Zeller-Knowles Foundation Inc
Wilmington, DE · EIN 27-3980711. Reported 125 grants totalling $661,105 to 55 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.
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. Zeller-Knowles Foundation Inc did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $2,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $1,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $100 and the largest $40,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.
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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cascade County Historical Society | Great Falls, MT | $80,000 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| Simms High School | Simms, MT | $49,300 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| Great Falls Municipal Band | Great Falls, MT | $49,000 | 5 | 3 | 2024 |
| Recycle Montana Inc | Winifred, MT | $44,500 | 5 | 3 | 2024 |
| Family Promise of Great Falls | Great Falls, MT | $41,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| St Ann Church | Fort Shaw, MT | $40,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Central Christian Church | Great Falls, MT | $38,000 | 7 | 4 | 2024 |
| Uptown Optimist Foundation Inc | Power, MT | $33,050 | 8 | 4 | 2024 |
| Great Falls Clinic Legacy Foundation | Great Falls, MT | $30,000 | 3 | 2 | 2022 |
| Childrens Museum of Montana Inc | Great Falls, MT | $22,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Laurel Montana Community Foundation Incorporated | Laurel, MT | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Montana School for the Deaf and Blind Foundation | Great Falls, MT | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Sun River Valley Lions Community Foundation | Simms, MT | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Snowy Mountain Development Corporation | Lewistown, MT | $17,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Housed Great Falls | Great Falls, MT | $16,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Big Sky Country National Heritage Area Inc | Great Falls, MT | $15,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Great Falls Scottish Rite Childhood Language Disor | Great Falls, MT | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Alliance for Youth Inc | Great Falls, MT | $13,500 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Sawtooth Stables Youth Equestrian Center | Augusta, MT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| St Johns Lutheran Church | Great Falls, MT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Sun River Valley Historical Society | Great Falls, MT | $6,505 | 8 | 3 | 2024 |
| Pet Paw-See Inc | Great Falls, MT | $6,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Fil Am Great Falls | Great Falls, MT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Great Falls Genealogy Society | Great Falls, MT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| J C Adams Stone Barn Co | Fort Benton, MT | $5,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Montanta Historical Society | Helena, MT | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Madison Middle School | Eugene, OR | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Great Falls Community Concert Association | Great Falls, MT | $3,600 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Friends of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks | Bozeman, MT | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Great Falls Public Schools Foundation | Great Falls, MT | $3,000 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Mclaughlin Research Institute for Biomedical Scien | Great Falls, MT | $3,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Augusta Youth Center | Augusta, MT | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Mineral County Historical Society Inc | Superior, MT | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Missouri River Open Lands Preservation | Great Falls, MT | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Sams Hope Foundation | Lincoln, MT | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Preservation Cascade Inc | Great Falls, MT | $1,900 | 4 | 3 | 2024 |
| CASA-Can Childrens Advocate Network | Great Falls, MT | $1,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Alluvion Health Foundation | Great Falls, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Augusta High School | Augusta, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Ennis Lions Charities Inc | Ennis, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - St Johns | Great Falls, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Family Promise of Yellowstone Valley | Billings, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Friends of Montana PBS Inc | Bozeman, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Great Falls Fish Inc | Great Falls, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Great Falls Lgbtq Center | Great Falls, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation Inc | Great Falls, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Lewistown Art Center | Lewistown, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Montana History Foundation | Helena, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Montana Museum of Railroad History | Great Falls, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| United Way of Cascade County | Great Falls, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Ursuline Historical Foundation Inc | Great Falls, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Young Womens Christian Assn of Great Falls | Great Falls, MT | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Frontier Gateway Museum Assoc | Glendive, MT | $300 | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Alzheimers Disease and Related Disorders Associati | Chicago, IL | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Benefis Health System Foundation Inc | Great Falls, MT | $200 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
25 of 55 (45%) 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 62%, 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.
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.
- Cascade County Historical Society
Sun River Cemetery Assn landscaping and other maintenance projects of the cemetery fund - Simms High School
Merja robotics team travel expenses to attend the robotics competition in Houston, TX, and general purpose - Family Promise of Great Falls
Support Community Relations position fund - Montana School for the Deaf and Blind Foundation
updates to the bowling alley - Sun River Valley Lions Community Foundation
building remodeling project of the historic lumber yard - Snowy Mountain Development Corporation
Calvary Cemetery Metis Memorial Marker
What kind of organizations it funds
By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 70 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | $82,700 | $1,500 |
| 2022 | 47 | $133,005 | $1,000 |
| 2023 | 34 | $203,300 | $2,500 |
| 2024 | 30 | $242,100 | $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. 99% 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.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Montana.
- 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.
- 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 Zeller-Knowles Foundation Inc'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: Foundation Source 501 Silverside Rd, Wilmington, DE, 19809. 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 27-3980711 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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