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Plinth

· Public charity

Arrowhead Regional Arts Council

The ARROWHEAD REGIONAL ARTS COUNCIL's mission is to facilitate and encourage local arts development.

$668k
Granted FY2025still arriving
14
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$20k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
0199% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.

Arts & Culture$1.5MCommunity Improvement$40kEducation$24kHuman Services$20kHousing & Shelter$17kEmployment$9kOther$0
02FY2025 · 14 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 14 grants below total $215,000 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $668,469 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $453,469 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k1 grant · $6k
  • $10k–50k13 grants · $209k
$20,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$407k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ITASCA ORCHESTRA AND STRING PROGRAM$20,000
NORDIC CENTER$20,000
MATINEE MUSICALE$20,000
BOREALIS CHAMBER ARTISTS$20,000
ELY FOLK SCHOOL$20,000
NORTHERN LAKES ARTS ASSOCIATION$20,000
THIRD COAST CHAMBER COLLECTIVE$20,000
ARMORY ARTS AND MUSIC CENTER$15,000
LAKE SUPERIOR WRITERS$13,000
COUNTY SEAT THEATER OF CARLTON$11,360
SPIRIT OF THE LAKE COMMUNITY ART$10,000
MESABI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA$10,000
DULUTH CHILDREN'S MUSEUM$10,000
TWIN PORTS WIND ENSEMBLE$5,640
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY25–25, $20k) land where the poverty rate runs at 15%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%NORDIC CENTER: $20k → 15%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$1.4M · 30 repeat orgs$221k to everyone else

30 repeat relationships — 9 still active in FY2025, 21 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

30
16

Total granted

$1.4M
$148k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+9%
+32%

Still filing today

67%
50%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 66% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $73k went to new ones.

50%100%’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHousing & ShelterHuman ServicesOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.” Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • IO
    ITASCA ORCHESTRA & STRINGS PROGRAM
    6× · 2020–2025 · $129k · revenue +211%
  • EF
    Ely Folk School
    5× · 2020–2025 · $69k · revenue +296%
  • NS
    NORTH SHORE MUSIC ASSOCIAITON
    5× · 2018–2022 · $69k · revenue +173%

Funded once

  • DA
    DULUTH ART INSTITUTE ASSOCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $15k · revenue +39%
  • NF
    NORTHWOODS FRIENDS OF THE ARTSgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $14k · revenue +32% · 45% of their budget
  • AC
    AITKIN COUNTY FRIENDS OF THE ARTSgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $13k · revenue +59%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Lake Benton Opera House Inc

The Lake Benton Opera House, one of the premiere historic buildings in southwest Minnesota. Home to an active community theatre, the Opera House has begun its second century in our community.

Arts & Culture
2
Music St Croix

Music Saint Croix creates artistically excellent performances with exciting and unusual programming for the enjoyment of St. Croix Valley audiences.

Arts & Culture
3
Three Lakes Center for the Arts in the Northwoods Inc

To promote the arts to educate, entertain, and enlighten in northern WI.

Arts & Culture
4
Meadowlark Arts Council Inc

Support of the arts

Arts & Culture
5
Lucius Woods Performing Arts Center Inc

Promote performing arts in the lake superior region

Arts & Culture
6
Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra

Classical music performance and education

—
7
Sioux City Community Theater

Promotion of and presentation of dramatic arts

Arts & Culture
8
Cal Center Presents

Arts presenter serving the greater Reedsburg area.

Arts & Culture
9
Jazz Central Studios

Jazz Central Studios is dedicated to preserving the innovative jazz arts in the Twin Cities. We present live music to the community in a non-commercial listening environment and encourage collaboration and education among musicians of wide…

Arts & Culture
10
Dakota Center for the Arts

The Dakota Center for the Arts is an Eagan community-based organization whose purpose is to develop, promote & encourage participation in & appreciation of the arts.

Arts & Culture
11
Northern Lights Music Festival

Great music, theatre and opera on the iron range in historic aurora, minnesota.

Arts & Culture
12
Pipestone Performing Arts Center

Provide a theatre of live music and events!

Arts & Culture

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Elys Historic State Theater and the most unlike its peers is Itasca Life Options. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

For each theme you fund, this compares how the sector’s money is shifting with how your own giving is shifting.

← shrinkinggrowing →↓ leaning in → pulling backsteadyRegional Economic Developme…Regional Arts CentersIntegrated Health SystemsNorthern Minnesota Grantmak…Youth Sports ProgramsRecreational Clubs and Faci…Regional Tourism & Heritage…
the sector your giving your giving is ahead of the sector the sector’s ahead of you· dot size = how much the theme matters to each side
Ordered by the change in your giving — leaning in on top, pulling back at the bottom. The bar between the two dots is how out of step you are with the sector. Hover any row for detail.

Sector change and giving change are each shown relative to their own range, growing (right) or shrinking (left); both normalized, so inflation isn’t mistaken for growth.

Your grantees are a median of 27 years old; the field is 26. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number16%7%<5yr10%11%5–10yr18%20%10–20yr15%30%20–35yr18%15%35–55yr23%17%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value16%6%<5yr10%11%5–10yr18%14%10–20yr15%36%20–35yr18%23%35–55yr23%10%55yr+

The field is 16% startups (under 5 years old) — 7% of your grantees by number, and just 6% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 4% lost their exemption, against 7% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
4%2/51
the rest of the field
7%
153/2,103

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

34 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 34 of the 51 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
31/34
Grantees still filing
21/34
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

ITASCA ORCHESTRA & STRINGS PROGRAM — $129,179 · OtherITASCA ORCHESTRA & STRINGS PROGRAMMesabi Community Orchestra — $127,673 · OtherMesabi Community OrchestraOLDENBURG ARTS AND CULTURAL COMMUNITY — $78,030 · OtherOLDENBURG ARTS AND CULTURAL COMMUNITYNORTH SHORE MUSIC ASSOCIAITON — $68,641 · OtherNORTH SHORE MUSIC ASSOCIAITONGOOD HARBOR HILL PLAYERS — $50,000 · OtherGOOD HARBOR HILL PLAYERSThe Matinee Musicale Inc — $48,070 · OtherThe Matinee Musicale IncEDGE OF THE WILDERNESS COMMUNITY CENTER — $43,682 · OtherPROVE COLLECTIVE — $41,200 · OtherTHIRD COAST CHAMBER COLLECTIVE INC — $40,000 · OtherELY WINTER FESTIVAL — $36,456 · OtherNORTH SHORE MUSIC ASSOCIATION — $36,402 · Other+15 more — $178,363 · Other+15 moreEly Folk School — $69,093 · Arts & CultureEly Folk SchoolCOUNTY SEAT THEATER OF CARLTON — $60,907 · Arts & CultureCOUNTY SEAT THEATER OF CARLTONGrand Marais Playhouse Inc — $60,088 · Arts & CultureGrand Marais Playhouse IncTOFTE LAKE CENTER INC — $48,307 · Arts & CultureTOFTE LAKE CENTER INCNORTHERN LAKES ARTS ASSOCIATION — $47,350 · Arts & CultureNORTHERN LAKES ARTS ASSOCIATIONARMORY ARTS AND MUSIC CENTER — $44,145 · Arts & CultureARMORY ARTS AND MUSIC CENTERNORTHERN FILM ALLIANCE — $43,361 · Arts & CultureNORTHERN FILM ALLIANCELYRIC OPERA OF THE NORTH — $42,225 · Arts & CultureLYRIC OPERA OF THE NORTHGRAND RAPIDS PLAYERS INC — $37,500 · Arts & CultureGRAND RAPIDS PLAYERS INCLAURENTIAN ARTS AND CULTURE ALLIANCE — $37,308 · Arts & CultureLAURENTIAN ARTS AND CULTURE ALLIANCECITIZENS FOR BACKUS AB Inc — $36,730 · Arts & CultureCITIZENS FOR BACKUS AB IncELYS HISTORIC STATE THEATER — $34,678 · Arts & CultureZEITGEIST CENTER FOR ARTS AND COMMUNITY — $27,185 · Arts & Culture+7 more — $76,437 · Arts & Culture+7 moreCOLLEGE OF ST SCHOLASTICA INC — $22,580 · EducationSPIRIT OF THE LAKE COMMUNITY ARTS — $10,000 · EducationDULUTH FOLK SCHOOL — $8,000 · EducationItasca Life Options — $20,000 · Human ServicesAMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY HOUSING ORGANIZATION — $17,190 · Housing & Shelter
Other$877,696Arts & Culture$665,314Education$40,580Human Services$20,000Housing & Shelter$17,190

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetITASCA ORCHESTRA & STRINGS PROGRAM — $129,179 over 6y, 18% of budgetMesabi Community Orchestra — $127,673 over 8y, 24% of budgetEly Folk School — $69,093 over 5y, 15% of budgetNORTH SHORE MUSIC ASSOCIAITON — $68,641 over 5y, 15% of budgetCOUNTY SEAT THEATER OF CARLTON — $60,907 over 5y, 14% of budgetGrand Marais Playhouse Inc — $60,088 over 6y, 8.0% of budgetTOFTE LAKE CENTER INC — $48,307 over 5y, 5.0% of budgetThe Matinee Musicale Inc — $48,070 over 4y, 17% of budgetNORTHERN LAKES ARTS ASSOCIATION — $47,350 over 4y, 9.4% of budgetARMORY ARTS AND MUSIC CENTER — $44,145 over 5y, 5.6% of budgetEDGE OF THE WILDERNESS COMMUNITY CENTER — $43,682 over 5y, 25% of budgetNORTHERN FILM ALLIANCE — $43,361 over 4y, 24% of budgetLYRIC OPERA OF THE NORTH — $42,225 over 3y, 8.6% of budgetGRAND RAPIDS PLAYERS INC — $37,500 over 3y, 21% of budgetLAURENTIAN ARTS AND CULTURE ALLIANCE — $37,308 over 3y, 18% of budgetCITIZENS FOR BACKUS AB Inc — $36,730 over 3y, 2.4% of budgetELYS HISTORIC STATE THEATER — $34,678 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetZEITGEIST CENTER FOR ARTS AND COMMUNITY — $27,185 over 3y, 0.6% of budgetCOLLEGE OF ST SCHOLASTICA INC — $22,580 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetLAKE SUPERIOR YOUTH CHORUS INC — $19,527 over 2y, 5.8% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY HOUSING ORGANIZATION — $17,190 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetDULUTH ART INSTITUTE ASSOC — $15,000 over 1y, 3.3% of budgetNORTHWOODS FRIENDS OF THE ARTS — $13,590 over 1y, 45% of budgetAITKIN COUNTY FRIENDS OF THE ARTS — $12,500 over 1y, 8.0% of budgetSPIRIT OF THE LAKE COMMUNITY ARTS — $10,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetVETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS POST 1720 — $10,000 over 1y, 6.5% of budgetDULUTH CHILDREN'S MUSEUM INC — $10,000 over 1y, 1.6% of budgetHISTORIC UNION DEPOT CORP — $8,500 over 1y, 3.9% of budgetDULUTH FOLK SCHOOL — $8,000 over 1y, 10% of budgetDULUTH SUPERIOR SYMPHONY ASSOCIATIO — $6,527 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetCOOK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY — $6,043 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetLAKE SUPERIOR RAILROAD MUSUEM — $5,750 over 1y, 0.4% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Lloyd K Johnson Found…Duluth-Superior Area …Pachel FoundationNorthland FoundationC K Blandin FoundationThe Depot FoundationMinnesota Historical …Saint Paul & Minnesot…Mightycause Charitabl…Ordean FoundationSmdc Medical CenterMinnesota Power Found…
Lloyd K Johnson FoundationMN46.8× affinity20 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Lloyd K Johnson Foundation · Duluth-Superior Area Community Foundation · Pachel Foundation · Northland Foundation · C K Blandin Foundation · The Depot Foundation · Minnesota Historical Society · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Ordean Foundation · Smdc Medical Center · Minnesota Power Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Arrowhead Regional Arts Council funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%2%8%17%30%your share of their income ↑0%4%8%11%15%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–15%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25

    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending — grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 51 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home