FundersNebraska

Wortman Family Charitable Trust

Aurora, NE · EIN 47-6228310. Reported 61 grants totalling $1,417,331 to 31 organizations across tax years 2021-2024. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$2,500median grant
$1,417,331granted, 2021-2024
31organizations funded
60%of grantees funded again the next year
$8,033,296assets, 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. Wortman Family Charitable Trust 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 $2,500. Half of everything it gave fell between $200 and $10,000; the smallest was $16 and the largest $380,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
26 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
8 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
11 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
8 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
2 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
3 grants
$100,000 and Up
3 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
Bremer Community CenterAurora, NE$922,080332024
Aurora Child Care CenterAurora, NE$98,000332023
Central Community College FoundatioHastings, NE$96,000442024
Aurora Housing AuthorityAurora, NE$75,000112023
Aurora Housing DevelopmentAurora, NE$50,000112021
Hamilton RecreationAurora, NE$40,300332023
Hamilton Community FoundationAurora, NE$30,450112021
Edgerton Explorit CenterAurora, NE$25,302442024
Memorial Community Health FoundatioAurora, NE$21,813442024
Plainsman MuseumAurora, NE$20,000442024
Heartland United WayGrand Island, NE$17,025332023
Phillips Cemetary AssociationPhillips, NE$5,000112021
Village of HordvilleHordville, NE$5,000112021
Nebraska Chamber of CommerceLincoln, NE$2,500112021
Aurora Development CorporationAurora, NE$2,000112021
Grace Cancer FoundationGrand Island, NE$1,600222024
First LightGrand Island, NE$1,100222022
Fonner ParkGrand Island, NE$1,000222024
Aurora Wrestling ProgramAurora, NE$950442024
Grand Island ChamberGrand Island, NE$535112021
Nebraska DiplomatsLincoln, NE$450112021
Aurora RecreationAurora, NE$250112024
Grace FoundationGrand Island, NE$200112021
St Francis FoundationGrand Island, NE$200112023
Go Big GiveGrand Island, NE$130112021
Aurora American LegionAurora, NE$100112021
Special Olympics NebraskaOmaha, NE$100222024
Aurora Public SchoolsAurora, NE$80112022
Aurora FFAAurora, NE$76442024
Aurora Rotary FoundationAurora, NE$50112023
American Legion Post 42Aurora, NE$40112024

14 of 31 (45%) 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 60%, 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 17 grants where we could identify the organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses.

Philanthropy & Grantmaking
5 grants
Education
5 grants
Arts & Culture
4 grants
Recreation & Sports
2 grants
Housing & Shelter
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202122$174,574$3,750
202212$425,652$2,900
202315$421,967$6,000
202412$395,138$375

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

Aurora, NE
$1.3M
Hastings, NE
$96K
Grand Island, NE
$22K
Hordville, NE
$5K
Phillips, NE
$5K
Lincoln, NE
$3K
Omaha, NE
$100

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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.

Hamilton Community Foundation Inc7 shared recipientsFrank M & Alice M Farr Trust6 shared recipientsSn Bud and Gloria Wolbach Charitable Foundati3 shared recipientsGreater Grand Island Community3 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund3 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc3 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $2,500. 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 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 Wortman Family Charitable Trust'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 98, Aurora, NE, 68818. 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 47-6228310 · 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.