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Driscoll Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

Driscoll 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.

$1.1M
Granted FY2025still arriving
82
Grants FY2025still arriving
15
States reached
$100k
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, FY2021 to 2025.

Philanthropy$8.6MArts & Culture$1.7MEnvironment$1.5MEducation$1.1MHuman Services$549kHealth$428kReligion$82kCommunity Improvement$45kOther$0
02FY2025 · 82 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k54 grants · $204k
  • $10k–50k19 grants · $367k
  • $50k–250k9 grants · $565k
$5,000
Median grant
15
States reached
$30M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
MINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM FOUNDATION$100,000
NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE$100,000
FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER$65,000
YALE UNIVERSITY$50,000
ST PAUL ACADEMY AND SUMMIT SCHOOL$50,000
DODGE NATURE CENTER$50,000
MULTICARE HEALTH FOUNDATION$50,000
ST PAUL ACADEMY AND SUMMIT SCHOOL$50,000
COMMUNITYGIVING$50,000
COMMUNITYGIVING$47,500
MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO$45,000
FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER$40,000
FIDELITY CHARITABLE$37,212
AVON HILLS FOLK SCHOOL$25,000
GREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY$20,000
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 (FY21–25, $266k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 97% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%HEALTH STORY COLLABORATIVE: $2k → 8%HEALTH STORY COLLABORATIVE INC: $2k → 8%HEALTH STORY COLLABORATIVE: $2k → 8%HEALTH STORY COLLABORATIVE INC: $2k → 8%HEALTH STORY COLLABORATIVE INC: $2k → 8%THE BRIDGE FOR YOUTH: $10k → 11%THE BRIDGE FOR YOUTH: $10k → 11%YMCA OF THE GREATER TWIN CITIES: $3k → 11%THE BRIDGE FOR YOUTH: $10k → 11%FAMILY PARTNERSHIP: $50k → 11%LELS POLICE BENEVOLENT FUND: $5k → 11%HEADWATERS RELIEF ORGANIZATION: $5k → 11%FAMILY PARTNERSHIP: $25k → 11%FAMILY PARTNERSHIP: $25k → 11%NATIVE GOVERNANCE CENTER: $10k → 11%NATIVE GOVERNANCE CENTER: $10k → 11%NATIVE GOVERNANCE CENTER: $5k → 11%NATIVE GOVERNANCE CENTER: $5k → 11%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MINNESOTA: $25k → 14%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MINNESOTA: $25k → 14%INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MINNESOTA: $25k → 14%CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY & FAMILY SERVICES: $1k → 14%CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY & FAMILY SERVICES: $1k → 14%PRESBYTERIAN HOMES FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%PRESBYTERIAN HOMES FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%PRESBYTERIAN HOMES FOUNDATION: $1k → 14%THINK SMALL: $1k → 14%THINK SMALL: $1k → 14%THINK SMALL: $1k → 14%THINK SMALL: $1k → 14%THINK SMALL: $1k → 14%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

ME
VT
WA
MN
IL
MI
NY
MA
OR
OH
PA
CT
CA
CO
MO
VA
KS
DC
GA
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 60% of Driscoll Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address. By recipient address, 31% of the giving stays in MN; by stated purpose, 28%.

Driscoll Foundationlessmore of its giving
Placed by recipient address · 3.6% directed abroad (not shown)
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.

93%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$5.4M · 92 repeat orgs$407k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +12% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

92 repeat relationships: 58 still active in FY2025, 34 since wound down; 3 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

92
29

Total granted

$5.4M
$384k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+12%
0%

Still filing today

86%
79%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 98% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $23k went to new ones.

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

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

’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationHuman ServicesHealthPhilanthropyOther
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

  • ST PAUL ACADEMY AND SUMMIT SCHOOL
    5× · 2021–2025 · $454k · revenue +50%
  • ML
    MINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM FOUNDATION
    5× · 2021–2025 · $405k · revenue +13%
  • MP
    MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA
    5× · 2021–2025 · $355k · revenue +0%

Funded once

  • CM
    CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF TACOMA - GREENTRIKE
    one grant, 2022 · $75k
  • WR
    WOLF RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING CENTERgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $50k · revenue +113%
  • EL
    EMPOWERED LIFE CHURCH
    one grant, 2021 · $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
Minnesota Medical Association

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

—
2
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…

—
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
University of Minnesota Foundation Investment Advisors

To provide the highest level of stewardship for university donors through professional management and oversight of the university of minnesota foundation's assets by creating a focused investment environment with clarity of purpose,…

Education
5
The Minneapolis Foundation

The foundation cultivates generosity by taking action on the greatest civic, social, and economic needs partnering with nonprofits, facilitating grantmaking, driving research and advocacy, and providing services to donors seeking to make a…

Philanthropy
6
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
7
University of New Haven

The University of New Haven is a student-centered comprehensive university with an emphasis on excellence in liberal arts and professional education. Our mission is to prepare our students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a…

Education
8
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The mission of mit is to advance knowledge and educate students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st century.

Education
9
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
10
Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce

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

—
11
Augustana College

Rooted in the liberal arts & sciences & lutheran expression of the christian faith, & is committed to offering a challenging education that develops qualities of mind, spirit, & body necessary for a rewarding life of leadership & service…

Education
12
Columbia College

Columbia college improves lives by providing quality education to both traditional and nontraditional students, helping them achieve their true potential.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Communitygiving; the most unlike its peers is The Cameron and Hayden Lord Foundation. 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

113 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. 113 of the 132 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)
22
Early backer (in before they grew)
112/113
Grantees still filing
69/113
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $8,050,000 · PhilanthropyAMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION+9 more: $483,650 · Philanthropy+9 moreMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $355,000 · Arts & CultureMINNESOTA PU…MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $259,000 · Arts & CultureMINNESOTA HI…Tacoma Art Museum: $215,000 · Arts & CultureTacoma Art M…The Arts Partnership: $100,000 · Arts & CultureThe Arts Par…MINNESOTA LAKES MARITIME SOCIETY: $75,413 · Arts & CultureDENVER ART MUSEUM: $62,500 · Arts & CultureMinnesota Children's Museum: $55,000 · Arts & CultureAVON HILLS FOLK SCHOOL: $55,000 · Arts & CulturePUBLIC BROADCASTING OF COLORADO INC: $52,500 · Arts & Culture+14 more: $311,698 · Arts & Culture+14 moreTHOMAS IRVINE DODGE NATURE CENTER: $275,000 · OtherTHOMAS IRVIN…ANNIE WRIGHT SCHOOLS: $153,170 · OtherANNIE WRIGHT…DENVER HEALTH AND HOSPITALS FOUNDATION: $75,000 · OtherST JOHN'S ABBEY WOODWORKING: $75,000 · OtherCHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF TACOMA - GREENTRIKE: $75,000 · OtherYALE UNIVERSITY: $69,625 · OtherThe Family Partnership: $100,000 · OtherThe Family P…INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MINNESOTA: $75,000 · OtherGREAT RIVER GREENING: $55,000 · Other+44 more: $619,408 · Other+44 moreMINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM FOUNDATION: $405,000 · EnvironmentFRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER: $210,000 · EnvironmentWILDERNESS INQUIRY INC: $116,000 · EnvironmentMISSISSIPPI PARK CONNECTION: $110,000 · EnvironmentMINNESOTA LAND TRUST: $100,000 · EnvironmentWOLF RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING CENTER: $50,000 · EnvironmentLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $48,420 · Environment+10 more: $93,692 · EnvironmentST PAUL ACADEMY AND SUMMIT SCHOOL: $453,958 · EducationTHE COLORADO COLLEGE: $50,000 · EducationCARLETON COLLEGE: $45,000 · EducationTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $30,500 · EducationUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $30,000 · Education+12 more: $165,500 · EducationNEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $350,000 · Community ImprovementFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $37,212 · Community ImprovementNEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE INC: $20,000 · Community ImprovementCOMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER INC: $20,000 · Community ImprovementMULTICARE FOUNDATIONS: $100,000 · HealthPLANNED PARENTHOOD NORTH CENTRAL STATES: $65,000 · HealthCitizens United for Research in Epilepsy: $50,000 · HealthAMERICAN ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS FDN: $25,000 · HealthCOURAGEOUS PARENTS NETWORKINC: $25,000 · HealthTHE CAMERON AND HAYDEN LORD FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Health+2 more: $10,608 · Health
Philanthropy$8,533,650Arts & Culture$1,541,111Other$1,572,203Environment$1,133,112Education$774,958Community Improvement$427,212Health$300,608

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 budgetAMERICAN ENDOWMENT FOUNDATION: $8,050,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetST PAUL ACADEMY AND SUMMIT SCHOOL: $453,958 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetMINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM FOUNDATION: $405,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $355,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetNEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE: $350,000 over 5y, 1.1% of budgetTHOMAS IRVINE DODGE NATURE CENTER: $275,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetMINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $259,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetCOMMUNITYGIVING: $252,500 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetTacoma Art Museum: $215,000 over 4y, 10% of budgetFRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER: $210,000 over 5y, 2.3% of budgetANNIE WRIGHT SCHOOLS: $153,170 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetWILDERNESS INQUIRY INC: $116,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetMISSISSIPPI PARK CONNECTION: $110,000 over 2y, 8.6% of budgetGREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $105,000 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetMULTICARE FOUNDATIONS: $100,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetThe Family Partnership: $100,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetThe Arts Partnership: $100,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetMINNESOTA LAND TRUST: $100,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetMINNESOTA LAKES MARITIME SOCIETY: $75,413 over 4y, 6.2% of budgetDENVER HEALTH AND HOSPITALS FOUNDATION: $75,000 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetINTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MINNESOTA: $75,000 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetPLANNED PARENTHOOD NORTH CENTRAL STATES: $65,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetDENVER ART MUSEUM: $62,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetGREAT RIVER GREENING: $55,000 over 5y, 0.4% of budgetMinnesota Children's Museum: $55,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetAVON HILLS FOLK SCHOOL: $55,000 over 4y, 10.0% of budgetPUBLIC BROADCASTING OF COLORADO INC: $52,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE DENVER FOUNDATION: $51,150 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCitizens United for Research in Epilepsy: $50,000 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetMINNESOTA MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: $50,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetWOLF RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING CENTER: $50,000 over 1y, 2.9% of budgetTHE COLORADO COLLEGE: $50,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetLEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS EDUCATION FUND: $48,420 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetCARLETON COLLEGE: $45,000 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CAMARGO FOUNDATION: $45,000 over 5y, 1.7% of budgetRUNESTONE MUSEUM FOUNDATION: $45,000 over 1y, 21% of budgetMinnesota Council on Foundations: $40,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetAsia Pacific Cultural Center: $37,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetFIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND: $37,212 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetMILKWEED EDITIONS INC: $36,500 over 3y, 0.4% of budgetMinnesota African American Hertiage Museum and Gallery: $34,500 over 5y, 9.8% of budgetWestern Resource Advocates: $32,990 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SAN LUIS VALLEY: $31,000 over 4y, 16% of budgetTHE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY: $30,500 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetNATIVE GOVERNANCE CENTER: $30,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $30,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetTHE BRIDGE FOR YOUTH: $30,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetSCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA: $25,000 over 5y, 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.

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 McKnight Foundati…Saint Paul & Minnesot…Hardenbergh FoundationPatrick and Aimee But…Fred C and Katherine …Fr Bigelow FoundationOtto Bremer TrustMortenson Family Foun…William Boss Foundati…Longview FoundationHrk Foundation
The Minneapolis FoundationMN45.7× affinity30 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Minneapolis Foundation · The McKnight Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · Hardenbergh Foundation · Patrick and Aimee Butler Family · Fred C and Katherine B Andersen Foundation · Fr Bigelow Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust · Mortenson Family Foundation · William Boss Foundation · Longview Foundation · Hrk 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 Driscoll Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Driscoll Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 40%2%6%14%25%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 0%
  • Bennington College Corporation: 0% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
4get no government money at all
26report 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 Driscoll Foundation?

Find your warmest path to Driscoll 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 132 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 Driscoll’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