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Charlson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Charlson Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$560k
Granted FY2025still arriving
19
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$65k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0194% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Health$549kYouth Development$445kHuman Services$343kHousing & Shelter$310kFood & Nutrition$250kCrime & Legal$235kEducation$200kPublic Safety & Disaster$200kOther$0
02FY2025 · 19 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k17 grants · $445k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $115k
$30,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$6.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Oasis for Youth$65,000
Cornerstone$50,000
Immigrant Law Center of MN$45,000
HealthFinders Collaborative Inc$45,000
True Friends$40,000
Chum$35,000
Normandale Community College Founda$35,000
Young Hearts Open Minds$35,000
Individual grant recipient$30,000
VEAP$30,000
The Lift Garage$25,000
Park Nicollet Foundation$25,000
Onward Eden Prairie$20,000
Open Arms of Minnesota$20,000
Community Action Center$15,000
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:

Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $428k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, 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.

area typical 7%Ampersand Families: $30k → 14%Ampersand Families: $20k → 14%Community Action Center: $15k → 11%Ampersand Families: $5k → 14%Family Values for Life: $20k → 14%Family Values for Life: $20k → 14%Family Values for Life: $10k → 14%Lutheran Social Services: $20k → 14%Lutheran Social Services: $20k → 14%Ujamaa Place: $5k → 14%Ampersand Families: $38k → 14%Project for Pride in Living: $30k → 11%Project for Pride in Living: $30k → 11%Open Arms of Minnesota: $20k → 11%The Link: $30k → 11%The Link: $25k → 11%Cornerstone Advocacy Service: $30k → 11%Cornerstone Advocacy Service: $30k → 11%YouthLink: $25k → 11%YouthLink: $5k → 11%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.

76%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.4M · 32 repeat orgs$768k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +58% since the first grant, against +28% for those funded once.

32 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 18 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

32
21

Total granted

$2.4M
$653k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+58%
+28%

Still filing today

84%
62%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 79% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $115k went to new ones.

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

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

’20’21’22’23’24’25
Human ServicesHealthYouth DevelopmentEducationFood & NutritionInternationalOther
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

  • OF
    OASIS FOR YOUTH
    6× · 2020–2025 · $180k · revenue +58%
  • C
    CORNERSTONE
    4× · 2022–2025 · $140k · revenue +120%
  • TL
    The Lift Garage
    6× · 2020–2025 · $135k · revenue +95%

Funded once

  • SP
    St Paul Minnesota Fdn
    one grant, 2020 · $250k
  • RE
    Rise Early Learning Centergraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $75k · revenue +583% · 35% of their budget
  • AH
    AGATE HOUSING & SERVICES INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $40k · 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
Minnesota Business Partnership

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…

—
2
Touchstone Mental Health

Touchstone mental health provides innovative, person-centered services that foster hope, health and well-being. we envision a world where all people whose lives are affected by mental illness will flourish with effective treatment, quality…

Human Services
3
Mn Community Measurement

Mn community measurement empowers stakeholders with meaningful information to drive improvement.

Health
4
Avivo

Avivo increases well-being through recovery and career advancement while working to end homelessness.

Human Services
5
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and Industry

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…

—
6
Cornerhouse

The mission of cornerhouse is to partner with families, communities, and systems - entrusted with the safety of children, youth and vulnerable adults - to reduce trauma and end abuse.

Crime & Legal
7
Minnesota Council on Foundations

MCF is a vibrant philanthropic community connecting, strengthening and mobilizing the power of philanthropy to advance prosperity and equity.

—
8
Central Minnesota Jobs and Training Services Inc

Strengthen central mn communities through leadership in workforce excellence.

—
9
Minnesota Voice

Minnesota Voice is a collaboration of organizations working toward permanent change in social, racial, and economic justice by increasing civic engagement and voter participation across the state.

Public Benefit
10
Lifeworks Services Inc

Lifeworks' mission is to partner with people with disabilities to drive change by increasing opportunity and access in the community.

Human Services
11
United Way of Ne Minnesota

United way of northeastern minnesota invests in nonprofits, programs, and collaborations that equip and empower, creating opportunities for people to thrive in our communities.

—
12
Minnesota Medical Association

To be the leading voice of medicine to make minnesota the healthiest state and the best place to practice.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Charities Review Council; the most unlike its peers is Cornerstone. 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

43 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. 43 of the 58 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
14
Early backer (in before they grew)
42/43
Grantees still filing
32/43
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

St Paul Minnesota Fdn: $250,000 · OtherSt Paul Minnesota FdnOASIS FOR YOUTH: $180,000 · OtherOASIS FOR YOUTHVEAP Inc: $170,000 · OtherVEAP IncIMMIGRANT LAW CENTER OF MINNESOTA INC: $135,000 · OtherIMMIGRANT LAW CENTER OF MINNESOTA INCSTEP: $105,000 · OtherSTEPNormandale Community College Foundation Inc: $85,000 · OtherPARK NICOLLET FOUNDATION: $75,000 · OtherRise Early Learning Center: $75,000 · OtherCOMMONBOND COMMUNITIES: $75,000 · OtherCatholic Charities - St PaulMpls: $65,000 · Other+27 more: $604,000 · Other+27 moreVAIL PLACE: $135,000 · HealthVAIL PLACEHealthFinders Collaborative Inc: $130,000 · HealthHealthFinders C…Washburn Center for Children: $115,000 · HealthWashburn Center…GILDA'S CLUB TWIN CITIES INC: $35,000 · HealthGILDA'S CLUB TW…+2 more: $22,500 · HealthAMPERSAND FAMILIES: $93,000 · Human ServicesAMPERSAND FAMIL…Cornerstone Advocacy Service: $60,000 · Human ServicesCornerstone Adv…PROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING INC: $60,000 · Human ServicesPROJECT FOR PRI…THE LINK: $55,000 · Human ServicesTHE LINKFAMILY VALUES FOR LIFE: $50,000 · Human ServicesFAMILY VALUES F…LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE OF MINNESOTA: $40,000 · Human ServicesLUTHERAN SOCIAL…YOUTHLINK: $30,000 · Human ServicesYOUTHLINKOPEN ARMS OF MINNESOTA: $20,000 · Human ServicesCOMMUNITY ACTION CENTER INC: $15,000 · Human Services+1 more: $5,000 · Human ServicesCORNERSTONE: $140,000 · Youth DevelopmentAVENUES FOR YOUTH: $60,000 · Youth DevelopmentThe Lift Garage: $135,217 · EmploymentTRUE FRIENDS: $105,000 · Recreation & SportsBEFORE RACISM: $54,000 · Civil Rights
Other$1,819,000Health$437,500Human Services$428,000Youth Development$200,000Employment$135,217Recreation & Sports$105,000Civil Rights$54,000

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

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetOASIS FOR YOUTH: $180,000 over 6y, 2.7% of budgetVEAP Inc: $170,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetCORNERSTONE: $140,000 over 4y, 20% of budgetThe Lift Garage: $135,217 over 6y, 1.8% of budgetVAIL PLACE: $135,000 over 5y, 0.5% of budgetIMMIGRANT LAW CENTER OF MINNESOTA INC: $135,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetHealthFinders Collaborative Inc: $130,000 over 4y, 1.5% of budgetWashburn Center for Children: $115,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTRUE FRIENDS: $105,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetAMPERSAND FAMILIES: $93,000 over 3y, 1.9% of budgetNormandale Community College Foundation Inc: $85,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetPARK NICOLLET FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetRise Early Learning Center: $75,000 over 1y, 35% of budgetCOMMONBOND COMMUNITIES: $75,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCHURCHES UNITED IN MINISTRY: $60,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetCornerstone Advocacy Service: $60,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetPROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING INC: $60,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetAVENUES FOR YOUTH: $60,000 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetTHE LINK: $55,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetBEFORE RACISM: $54,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetFAMILY VALUES FOR LIFE: $50,000 over 3y, 4.2% of budgetOnward Eden Prairie: $45,000 over 4y, 6.7% of budgetAGATE HOUSING & SERVICES INC: $40,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE OF MINNESOTA: $40,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetGILDA'S CLUB TWIN CITIES INC: $35,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budgetYOUTHLINK: $30,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetMINNESOTA ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION: $30,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetDUNWOODY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY: $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS: $25,000 over 4y, 5.7% of budgetPEOPLE INCORPORATED: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetWILDERNESS INQUIRY INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetSECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND: $20,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOPEN ARMS OF MINNESOTA: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOURAGE KENNY FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCHARITIES REVIEW COUNCIL: $15,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetCASA OF THE NINTH: $15,000 over 1y, 4.9% of budgetMETRO MEALS ON WHEELS INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetCOMMUNITY ACTION CENTER INC: $15,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMETAVIVOR RESEARCH AND SUPPORT INC: $12,500 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetN C LITTLE MEMORIAL HOSPICE INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetWALLIN EDUCATION PARTNERS: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetONEVILLAGE PARTNERS: $6,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetUJAMAA PLACE: $5,000 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.

The Minneapolis Found…Otto Bremer TrustThe Richard M Schulze…Saint Paul & Minnesot…Mightycause Charitabl…Xcel Energy FoundationGreater Twin Cities U…Mardag FoundationPohlad Family Foundat…Wca FoundationHardenbergh FoundationEdina Realty Foundati…
The Minneapolis FoundationMN43.7× affinity22 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Minneapolis Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust · The Richard M Schulze Family Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Greater Twin Cities United Way · Mardag Foundation · Pohlad Family Foundation · Wca Foundation · Hardenbergh Foundation · Edina Realty 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 Charlson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Charlson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    13report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 Charlson Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Charlson 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 58 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

    Play a game based on Charlson’s filings →

    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