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Cross Works Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Cross Works 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.

$4.1M
Granted FY2024still arriving
32
Grants FY2024still arriving
2
States reached
$700k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2024.

Education$3.4MReligion$2.2MArts & Culture$2.0MHuman Services$1.8MYouth Development$965kFood & Nutrition$500kCivil Rights$350kHealth$304kOther$0
02FY2024 · 32 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k11 grants · $30k
  • $10k–50k7 grants · $149k
  • $50k–250k8 grants · $1.0M
  • $250k+6 grants · $2.9M
$28,750
Median grant
2
States reached
$64M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
HOLY FAMILY SCHOOL$700,000
HOPE ACADEMY INC$627,000
SACRED HEART SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FUND$500,000
GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM$500,000
CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF ST CLOUD$300,000
ST MONICAS MONTESSORI INC$250,000
ST CLOUD AREA FAMILY YMCA$200,000
STPAUL'S CATHOLIC NEWMAN CENTER-NDSU CAMPUS FARGO$150,000
MINNESOTA CITIZENS CONCERNED FOR LIFE$150,000
ST THOMAS MORE CATHOLIC NEWMAN CENTER PARISH OF MANKATO MINNESOTA$150,000
SECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND$125,000
PARK FOREVER INC$100,000
CHURCH OF SAINT JOSEPH$100,000
SALVATION ARMY$50,000
INTERNATIONAL GOSPEL OUTREACH$45,000
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 (FY21–24, $1.2M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 95% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%PATRIOT ASSITANCE DOGS: $50k → 10%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF ST CLOUD: $300k → 11%QUANTA CARES: $5k → 16%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $10k → 14%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF ST CLOUD: $300k → 11%QUANTA CARES: $5k → 16%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF ST CLOUD: $300k → 11%QUANTA CARES: $5k → 16%CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF ST CLOUD: $200k → 11%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $10k → 11%AMERICAN NATIONAL RED CROSS: $10k → 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.

86%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$10M · 29 repeat orgs$1.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +27% since the first grant, against +26% for those funded once.

29 repeat relationships: 26 still active in FY2024, 3 since wound down; 5 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

29
10

Total granted

$10M
$340k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+27%
+26%

Still filing today

69%
30%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 68% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.3M went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’21’22’23’24
EducationHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsHealthReligionArts & CultureOther
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

  • HA
    HOPE ACADEMY INC
    4× · 2021–2024 · $1.5M · revenue +158%
  • CC
    CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF ST CLOUD
    4× · 2021–2024 · $1.1M · revenue +46%
  • SM
    ST MONICAS MONTESSORI INC
    3× · 2022–2024 · $500k · revenue +612% · 85% of their budget

Funded once

  • AA
    AVON AREA LAKES ASSOCIATION
    one grant, 2022 · $127k
  • HR
    HOLY REDEEMER PARISH FOUNDATION
    one grant, 2022 · $90k · revenue -13%
  • WC
    WATERS CHURCH
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
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
MinnPost

MinnPost produces independent journalism to serve as a trusted guide for Minnesotans exploring the critical issues, challenges and opportunities facing our state.

Arts & Culture
2
Minnesota Family Council

Minnesota family council (mfc) is a non-profit christian organization that is dedicated to strengthening minnesota families by advancing biblical principles in the public arena, for the glory of the lord jesus christ and the good of…

—
3
Catholic Charities North Dakota

Guided by our values, Catholic Charities North Dakota serves people in need and advocates for the common good of all.

—
4
Minnesota Hospital Foundation

The minnesota hospital foundation works on strategies that include data-led quality and safety improvement, education, research, training and leadership to improve the health of minnesotans.

—
5
MN350

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.

Environment
6
Care Providers of Minnesota Foundation

To promote quality care in long term health care facilities through education and research.

—
7
Mankato Christian Academy

Preparing Students for the Future in Jesus' Name.

—
8
Minnesota State Bar Foundation

The minnesota state bar foundation mobilizes legal community philanthropy to achieve access to justice for all minnesotans.

Crime & Legal
9
Duluth Cross Country Ski Club

Promote health through skiing

Recreation & Sports
10
Minnesota Council on Foundations

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

—
11
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Inc

The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits informs, promotes, connects and strengthens individual nonprofits and the nonprofit sector.

Philanthropy
12
Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators

Endeavors to provide information to the home educator and act as an effective vehicle to facilitate and safeguard the home education opportunity in Minnesota

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Centracare Health Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Project for the People of Paraguay. 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

26 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. 26 of the 45 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
6
Early backer (in before they grew)
26/26
Grantees still filing
20/26
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

ST PAUL'S CATHOLIC NEWMAN CENTER-NDSU CAMPUS FARGO: $1,030,000 · OtherST PAUL'S CATHOLIC NEWMAN CENTER-NDSU CAMPUS FARGOBOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA - CENTRAL MINNESOTA COUNCIL: $937,350 · OtherBOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA - CENTRAL MINNESOTA COUNCILHOLY FAMILY SCHOOL: $700,000 · OtherHOLY FAMILY SCHOOLSACRED HEART SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FUND: $500,000 · OtherSACRED HEART SCHOOL ENDOWMENT FUNDST THOMAS MORE CATHOLIC NEWMAN CENTER PARISH OF MANKATO MINNESOTA: $420,000 · OtherST THOMAS MORE CATHOLIC NEWMAN CENTER PARISH OF MANKATO…St Cloud Area Family YMCA: $400,000 · OtherSt Cloud Area Family YMCACHURCH OF SAINT JOSEPH: $400,000 · OtherCHURCH OF SAINT JOSEPHMINNESOTA CITIZENS CONCERNED FOR LIFE INC: $350,000 · OtherMINNESOTA CITIZENS CONCERNED FOR LIFE INCIndividual grant recipient: $215,000 · OtherSALVATION ARMY: $215,000 · Other+21 more: $813,684 · Other+21 moreHOPE ACADEMY INC: $1,498,500 · EducationHOPE ACADEMY INCST MONICAS MONTESSORI INC: $500,001 · EducationST MONICAS MONTESS…+2 more: $7,000 · EducationGREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $2,000,000 · Arts & CultureGREAT RIVER CHILDR…CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF ST CLOUD: $1,100,000 · Human ServicesCATHOLIC CH…PATRIOT ASSISTANCE DOGS: $50,000 · Human Services+2 more: $45,000 · Human ServicesSECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND: $500,000 · Food & NutritionCENTRACARE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $222,026 · HealthRonald McDonald House Charities - Upper Midwest: $80,000 · Health+1 more: $1,500 · HealthErath County Humane Society: $250,000 · Animals
Other$5,981,034Education$2,005,501Arts & Culture$2,000,000Human Services$1,195,000Food & Nutrition$500,000Health$303,526Animals$250,000

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetGREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM: $2,000,000 over 3y, 34% of budgetHOPE ACADEMY INC: $1,498,500 over 4y, 2.3% of budgetCATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF ST CLOUD: $1,100,000 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetST MONICAS MONTESSORI INC: $500,001 over 3y, 85% of budgetSECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND: $500,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetSt Cloud Area Family YMCA: $400,000 over 2y, 2.8% of budgetMINNESOTA CITIZENS CONCERNED FOR LIFE INC: $350,000 over 4y, 15% of budgetErath County Humane Society: $250,000 over 2y, 34% of budgetCENTRACARE HEALTH FOUNDATION: $222,026 over 4y, 1.6% of budgetINTERNATIONAL GOSPEL OUTREACH: $170,000 over 4y, 4.4% of budgetPARKS FOREVER INC: $100,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetHOLY REDEEMER PARISH FOUNDATION: $90,000 over 1y, 15% of budgetRonald McDonald House Charities - Upper Midwest: $80,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetPATRIOT ASSISTANCE DOGS: $50,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetMINNESOTA FAMILY INSTITUTE: $20,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL MN: $20,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetQuanta Cares: $15,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetPROJECT FOR THE PEOPLE OF PARAGUAY: $9,152 over 4y, 1.7% of budgetORONO FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION: $5,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetST JOSEPH BOOSTER CLUB: $2,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetBatahola Friends of: $2,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSUPERIOR HIKING TRAIL ASSOCIATION: $1,750 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetNEVER SURRENDER INC: $1,500 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetSUGARBUSH TRAIL ASSOCIATION INC: $1,500 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetAVON FIREMEN'S RELIEF ASSOCIATION: $500 over 1y, 0.4% 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 GREAT RIVER CHILDRENS MUSEUM ↗
  • Who funds HOPE ACADEMY INC ↗
  • Who funds CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF THE DIOCESE OF ST CLOUD ↗
  • Who funds ST MONICAS MONTESSORI INC ↗
  • Who funds SECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND ↗
  • Who funds St Cloud Area Family YMCA ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA CITIZENS CONCERNED FOR LIFE INC ↗
  • Who funds Erath County Humane Society ↗
  • Who funds CENTRACARE HEALTH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds INTERNATIONAL GOSPEL OUTREACH ↗
  • Who funds PARKS FOREVER INC ↗
  • Who funds HOLY REDEEMER PARISH FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds Ronald McDonald House Charities - Upper Midwest ↗
  • Who funds PATRIOT ASSISTANCE DOGS ↗
  • Who funds American National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA FAMILY INSTITUTE ↗
  • Who funds BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF CENTRAL MN ↗
  • Who funds Quanta Cares ↗
  • Who funds PROJECT FOR THE PEOPLE OF PARAGUAY ↗
  • Who funds ORONO FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION ↗
  • Who funds ST JOSEPH BOOSTER CLUB ↗
  • Who funds Batahola Friends of ↗
  • Who funds SUPERIOR HIKING TRAIL ASSOCIATION ↗
  • Who funds NEVER SURRENDER INC ↗

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.

CommunitygivingCentral Mn Noon Optim…The US Charitable Gif…Granite Partners Foun…Morgan Family Foundat…Xcel Energy FoundationMightycause Charitabl…Rick and Helga Bauerl…United Way of Central…Renaissance Charitabl…Ch Robinson Worldwide…Otto Bremer Trust
CommunitygivingMN25× affinity10 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Communitygiving · Central Mn Noon Optimist Club Inc · The US Charitable Gift Trust · Granite Partners Foundation of Minnesota Inc · Morgan Family Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Rick and Helga Bauerly Foundation · United Way of Central Minnesota · Renaissance Charitable Foundation Inc · Ch Robinson Worldwide Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust

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 Cross Works Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Cross Works Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%6%23%51%90%funder's share of their income ↑0%3%5%8%10%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    8report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–10%
    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.

    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 45 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Cross Works’ 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