Grants for fairs

Name: Top 25 grants made to county fairs
Creator: Cause IQ
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

322 county fairs received at least $12.9 million in grants for the most recent fiscal year. This includes 215 grants made from 174 grantmaking organizations, with a median grant amount of $1,250. Of these 174 foundations, 91% made just a single grant to fairs, and 2% made grants to four or more fairs. This analysis is based on grantmakers that e-file their Form 990s, and likely is an undercount of grants.

$12,941,593

Total grant dollars given to fairs

215

Number of grants made annually to fairs

174

Number of grantmakers funding fairs

$1,250

Median grant size to fairs

Foundations that support county fairs

Out of all grants made to fairs, 74% came from small foundations with less than $10 million in assets. The top 10 grantmakers accounted for 97% of the dollar-value of grants to fairs. Foundations funding fairs also made grants to multiservice human service organizations, animal shelters, religious organizations, christian organizations, and scholarship organizations.

Foundation size

Foundation size	Number of grantmakers
Small	129
Medium	23
Large	21

Small foundations have <$10M in assets. Medium foundations have $10M to $50M in assets. Large foundations have >$50M in assets.

Foundation type

Foundation type	Number of grantmakers
Community	6
Private	127
Corporate	17
Other	24

Grants made

Grants made to fairs	Number of grantmakers
1	160
2-3	10
4-10	3
11+	1

Top 10 foundations supporting county fairs

Grantmaker	State	Geographic focus	Percent of grant dollars to fairs	Number of grants made to fairs	Median grant size
Land O'Lakes Foundation	MN	National	0.4%	19	$1,000
Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines	IA	State	0.0%	5	$3,250
DTE Energy Foundation	MI	Metro	0.1%	5	$2,000
Enmr Education Foundation	NM	State	3.2%	4	$1,350
Albemarle Foundation	NC	National	0.1%	3	$2,975
Alliant Energy Foundation	WI	State	0.1%	3	$400
Broadcom Foundation	CA	State	0.2%	2	$5,000
Community Foundation of North Central Wi	WI	Metro	0.2%	2	$4,050
The Robert and Louise Claflin Foundation	WV	State	4.1%	2	$3,400
Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation	DE	National	0.6%	2	$2,750

See all grantmaking to fairs

County fairs grantees

Fairs with more than $5 million in total revenues received 97% of all grant dollars. These larger organizations accounted for 18% of all fairs.

Grant amounts

Size of grant	Number of grants
<$10k	214
$10k-$25k	0
$25k-$100k	0
$100k+	1

Grant amount by grantee size

Grantee annual revenue	Median grant size
<$100k	$1,225
$100k-$500k	$1,500
$500k-$1M	$1,070
$1M-$5M	$1,500
>$5M	$1,500

Grantee states

State of grantee	Number of grants
Texas	39
Iowa	24
California	17
Wisconsin	13
Other	122

Grantee metros

Metro area of grantee	Number of grants
Houston	24
Dallas	7
New York City	6
Milwaukee	5
Other	119

Top 25 grants made to fairs

Grantee	Grant size	Purpose	Grantmaker
Event Facilities Fort Worth	$12,500,000	General Support	Burnett Foundation / Dee Kelly JR Ttee
Harbor Springs Festival of the Book	$5,000	Arts & Culture	DTE Energy Foundation
Western Michigan Fair Association	$5,000	Community Transformation	DTE Energy Foundation
Marshall County Blueberry Festival	$5,000	Charitable Contribution	1st Source Bank
Kids From Wisconsin	$5,000	Performing Arts	Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation
Colorado State Science Fair	$5,000	General & Unrestricted	Broadcom Foundation
Santa Clara Valley Science and Engineering Fair Association	$5,000	Support for Regional Science Fair	Broadcom Foundation
Clark County Fairgrounds	$5,000	Health	The Columbus Foundation
Lycoming County Fair Association	$5,000	Provide Operational Support	Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce
Lake Agriculture and Youth Fair Association	$5,000	Sponsorship	Uf Health The Villages Hospital (TVRH)
City of Quincy Christmas Festival Committee	$5,000	Support for Smoking/vaping Cessation	Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital - Milton
Zehnder's Snowfest	$5,000	Organizational/community Support	Health Alliance Plan of Michigan
A Fair Shake for Youth	$5,000	Unrestricted	The Evelyn Toll Family Foundation
Healdsburg Future Farmers Country Fair	$5,000	To Support Programs	George and Betty Harbaugh Charitable FOUNDATION
Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival and Fair Association	$5,000	Promotion	American Sugar Cane League of the USA
Clinton County Fair Association	$5,000	Electrical Improvements at Fairgrounds	Clinton County Economic Partnership Tourist Promotion Agency
Martin County Fair Association	$5,000	General Support	Gordana Uscumlic Foundation
Marshall County Blueberry Festival	$5,000	General Support	Newton Park
Riverfest River Spirit Waynesboro	$5,000	To Hold Two Events To Promote Environmental Awareness and Understanding of Water Quality Issues in the Headwaters of the South Fork Shenandoah. One Is A Free Public Educational Event (Riverfest) and the Second Is Kid's Day for the Entire 7th Grade Class of the Waynesboro City School System.	The Oak Hill Fund
Portland Rose Festival Foundation	$5,000	To Further the Mission of the Organization	Royal Rosarian Foundation PO Box 8956
Summer Motion	$5,000	Support of Annual Community Festival & Volunteers	King's Daughters Medical Center (KDMC)
Georgia Association of Physicians of Indian Heritage	$5,000	Donor Designated for General Support	United Way of the Csra
Wichita Festivals	$5,000	To Support Charitable Purpose	Itav) Takes A Village
Los Altos Festival of Lights	$5,000	To Celebate the Holiday Season in Downtown Los Altos	The Los Altos Rotary Endowment Fund
San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo	$5,000	To Provide Financial Assistance To Local Youth for Their Secondary Education	Rochester Area Community Foundation (RACF)

See all grants to fairs

Methodology: To determine grants and grantees, Cause IQ analyzes electronically-filed Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF financial disclosure documents, matching grantees to specific organizations using EINs and fuzzy matching logic. The "Fairs" category for this page is determined by the "N52: Fair, County and Other" National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code. Cause IQ determines NTEEs for organizations by its own internally-developed secret-sauce algorithms.