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Minnesota Independent School Forum at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Minnesota Independent School Forum

Minndependent connects and strengthens minnesota's private and independent schools through programming, partnerships and public policy so members can be student-centered and mission-driven.our vision is a vibrant educational ecosystem that promotes success for all minnesota students.we create meaningful professional development…

$196k
Granted FY2020
5
Grants FY2020
1
States reached
$7k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
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 2020.

Education$115k
02FY2020 · 5 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 5 grants below total $33,307, the rows itemized in this filing. The $196,458 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $163,151 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.
$6,615
Median grant
1
States reached
$960k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
ST JUDE OF THE LAKE$6,915
BENILDE-ST MARGARETT'S$6,825
SACRED HEART HIGH SCHOOL$6,615
SOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL$6,485
WEST LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL$6,467
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 (FY17–20) land where the poverty rate runs at 9%, against an area that typically sits at 6%. 83% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 6%SOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL: $7k → 5%ST JUDE OF THE LAKE: $7k → 6%ST JOSEPH'S SCHOOL: $9k → 6%SACRED HEART HIGH SCHOOL: $7k → 11%WEST LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL: $6k → 11%COTTER HIGH SCHOOL: $7k → 14%SOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL: $6k → 5%NEW LIFE ACADEMY EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC: $8k → 6%WEST LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL: $6k → 11%SOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL: $6k → 5%ACADEMY OF WHOLE LEARNING: $7k → 11%BENILDE-ST MARGARETT'S: $7k → 11%BENILDE ST MARGARET'S: $7k → 11%HEILICHER JEWISH DAY SCHOOL: $6k → 11%ACADEMY OF WHOLE LEARNING: $8k → 11%ACADEMY OF WHOLE LEARNING: $7k → 11%MARANATHA CHRISTIAN ACADEMY: $6k → 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.

58%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$67k · 4 repeat orgs$48k to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +301% since the first grant, against +162% for those funded once.

4 repeat relationships: 3 still active in FY2020, 1 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2020 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

4
5

Total granted

$67k
$35k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+301%
+162%

Still filing today

50%
60%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2020, 59% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $14k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20
RenewedFirst-time
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

  • FC
    FRANKLIN CENTER
    3× · 2017–2019 · $22k · revenue +301%
  • SC
    SOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL INC
    3× · 2018–2020 · $19k · revenue +115%
  • BS
    BENILDE ST MARGARETS HIGH SCHOOL
    2× · 2018–2020 · $13k

Funded once

  • CO
    CHURCH OF ST JOSEPH
    one grant, 2017 · $9k
  • NL
    NEW LIFE ACADEMY EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INCgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $8k · revenue +48%
  • CS
    COTTER SCHOOLSgraduated
    one grant, 2018 · $7k · 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
04the grantee network

5 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. 5 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)
1
Early backer (in before they grew)
5/5
Grantees still filing
5/5
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

BENILDE ST MARGARETS HIGH SCHOOL: $13,365 · OtherBENILDE ST MARGARETS HIGH SCHOOLWEST LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL: $12,084 · OtherWEST LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOLCHURCH OF ST JOSEPH: $8,998 · OtherCHURCH OF ST JOSEPHST JUDE OF THE LAKE: $6,915 · OtherST JUDE OF THE LAKECOTTER SCHOOLS: $6,833 · OtherCOTTER SCHOOLSSACRED HEART HIGH SCHOOL: $6,615 · OtherSACRED HEART HIGH SCHOOLLIVING WORD CHRISTIAN CENTER: $5,756 · OtherLIVING WORD CHRISTIAN CENTERHAROLD AND MICKEY SMITH JEWISH ACADEMY: $5,552 · OtherHAROLD AND MICKEY SMITH JEWISH ACADEMYFRANKLIN CENTER: $21,949 · EducationFRANKLIN CENTERSOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL INC: $19,462 · EducationSOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL INCNEW LIFE ACADEMY EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC: $7,500 · EducationNEW LIFE ACADEMY EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC
Other$66,118Education$48,911

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

25%50%75%100%grantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetFRANKLIN CENTER: $21,949 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetSOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL INC: $19,462 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetCOTTER SCHOOLS: $6,833 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHAROLD AND MICKEY SMITH JEWISH ACADEMY: $5,552 over 1y, 0.1% 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.

  • Who funds FRANKLIN CENTER ↗
  • Who funds SOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL INC ↗
  • Who funds NEW LIFE ACADEMY EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds COTTER SCHOOLS ↗
  • Who funds HAROLD AND MICKEY SMITH JEWISH ACADEMY ↗

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…United Way WorldwideThe Blackbaud Giving …Mightycause Charitabl…National Philanthropi…American Online Givin…Donor Advised Charita…Natl Christian Charit…The Bank of America C…Vanguard Charitable E…Fidelity Investments …Amazonsmile Foundation
Saint Paul & Minnesota FoundationMN18.9× affinity7 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · United Way Worldwide · The Blackbaud Giving Fund · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · National Philanthropic Trust · American Online Giving Foundation Inc · Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc · Natl Christian Charitable Fdn Inc · The Bank of America Charitable Foundation Inc · Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program · Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund · 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 Minnesota Independent School Forum funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Minnesota Independent School Forum. Bigger dots raise more.

2025
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%0%1%3%5%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    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.

    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 2020, released 2020. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Possibly out of date. A more recent filing (FY2025) is on record and reports $44k of grant expense, but none of it to a named recipient. On a Form 990 that can mean grants abroad, filed by region only (Schedule F), grants under $5,000, which are not itemized, or a schedule referenced as an attachment the e-file does not carry. The figures above are therefore from FY2020, the most recent year this funder named its grantees.

    Source object · view filing

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    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