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David Winton Bell Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

David Winton Bell 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.

$371k
Granted FY2024still arriving
23
Grants FY2024still arriving
5
States reached
$65k
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 2024.

Environment$1.1MEducation$658kAnimals$244kHealth$233kYouth Development$188kHousing & Shelter$110kInternational$110kArts & Culture$85kOther$0
02FY2024 · 23 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k7 grants · $27k
  • $10k–50k14 grants · $230k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $115k
$15,000
Median grant
5
States reached
$6.1M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
BELWIN CONSERVANCY$65,000
AGATE HOUSING AND SERVICES$50,000
TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND$35,000
GREAT MN SCHOOLS$25,000
PLANNED PARENTHOOD$20,000
DELTA WATERFOWL FOUNDATION$19,646
PEOPLE INCORPORATED$15,000
PROJECT SUCCESS$15,000
MINNESOTA CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY$15,000
MINNESOTA LAND TRUST$15,000
SUMMIT ACADEMY OIC$15,000
Individual grant recipient$15,000
GLOBAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN$10,000
COLLEGE POSSIBLE$10,000
BOZEMAN HIGH SCHOOL$10,000
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 (FY17–22, $45k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 8%PROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING: $10k → 11%PROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING: $10k → 11%PROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING: $10k → 11%PROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING: $5k → 11%PROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING: $5k → 11%PROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING: $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.

Which US states its grants reach

MT
ND
MN
NY
CA
VA
MD
FL
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.
04

Where the work is directed

The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.

About 5% of David Winton Bell Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 85% of the giving stays in MN; by stated purpose, 78%.

David Winton Bell Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address
How this is measured
Recipient view: each grant at its grantee’s ZIP, mapped to a county. Directed view: each grant at the county its stated purpose names, falling back to the recipient’s county when the purpose names no place; US grants only. A county shows only if it carries the top 95% of that view’s dollars. Purposes are read from the funder’s own 990 grant descriptions.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

98%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.9M · 40 repeat orgs$45k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +66% since the first grant, against -99% for those funded once.

40 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2024, 20 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

40
5

Total granted

$2.9M
$40k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+66%
-99%

Still filing today

70%
0%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 99% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $5k went to new ones.

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

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
EducationEnvironmentAnimalsEmploymentCrime & LegalHuman ServicesOther
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

  • BC
    BELWIN CONSERVANCY
    8× · 2017–2024 · $280k · revenue +100%
  • ML
    MINNESOTA LAND TRUST
    8× · 2017–2024 · $208k · revenue +403%
  • DW
    Delta Waterfowl Foundation
    8× · 2017–2024 · $194k · revenue +161%

Funded once

  • MC
    MINNESOTA COMEBACK - EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION
    one grant, 2020 · $25k
  • ST
    STUDENTS TODAY LEADERS FOREVER
    one grant, 2017 · $5k
  • GV
    GALLATIN VALLEY FOOD BANK
    one grant, 2022 · $5k
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
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
3
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…

—
4
Youthprise

Youthprise is a nonprofit intermediary that invests in the future of Minnesota by investing in youth. Youthprise's mission is to increase equity with and for Minnesota's indigenous, low-income, and racially diverse youth.

Education
5
Breakthrough Twin Cities

Breakthrough Twin Cities supports students on their journey to college by fostering a community of mutual learning with the next generation of educators so they both can collaborate, grow, and thrive.

Education
6
Minnesota Medical Association

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

—
7
Mn Community Measurement

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

Health
8
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Inc

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

Philanthropy
9
Minnesota Comeback

Driven by an unwavering moral imperative that every child, regardless of its race, income or zip code, deserves the same high-quality education, mn comeback has become a growing movement of philanthropists, community leaders and education…

—
10
The Peak School

The peak school seeks to ignite a passion for learning, to develop students of diverse talents and backgrounds who think critically and act with integrity, and to graduate compassionate, confident, capable students who will embrace their…

Education
11
Voyageur Outward Bound School

We bring young people together for group learning adventures in wilderness and urban settings in minnesota. we invite teens and young adults to identify, practice and grow leadership skills through shared experiences. we also offer the…

Environment
12
Global Minnesota

Global minnesotas mission is to advance international understanding and engagement. we are committed to serving minnesota from a foundation built on the values of respect, collaboration, nonpartisanship, global competency, inclusion and…

International
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Summit Academy Oic; the most unlike its peers is Fresh Energy. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
05the grantee network

31 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. 31 of the 47 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)
30/31
Grantees still filing
25/31
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BELWIN CONSERVANCY: $280,000 · OtherBELWIN CONSERVANCYTRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND: $230,000 · OtherTRUST FOR PUBLIC LANDIndividual grant recipient: $172,500 · OtherIndividual grant recipientPEOPLE INCORPORATED: $90,000 · OtherPEOPLE INCORPORATEDPLANNED PARENTHOOD: $90,000 · OtherPLANNED PARENTHOODGLOBAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN: $80,000 · OtherMINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION - EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION: $75,000 · OtherIndividual grant recipient: $66,000 · OtherBELL MUSEUM: $60,000 · OtherNORTHEAST COLLEGE PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $60,000 · Other+17 more: $368,000 · Other+17 morePROJECT SUCCESS: $120,000 · EducationPROJECT SUCCESSGREAT MN SCHOOLS: $100,000 · EducationGREAT MN SCHOOLSCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $80,000 · EducationCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INCSUMMIT ACADEMY OIC: $77,500 · EducationSUMMIT ACADEMY OICBolder Options: $47,500 · EducationBolder OptionsFoxcroft School: $32,500 · EducationFoxcroft SchoolTHE BLAKE SCHOOL: $32,500 · EducationTHE BLAKE SCHOOLPOSITIVE COACHING ALLIANCE: $20,000 · Education+2 more: $25,000 · EducationMINNESOTA LAND TRUST: $207,500 · EnvironmentMINNESOTA LAN…FRESH ENERGY: $45,000 · EnvironmentFRESH ENERGYCONSERVATION MINNESOTA: $40,000 · EnvironmentCONSERVATION …MINNESOTA CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY: $40,000 · EnvironmentMINNESOTA CEN…MISSISSIPPI PARK CONNECTION: $27,500 · EnvironmentMISSISSIPPI P…Delta Waterfowl Foundation: $194,391 · AnimalsDelta Wat…Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center Inc: $50,000 · AnimalsFlorida K…Twin Cities Rise: $80,000 · EmploymentNORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE: $70,000 · Crime & LegalAGATE HOUSING & SERVICES INC: $65,000 · Religion
Other$1,571,500Education$535,000Environment$360,000Animals$244,391Employment$80,000Crime & Legal$70,000Religion$65,000

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 budgetBELWIN CONSERVANCY: $280,000 over 8y, 1.7% of budgetMINNESOTA LAND TRUST: $207,500 over 8y, 0.6% of budgetDelta Waterfowl Foundation: $194,391 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetPROJECT SUCCESS: $120,000 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetGREAT MN SCHOOLS: $100,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetPEOPLE INCORPORATED: $90,000 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $80,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN: $80,000 over 8y, 1.8% of budgetTwin Cities Rise: $80,000 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetSUMMIT ACADEMY OIC: $77,500 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetNORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE: $70,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetAGATE HOUSING & SERVICES INC: $65,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetFlorida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center Inc: $50,000 over 4y, 4.5% of budgetBolder Options: $47,500 over 7y, 0.7% of budgetFRESH ENERGY: $45,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetPROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING INC: $45,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetCONSERVATION MINNESOTA: $40,000 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetMINNESOTA CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY: $40,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetFoxcroft School: $32,500 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetTHE BLAKE SCHOOL: $32,500 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CENTER FOR VICTIMS OF TORTURE: $30,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMISSISSIPPI PARK CONNECTION: $27,500 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetTHE GUNSTON SCHOOL INC: $27,500 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetPOSITIVE COACHING ALLIANCE: $20,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetMinnPost: $20,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetTHRIVE INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetTHE HEADWATERS ACADEMY INC: $15,000 over 3y, 0.8% of budgetVENTURE ACADEMIES: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSTUDENTS TODAY LEADERS FOREVER: $5,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetWINDHORSE EQUINE LEARNING: $2,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetKIMBERLY-SHIRK ASSOCIATION: $2,500 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 BELWIN CONSERVANCY ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA LAND TRUST ↗
  • Who funds Delta Waterfowl Foundation ↗
  • Who funds PROJECT SUCCESS ↗
  • Who funds GREAT MN SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds PEOPLE INCORPORATED ↗
  • Who funds COLLEGE POSSIBLE INC ↗
  • Who funds GLOBAL RIGHTS FOR WOMEN ↗
  • Who funds Twin Cities Rise ↗
  • Who funds SUMMIT ACADEMY OIC ↗
  • Who funds NORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE ↗
  • Who funds AGATE HOUSING & SERVICES INC ↗
  • Who funds Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds Bolder Options ↗
  • Who funds FRESH ENERGY ↗
  • Who funds PROJECT FOR PRIDE IN LIVING INC ↗
  • Who funds CONSERVATION MINNESOTA ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY ↗
  • Who funds Foxcroft School ↗
  • Who funds THE BLAKE SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds THE CENTER FOR VICTIMS OF TORTURE ↗
  • Who funds MISSISSIPPI PARK CONNECTION ↗
  • Who funds THE GUNSTON SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds POSITIVE COACHING ALLIANCE ↗
  • Who funds MinnPost ↗
  • Who funds THRIVE INC ↗
  • Who funds THE HEADWATERS ACADEMY 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.

The Minneapolis Found…Smikis FoundationSaint Paul & Minnesot…The McKnight Foundati…Longview FoundationMortenson Family Foun…Mightycause Charitabl…Open Door FoundationFr Bigelow FoundationThe K FoundationXcel Energy FoundationPohlad Family Foundat…
The Minneapolis FoundationMN30.4× affinity14 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Minneapolis Foundation · Smikis Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The McKnight Foundation · Longview Foundation · Mortenson Family Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Open Door Foundation · Fr Bigelow Foundation · The K Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Pohlad 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 David Winton Bell Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from David Winton Bell Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%23%45%68%90%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    10report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–90%
    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 David Winton Bell Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to David Winton Bell 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 47 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 David Winton Bell’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