FundersKansas

Shaw Family Foundation

Wichita, KS · EIN 45-2236532. Reported 104 grants totalling $443,154 to 39 organizations across tax years 2020-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$443,154granted, 2020-2024
39organizations funded
72%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,244,062assets, 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. Shaw Family 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 $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,150 and $7,000; the smallest was $400 and the largest $16,250. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
18 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
33 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
47 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
6 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
Kansas University Endownment AssociLawrence, KS$53,750852024
Exploration PlaceWichita, KS$46,720852024
Music Theater of WichitaWichita, KS$40,200552024
Wichita Symphony SocietyWichita, KS$35,200642024
Wichita Childrens HomeWichita, KS$31,200552024
Union Rescue MissionWichita, KS$31,000332022
Wichita Art MuseumWichita, KS$30,000552024
Orpheum Performing Arts CentreWichita, KS$25,700442024
Ku Endowment - WichitaWichita, KS$22,500332022
Phillips Fundamental Learning CenteWichita, KS$19,634332024
BotanicaWichita, KS$15,000332024
Fundamental Learning CenterWichita, KS$10,000222021
Trinity Catholic Jrsr High SchoolHutchinson, KS$7,600552024
The Salvation ArmyWichita, KS$7,500112020
Union Rescue Mission of WitchitaWitchita, KS$7,000112024
Kansas Aviation MuseumWichita, KS$6,018442024
CASA of Sedgwick CountyWichita, KS$5,500222022
St Louis Ovarian Cancer AwarenessSt Louis, MO$5,100552024
Sedgewick County Zoological SocietyWitchita, KS$5,000112024
Wichita State University FoundationWichita, KS$5,000222021
Mark ArtsWichita, KS$4,000222023
Sedwig County ZooWichita, KS$4,000112022
Center for Behavioral and AcademicWichita, KS$3,700222024
St Louis Crisis NurserySt Louis, MO$3,200552024
Kansas Council on Economic EducatioWichita, KS$3,000112021
Hutchinson Friends of the Zoo IncHutchinson, KS$2,800222021
Eastminster Presbyterian ChurchWichita, KS$2,100112020
First Presbyterian ChurchWichita, KS$2,000112022
Ready ReadersSt Louis, MO$1,300332024
Vima Church IncWichita, KS$1,150112021
Young Life - WichitaWichita, KS$1,150112021
Harvester FoundationSalina, KS$1,000112023
Central Plains Health Care PartnersWichita, KS$766112021
Kansas Food Bank WarehouseWichita, KS$766112021
Heroes Care IncFenton, MO$700112022
Lutheran Elemntary School AssociatiSt Louis, MO$500112024
Riding for a ReasonGranite City, IL$500112023
Volunteers in Medicine IncSt Charles, MO$500112021
Hospice of Reno CountyHutchinson, KS$400112022

22 of 39 (56%) 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. 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 59 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Arts & Culture
29 grants
Human Services
7 grants
Education
7 grants
Diseases & Disorders
5 grants
Environment
3 grants
Animal Welfare
2 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant
Youth Development
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202018$83,020$3,750
202123$91,200$2,500
202223$95,600$4,000
202322$87,934$5,000
202418$85,400$5,000

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. 97% of this one's giving went to organizations in Kansas. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Kansas
$431K
Missouri
$11K
Illinois
$500

Find more foundations like Shaw Family Foundation

We email you newly filed foundations whose giving matches your state and cause, as the IRS publishes them. Free.

No spam, unsubscribe in one click. We never sell or share your address.

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 Inc15 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund15 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc12 shared recipientsWichita Foundation12 shared recipientsCommerce Bancshares Foundation11 shared recipientsTextron Charitable Trust Dtd 12235311 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 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 Shaw Family Foundation's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred, or estimated.

Address of record on the latest return: 7373 E 29TH St Nw 225, Wichita, KS, 67226. 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 45-2236532 · 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.