Minnesota · Private foundation
Bentson Foundation
Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.
- $14M
- Granted FY2025(still arriving)
- 37
- Grants FY2025
- 42
- Organizations funded FY2024
- 40%
- First-time grantees FY2024
- Median grant, FY2025
- $50,000
- Largest grant, FY2025
- $7,097,369
- Organizations funded a year
- 42 to 74
- FY2018 to FY2024
- States reached, FY2025
- 8
- Total assets, FY2025
- $106M
- Applications
- Takes unsolicited applications
- Per its most recent filing; check its own site
How open it is to new grantees
In FY2024, 40% of the organizations Bentson Foundation funded were first-time grantees, receiving 62% of its grant dollars.
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 38% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $4.6M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
The numbers by year
| Fiscal year | Organizations funded | To those organizations | First-time grantees |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025still arriving | 37 | $14M | 46% |
| FY2024 | 42 | $7.4M | 40% |
| FY2023 | 48 | $4.5M | 46% |
| FY2022 | 56 | $7.2M | 34% |
| FY2021 | 55 | $7.4M | 24% |
| FY2020 | 74 | $5.3M | 51% |
| FY2019 | 54 | $3.9M | 56% |
| FY2018 | 47 | $2.7M | 45% |
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.
Where its grants go
Grant dollars by states, across the years we hold.
Which US states its grants reach
Top grantees
Largest recipients by total granted, FY2017 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.
| Grantee | Total granted | Years | Share of their budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Minnesota Foundation | $10,405,869 | 8 | 1% |
| Allina Health System | $2,500,000 | 1 | 0% |
| Second Harvest Heartland | $1,805,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Prodeo Academy Charter School #4213 | $1,270,000 | 9 | 2% |
| Walker Art Center | $986,100 | 6 | 2% |
| People Incorporated | $800,000 | 3 | 0% |
| Hope Academy Inc | $744,000 | 6 | 2% |
| University of Wisconsin Foundation | $695,000 | 6 | 0% |
| Augustana University Association | $605,000 | 8 | 0% |
| Washburn Center for Children | $475,000 | 5 | 1% |
Show all 126 grantees
What it could do for these grantees
Plus 90 recipients with no EIN on record ($28M), not named here.
Where it is load-bearing
Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget Bentson Foundation supplied at peak.
Tap a dot to name the grantee.
How this is measured
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: Otto Bremer Trust · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The Minneapolis Foundation · The Richard M Schulze Family Foundation · Pohlad Family Foundation · Fr Bigelow Foundation · The Walser Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Greater Twin Cities United Way · The Sauer Family Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Medica Foundation
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Bentson Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Bentson 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.
About Bentson Foundation
- How much does Bentson Foundation give?
- Bentson Foundation reported 37 grants totaling $13,507,369 in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 42 and 74 organizations a year over FY2018 to FY2024.
- What does Bentson Foundation fund?
- By grant dollars over FY2017 to FY2025, its largest causes are Education (45%), Health (38%), Arts & Culture (4%).
- Who are Bentson Foundation's largest grantees?
- By total granted over FY2017 to FY2025: University of Minnesota Foundation ($10M), Allina Health System ($2.5M), Second Harvest Heartland ($1.8M).
- Does Bentson Foundation fund new organizations?
- In FY2024, 40% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
- Does Bentson Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
- Its most recent filing reports that it accepts unsolicited grant applications.
- Which funders back the same organizations as Bentson Foundation?
- Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Otto Bremer Trust, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation.
- Where is Bentson Foundation based?
- Bentson Foundation is based in MN.
Play a game based on Bentson’s filings →