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Donaldson Foundation at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Private foundation

Donaldson Foundation

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$1.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
73
Grants FY2025still arriving
10
States reached
$205k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0197% classified

What it funded, over time

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

Education$2.2MPhilanthropy$1.9MCommunity Improvement$732kYouth Development$632kArts & Culture$559kHuman Services$230kRecreation & Sports$222kPublic Safety & Disaster$200kOther$0
02FY2025 · 73 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k34 grants · $94k
  • $10k–50k34 grants · $608k
  • $50k–250k5 grants · $638k
$10,000
Median grant
10
States reached
$9.2M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Greater Twin Cities United Way$205,000
Special Olympics$150,000
Scholarship America$133,000
Boys Girls Clubs TC$100,000
Science Museum of MN$50,000
PACER Center Inc$30,000
Normandale Community College Foundation$30,000
United Way of Clinton County$29,290
Greene Local Education Advancement Foundation$28,000
Dunwoody College of Technology$25,000
Jr Achieve East Iowa$25,000
The Works$25,000
United Way of Portage County$24,162
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities$23,000
Wallin Education Partners$23,000
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, $136k) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 79% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%United Way of St Croix Valley: $6k → 5%united way of st croix valley: $4k → 5%United Way of Lee County: $5k → 12%united way of st croix valley: $3k → 5%United Way of Lee County: $4k → 12%United Way of St Croix Valley: $2k → 5%United Way of Lee County: $2k → 12%The Free Book Buggie: $8k → 6%The Free Book Buggie: $6k → 6%YMCA of the North: $10k → 11%Amherst H Wilder Foundation: $10k → 14%The Family Partnership: $12k → 11%YWCA of Minneapolis: $20k → 11%Division of Indian Works: $13k → 11%Division of Indian Works: $13k → 11%Change Inc: $15k → 11%East Side Neighborhood Services: $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

MN
IL
WI
NY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
CA
KY
TN
DC
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.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

79%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.8M · 49 repeat orgs$1.5M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +32% since the first grant, against -1% for those funded once.

49 repeat relationships: 27 still active in FY2025, 22 since wound down; 45 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

49
54

Total granted

$5.8M
$941k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+32%
-1%

Still filing today

57%
39%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $555k 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
EducationHuman ServicesArts & CulturePhilanthropyInternationalYouth 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

  • SM
    SCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA
    6× · 2020–2025 · $300k · revenue +51%
  • CP
    COLLEGE POSSIBLE INC
    6× · 2020–2025 · $175k · revenue +37%
  • WE
    WALLIN EDUCATION PARTNERS
    6× · 2020–2025 · $138k · revenue +32%

Funded once

  • IG
    Individual grant recipient
    one grant, 2020 · $100k
  • D
    DONORSCHOOSEORG
    one grant, 2024 · $100k · revenue -22%
  • DR
    Direct Relief
    one grant, 2021 · $100k
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
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.

—
2
Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth

Mity's mission is to inspire and challenge intellectually curious students to pursue their passions within a diverse, inclusive community and empower them by building skills and relationships for lifelong success.

—
3
Great Mn Schools

We believe that great schools are the cornerstone of a just and thriving community. ensuring that every child is able to attend a school that works is our moral and social imperative - our children deserve no less.

Education
4
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…

—
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 State Council On Economic Education

Mcee equips minnesotans with the economic and personal financial knowledge and skills to make informed decisions and thrive in our complex world. we fulfill our mission by teaching teachers through top quality professional development and…

—
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
St Paul Transportation Management Organization

Move minnesota leads the movement for an equitable and sustainable transportation system that puts people first. we are passionate about connecting communities, ending the climate crisis, expanding access to jobs and resources, and…

Environment
9
Women's Foundation of Minnesota

Women's Foundation of Minnesota is a statewide community foundation investing in ending systemic inequities and driving innovation for gender and racial justice. WFM applies an Intersectional Equity Framework inclusive of gender, race,…

Philanthropy
10
Minnesota State University Student Association Inc

Led by minnesota state university students, we are the inclusive voice for all future, current, and former students. we actively work to represent and support minnesota state university students and advocate at a campus, state, and federal…

Education
11
Minnesota Medical Association

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

—
12
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Greater Twin Cities United Way; the most unlike its peers is Greene County Imagination Library. 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

65 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.

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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 65 of the 148 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)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
65/65
Grantees still filing
29/65
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

Scholarship America: $610,250 · OtherScholarship AmericaPlant Cities Funding Pool: $554,546 · OtherPlant Cities Funding PoolMID-STATE TECHNICAL COLLEGE: $200,000 · OtherSpecial Olympics: $150,000 · Other+101 more: $2,586,249 · Other+101 moreGREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1,435,000 · PhilanthropyGREATER TWIN CITIES UNIT…+4 more: $104,700 · Philanthropy+4 moreCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $175,000 · EducationCOLLEGE POS…WALLIN EDUCATION PARTNERS: $138,000 · EducationWALLIN EDUC…DUNWOODY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY: $125,000 · EducationDUNWOODY CO…DONORSCHOOSEORG: $100,000 · EducationDONORSCHOOS…PRODEO ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL #4213: $65,000 · EducationPRODEO ACAD…HIGH TECH KIDS: $50,000 · EducationHIGH TECH K…+9 more: $94,000 · Education+9 moreSCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA: $300,000 · Arts & CultureTHE WORKS: $120,000 · Arts & CultureTHE BAKKEN: $20,000 · Arts & Culture+3 more: $34,000 · Arts & CultureDIVISION OF INDIAN WORK: $25,000 · Human ServicesYWCA OF MINNEAPOLIS: $20,000 · Human ServicesGIRLS WHO CODE INC: $18,000 · Human ServicesCHANGE INC: $15,000 · Human ServicesUNITED WAY ST CROIX AND RED CEDAR VALLEYS INC: $14,827 · Human ServicesFREE BOOK BUGGIE: $13,995 · Human ServicesThe Family Partnership: $12,000 · Human ServicesUNITED WAY OF LEE COUNTY INC: $10,791 · Human ServicesYOUNG MENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF THE NORTH: $10,000 · Human ServicesAMHERST H WILDER FOUNDATION: $9,740 · Human Services+1 more: $5,000 · Human ServicesPACER CENTER INC: $131,000 · Civil RightsJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT NORTH: $77,500 · InternationalGLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC: $11,990 · InternationalJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF THE HEARTLAND INC: $10,000 · InternationalJunior Achievement of Northern California: $7,500 · InternationalJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF WISCONSIN INC: $7,224 · International
Other$4,101,045Philanthropy$1,539,700Education$747,000Arts & Culture$474,000Human Services$154,353Civil Rights$131,000International$114,214

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 budgetGREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1,435,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetSCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA: $300,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $175,000 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetWALLIN EDUCATION PARTNERS: $138,000 over 6y, 0.3% of budgetPACER CENTER INC: $131,000 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetDUNWOODY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY: $125,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetTHE WORKS: $120,000 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetUNITED WAY OF PORTAGE COUNTY INC: $112,543 over 4y, 0.9% of budgetUNITED WAY OF CLINTON COUNTY IOWA: $109,482 over 4y, 9.0% of budgetDONORSCHOOSEORG: $100,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBESTPREP: $87,950 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT NORTH: $77,500 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetURBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION: $66,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetPRODEO ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL #4213: $65,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetNormandale Community College Foundation Inc: $55,000 over 2y, 2.2% of budgetThe Banyan Foundation: $50,826 over 4y, 1.3% of budgetHIGH TECH KIDS: $50,000 over 4y, 3.1% of budget360 Communities: $50,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetVOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA - MINNESOTA: $40,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetSCIENCE BUDDIES: $40,000 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetPILLSBURY UNITED COMMUNITIES: $40,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetGreene County United Way Inc: $34,700 over 3y, 3.3% of budgetDIVISION OF INDIAN WORK: $25,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetSOUTHSIDE FAMILY NURTURING CENTER: $25,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetBIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF THE GREATER TWIN CITIES: $23,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetYWCA OF MINNEAPOLIS: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetEMERGE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE BAKKEN: $20,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetJOYCE PRESCHOOL: $20,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetMINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetIVY TECH FOUNDATION INC: $18,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNEW GATE SCHOOL INC: $17,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetCREATEMPLS: $15,000 over 1y, 2.5% of budgetUNITED WAY ST CROIX AND RED CEDAR VALLEYS INC: $14,827 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetFREE BOOK BUGGIE: $13,995 over 2y, 39% of budgetRelentless Academy: $13,000 over 1y, 4.0% of budgetNORTHWESTERN HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY: $13,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetThe Family Partnership: $12,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGLOBALGIVING FOUNDATION INC: $11,990 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $11,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetUNITED WAY OF LEE COUNTY INC: $10,791 over 3y, 1.6% of budgetMULTIPLYING GOOD INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSCIENCE FROM SCIENTISTS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetGROVES ACADEMY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED THROUGH READING: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMINNESOTA ZOO FOUNDATION: $10,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetLITTLE FREE LIBRARY: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF THE HEARTLAND INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.3% 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 GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY ↗
  • Who funds SCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA ↗
  • Who funds COLLEGE POSSIBLE INC ↗
  • Who funds WALLIN EDUCATION PARTNERS ↗
  • Who funds PACER CENTER INC ↗
  • Who funds DUNWOODY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY ↗
  • Who funds THE WORKS ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF PORTAGE COUNTY INC ↗
  • Who funds UNITED WAY OF CLINTON COUNTY IOWA ↗
  • Who funds DONORSCHOOSEORG ↗
  • Who funds BESTPREP ↗
  • Who funds JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT NORTH ↗
  • Who funds URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PRODEO ACADEMY CHARTER SCHOOL #4213 ↗
  • Who funds Normandale Community College Foundation Inc ↗
  • Who funds The Banyan Foundation ↗
  • Who funds HIGH TECH KIDS ↗
  • Who funds 360 Communities ↗
  • Who funds VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA - MINNESOTA ↗
  • Who funds SCIENCE BUDDIES ↗
  • Who funds PILLSBURY UNITED COMMUNITIES ↗

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…The Walser FoundationOtto Bremer TrustSaint Paul & Minnesot…The Richard M Schulze…The Sheltering Arms F…The Sauer Family Foun…Hb Fuller Company Fou…Xcel Energy FoundationGreater Twin Cities U…Ch Robinson Worldwide…Mightycause Charitabl…
The Minneapolis FoundationMN48.9× affinity29 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Minneapolis Foundation · The Walser Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The Richard M Schulze Family Foundation · The Sheltering Arms Foundation · The Sauer Family Foundation · Hb Fuller Company Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Greater Twin Cities United Way · Ch Robinson Worldwide Foundation · Mightycause Charitable 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 Donaldson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Donaldson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 10%3%10%23%40%funder's share of their income ↑0%13%25%38%50%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    1get no government money at all
    32report 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 Donaldson Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to Donaldson 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 148 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 Donaldson’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