Kleckner Foundation

The Kleckner Foundation is a young, small, founder-directed private foundation out of Urbandale, Iowa, established in 2019 by Shawne Kleckner (former owner of anime retailer Right Stuf, Inc., sold to Crunchyroll). Its board is entirely family and close advisors: Shawne Kleckner (Managing Director), Tomoko Kleckner (Director, who personally handles grant approvals and partner relations), and Amy Kleckner (Director/Treasurer, a four-decade accounting veteran). Two outside professionals — financial advisor Ryan Chowdhury and CPA Jamie Boess of Meriwether, Wilson and Company in West Des Moines — round out fiduciary oversight, alongside legal advisor Gary S. Moriwaki, who sits on the U.S.-Japan Council and Japan Society boards. This is a hands-on, relationship-driven funder, not a program-officer bureaucracy — Tomoko Kleckner's direct involvement in partner relations signals that a warm introduction or direct rapport with the family carries real weight. First-time applicants should know two things: (1) the foundation's own IRS filings describe it as funding preselected organizations only, but its website now publishes a public two-stage process (concept note, then full proposal), so unsolicited outreach through the website is the correct current channel despite the closed-door reputation; and (2) fit matters enormously given the tiny check sizes ($25-$18,737 in 2024) — this is a foundation for small, targeted asks (event sponsorship, a specific scholarship cohort, translation/production costs) rather than large program grants. Organizations with any Japan-America cultural, educational, or business connection have the clearest path in, given the founder's personal history in Japanese anime distribution and the recurring support for Japan Society, Japan America Society of Iowa, and the Japan Foundation. Soto Zen Buddhist organizations (Ryumonji Monastery, Des Moines Zen Center, Dōgen Institute) and general Des Moines-metro human-services nonprofits (Food Bank of Iowa, DMARC, Hope Ministries, Youth Shelter Services) form a secondary, locally-rooted giving lane. Given the foundation's youth and small grant sizes, applicants should expect a first gift to be modest and treat it as the opening of a relationship rather than a one-time transaction.

Financial data shows a foundation that went from dormant shell to active funder in just a few years. From 2019-2021, total assets sat at $1 and total giving was $0 — the entity existed on paper only. In 2022, the foundation received a $4,581,828 contribution (nearly certainly tied to the Right Stuf/Crunchyroll sale proceeds), pushing total assets to $4,581,865, but grantmaking had not yet ramped up: total giving that year was just $3,228 and grants_paid was $0. By fiscal year 2023, assets had grown to $5,149,611 on $602,992 in total revenue (almost entirely net investment income of $602,960), and the foundation distributed $38,887 in total giving, of which $21,044 was booked as grants paid — the gap likely reflects program-related or in-kind support alongside cash grants. Third-party 990 aggregators tracking the most recent available filing (2024) report 12 individual grants totaling roughly $44,000, with awards ranging from about $25 to $18,737 — a median well under $5,000. Current asset_amount in our database stands at $5,241,544 against income of $2,958,823, suggesting continued portfolio growth. By program area, based on the foundation's own Featured Grants page, Japan-American Cultural Exchange is the largest bucket by number of grantees (5 organizations: Japan Society, Japan America Society of Iowa, an AnimEigo anime-industry documentary, Global Stage Hollywood film festival, and the Japan Foundation), followed by general Des Moines human-services relief (5 organizations: Central Iowa Shelter & Services, Hope Ministries of Iowa, Youth Shelter Services, DMARC, Food Bank of Iowa), Soto Zen practice and education (3 organizations: Des Moines Zen Center, Ryumonji, Dōgen Institute), Education (DMACC scholarships and the Japanese American National Museum), and Music (Peaceful Forest taiko ensemble). Geographically, giving concentrates in the foundation's home base of Iowa, with secondary flows to New York (Japan Society) and California (Japanese American National Museum, Global Stage Hollywood); a third-party aggregator additionally lists Texas among recipient states, though our data bundle could not confirm a specific Texas grantee.

Our data bundle pairs the Kleckner Foundation with five other small private foundations in the same $5.2-5.25M asset band, all classified under the Philanthropy & Grantmaking NTEE category — a size-matched cohort rather than a mission-matched one, since none of the listed peers share Kleckner's Japan-America or Zen focus.

Kleckner stands out within this asset-matched cohort as the only one with a publicly documented mission, board bios, and a live application process — four of five peers have no website on file at all, meaning Kleckner is comparatively far more accessible and transparent for a cold applicant. Because none of the peers publish giving totals, a true apples-to-apples payout comparison isn't possible from this data; applicants chasing this asset tier should treat Kleckner's transparency as the exception, not the norm, and prioritize it accordingly over less-discoverable same-size funders.

The most concrete recent signal is the foundation's association with the Global Stage Hollywood film festival at the TCL Chinese Theatre, listed on the foundation's own Featured Grants page as an active sponsorship supporting Japanese and international cinema — consistent with the founder's anime-industry background. Board composition appears stable and family-controlled: Shawne Kleckner (Managing Director, founder), Tomoko Kleckner (Director), and Amy Kleckner (Director/Treasurer) anchor the foundation, supported by outside advisors Ryan Chowdhury (Fifth Force Management), Jamie Boess (CPA, Meriwether, Wilson and Company), and Gary S. Moriwaki (legal advisor, also on the U.S.-Japan Council and Japan Society boards) — no leadership changes were found in web research. Third-party 990 trackers show the foundation's most recently summarized filing (tax year 2024) recorded 12 grants totaling approximately $44,000, up modestly from $38,887 in total giving in FY2023 and just $3,228 in FY2022 — a steady, if small, year-over-year increase in grantmaking activity as the endowment (funded by a $4.58M contribution in 2022) matures. No major new program launches, executive changes, or large single-grant announcements were found in press searches; the foundation maintains a low public profile outside its own website and standard nonprofit-database listings. Its clearest current-year footprint is the concept-note-based Grant Guidelines page now live on klecknerfoundation.com/grants, which represents the foundation's most visible recent step toward formalizing (and publicizing) how outside organizations can seek funding, a shift from the fully closed posture reflected in older IRS-derived database records.

Use the website's Contact form and select 'Grant Information and application' as the subject — this is the documented entry point, since no direct grants-staff email or phone line for applications is published (the foundation's general phone on file is (515) 986-1028, addressed to '% Shawne Kleckner'). Submit a Concept Note first: the foundation's guidelines explicitly use a two-stage model, and only concepts that align with funding priorities are invited to submit a full proposal with budget, timeline, and outcome measures — do not send a full proposal cold. Given median grants under $5,000 and a top end around $18,737 in the most recent reported year, right-size the ask; a request for general operating support in the low-to-mid four figures, or sponsorship of a specific event/production/scholarship cohort, fits the pattern far better than a five- or six-figure program grant. Lead with alignment language tied to the foundation's actual thematic pillars — 'Japan-America cultural exchange,' 'mutual understanding between Japan and the U.S.,' STEM scholarship/exchange, Soto Zen practice and education, or (for local Iowa nonprofits) direct human-services relief — since the site's own copy repeatedly uses phrases like 'bridging the two cultures' and 'depth of experience and understanding.' Expect a 30-60 day review window per the foundation's stated timeline, and know that a non-response or deferral is explicitly framed by the foundation as 'held for future consideration' rather than a hard rejection, so a polite follow-up in a subsequent cycle is appropriate rather than presumptuous. The single biggest common mistake for a funder this size and this young is treating it like a large institutional grantmaker — with only 12 grants and roughly $44K distributed in the most recent year, competition for each dollar is real but the total pool is small, so tightly-scoped, low-dollar, high-relationship asks (sponsorship, named scholarship support, translation/production credit) will outperform ambitious multi-year proposals. Building a real relationship matters here: Tomoko Kleckner is personally involved in grant approvals and partner relations, so a warm introduction through Japan America Society of Iowa, DMACC, or another existing grantee is a credible way in if your organization has any such connection.