffalo, WY$20,000112024
Pheasants Forever IncSt Paul, MN$20,000112024
Wyoming Farm Bureau FoundationLaramie, WY$19,000222024
Sheridan County Wy Conservation DistrictSheridan, WY$9,500112024
Wyoming Stockgrowers Land TrustCheyenne, WY$8,250112024
Wyoming Stock Growers Land TrustCheyenne, WY$7,425112023
Campbell County Conservation DistriGillette, WY$6,000112024
Montana Association of Conservation DistrictsHelena, MT$4,950112024
Wyoming Stockgrowers Endowment TrCheyenne, WY$3,535112024
Custer Count Mt Conservation DistriMiles City, MT$1,800112024

5 of 20 (25%) 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 71%, across 1 year-to-year transition. 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.

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 11 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Environment
5 grants
Food & Nutrition
3 grants
Human Services
2 grants
Housing & Shelter
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20211$29,549$29,549
20221$31,670$31,670
20237$161,325$24,300
202416$287,035$20,000

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. 45% of this one's giving went to organizations in Montana. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Montana
$232K
Wyoming
$189K
New Mexico
$69K
Minnesota
$20K

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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.

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation4 shared recipientsCommunity Foundation for3 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund3 shared recipientsThe Nature Conservancy3 shared recipientsWorld Wildlife Fund Inc3 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust2 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $23,000. 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 Montana.
  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 Plank Stewardship Initiative's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 3 returns (tax years 2022-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 302 Spruce Ct, Cheyenne, WY, 82001. 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 46-4491120 · 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.