Walden Charitable Foundation
Arnolds Park, IA · EIN 82-3195023. Reported 90 grants totalling $559,150 to 40 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. 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. Walden Charitable 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.
How big are its grants?
The median grant is $5,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $2,000 and $10,000; the smallest was $50 and the largest $30,000. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lutheran Lakeside Camp | Spirit Lake, IA | $52,000 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Spencer Regional Healthcare Foundation | Spencer, IA | $50,050 | 5 | 4 | 2025 |
| Tri County Food Pantry | Webster, IA | $50,000 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Creston Area Food Shelf Dba Creston Food Pantry Inc | Creston, IA | $47,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| Atlas of Lakes Area | Arnolds Park, IA | $35,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| River's Edge Methodist Church | Spencer, IA | $32,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Atlas of Spencer | Spencer, IA | $31,750 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Love Takes Root | Spencer, IA | $30,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Creston Area Food Pantry | Creston, IA | $27,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Crosswinds Church-Efca | Spencer, IA | $24,250 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Kings & Queens Local | Spirit Lake, IA | $22,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Dickinson County Hunger Coalition | Spirit Lake, IA | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Family Crisis Centers Inc | Sioux Center, IA | $20,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Morningside Scholarshipcary Conover Scholarship | Sioux City, IA | $16,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Orient UMC Mobile Food Pantry | Orient, IA | $15,000 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Spencer Chamber Foundation Flood Recovery Fund | Spencer, IA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Morningside University | Sioux City, IA | $12,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Clay County Pals | Spencer, IA | $9,500 | 4 | 4 | 2025 |
| Keokuk County Hospitals and Clinics | Sigourney, IA | $5,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Mckinley Park Aquatic Center-City of Creston | Creston, IA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Outreach | Spencer, IA | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Ida County 4-H Foundation | Ida Grove, IA | $4,500 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Feed Our Children Co Living World Outreach Ministries | Spencer, IA | $4,000 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| Clay County Food for Life | Spencer, IA | $3,500 | 3 | 3 | 2025 |
| Clay County Heritage Center | Spencer, IA | $3,350 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| 51025 Zip Code Celebration | Holstein, IA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2025 |
| First United Methodist Church-Creston | Creston, IA | $2,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Dickinson County Community Gardens | Spirit Lake, IA | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| Okoboji Foundation- Youth in Philanthropy | Milford, IA | $2,000 | 2 | 2 | 2025 |
| Riverviewterrace Assisted Living | Spencer, IA | $2,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| First United Methodist Church Youth Group | Creston, IA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Grace United Methodist Church-Open Table | Spencer, IA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Sigourney United Methodist Church Youth | Sigourney, IA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Youth Philanthropy-Okoboji Foundation | Milford, IA | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Spencer Family YMCA | Spencer, IA | $550 | 2 | 1 | 2023 |
| Clay County Food for Life-Clay County Outreach | Spencer, IA | $500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Grace United Methodist Church | Spencer, IA | $450 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| First Congregational Church | Spencer, IA | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Friends of Lakeside Lab | Milford, IA | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Hope Reformed Church of Spencer | Spencer, IA | $250 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
23 of 40 (58%) 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 75%, 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.
- River's Edge Methodist Church
UPPER DES MOINES KITS FOR HOMELESS INDIVIDUALS. CHILDCARE CENTER. CAASA KITS FOR ADULTS AND CHILDREN NEEDING EMERGENCY SUPPLIES. - Lutheran Lakeside Camp
PROVIDE FOSTER KIDS A WEEK AT CAMP AND CAPTIAL CAMPAIGN TO REPLACE/REPAIR WATER/SEWER ISSUES - Atlas of Lakes Area
FUNDS TO HIRE AN ADDITIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, AND PART TIME MALE AND FEMALE MENTORS - Spencer Regional Healthcare Foundation
ALEX & JULIE JACOBSEN MENTAL HEALTH FUND AND PATIENT NEEDS FUND - Love Takes Root
SOLAR OVEN FOR YOUNG BAKING ENTREPENEURS IN HAITI AND SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM FOR STUDENTS SPOONS, POTS, PLATES, PROPANES, ADDITIONAL GARDEN SUPPLIES BREADFRUIT TREES AND KITCHEN STAFF - Spencer Chamber Foundation Flood Recovery Fund
SPENCER'S FLOOD RELIEF FUND
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 39 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5 | $29,500 | $5,000 |
| 2022 | 18 | $112,650 | $5,125 |
| 2023 | 27 | $107,000 | $2,000 |
| 2024 | 17 | $127,000 | $6,000 |
| 2025 | 23 | $183,000 | $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
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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 $5,000. 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 Iowa.
- 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 Walden Charitable 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: 431 202ND Street, Arnolds Park, IA, 51331. 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 82-3195023 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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