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Constance Mayeron Cowles & Charles Fuller Cowles Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Private foundation

Constance Mayeron Cowles & Charles Fuller Cowles 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.

$27k
Granted FY2025still arriving
20
Grants FY2025still arriving
4
States reached
$10k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% 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$126kInternational$90kEnvironment$15kHealth$14kEducation$4kCrime & Legal$4kFood & Nutrition$3kAnimals$3kOther$0
02FY2025 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k19 grants · $17k
  • $10k–50k1 grant · $10k
$500
Median grant
4
States reached
$419k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MILL REEF FUND$10,000
WALKER ART CENTER$2,500
MILL REEF FUND$2,500
MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO$2,500
PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MNNDSD$2,500
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC$1,000
FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK$1,000
WALKER ART CENTER$750
UNIVERSITY OF MN FOUNDATION - WEISMAN ART MUSEUM$500
STEAMBOAT ADAPTIVE RECREATIONAL SPORTS (STARS)$500
MINNESOTA ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION$500
CHISAGO LAKES AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION$500
STRINGS MUSIC FESTIVAL$500
MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ART$250
MINNPOST$250
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 9%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 53% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Its grants spread fairly evenly across need levels.

area typical 11%GLENDALOUGH PARK PARTNERS: $2k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF MN - WEISMAN ART MUSEUM: $7k → 11%SECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND: $2k → 14%ELKHORN MARINE CONSERVANCY: $1k → 14%AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $1k → 17%WILD RIVERS CONSERVANCY: $2k → 9%LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: $3k → 12%GLENDALOUGH PARK PARTNERS: $2k → 9%UNIVERSITY OF MN - WEISMAN ART MUSEUM: $7k → 11%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MNNDSD: $3k → 14%ELKHORN MARINE CONSERVANCY: $1k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF MN - WEISMAN ART MUSEUM: $6k → 11%THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $1k → 14%UNIVERSITY OF MN - WEISMAN ART MUSEUM: $1k → 11%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MNNDSD: $1k → 14%ST CROIX FESTIVAL THEATRE: $5k → 9%FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK: $25k → 5%UNIVERSITY OF MN - WEISMAN ART MUSEUM: $1k → 11%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MNNDSD: $1k → 14%WILD RIVERS CONSERVANCY: $3k → 9%FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK: $25k → 5%UNIVERSITY OF MN - WEISMAN ART MUSEUM: $1k → 11%St Croix River Association: $1k → 9%FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK: $3k → 5%St Croix River Association: $1k → 9%FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK: $3k → 5%St Croix River Association: $1k → 9%FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK: $1k → 5%St Croix River Association: $1k → 9%FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK: $1k → 5%FD13 Residency For The Arts: $1k → 11%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MNNDSD: $2k → 11%PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MNNDSD: $1k → 11%MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ART: $1k → 11%MINNESOTA MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $3k → 14%MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO: $3k → 14%NORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE: $1k → 11%NORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE: $1k → 11%NORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE: $1k → 11%AMERICAN CRAFT COUNCIL: $1k → 11%WALKER ART CENTER: $3k → 11%Walker Art Center: $1k → 11%Walker Art Center: $1k → 11%Walker Art Center: $1k → 11%THE COWLES CENTER FOR DANCE AND PERFORMING ARTS: $1k → 11%THE COWLES CENTER FOR DANCE AND PERFORMING ARTS: $1k → 11%Walker Art Center: $750 → 11%Walker Art Center: $750 → 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.

Which US states its grants reach

NH
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
NV
PA
CO
DC
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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$251k · 36 repeat orgs$18k to everyone else

36 repeat relationships: 13 still active in FY2025, 23 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
17

Total granted

$251k
$15k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+43%

Still filing today

69%
71%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 89% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $3k 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
Arts & CultureCivil RightsEnvironmentEducationPhilanthropyRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • MR
    MILL REEF FUND
    9× · 2017–2025 · $90k · revenue +9%
  • WA
    WALKER ART CENTER
    9× · 2017–2025 · $10k · revenue +87%
  • CC
    COMPASSION & CHOICES
    7× · 2017–2024 · $5k · revenue +169%

Funded once

  • SC
    ST CROIX FESTIVAL THEATRE
    one grant, 2024 · $5k
  • LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE
    one grant, 2022 · $3k · revenue +2%
  • AB
    ANIMAL BALANCEgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $2k · revenue +334%
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
Arts Midwest Incorporated

Arts Midwest works collaboratively with private and public arts supporters to support, inform, and celebrate arts organizations and creative communities across the Midwest. Our mission is to build unprecedented opportunity across the…

Arts & Culture
2
Minnesota Fringe Festival

Minnesota fringe connects adventurous artists with adventurous audiences by creating open, supportive forums for free and diverse artistic expression.

Arts & Culture
3
Minnetonka Center for the Arts

In the belief that the visual arts are indispensable to a healthy community, it is the mission of the minnetonka center for the arts to provide teaching excellence, quality exhibitions, and cultural enrichment for people of all ages,…

Arts & Culture
4
Plains Art Museum

The plains art museum brings people and art together. as a public institution we celebrate the finest of human achievement and inspire and engage diverse audiences in the creation, exhibition, collection, and preservation of art.

Arts & Culture
5
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
6
Minnesota Council on Foundations

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

—
7
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…

—
8
Museum of Arts and Design

To collect, display and interpret objects in craft art and design.

Arts & Culture
9
Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce

Creating powerful advocacy to enhance economic vitality in the minneapolis-st. paul region.

—
10
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art

To excite, engage and educate through the arts.

Arts & Culture
11
Phipps Center for the Arts Inc

The phipps center for the arts, propelled by our community-based arts council, serves as a welcoming and open home for the st. croix river valley region and beyond, empowering and cultivating lifelong artistic expression, participation and…

Arts & Culture
12
National Academy of Design

The mission of the national academy of design is to promote the fine arts in america through exhibition and education.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts Dba Minneapolis Institute of Arts; the most unlike its peers is Lewis & Clark College. 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

41 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. 41 of the 59 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)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
41/41
Grantees still filing
31/41
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK LEGEROS: $57,000 · Arts & CultureFRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK LEGEROSWALKER ART CENTER: $9,600 · Arts & CultureWALKER ART CENTERMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $4,350 · Arts & CultureMINNESOTA MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $3,300 · Arts & Culture+16 more: $16,500 · Arts & Culture+16 moreMILL REEF FUND: $89,500 · PhilanthropyMILL REEF FUND+1 more: $500 · PhilanthropyUNIVERSITY OF MN - WEISMAN ART MUSEUM: $22,250 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF MN - WEISMAN ART…PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MNNDSD: $9,000 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOOD OF MNNDSDWILD RIVERS CONSERVANCY: $5,000 · OtherWILD RIVERS CONSERVANCYST CROIX FESTIVAL THEATRE: $5,000 · OtherST CROIX FESTIVAL THEATRETHE COWLES CENTER FOR DANCE AND PERFORMING ARTS: $4,500 · OtherTHE COWLES CENTER FOR DANCE AN…Individual grant recipient: $3,000 · OtherTHE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $2,600 · OtherElkhorn Marine Conservancy Inc: $2,500 · OtherSECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND: $2,455 · Other+21 more: $15,180 · Other+21 moreCOMPASSION & CHOICES: $4,900 · Civil RightsAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 · Civil RightsWILD RIVERS CONSERVANCY OF THE ST CROIX & NAMEKAGON: $4,500 · EnvironmentNORTHEASTERN MINNESOTANS FOR WILDERNESS: $800 · EnvironmentNORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE: $3,500 · Crime & LegalLEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: $2,500 · EducationMINNEAPOLIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN: $200 · Education
Arts & Culture$90,750Philanthropy$90,000Other$71,485Civil Rights$5,900Environment$5,300Crime & Legal$3,500Education$2,700

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 budgetMILL REEF FUND: $89,500 over 9y, 2.2% of budgetFRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK LEGEROS: $57,000 over 6y, 5.2% of budgetWALKER ART CENTER: $9,600 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetCOMPASSION & CHOICES: $4,900 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetWILD RIVERS CONSERVANCY OF THE ST CROIX & NAMEKAGON: $4,500 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $4,350 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE: $3,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMINNESOTA MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $3,300 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMINNEAPOLIS SOCIETY OF FINE ARTS DBA MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS: $2,700 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetLEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE: $2,500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetElkhorn Marine Conservancy Inc: $2,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetSECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND: $2,455 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHERN CLAY CENTER: $2,250 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CRAFT COUNCIL: $2,100 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetANIMAL BALANCE: $2,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetPAGE EDUCATION FOUNDATION: $1,750 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetMinnPost: $1,400 over 9y, 0.0% of budgetFORECAST PUBLIC ARTWORKS: $1,300 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetWHITE BEAR CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $1,200 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetAMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC: $1,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS: $1,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetARTREACH ST CROIX: $1,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHEASTERN MINNESOTANS FOR WILDERNESS: $800 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER: $750 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetJUXTAPOSITION ARTS INC: $700 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPUBLIC ART SAINT PAUL: $550 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetMinneapolis Parks Foundation: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSTRINGS MUSIC FESTIVAL: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA INC: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL COUNCIL ON EDUCATION FOR THE CERAMIC ARTS: $500 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetSOO VISUAL ARTS CENTER INC: $250 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetROCHESTER ART CENTER: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetArtspace Projects Inc: $250 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMINNEAPOLIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN: $200 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMINNESOTA CITIZENS FOR THE ARTS INC: $200 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetSPECIAL OLYMPICS MINNESOTA INC: $100 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetDream of Wild Health: $100 over 1y, 0.0% 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.

  • Who funds MILL REEF FUND ↗
  • Who funds FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK LEGEROS ↗
  • Who funds WALKER ART CENTER ↗
  • Who funds COMPASSION & CHOICES ↗
  • Who funds WILD RIVERS CONSERVANCY OF THE ST CROIX & NAMEKAGON ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA ↗
  • Who funds NORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART ↗
  • Who funds MINNEAPOLIS SOCIETY OF FINE ARTS DBA MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS ↗
  • Who funds LEWIS & CLARK COLLEGE ↗
  • Who funds Elkhorn Marine Conservancy Inc ↗
  • Who funds SECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND ↗
  • Who funds NORTHERN CLAY CENTER ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CRAFT COUNCIL ↗
  • Who funds ANIMAL BALANCE ↗
  • Who funds PAGE EDUCATION FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds MinnPost ↗
  • Who funds FORECAST PUBLIC ARTWORKS ↗
  • Who funds WHITE BEAR CENTER FOR THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds SPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds ARTREACH ST CROIX ↗
  • Who funds NORTHEASTERN MINNESOTANS FOR WILDERNESS ↗
  • Who funds CHICAGO AVENUE FIRE ARTS CENTER ↗
  • Who funds JUXTAPOSITION ARTS INC ↗
  • Who funds PUBLIC ART SAINT PAUL ↗

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 McKnight Foundati…Saint Paul & Minnesot…The Minneapolis Found…Minnesota Community F…Margaret a Cargill Fo…Jerome Foundation IncThe McNeely FoundationXcel Energy FoundationMightycause Charitabl…Hrk FoundationWilliam Boss Foundati…Mortenson Family Foun…
The McKnight FoundationMN31.2× affinity13 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The McKnight Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The Minneapolis Foundation · Minnesota Community Foundation · Margaret a Cargill Foundation · Jerome Foundation Inc · The McNeely Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Hrk Foundation · William Boss Foundation · Mortenson Family 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 Constance Mayeron Cowles & Charles Fuller Cowles Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Constance Mayeron Cowles & Charles Fuller Cowles Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →median 2%
  • Lewis & Clark College: 2% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
1get no government money at all
16report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
⤢ axis zoomed · 0–50%
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 Constance Mayeron Cowles & Charles Fuller Cowles Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Constance Mayeron Cowles & Charles Fuller Cowles 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 59 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 Constance Mayeron Cowles & Charles Fuller Cowles’ 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