· Private foundation
Avocet Foundation
Its FY2024 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k3 grants · $19k
- $10k–50k12 grants · $209k
- $50k–250k1 grant · $63k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| ST CROIX VALLEY FOUNDATION | $63,000 |
| MICROGRANTS | $32,000 |
| GLOBAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN | $30,000 |
| YOUTH FRONTIERS INC | $28,000 |
| FAIRVOTE MINNESOTA FOUNDATION | $20,000 |
| BREAKTHROUGH TWIN CITIES | $17,000 |
| BELWIN CONSERVANCY | $17,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $15,000 |
| ST CROIX VALLEY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY | $10,000 |
| CONSTELLATION FUND | $10,000 |
| MAREN FUND | $10,000 |
| GREAT PLAINS INSTITUTE | $10,000 |
| PLANNED PARENTHOOD | $10,000 |
| APPLE TREE DENTAL | $9,000 |
| COMPASSION AND CHOICES | $5,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $397k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 23% of Avocet Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 71% of the giving stays in MN; by stated purpose, 68%.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +83% since the first grant, against +3% for those funded once.
18 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2024, 4 since wound down; 1 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- FMFairVote Minnesota Foundation6× · 2017–2024 · $105k · revenue +28%
- MFMAREN FUND INC8× · 2017–2024 · $75k · revenue +114%
- ATAPPLE TREE DENTAL8× · 2017–2024 · $73k · revenue +88%
Funded once
- FWFRED WELLS TENNIS & EDUCATIONone grant, 2020 · $25k
- IIINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MINNESOTAone grant, 2021 · $24k · revenue +3%
- PFPROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING INCgraduatedone grant, 2017 · $10k · revenue +56%
How this is measured
Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.
Closest unfunded matches
The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.
MCF is a vibrant philanthropic community connecting, strengthening and mobilizing the power of philanthropy to advance prosperity and equity.
Creating powerful advocacy to enhance economic vitality in the minneapolis-st. paul region.
The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits informs, promotes, connects and strengthens individual nonprofits and the nonprofit sector.
Grow businesses, build wealth and increase reinvestement in the african communities of minnesota
The minnesota chamber of commerce proactively leads the business community statewide to: advance pro-business, responsible minnesota public policy that creates jobs and grows the econony; provde member services to address evolving business…
The minnesota business partnership's mission is to maintain a high quality of life for all minnesotans by ensuring that the state's economy remains strong, globally competitive and its prospects for growth bright by working with elected…
Mn350 unites minnesotans with the global movement to end the pollution damaging our climate, speed the transition to clean energy, and create a just and healthy future for all.
MinnPost produces independent journalism to serve as a trusted guide for Minnesotans exploring the critical issues, challenges and opportunities facing our state.
United way of northeastern minnesota invests in nonprofits, programs, and collaborations that equip and empower, creating opportunities for people to thrive in our communities.
The minnesota land trust protects and restores minnesota's most vital natural lands in order to provide wildlife habitat, clean water, outdoor experiences and scenic beauty for generations to come.
Enhancing and strengthening our community and our regional core.
Empowering people of all abilities to reach their full potential. we provide individualized services that maximize independence, boosts community engagement and improves physical and emotional well-being.
How this is measured
20 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.
Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.
How this is measured
Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 20 of the 27 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.
Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding
A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.
- Who funds ST CROIX VALLEY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds YOUTH FRONTIERS INC ↗
- Who funds GLOBAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN ↗
- Who funds MICROGRANTS ↗
- Who funds FairVote Minnesota Foundation ↗
- Who funds GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGE ↗
- Who funds MAREN FUND INC ↗
- Who funds APPLE TREE DENTAL ↗
- Who funds Breakthrough Twin Cities ↗
- Who funds GREAT PLAINS INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INC ↗
- Who funds BELWIN CONSERVANCY ↗
- Who funds ST CROIX VALLEY HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INC ↗
- Who funds WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC ↗
- Who funds The Constellation Fund ↗
- Who funds INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MINNESOTA ↗
- Who funds NEW VENTURE FUND ↗
- Who funds LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE OF MINNESOTA ↗
- Who funds PROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING INC ↗
- Who funds Lake Street Council ↗
- Who funds COMPASSION & CHOICES ↗
Co-funders
Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.
Open a dossier: The Minneapolis Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · Smikis Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · The Richard M Schulze Family Foundation · The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota · Hugh J Andersen Foundation · Hardenbergh Foundation · Mortenson Family Foundation · Fred C and Katherine B Andersen Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Avocet Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Avocet Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Avocet Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Avocet Foundation through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.
Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.
Play a game based on Avocet’s filings →