· Private foundation
Firefly Scientists 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2024
- Under $10k1 grant · $3k
- $10k–50k18 grants · $533k
- $50k–250k27 grants · $2.1M
- $250k+3 grants · $1.0M
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| MINNESOTA OPERA | $450,000 |
| JEWISH NATIONAL FUND | $300,000 |
| DODGE NATURE CENTER | $250,000 |
| LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY | $200,000 |
| CLASSICAL TAHOE | $187,000 |
| WALKER WEST MUSIC ACADEMY | $125,000 |
| HUGS CAFE | $125,000 |
| ACCESS ABILITY WI INC | $121,000 |
| FRIENDS OF THE ARAVA INSTITUTE | $100,000 |
| HIGHLAND FRIENDSHIP CLUB | $85,000 |
| ARTISTS BREAKING LIMITS & EXPECTATIONS | $85,000 |
| YOUNG DANCE | $80,000 |
| PARTNERSHIP RESOURCES INC | $75,000 |
| MI WORK MATTERS | $70,000 |
| SPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS | $70,000 |
Does the money reach high-need areas?
Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.
Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $3.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 8%. 99% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.
How this is measured
Which US states its grants reach
How this is measured
Where the work is directed
The same grants placed two ways: where each recipient sits, and where its stated purpose sends the money.
About 7% of Firefly Scientists Foundation’s grant dollars are earmarked for a different county than the recipient’s own address.
How this is measured
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +23% since the first grant, against +17% for those funded once.
59 repeat relationships: 19 still active in FY2024, 40 since wound down; 28 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).
How the two cohorts compare
Organizations
Total granted
Median revenue growth · since first grant
Still filing today
New vs renewed · share of each year
In FY2024, 56% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $1.4M went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- CTCLASSICAL TAHOE7× · 2017–2024 · $1.0M · revenue +136%
- WIWILDERNESS INQUIRY INC5× · 2017–2024 · $578k · revenue +150%
- WWWALKER WEST MUSIC ACADEMY5× · 2019–2024 · $378k · revenue +882%
Funded once
- MJMINNESOTA JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTERone grant, 2022 · $1.2M · revenue -1%
- MMMEG MEMORIAL FUND FOR CREATIVE ARTSone grant, 2017 · $680k
- MMMEG MEMORIAL DONOR ADVISED FUND - FIDELITYone grant, 2022 · $650k
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.
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.
Minnesota fringe connects adventurous artists with adventurous audiences by creating open, supportive forums for free and diverse artistic expression.
Connectability of mn, inc. works to advance the independence, productivity, and full citizenship of people experiencing physical or invisible barriers.
The mission of groves learning organization is to build confidence and success for learners, particularly those with learning differences such as dyslexia, adhd and executive function challenges. through research-based approaches and…
Interact center for the visual and performing arts offers professionally rigorous visual and performing arts programs to adults with disabilities. in the spirit of radical inclusion, interact is a multi-cultural art center that embraces…
Together, we create a warm and welcoming community enriching the lives of those we support.
Lifeworks' mission is to partner with people with disabilities to drive change by increasing opportunity and access in the community.
Providing innovative and life-enriching services for children, adolescents, and adults with disabilities.
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…
Empower people with special needs to achieve their full potential through innovative, inclusive programs and community partnerships.
Empowering people of all abilities to reach their full potential. we provide individualized services that maximize independence, boosts community engagement and improves physical and emotional well-being.
Arts Midwest works collaboratively with private and public arts supporters to support, inform, and celebrate arts organizations and creative communities across the Midwest. Our mission is to build unprecedented opportunity across the…
A performing arts circus school dedicated to inspiring artistry and confidence.
How this is measured
123 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. 123 of the 169 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.
Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee
Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing
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 The Minnesota Opera ↗
- Who funds MINNESOTA JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER ↗
- Who funds CLASSICAL TAHOE ↗
- Who funds THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY ↗
- Who funds JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (KEREN KAYEMETH LEISRAEL) INC ↗
- Who funds REVE ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds TRUSTEES OF THE HAMLINE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ↗
- Who funds THOMAS IRVINE DODGE NATURE CENTER ↗
- Who funds WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC ↗
- Who funds J-HAP INC ↗
- Who funds KAIROS ALIVE ↗
- Who funds WALKER WEST MUSIC ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds THE VILLAGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF ARAVA THE INSTITUTE LTD ↗
- Who funds UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds RIVER VALLEY RIDERS ↗
- Who funds BESTPREP ↗
- Who funds Elpis Enterprises ↗
- Who funds OPEN ARMS OF MINNESOTA ↗
- Who funds YOUTH FRONTIERS INC ↗
- Who funds MINNESOTA INDEPENDENCE COLLEGE AND COMMUNITY ↗
- Who funds THE CROWN CENTER INC ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF THE HENNEPIN COUNTY LIBRARY ↗
- Who funds SPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS ↗
- Who funds HIGHLAND FRIENDSHIP CLUB ↗
- Who funds CHANNEL 5 PUBLIC BROADCASTING INC ↗
- Who funds Farmsteads of New England 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.
Open a dossier: Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The Minneapolis Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust · Fr Bigelow Foundation · The Richard M Schulze Family Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · The K Foundation · Hardenbergh Foundation · Hb Fuller Company Foundation · The Walser Foundation · Pohlad Family Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Firefly Scientists Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Firefly Scientists Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Sarah Bellums Bakery & Workshop: 1% of income from government
How this is measured
Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus
How do I get to Firefly Scientists Foundation?
Find your warmest path to Firefly Scientists 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.
Play a game based on Firefly Scientists’ filings →