Funders › Minnesota

James M Cox Foundation

Eagan, MN · EIN 47-0719195. Reported 91 grants totalling $537,035 to 39 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$537,035granted, 2021-2025
39recipients, as named on its returns
60%of grantees funded again the next year
$2,317,339assets, 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. James M Cox 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 $2,000 and $6,000; the smallest was $500 and the largest $30,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
2 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
41 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
36 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
8 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
4 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
University of Nebraska-LincolnLincoln, NE$131,560552025
Northeast Community CollegeNorfolk, NE$62,000552025
University of Nebraska OmahaOmaha, NE$51,000552025
Wayne State CollegeWayne, NE$43,000552025
University of Nebraska-KearneyKearney, NE$28,000552025
Grace Childrens HomeHenderson, NE$24,000552025
Nebraska Children's HomeOmaha, NE$24,000552025
Omaha Bridges Out of PovertyOmaha, NE$18,200442024
Southeast Community CollegeCouncil Bluffs, IA$16,000222023
Southeast Community CollegeMilford, NE$16,000332025
Central Community CollegeColumbus, NE$15,500442025
Hamilton Community FoundationHamilton, OH$15,000332025
Hamilton Community FoundationAurora, NE$9,000222024
Metro Community CollegeOmaha, NE$9,000332025
Nebraska Wesleyan UniversityLincoln, NE$8,000222022
Peru State CollegePeru, NE$8,000442025
University of NebraskaLincoln, NE$6,000112023
University of NebraskaomahaOmaha, NE$6,000112022
Out of PovertyLevittown, PA$5,000112025
Concordia UniversitySeward, NE$4,000222024
Nebraska College of TechnicalCurtis, NE$4,000222025
Hastings CollegeHastings, NE$3,000222024
Xenon AcademyOmaha, NE$3,000222025
Bryan College of Health SciencesLincoln, NE$2,000112024
Chadron State CollegeChadron, NE$2,000112025
Clarkson CollegeOmaha, NE$2,000112024
College of Saint MaryOmaha, NE$2,000222022
Creighton UniversityOmaha, NE$2,000112021
Doane UniversityCrete, NE$2,000112025
Heartland Baptist Bible College IncOklahoma City, OK$2,000112023
Ne College of Technical AgricultureCurtis, NE$2,000112021
Nebraska Methodist CollegeCouncil Bluffs, IA$2,000112025
Se Community College - MilfordMilford, NE$2,000112024
University of Nebraska FoundationLincoln, NE$2,000112023
Janice LarsonLincoln, NE$1,775222022
Chadron State College Office of Financial AidChadron, NE$1,000112021
Concordia UniversityAnn Arbor, MI$1,000112022
Midland UniversityFremont, NE$1,000112021
Nebraska Methodist CollegeOmaha, NE$1,000112021

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 60%, 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 32 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
17 grants
Human Services
10 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
5 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202122$90,775$3,000
202219$106,700$5,000
202314$108,560$5,000
202418$110,000$5,000
202518$121,000$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

92% 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.

Nebraska
$496K
Iowa
$18K
Ohio
$15K
Pennsylvania
$5K
Oklahoma
$2K
Michigan
$1K

Get funders for your state and cause by email

We email you funders that gave to organizations in your state and cause, up to five at a time each week and never the same one twice, from their own IRS filings. Free. The weekly email has not started yet.

Unsubscribe in one click from any email. We never sell or share your address. To match on your organization and typical grant size too, keep a private profile.

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 Fund11 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc11 shared recipientsEducationquest Foundation Inc10 shared recipientsCharities Aid Foundation America7 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc7 shared recipientsTulsa Community Foundation7 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 Nebraska.
  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 James M Cox 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 64193, Eagan, MN, 55164. 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 47-0719195 · 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.