Funders › Kansas

Sarver Charitable Trust

Smith Center, KS · EIN 48-6298990. Reported 222 grants totalling $2,739,164 to 81 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$2,739,164granted, 2021-2025
81recipients, as named on its returns
72%of grantees funded again the next year
$13.4Massets, 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. Sarver Charitable 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 $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $3,700 and $7,000; the smallest was $250 and the largest $78,437. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
20 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
65 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
98 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
10 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
3 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
26 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
American Cancer SocietyTopeka, KS$325,888552025
Fort Hays State University FoundatiHays, KS$325,888552025
Leukemia & Lymphoma SocietyWichita, KS$325,888552025
St Aloysius Catholic ChurchOsborne, KS$325,888552025
The Salvation ArmyKansas City, MO$325,888552025
City of OsborneOsborne, KS$166,637552025
Osborne County TreasurerOsborne, KS$45,940222025
Osborne County Fair BoardOsborne, KS$38,604112021
Osborne Rural Fire Dept 1Osborne, KS$35,500222022
Christian Church of DownsDowns, KS$28,500552025
Solomon Valley TransportationBeloit, KS$28,500442025
Assembly of God Church OsborneOsborne, KS$26,000552025
Bible Baptist Church of OsborneOsborne, KS$26,000552025
Downs Ministerial Alliance (food BaDowns, KS$26,000552025
Free Methodist Church of OsborneOsborne, KS$26,000552025
Lutheran Church of DownsDowns, KS$26,000552025
Osborne Ministerial Alliance (foodOsborne, KS$26,000552025
Pleasant Plain ChurchAlton, KS$26,000552025
Rose Valley ChurchDowns, KS$26,000552025
St Marys Catholic Church of DownsDowns, KS$26,000552025
United Christian Church of OsborneOsborne, KS$26,000552025
United Methodist Church of AltonAlton, KS$26,000552025
United Methodist Church of DownsDowns, KS$26,000552025
United Methodist Church of OsborneOsborne, KS$26,000552025
Usd 392 OsborneOsborne, KS$24,750552025
Grace Brethren Church of PortisPortis, KS$22,000332025
Osborne County Memorial HospitalOsborne, KS$19,357222023
City of DownsDowns, KS$19,250552025
Mt Aye Friends ChurchAlton, KS$19,000442024
New Life Church of NatomaNatoma, KS$19,000222025
North Central Kansas Outdoor YouthOsborne, KS$17,500442025
Faith Luthern Church of OsborneOsborne, KS$17,000332025
Faith Luthean Church of OsborneOsborne, KS$16,000222022
Bringing It Home to Oz IncOsborne, KS$15,700442024
Osborne Community FoundationOsborne, KS$15,225332025
Lighthouse Coummunity Church of DowDowns, KS$14,000332023
Peach Lutheran Church of NatomaNatoma, KS$14,000332023
United Methodist Church of NatomaNatoma, KS$14,000332023
Bull City Community FoundationAlton, KS$12,086332025
Peace Lutheran Church of NatomaNatoma, KS$12,000222025
Osborne Senior CenterOsborne, KS$11,000222022
Lakeside High SchoolDowns, KS$10,750442024
Downs Art CouncilDowns, KS$10,000552025
Grace Methodist Church of PortisPortis, KS$9,000222022
Lakeside Elementary PreschoolCawker City, KS$8,000112021
Penn TownshipOsborne, KS$8,000112022
Nation Builders MinistriesAlton, KS$7,371222023
Mt Ayr Friends ChurchAlton, KS$7,000112025
Osborne Public LibraryObsorne, KS$7,000222023
Portis Pride Community GroupPortis, KS$6,000112023
Usd 272Downs, KS$6,000112021
American Legion AuxiliaryNatoma, KS$5,300112021
Community Market PlaceOsborne, KS$5,000112021
Hancock TownshipOsborne, KS$5,000112023
Osborne County KlaTopeka, KS$5,000222023
Osborne County Veterans FoundationOsborne, KS$5,000112022
Smoky Hills Public TvBunker Hill, KS$5,000222024
City of AltonAlton, KS$4,400112024
Ford FundOsborne, KS$4,000222022
ShineOsborne, KS$3,000112022
Usd 399 NatomaNatoma, KS$3,000112025
Nck Outdoors IncGlen Ender, KS$2,375112025
Downs Community ConnectionDowns, KS$2,000112024
DsnwkHays, KS$2,000112021
Bull City OpryAlton, KS$1,629222023
Downs Parks & RecreationDowns, KS$1,500112022
Downs Senior CenterDowns, KS$1,500112022
Natoma Community CenterNatoma, KS$1,500222024
Osborne County MuseumOsborne, KS$1,250112023
Fort Hays State UniversityHays, KS$1,000112024
Kansas Natural Resource FoundationOsborne, KS$1,000442025
Lakeside Starz Dance TeamDowns, KS$1,000222022
Osborne Co Genalogical & HistoricaOsborne, KS$1,000112021
Osborne County 4H CouncilOsborne, KS$800112024
Downs Historical SocietyDowns, KS$750112024
Osborne Community MuseumOsborne, KS$750112025
Alton PrideAlton, KS$600112021
Natoma High School FaddNatoma, KS$500112023
Osborne Roatary ClubOsborne, KS$500222022
Usd 399 ElementaryNatoma, KS$400112024
Eager Beavers 4HOsborne, KS$300112022

53 of 81 (65%) received money in more than one year over the 5 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 72%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is about typical. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

Plus 359 grants to individuals totalling $627,000 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 37 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.

Community Improvement
9 grants
Arts & Culture
7 grants
Education
7 grants
Human Services
5 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
3 grants
Religion
2 grants
Health Care
2 grants
Public & Societal Benefit
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202147$577,154$4,000
202252$587,615$5,000
202343$487,902$5,000
202443$457,481$5,000
202537$629,012$7,000

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.

Already committed for future years

Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Sarver Charitable Trust has 2 of them, worth $5,000. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.

OrganizationLocationApproved
Osborne County KlaTopeka, KS$2,500
Osborne County KlaTopeka, KS$2,500

Where its money goes

88% of its giving went to organizations in Kansas. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Kansas
$2.4M
Missouri
$326K

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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.

Greater Salina Community Foundation8 shared recipientsGreater Northwest Kansas Community7 shared recipientsDane G Hansen Foundation7 shared recipientsLand O'lakes Foundation4 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund3 shared recipientsThe Pete Henry Foundation2 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. 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 Kansas.
  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 Sarver Charitable Trust's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). 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 307, Smith Center, KS, 66967. 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 48-6298990 · 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.