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Kowalski's 4 Kids at a glanceAlso receives grants: funding profile →

· Public charity

Kowalski's 4 Kids

KOWALSKI'S 4 KIDS is organized to raise funds for the benefit of children.

$563k
Granted FY2025still arriving
3
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$400k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2024.

Health$1.1MYouth Development$550kHuman Services$300kFood & Nutrition$113kEducation$10k
02FY2025 · 3 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $50k–250k2 grants · $163k
  • $250k+1 grant · $400k
$100,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTE$400,000
HAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION$100,000
THE HUMANITY ALLIANCE$62,500
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:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY17–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 10%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 82% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%THE HUMANITY ALLIANCE: $63k → 5%HAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION: $100k → 5%NEW HEIGHTS SCHOOL: $10k → 6%BEST CHRISTMAS EVER: $100k → 10%AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTE: $400k → 11%RUMSEY FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND: $25k → 14%THE HUMANITY ALLIANCE: $63k → 5%HAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION: $100k → 5%BEST CHRISTMAS EVER: $100k → 10%AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTE: $100k → 11%BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE TWIN CITIES: $100k → 14%THE HUMANITY ALLIANCE: $50k → 5%HAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION: $100k → 5%BEST CHRISTMAS EVER: $100k → 10%WASHBURN CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $100k → 11%BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE TWIN CITIES: $100k → 14%AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTE: $100k → 11%BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF THE TWIN CITIES: $100k → 14%WASHBURN CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $100k → 11%AFRICAN AMERICANN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTE INC: $75k → 11%WASHBURN CENTER FOR CHILDREN: $100k → 11%TREE HOUSE: $100k → 11%TREE HOUSE: $100k → 11%TREE HOUSE: $100k → 11%COOKIE CART: $150k → 11%COOKIE CART: $50k → 11%COOKIE CART: $50k → 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.
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.

96%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$2.5M · 8 repeat orgs$110k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +8% since the first grant, against -15% for those funded once.

8 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

8
3

Total granted

$2.5M
$110k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+8%
-15%

Still filing today

100%
33%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 100% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $0 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
HealthYouth DevelopmentCommunity ImprovementEducationOther
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

  • AA
    AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTE
    3× · 2023–2025 · $600k · revenue +43%
  • WC
    Washburn Center for Children
    3× · 2020–2022 · $300k · revenue +37%
  • BA
    BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF THE TWIN CITIES
    3× · 2017–2019 · $300k · revenue +42%

Funded once

  • AA
    AFRICAN AMERICANN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTE INC
    one grant, 2021 · $75k
  • RF
    RUMSEY FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND
    one grant, 2019 · $25k
  • NH
    NEW HEIGHTS SCHOOLS INC
    one grant, 2024 · $10k · revenue -15%
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
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
2
Association House of Chicago

Association house's mission is to advance each person's full participation in the life of their families, communities, and society. since 1899, we have served a vibrant, multicultural community. we used a trauma informed, culturally…

Human Services
3
Minnesota Chapter of the National Childrens Alliance

The Minnesota Children's Alliance leads the development and growth of locally based children's advocacy centers and multidisciplinary teams to ensure equitable access to services for healing and growth.

Crime & Legal
4
Center for Youth Mental Health

The Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health exists to expand access to quality evidence-based youth mental health support as quickly as possible.

Health
5
Minnesota Teen Challenge Inc

Our mission is to assist teens and adults in gaining freedom from chemical addictions and other life controlling problems by addressing their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Health
6
Solutions Behavioral Healthcare Professionals Pc

Our mission is to provide high quality, accessible mental health and human services which are:-Rooted in the belief that change is possible-Person-centered and designed to empower independence-Technically sound and informed by…

Health
7
Central Minnesota Jobs and Training Services Inc

Strengthen central mn communities through leadership in workforce excellence.

—
8
Mothers Tutoring Academy

Mothers Tutoring Academy (MTA) is a non-profit and an after-school tutoring institution founded on the tenets of the bylaws of the State of Minnesota. It's co-educational where both genders sit and study together and an inclusive school…

Education
9
Level Up Academy

By tapping the intrinsic motivation and curiosity of every child, we deliver higher than usual growth.

Education
10
Child & Adolescent Behavioral Health

We are the premier childrens mental health agency that reduces the suffering experienced by children who have emotional problems related to depression, anxiety, and behavior like adhd. untreated, these problems can lead to failure in…

—
11
The Family Institute

Our mission is to strengthen and heal families and individuals from all walks of life through clinical service, education and research.

—
12
Youthprise

Youthprise is a nonprofit intermediary that invests in the future of Minnesota by investing in youth. Youthprise's mission is to increase equity with and for Minnesota's indigenous, low-income, and racially diverse youth.

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Treehouse Inc; the most unlike its peers is The Humanity Alliance. 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

9 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. 9 of the 11 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)
0
Early backer (in before they grew)
9/9
Grantees still filing
5/9
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTE: $600,000 · HealthAFRICAN AMERICAN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTEWashburn Center for Children: $300,000 · HealthWashburn Center for ChildrenTREEHOUSE INC: $300,000 · HealthTREEHOUSE INCHAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION: $300,000 · HealthHAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATIONBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF THE TWIN CITIES: $300,000 · Youth DevelopmentBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF…The Cookie Cart: $250,000 · Youth DevelopmentThe Cookie CartBEST CHRISTMAS EVER INC: $300,000 · OtherBEST CHRISTMAS EV…AFRICAN AMERICANN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTE INC: $75,000 · OtherAFRICAN AMERICANN…RUMSEY FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND: $25,000 · OtherRUMSEY FAMILY END…The Humanity Alliance: $175,000 · Community ImprovementNEW HEIGHTS SCHOOLS INC: $10,000 · Education
Health$1,500,000Youth Development$550,000Other$400,000Community Improvement$175,000Education$10,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetAFRICAN AMERICAN CHILD WELLNESS INSTITUTE: $600,000 over 3y, 3.7% of budgetWashburn Center for Children: $300,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetBOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF THE TWIN CITIES: $300,000 over 3y, 1.8% of budgetTREEHOUSE INC: $300,000 over 3y, 2.8% of budgetBEST CHRISTMAS EVER INC: $300,000 over 3y, 5.5% of budgetHAZELDEN BETTY FORD FOUNDATION: $300,000 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetThe Cookie Cart: $250,000 over 3y, 5.2% of budgetThe Humanity Alliance: $175,000 over 3y, 7.9% of budgetNEW HEIGHTS SCHOOLS INC: $10,000 over 1y, 0.5% 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.

Saint Paul & Minnesot…Amazonsmile Foundation
Saint Paul & Minnesota FoundationMN13.3× affinity4 shared granteesties to 1 of 1Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · Amazonsmile 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 Kowalski's 4 Kids funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Kowalski's 4 Kids. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%3%6%10%funder's share of their income ↑0%6%13%19%25%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    4report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–25%
    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 Kowalski's 4 Kids?

    Find your warmest path to Kowalski's 4 Kids 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 11 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 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 Kowalski's 4 Kids’ 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