Skip to content
Plinth
Foundation DossiersMostly funded, not a grantmaker — see who funds it →
Plinth

· Public charity

Essentia Health Foundation

We are called to make a healthy difference in people's lives.

$1.3M
Granted FY2025still arriving
12
Grants FY2025still arriving
3
States reached
$263k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01100% classified

What you funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year — across FY2017–2025.

Health$32MHuman Services$110kYouth Development$76kFood & Nutrition$65kCrime & Legal$56kRecreation & Sports$54kPublic Safety & Disaster$36kCommunity Improvement$25kOther$0
02FY2025 · 12 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

The 12 grants below total $932,166 — the rows itemised in this filing. The $1,313,702 headline is the total grant expense reported on the return, so the remaining $381,536 is giving the schedule does not break out: grants under the $5,000 itemisation floor, grants to individuals, and grants reported on other schedules. Every figure below describes the itemised rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k4 grants · $23k
  • $10k–50k4 grants · $82k
  • $50k–250k3 grants · $564k
  • $250k+1 grant · $263k
$18,000
Median grant
3
States reached
$26M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
SMDC MEDICAL CENTER$263,188
ST MARY'S REGIONAL HEALTH CENTER$213,859
INNOVIS HEALTH LLC$193,745
ST JOSEPH'S MEDICAL CENTER$156,148
ST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER$33,667
ELY COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER$18,000
ESSENTIA INSTITUTE OF RURAL HEALTH$17,581
BRIDGES MEDICAL CENTER$12,589
ESSENTIA HEALTH$6,818
ADALYN ROSE FOUNDATION$6,000
GRACEVILLE HEALTH CENTER$5,341
ESSENTIA HEALTH MOOSE LAKE$5,230
02The need
03

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, then read against the area’s typical level.

show:

Your human-services grants (FY17–25, $158k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of your grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%LETS GO FISHING: $6k → 9%HORIZON HEALTH INC: $11k → 10%LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF MINNESOTA: $8k → 14%ADALYN ROSE FOUNDATION: $6k → 11%AMERICAN RED CROSS: $10k → 14%HORIZON HEALTH INC: $10k → 10%HORIZON HEALTH INC: $9k → 10%LAKES AREA FOOD SHELF: $13k → 14%HORIZON HEALTH INC: $6k → 10%BRAINERD FAMILY YMCA: $21k → 11%MID MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CENTER: $10k → 11%TRUE NORTH RANCH MINISTRIES INC: $10k → 11%TRUE NORTH RANCH MINISTRIES INC: $8k → 11%TRUE NORTH MINISTRIES INC: $7k → 11%TRUE NORTH MINSTRIES INC: $6k → 11%LAKES AREA INTERFAITH VOLUNTEERS: $10k → 11%LAKES AREA FOOD SHELF: $8k → 11%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount

Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty linein the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP; grantee ZIP can differ from where services are delivered.

US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are actually delivered. Need from public data — U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA — shown as context about the area, never attributed to your giving.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

98%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
$32M · 22 repeat orgs$573k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +54% since the first grant, against +39% for the ones you funded once.

22 repeat relationships — 10 still active in FY2025, 12 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

22
36

Total granted

$32M
$549k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+54%
+39%

Still filing today

95%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 97% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $24k 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
HealthHuman ServicesRecreation & SportsCommunity ImprovementCrime & LegalEducationOther

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). 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
    SMDC MEDICAL CENTER
    9× · 2017–2025 · $17M · revenue +68%
  • SM
    ST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER
    9× · 2017–2025 · $4.2M · revenue +37%
  • SJ
    ST JOSEPH'S MEDICAL CENTER
    9× · 2017–2025 · $2.6M · revenue +54%

Funded once

  • CV
    CLEARWATER VALLEY HOSPITAL AND CLINICS INCgraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $125k · revenue +157%
  • SM
    ST MARY'S HOSPITAL INCgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $100k · revenue +39%
  • YM
    YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF BRAINERDgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $21k · revenue +59%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matchesthat aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Deer River Healthcare Center Inc

We are called to make a healthy difference in people's lives.

Health
2
Essentia Health Foundation

We are called to make a healthy difference in people's lives.

Health
3
First Care Medical Services

We are called to make a healthy difference in people's lives.

Health
4
Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare

Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare follows the mission of Endeavor Health to "help everyone in our communities be their best."

Health
5
Endeavor Health Medical Group

Endeavor Health Medical Group (EHMG) follows the mission of Endeavor Health. The mission of Endeavor Health is to "help everyone in our communities be their best." Central to this mission is a commitment to providing clinical programs and…

Health
6
St Mary's Foundation Inc

Through our exceptional health care services, we reveal the healing presence of god.

—
7
Garrison Memorial Hospital

As an affiliate of commonspirit health, we make the healing presence of god known in our world by improving the health of the people we serve, especially those who are vulnerable, while we advance social justice for all.

Health
8
Benedictine Health System

We are a catholic, faith-based organization entrusted with advancing the life-enhancing senior care ministry of the benedictine sisters of duluth, minnesota. we witness to god's love by creating compassionate communities providing support…

Health
9
Enumclaw Regional Hospital Association

As an affiliate of commonspirit health, we make the healing presence of god known in our world by improving the health of the people we serve, especially those who are vulnerable, while we advance social justice for all.

Health
10
Alegent Health-Mercy Hospital Corning Ia

As an affiliate of commonspirit health, we make the healing presence of god known in our world by improving the health of the people we serve, especially those who are vulnerable, while we advance social justice for all.

Health
11
Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare

Elmhurst memorial healthcare follows the mission of endeavor health. the mission of endeavor health is to "help everyone in our communities be their best." central to this mission is a commitment to providing clinical programs and services…

Health
12
Trinity Health & Affiliates

Trinity health is committed to preserving and improving the quality of health of the people we serve. our mission is to excel at meeting the needs of the whole person through the provision of quality health care and health related services.

Health

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Bridges Medical Center and the most unlike its peers is Ada Scholarship Foundation Inc. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

Your grantees are a median of 31 years old; the field is 22. You back the established end — and your money leans older still.

THE FIELDby orgYOUR GRANTEESby number17%4%<5yr11%7%5–10yr19%20%10–20yr18%29%20–35yr17%18%35–55yr18%22%55yr+
THE FIELDby orgYOUR MONEYby value17%0%<5yr11%0%5–10yr19%12%10–20yr18%56%20–35yr17%8%35–55yr18%24%55yr+

The field is 17% startups (under 5 years old) — 4% of your grantees by number, and just 0% of your money.

Closures · last 5 years

The orgs you fund almost never close — 0.0% lost their exemption, against 9% of the field you don’t fund.

orgs you fund
0.0%0/63
the rest of the field
9%
683/7,315

Age = years since IRS exemption (a founding proxy). “Closed” = auto-revocation for 3 years of non-filing — a floor on closure, not proof, and bigger established orgs lapse least. Association, not causation.

04the grantee network

51 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each one resolved to its own IRS returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2025, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 51 of the 61 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
12
Early backer (in before they grew)
51/51
Grantees still filing
40/51
Grew since you first funded

Where your money sits — by cause, then by grantee

SMDC MEDICAL CENTER — $17,495,492 · HealthSMDC MEDICAL CENTERST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER — $4,248,270 · HealthST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTERST JOSEPH'S MEDICAL CENTER — $2,638,973 · HealthST JOSEPH'S MEDICAL CENTERST MARY'S REGIONAL HEALTH CENTER — $2,251,681 · HealthST MARY'S REGIONAL HEALTH CENTERINNOVIS HEALTH LLC — $2,235,786 · HealthINNOVIS HEALTH LLCESSENTIA INSTITUTE OF RURAL HEALTH — $1,543,564 · Health+16 more — $1,195,046 · HealthST MARY'S HOSPITAL OF SUPERIOR — $119,084 · OtherMOOSE LAKE TOWNSHIP — $58,924 · OtherSECOND HARVEST NORTH CENTRAL FOOD BANK — $20,000 · OtherADA SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC — $16,139 · Other+18 more — $147,279 · OtherHORIZON HEALTH INC — $36,368 · Human ServicesTRUE NORTH MINISTRIES INC — $30,258 · Human ServicesYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF BRAINERD — $21,257 · Human ServicesLAKES AREA FOOD SHELF — $20,000 · Human ServicesLAKES AREA INTERFAITH CAREGIVERS — $10,000 · Human ServicesMID-MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CENTER INC — $10,000 · Human ServicesAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $10,000 · Human ServicesLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE OF MINNESOTA — $8,400 · Human ServicesADALYN ROSE FOUNDATION — $6,000 · Human ServicesLets Go Fishing — $5,680 · Human ServicesCROW WING COUNTY VICTIM SERVICES — $19,500 · Community ImprovementCOMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL OF CROW WING COUNTY — $15,000 · Community ImprovementINITIATIVE FOUNDATION — $10,000 · Community ImprovementMOUNTED EAGLES INC — $29,905 · Recreation & SportsCAMP ODAYIN — $7,500 · Recreation & SportsLAKES AREA RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROJECT — $27,500 · PhilanthropyOUTREACH PROGRAM OF BRAINERD LAKES — $10,000 · Food & Nutrition
Health$31,608,812Other$361,426Human Services$157,963Community Improvement$44,500Recreation & Sports$37,405Philanthropy$27,500Food & Nutrition$10,000

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetSMDC MEDICAL CENTER — $17,495,492 over 9y, 2.0% of budgetST MARY'S MEDICAL CENTER — $4,248,270 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetST JOSEPH'S MEDICAL CENTER — $2,638,973 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetST MARY'S REGIONAL HEALTH CENTER — $2,251,681 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetINNOVIS HEALTH LLC — $2,235,786 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetESSENTIA INSTITUTE OF RURAL HEALTH — $1,543,564 over 9y, 3.8% of budgetGRACEVILLE HEALTH CENTER — $483,246 over 8y, 3.2% of budgetESSENTIA HEALTH — $143,658 over 7y, 0.0% of budgetCLEARWATER VALLEY HOSPITAL AND CLINICS INC — $125,000 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetST MARY'S HOSPITAL OF SUPERIOR — $119,084 over 6y, 0.1% of budgetST MARY'S HOSPITAL INC — $100,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetBRIDGES MEDICAL CENTER — $76,960 over 7y, 0.2% of budgetST MARY'S INNOVIS HEALTH — $70,263 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetTHE DULUTH CLINIC LTD — $59,519 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetESSENTIA HEALTH MOOSE LAKE — $41,194 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetHORIZON HEALTH INC — $36,368 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetTRUE NORTH MINISTRIES INC — $30,258 over 4y, 17% of budgetMOUNTED EAGLES INC — $29,905 over 2y, 24% of budgetLAKES AREA RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROJECT — $27,500 over 3y, 5.5% of budgetYOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF BRAINERD — $21,257 over 1y, 1.0% of budgetLAKES AREA FOOD SHELF — $20,000 over 2y, 2.0% of budgetSEXUAL ASSAULT SERVICES INC — $20,000 over 1y, 7.3% of budgetSECOND HARVEST NORTH CENTRAL FOOD BANK — $20,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetCROW WING COUNTY VICTIM SERVICES — $19,500 over 2y, 6.6% of budgetELY COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER — $18,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetADA SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION INC — $16,139 over 1y, 12% of budgetCOMMUNITY ACTION COUNCIL OF CROW WING COUNTY — $15,000 over 1y, 6.4% of budgetST MARY'S EMS — $14,184 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetCRISIS LINE AND REFERRAL SERVICE — $10,000 over 1y, 6.6% of budgetOUTREACH PROGRAM OF BRAINERD LAKES — $10,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetLAKES AREA HABITAT FOR HUMANITY — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetLAKES AREA INTERFAITH CAREGIVERS — $10,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetINITIATIVE FOUNDATION — $10,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMID-MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CENTER INC — $10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetSPROUT MN — $10,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetBRIDGES OF HOPE — $10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetAmerican National Red Cross & Its Constituent Chapters and Branches — $10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetKINSHIP PARTNERS INC — $10,000 over 1y, 4.3% of budgetOSTARA INITIATIVE — $9,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetLUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICE OF MINNESOTA — $8,400 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNORTHERN PINES MEDICAL CENTER — $8,072 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPINE MEDICAL CENTER — $7,650 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetCAMP ODAYIN — $7,500 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetPOLINSKY MEDICAL REHABILITATION CENTER — $7,300 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetJUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT NORTH — $7,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION — $7,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetBrainerd Lakes BMX Association Inc — $6,950 over 1y, 8.8% of budgetPINE EMS INC — $6,000 over 1y, 10% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

CommunitygivingOtto Bremer TrustInitiative FoundationE W Hallett Charitabl…Crow Wing Power Commu…The Anderson Family L…Minnesota Power Found…Mardag FoundationUcare FoundationSmdc Medical CenterMedica FoundationC K Blandin Foundation
CommunitygivingMN39× affinity18 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Communitygiving · Otto Bremer Trust · Initiative Foundation · E W Hallett Charitable Tr Ua · Crow Wing Power Community Trust · The Anderson Family Legacy Foundation · Minnesota Power Foundation · Mardag Foundation · Ucare Foundation · Smdc Medical Center · Medica Foundation · C K Blandin Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Government reliance of your grantees

Every dot is one organization Essentia Health Foundation funds. Left–right is the share of its income from government; up–down is the share from you. Bigger dots raise more. Filter to federal or a single department — and drag the year to watch it move.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%your share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    22report 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

    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 your grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first — a floor, not 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 12–24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from IRS e-file XML — your own 990/990-PF and the multi-year returns of the 61 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year)— each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III); we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your 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. How we build these →

    Generated from your IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    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 camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home
    State money flows
    the interactive map of money crossing state lines