Donald E Nielsen Foundation Inc
Oakland, NE · EIN 20-2629290. Reported 76 grants totalling $7,174,946 to 60 recipients across tax years 2020-2024. 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. Donald E Nielsen 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 $49,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $19,500 and $110,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $1,000,000. 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. 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.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of West Point Ne | West Point, NE | $1,500,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Educational Service Unit 2 | Fremont, NE | $535,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Blair Family YMCA | Blair, NE | $450,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Cuming County Economic Development Inc | West Point, NE | $385,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Fort Atkinson Foundation | Fort Atkinson, NE | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Beemer | Beemer, NE | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Burt County Fair Foundation | Tekamah, NE | $233,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Cumming County Fair | West Point, NE | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Midlands Community Foundation | Papillion, NE | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tekamah Pool Task Force | Tekamah, NE | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Oakland Heights | Oakland, NE | $194,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Burt County | Tekamah, NE | $175,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Burt County Ne | Tekamah, NE | $174,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| West Point Community Foundation | West Point, NE | $155,000 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Uehling Fire District | Uehling, NE | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Oakland Rural Fire Department | Oakland, NE | $122,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Bancroft Rural Vol Fire and Rescue Dept | Bancroft, NE | $120,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| City of Lyons Ne | Lyons, NE | $110,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| City of Blair Ne | Blair, NE | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Generation Diamond | Omaha, NE | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Thurston Volunteer Fire and Rescue | Thurston, NE | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Village of Decatur Ne | Decatur, NE | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| West Point Community Theatre | West Point, NE | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Wakefield Community Center | Wakefield, NE | $80,503 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Historic Bryant House Inc | Tekamah, NE | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Logan View Public Schools | Hooper, NE | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Walthill Volunteer Fire & Rescue Department | Walthill, NE | $75,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Tekamah Community Foundation Inc | Tekamah, NE | $70,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Walthill Volunteer Fire Dept | Walthill, NE | $64,400 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Hartington-Newcastle Public School | Hartington, NE | $51,460 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Cuming County Ag Society | West Point, NE | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Happy Days Senior Center | Lyons, NE | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Nebraska State Patrol | Omaha, NE | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Roots to Wings | Arlington, NE | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Susan Laflesche Picotte Center | Walthill, NE | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Nebraska State Patrol Foundation | Lincoln, NE | $48,100 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Village of Howells Volunteer Rescue Squad | Howells, NE | $45,954 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| City of Lyons-Lyons Police Department | Lyons, NE | $45,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Cuming County Nebraska | West Point, NE | $40,916 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Sunshine Center Inc | West Point, NE | $39,500 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Rosalie Rural Fire Department | Rosalie, NE | $32,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Village of Craig Nebraska | Craig, NE | $30,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Swedish Heritage Center | Oakland, NE | $26,400 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Cattlemen's Ball of Nebraska Inc | Minatare, NE | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Hooper Area Community Foundation | Fremont, NE | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Tekamah-Herman Public School Foundation | Tekamah, NE | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| West Point Public Schools | West Point, NE | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| West Point Library Foundation | West Point, NE | $23,235 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Village of Dodge | Dodge, NE | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Bancroft-Rosalie Community Schools Foundation | Bancroft, NE | $16,300 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Beemer Senior Center | Beemer, NE | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Dept Foundation | Tekamah, NE | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Decatur Senior Center | Decatur, NE | $8,500 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Hartington-Newcastle Public Schools | Hartington, NE | $8,178 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Beemer Senior Citizens Center | Beemer, NE | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Just-a-Stitch Quilters Guild Inc | Elkhorn, NE | $6,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Relay for Life | Kennesaw, GA | $6,000 | 4 | 4 | 2024 |
| Nebr Voe-Ag Found Dba Leadership Ctr | Aurora, NE | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Emerson-Hubbard Community Schools | Emerson, NE | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Relay for Life | Oklahoma City, OK | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
11 of 60 (18%) 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 24%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 17 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.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 20 | $1,693,105 | $43,208 |
| 2021 | 20 | $1,207,278 | $50,000 |
| 2022 | 11 | $1,340,500 | $75,000 |
| 2023 | 12 | $1,860,060 | $61,500 |
| 2024 | 13 | $1,074,003 | $32,000 |
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
100% of its giving went to organizations in Nebraska. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.
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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.
How to approach this foundation
- Check you are its size. The median grant is $49,000. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Nebraska.
- 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 Donald E Nielsen Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2020-2024). 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 62, Oakland, NE, 68045. 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 20-2629290 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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