FundersMissouri

Bowker Foundation Irrev Char Ta

Saint Louis, MO · EIN 35-6072377. Reported 30 grants totalling $302,000 to 19 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$5,000median grant
$302,000granted, 2021-2024
19organizations funded
57%of grantees funded again the next year
$1,758,650assets, 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. Bowker Foundation Irrev Char Ta 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 $5,000 and $15,000; the smallest was $5,000 and the largest $30,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$5,000 - $10,000
19 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
9 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
2 grants

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.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
YWCA Northeast Indiana IncFort Wayne, IN$95,000442024
Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana MichianaFort Wayne, IN$75,000442024
Healthier Moms and Babies IncFort Wayne, IN$25,000442024
Redemption House Ministry IncFort Wayne, IN$14,000222022
Indiana Teen Challenge IncLebanon, IN$10,000112023
Mental Health America in Allen County inFort Wayne, IN$10,000222024
Redemption HouseFort Wayne, IN$10,000112024
Junior Achievement of Northern IndianaFort Wayne, IN$8,000112021
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana IncFort Wayne, IN$5,000112024
Boys Girls Club of Fort Wayne IncFort Wayne, IN$5,000112022
Cass Housing IncFort Wayne, IN$5,000112021
Center for Nonviolence IncFort Wayne, IN$5,000112021
Hope Alive IncFort Wayne, IN$5,000112024
Indiana Women in Need FoundationIndianapolis, IN$5,000112024
Ls FoundationVancouver, WA$5,000112023
Rush's RainbowsSpencer, IN$5,000112024
Scan IncFort Wayne, IN$5,000112022
St Joseph MissionsFort Wayne, IN$5,000112022
Stillwater HospiceFort Wayne, IN$5,000112024

5 of 19 (26%) 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 57%, 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 kind of organizations it funds

By the recipient's own IRS classification, for the 24 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Human Services
6 grants
Youth Development
5 grants
Health Care
5 grants
Religion
3 grants
Education
1 grant
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant
Crime & Legal
1 grant
International Affairs
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20217$65,000$7,000
20227$77,000$5,000
20236$75,000$10,000
202410$85,000$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

Foundations concentrate geographically far more than their mission statements suggest. 98% of this one's giving went to organizations in Indiana. If you are outside its footprint, that matters more than how well your programme fits.

Indiana
$297K
Washington
$5K

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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.

Community Foundation of Greater13 shared recipientsEnglish-Bonter-Mitchell Fdn12 shared recipientsLincoln Financial Foundation Inc10 shared recipientsEdward M Wilson Foundation10 shared recipientsKuhne Charles Char Fdn T-W Main10 shared recipientsThe James Foundation Inc9 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $5,000. Asking for ten times that is the most common way small organizations waste a submission.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Indiana.
  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 Bowker Foundation Irrev Char Ta'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: Po Box 505 Mac H0006-092, Saint Louis, MO, 63166. 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 35-6072377 · 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, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next -- and a much better basis for deciding whether to write to them than a mission statement.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.