Skip to content
Foundation Dossiers

Minnesota · Private foundation

General Mills Foundation

Its FY2021 filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and did not take unsolicited requests; check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.

$29M
Granted FY2021
66
Grants FY2021
60
Organizations funded FY2021
Read the full brief

Read this first · the figures below need context

89% of General Mills Foundation’s FY2021 grant dollars went to Charities Aid Foundation America, not to grantees.

Its money now reaches organizations through that sponsor, which does not report who recommended each grant. FY2021 names 55 organizations directly, so a portfolio cannot be read from it.

Median grant, FY2021
$35,000
Largest grant, FY2021
$25,023,040
States reached, FY2021
5
Applications
Preselected organizations only
Per its most recent filing; check its own site

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2021 to FY2021, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Partners in Food Solutions$550,000117%
Second Harvest Heartland$250,00010%
United Negro College Fund Inc$225,00010%
Greater Twin Cities United Way$100,00010%
Northside Achievement Zone$100,00010%
University of Minnesota Foundation$95,00010%
Food Group Minnesota Inc The$95,00011%
Way to Grow$90,00013%
Pillsbury United Communities$75,00010%
Minnesota Historical Society$75,00010%
Show all 55 grantees
All grantees of General Mills Foundation by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Partners in Food Solutions$550,000117%
Second Harvest Heartland$250,00010%
United Negro College Fund Inc$225,00010%
Greater Twin Cities United Way$100,00010%
Northside Achievement Zone$100,00010%
University of Minnesota Foundation$95,00010%
Food Group Minnesota Inc The$95,00011%
Way to Grow$90,00013%
Pillsbury United Communities$75,00010%
Minnesota Historical Society$75,00010%
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities$60,00011%
Community Emergency Assistance Programs Inc$55,00011%
Washburn Center for Children$50,00010%
Communidades Latinas Unidas En Servico Inc$50,00010%
Youthprise$50,00010%
Achieve Twin Cities$50,0001n/a
Cristo Rey Jesuit High School$50,0001n/a
Urban Ventures Leadership Foundation$50,00011%
Great Mn Schools$50,00011%
Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches$50,00012%
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities$50,00011%
Twin Cities Rise$50,00012%
Capi USA$40,00011%
The Brandlab$40,00011%
Hunger Impact Partners$40,00019%
Youth Farm and Market Project$40,00016%
Bestprep$40,00012%
Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board$35,0001n/a
Ed Allies$35,00014%
Hiawatha Academies$30,00010%
NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center Inc$30,00010%
Mill City Farmers Market Charitable Fund$30,000111%
Metro Meals on Wheels Inc$30,00010%
Open Arms of Minnesota$30,00010%
Northside Economic Opportunity Network$30,00011%
Division of Indian Work$30,00011%
Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners$30,00010%
Perspectives Inc$25,00011%
KIPP Minnesota$25,00010%
Junior Achievement North$25,00011%
YWCA of Minneapolis$25,00010%
Help at Your Door$25,00012%
AFSA High School - Charter School No 407$25,00010%
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Foundation$25,00010%
Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery$25,00011%
The Cookie Cart$25,00012%
Loaves and Fishes Too$25,00010%
Reading Partners$20,00010%
Dunwoody College of Technology$20,00010%
People Serving People Inc$20,00010%
Centro Tyrone Guzman$15,00011%
Minnesota Academy of Science$13,00015%
Prepare and Prosper$13,00011%
Propel Nonprofits$12,50010%
Citizens League$10,00011%

Plus 5 recipients with no EIN on record ($175k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Each grantee by its size and the share of its budget General Mills Foundation supplied at peak.

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetPartners in Food Solutions: $550,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetSecond Harvest Heartland: $250,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetUnited Negro College Fund Inc: $225,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGreater Twin Cities United Way: $100,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetNorthside Achievement Zone: $100,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetUniversity of Minnesota Foundation: $95,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetFood Group Minnesota Inc The: $95,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetWay to Grow: $90,000 over 1y, 2.6% of budgetPillsbury United Communities: $75,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetMinnesota Historical Society: $75,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetBig Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities: $60,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCommunity Emergency Assistance Programs Inc: $55,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetWashburn Center for Children: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCommunidades Latinas Unidas En Servico Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetYouthprise: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetUrban Ventures Leadership Foundation: $50,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetGreat Mn Schools: $50,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetGreater Minneapolis Council of Churches: $50,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetBoys and Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities: $50,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetTwin Cities Rise: $50,000 over 1y, 1.8% of budgetCapi USA: $40,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetThe Brandlab: $40,000 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetHunger Impact Partners: $40,000 over 1y, 8.7% of budgetYouth Farm and Market Project: $40,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetBestprep: $40,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetEd Allies: $35,000 over 1y, 3.6% of budgetHiawatha Academies: $30,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetNorthPoint Health and Wellness Center Inc: $30,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMill City Farmers Market Charitable Fund: $30,000 over 1y, 11% of budgetMetro Meals on Wheels Inc: $30,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetOpen Arms of Minnesota: $30,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetNorthside Economic Opportunity Network: $30,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetDivision of Indian Work: $30,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetInterfaith Outreach and Community Partners: $30,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetPerspectives Inc: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetKIPP Minnesota: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetJunior Achievement North: $25,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetYWCA of Minneapolis: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHelp at Your Door: $25,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetAFSA High School - Charter School No 407: $25,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetMinnesota Landscape Arboretum Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetGreater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery: $25,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetThe Cookie Cart: $25,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetLoaves and Fishes Too: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetReading Partners: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetDunwoody College of Technology: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetPeople Serving People Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCentro Tyrone Guzman: $15,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 52.

Nonprofits that may fit its grantmaking

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.

Saint Paul & Minnesot…The Minneapolis Found…Otto Bremer TrustThe Richard M Schulze…Greater Twin Cities U…Mightycause Charitabl…Cargill FoundationMortenson Family Foun…Land O'Lakes Foundati…Ch Robinson Worldwide…Xcel Energy FoundationTarget Foundation
Saint Paul & Minnesota FoundationMN57.2× affinity30 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The Minneapolis Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust · The Richard M Schulze Family Foundation · Greater Twin Cities United Way · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Cargill Foundation · Mortenson Family Foundation · Land O'Lakes Foundation · Ch Robinson Worldwide Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Target 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.

Compare General Mills Foundation with peer funders

Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

How do I get to General Mills Foundation?

Find your warmest path to General Mills 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.

About General Mills Foundation

How much does General Mills Foundation give?
General Mills Foundation reported 66 grants totaling $28,945,341 in its FY2021 IRS filing.
What does General Mills Foundation fund?
By grant dollars over FY2021 to FY2021, its largest causes are International (87%), Food & Nutrition (4%), Philanthropy (2%).
Who are General Mills Foundation's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2021 to FY2021: Partners in Food Solutions ($550k), Second Harvest Heartland ($250k), United Negro College Fund Inc ($225k).
Does General Mills Foundation accept unsolicited applications?
Its most recent filing reports that it funds preselected organizations and does not take unsolicited requests. Check the foundation's own site before ruling it out.
Which funders back the same organizations as General Mills Foundation?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation, Otto Bremer Trust.
Where is General Mills Foundation based?
General Mills Foundation is based in MN.

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 63 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 2021, released 2021. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on General Mills’ 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