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Bretmin Charitable Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Bretmin Charitable Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1k
Granted FY2025still arriving
1
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$1k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Arts & Culture$76kYouth Development$12kPhilanthropy$9kRecreation & Sports$8kEnvironment$5kEducation$4kHuman Services$2kHealth$1kOther$0
02FY2025 · 1 grant

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

$1,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$16k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
GND DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE$1,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

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

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 14%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%MN SPECIAL OLYMPICS: $500 → 11%MIDWEST GYMNASTICS BOOSTER CLUB: $100 → 14%ST MARY'S UNIVERSITY OF MN: $2k → 14%DULUTH PLAYHOUSE: $75k → 15%OCEAN RESEARCH CONSERVATION ASSN: $5k → 13%DARBY'S DANCERS: $500 → 11%ST MARY'S UNIVERSITY OF MN: $2k → 14%THE DEPOT FOUNDATION: $5k → 15%TREASURE COAST FOOD BANK: $1k → 13%THE DEPOT FOUNDATION: $2k → 15%THE DEPOT FOUNDATION: $1k → 15%GND DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE: $1k → 15%GND DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE: $1k → 15%THE DEPOT FOUNDATION: $840 → 15%BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE NORTHLAND: $10k → 15%GND DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE: $5k → 15%BEST CHRISTMAS EVER: $1k → 15%SALVATION ARMY: $500 → 15%FORBES UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: $350 → 15%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

17%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$20k · 3 repeat orgs$96k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +64% since the first grant, against +10% for those funded once.

3 repeat relationships: 1 still active in FY2025, 2 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

3
12

Total granted

$20k
$96k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+64%
+10%

Still filing today

67%
58%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24’25
Recreation & SportsArts & CultureEnvironmentFood & NutritionYouth DevelopmentOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). 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

  • TD
    THE DEPOT FOUNDATION
    4× · 2021–2024 · $9k · revenue -43%
  • GD
    GND DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE
    3× · 2020–2025 · $7k · revenue +64%
  • SM
    ST MARY'S UNIVERSITY OF MN
    2× · 2023–2024 · $4k

Funded once

  • DP
    DULUTH PLAYHOUSE INC
    one grant, 2022 · $75k · revenue -13%
  • BA
    BOYS AND GIRLS OF THE NORTHLAND
    one grant, 2020 · $10k
  • OR
    OCEAN RESEARCH & CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $5k · 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.

04Its field

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.

1
Greater Downtown Council

Promote safety and economic development in downtown duluth, mn.

—
2
Duluth Art Institute Assoc

Recognize, validate and support the creation of art in all forms and encourage participation and appreciation for arts in duluth, mn

Arts & Culture
3
Northwest Minnesota Arts Council

Support and enhance the development of the arts in northwestern minnesota. facilitate and encourage the creation and appreciation of the arts.

Arts & Culture
4
Duluth Cross Country Ski Club

Promote health through skiing

Recreation & Sports
5
Greater Grand Forks Youth Football Association

To provide support services for Youth Football Activities in the Great Grand Forks region

Recreation & Sports
6
North Dakota Natural Resources Trust
—
7
Owatonna Gymnastic Club Inc

Advancement of gymnastics

Recreation & Sports
8
Duluth Heritage Sports Center

The organizations's mission is to provide significant recreational opportunities to the citizens of duluth, mn. specifically the center's programs are directed to the youth of the city and the boys and girls club that utilizes a…

Recreation & Sports
9
Minnesota Sports and Events

To drive economic benefit and support meaningful community engagement in the bloomington, minneapolis and st. paul regional area by attracting and managing world class sporting events.

Community Improvement
10
St Cloud Downtown Alliance Foundation

Enhancing and strengthening our community and our regional core.

—
11
Medina Community Design Committee
Community Improvement
12
Muskegon Community Concert Assoc

Present community concerts to enhance arts and culture and provide educational experience regarding diverse offering of concerts

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Boys' Club of Duluth; the most unlike its peers is The Depot Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

9 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. 9 of the 15 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.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
3
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
5/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

DULUTH PLAYHOUSE INC: $75,000 · Arts & CultureDULUTH PLAYHOUSE INCBOYS AND GIRLS OF THE NORTHLAND: $10,000 · OtherBOYS AND GIRLS OF THE NORT…THE DEPOT FOUNDATION: $9,240 · OtherTHE DEPOT FOUNDATIONST MARY'S UNIVERSITY OF MN: $4,000 · OtherST MARY'S UNIVERSITY OF MNIndividual grant recipient: $1,000 · OtherBEST CHRISTMAS EVER INC: $1,000 · Other+4 more: $1,850 · Other+4 moreGND DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE: $7,000 · Recreation & Sports+1 more: $100 · Recreation & SportsOCEAN RESEARCH & CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $4,500 · EnvironmentBOYS' CLUB OF DULUTH: $1,500 · Youth DevelopmentTREASURE COAST FOOD BANK INC: $1,000 · Food & Nutrition
Arts & Culture$75,000Other$27,090Recreation & Sports$7,100Environment$4,500Youth Development$1,500Food & Nutrition$1,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetDULUTH PLAYHOUSE INC: $75,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetTHE DEPOT FOUNDATION: $9,240 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetGND DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE: $7,000 over 3y, 3.2% of budgetOCEAN RESEARCH & CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION INC: $4,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBOYS' CLUB OF DULUTH: $1,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBEST CHRISTMAS EVER INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTREASURE COAST FOOD BANK INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMIDWEST GYMNASTICS BOOSTER CLUB: $100 over 1y, 0.1% of budget
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.

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.

Ordean FoundationAmerican Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Ordean FoundationMN13.6× affinity4 shared granteesties to 4 of 4Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Ordean Foundation · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · Amazonsmile Foundation

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Bretmin Charitable Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Bretmin Charitable Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Treasure Coast Food Bank Inc: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
0get no government money at all
2report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
typical government reliance, FY20–25
How this is measured
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 a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than 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 to 24 months.
05Through Plinth

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to Bretmin Charitable Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Bretmin Charitable 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.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 15 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its 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.

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

Source object · view filing

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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