· Private foundation
Michael J & Karen B Frey 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.
What it funded, over time
Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2019 to 2024.
Where the money goes
Grants by size, and the largest recipients.
By grant size · FY2025
- Under $10k29 grants · $59k
- $10k–50k6 grants · $127k
- $50k–250k5 grants · $320k
- $250k+1 grant · $250k
| Recipient | Amount |
|---|---|
| FRIENDS OF EDUCATION | $250,000 |
| UPPER MIDWEST LAW CENTER | $100,000 |
| PROVIDENCE ACADEMY | $70,000 |
| MINNESOTA VOTERS ALLIANCE | $50,000 |
| CENTER OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT | $50,000 |
| INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE | $50,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $25,000 |
| THE BASILLICA LANDMARK | $25,000 |
| WESTON COUNTY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT | $25,000 |
| ALPHA NEWS | $25,000 |
| Individual grant recipient | $17,000 |
| SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION | $10,000 |
| BREAKTHROUGH T1D | $6,000 |
| ST DAVID'S CENTER | $5,000 |
| ST PAUL'S CATHOLIC CHURCH | $5,000 |
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 (FY19–25, $4k) land where the poverty rate runs at 12%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 100% 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
Who it funds again
Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.
Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +36% since the first grant, against +21% for those funded once.
35 repeat relationships: 14 still active in FY2025, 21 since wound down; 25 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (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 FY2025, 86% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $107k went to new ones.
Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant
How this is measured
Backed again, and grew
- PAPROVIDENCE ACADEMY7× · 2019–2025 · $930k · revenue +36%
- FOFRIENDS OF EDUCATION4× · 2019–2025 · $542k · revenue +32%
- IFINSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE7× · 2019–2025 · $300k · revenue +57%
Funded once
- RMROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK FOUNDATION INCone grant, 2020 · $50k
- SJSAINT JOHN THE BAPTISTone grant, 2024 · $26k
- CCCROOK COUNTYone grant, 2022 · $25k
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.
To be the leading voice of medicine to make minnesota the healthiest state and the best place to practice.
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…
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…
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…
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,…
We believe that great schools are the cornerstone of a just and thriving community. ensuring that every child is able to attend a school that works is our moral and social imperative - our children deserve no less.
Mitchell hamline school of law is an independent law school that advances its mission through a combination of legal education, public service, and community engagement. it is dedicated to preparing students to practice law, while also…
The fsmb serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best…
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…
MCF is a vibrant philanthropic community connecting, strengthening and mobilizing the power of philanthropy to advance prosperity and equity.
The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.
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.
How this is measured
64 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2026.
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 2026, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 64 of the 119 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 PROVIDENCE ACADEMY ↗
- Who funds FRIENDS OF EDUCATION ↗
- Who funds INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE ↗
- Who funds UPPER MIDWEST LAW CENTER ↗
- Who funds MINNESOTA VOTERS ALLIANCE ↗
- Who funds ALPHA NEWS ↗
- Who funds Center of the American Experiment ↗
- Who funds FOLDS OF HONOR FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds EdChoice Inc ↗
- Who funds THE BASILICA LANDMARK ↗
- Who funds TREEHOUSE ↗
- Who funds FLAHERTY FAMILY FOUNDATION ↗
- Who funds TREEHOUSE INC ↗
- Who funds PERSPECTIVES INC ↗
- Who funds Children's HopeChest ↗
- Who funds BREAKTHROUGH T1D ↗
- Who funds The Banyan Foundation ↗
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: The Minneapolis Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · Pine Rock Foundation Inc · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota · Bieber Family Foundation · The Walser Foundation · The US Charitable Gift Trust · Xcel Energy Foundation · Mithun Family Foundation · United Way Worldwide · Pohlad Family Foundation
How this is measured
How much its grantees rely on government
Each dot is one organization Michael J & Karen B Frey Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Michael J & Karen B Frey Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.
- Naples Botanical Garden Inc: 3% of income from government
How this is measured
Play a game based on Michael J & Karen B Frey’s filings →