Funders › North Dakota

Arthur & Edith Pearson Foundation

Westhope, ND · EIN 26-3870629. Reported 102 grants totalling $2,062,064 to 46 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$11,000median grant
$2,062,064granted, 2021-2025
46recipients, as named on its returns
71%of grantees funded again the next year
$10.9Massets, 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. Arthur & Edith Pearson 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 $11,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $5,000 and $30,000; the smallest was $1,250 and the largest $96,624. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
17 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
15 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
34 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
23 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
13 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
Westhope Public SchoolWesthope, ND$360,624552025
Bottineau Area Community FoundationBottineau, ND$175,000442025
Westhope Economic Development CorpWesthope, ND$169,036552025
Theodore Roosevelt Medora FoundationBismarck, ND$165,000552025
North Dakota State UniversityFargo, ND$112,000332025
Newburg United School DistrictNewburg, ND$103,724442025
Dakota CollegeBottineau, ND$100,000222022
International Music CampMinot, ND$87,823442025
Western North Dakota Honor FlightBismarck, ND$75,657332025
Antler Rural Fire DepartmentAntler, ND$55,000332024
Capital City Young Guns IncMandan, ND$55,000552025
Bottineau Winter ParkBottineau, ND$50,000112024
Mohall AmbulanceMohall, ND$50,000112021
Sleepy HollowBismarck, ND$45,000552025
University of MaryBismarck, ND$45,000332025
Antler OutlawsAntler, ND$35,000222025
Metigoshe Luthern Bible Camp IncBottineau, ND$35,000442025
North Dakota Adult and Teen ChallengeMandan, ND$35,000112023
Bottineau Public SchoolsBottineau, ND$30,000112023
City of AntlerAntler, ND$25,000112023
Minds Matter ColoradoDenver, CO$25,000442025
Bsc Foundation and Alumni AssociationBismarck, ND$22,500222025
North Dakota Community FoundationBismarck, ND$20,000112025
Young LifeBismarck, ND$20,000222025
Bottineau CountyBottineau, ND$16,000442024
Mohall Public SchoolMohall, ND$15,000112025
Trinity Lutheran ChurchBismarck, ND$15,000222025
Renville County ScdMohall, ND$12,700442024
Camp MetigosheBottineau, ND$10,000112022
Central Dakot Humane SocietyMandan, ND$10,000112024
Charles Hall Youth and Family ServicesBismarck, ND$10,000112021
Kritter Krazy - Reptile and Exotic RescueBottineau, ND$10,000112023
Missouri Slope Luthern Care FoundationBismarck, ND$10,000112024
Delta Waterfoul FoundationBismarck, ND$9,500332025
Bethel ChurchAntler, ND$5,000112021
Bottineau Country Fair - Junior Livestock ShowWesthope, ND$5,000112025
Marketplace for KidsBismarck, ND$5,000112022
Minot State UniversityMinot, ND$5,000112021
Newburg CommunityNewburg, ND$5,000112025
Tm CancerBottineau, ND$5,000112021
Ward County Soil Conservation DistrictMinot, ND$5,000112025
West Dakota WaterfowlersUphamn, ND$5,000112021
First Tee-Colorado Rocky MountainsDenver, CO$2,500112024
Youth WorksBismarck, ND$2,500112021
Open Your HeartBismarck, ND$1,250112021
Ronald Mcdonald House CharitiesBismarck, ND$1,250112021

22 of 46 (48%) 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 71%, 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.

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 activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 22 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.

Education
8 grants
Recreation & Sports
5 grants
Arts & Culture
4 grants
Community Improvement
2 grants
Youth Development
1 grant
Housing & Shelter
1 grant
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202122$391,900$5,000
202215$401,284$10,000
202320$430,557$17,500
202422$420,823$11,000
202523$417,500$15,000

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

99% of its giving went to organizations in North Dakota. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

North Dakota
$2.0M
Colorado
$28K

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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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund7 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc6 shared recipientsNational Philanthropic Trust6 shared recipientsThe Tom and Frances Leach6 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc6 shared recipientsAmerican Endowment Foundation4 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $11,000. 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 North 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 Arthur & Edith Pearson Foundation'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 305, Westhope, ND, 58793. 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 26-3870629 · 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 [email protected] and we will correct it.