Top-Rated Nonprofits in Iowa 2026
Iowa has 6 nonprofits with $1.2B in combined revenue. The top-rated organization is Drake University with an Efficiency Score of 71/100.
Iowa has 6 nonprofits in the IRS Form 990 dataset ranked here by efficiency score. The NonprofitTruth nonprofit efficiency rubric combines financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), and officer compensation relative to revenue (25%) into a 0-100 composite.
Reading the ranking: top of the list typically combines healthy operating reserves (the highest-weighted factor) with stable multi-year revenue and reasonable officer compensation. Large hospital and university systems often appear near the top in any state — their scale gives them deep balance sheets and steady revenue. Each nonprofit links to its full Form 990 profile. For donors trying to choose between organizations, the efficiency grade is a useful triage — but the underlying reserve position, the multi-year revenue trend, and the officer-comp ratio matter more than the composite letter on any individual decision.
Top 6 Nonprofits in Iowa
| # | Organization | Category | Revenue | CEO Pay | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drake University | Education | $259.1M | $1.6M | B (71) |
| 2 | Intermediaryed | Education | $240.7M | $3.7M | B (71) |
| 3 | The Trustees Of Grinnell College | Education | $364.4M | $3.6M | C (57) |
| 4 | Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation | Environment & Animals | $29.8M | $366K | C (57) |
| 5 | Iowa State University Foundation | Education | $147.0M | $1.8M | C (55) |
| 6 | State University Of Iowa Foundation | Education | $167.6M | $2.6M | D (45) |
Nonprofit financial data for Iowa is sourced from IRS Form 990 filings, which all tax-exempt organizations must file annually.
Frequently Asked Questions
Drake University is the top-rated nonprofit in Iowa with an Efficiency Score of 71/100 (Grade B) and $259.1M in annual revenue.
Iowa has 6 nonprofits in our database with a combined $1.2B in total revenue.
The Efficiency Score (0-100, A-F) measures a nonprofit's financial structure based on financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), and current-officer compensation relative to revenue (25%), all from IRS Form 990 data. Higher scores indicate stronger financial structure. It does not include a program-spending ratio, which our data source does not provide.
Efficiency Score: financial health / operating reserves (40%), revenue-growth consistency (35%), current-officer compensation ratio (25%). No program-spending ratio is included — total program service expenses are not available from the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer feed.