Skip to content
The Dorsey & Whitney Foundation at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

The Dorsey & Whitney Foundation

Supporting tax exempt charitable and educational organizations.

$1.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
48
Grants FY2024still arriving
14
States reached
$150k
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.

Arts & Culture$4.5MEducation$1.9MFood & Nutrition$1.8MCrime & Legal$1.7MHuman Services$1.6MPhilanthropy$1.3MCommunity Improvement$980kHousing & Shelter$978kOther$0
02FY2024 · 48 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 48 grants below total $725,940, the rows itemized in this filing. The $1,005,433 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $279,493 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.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under $10k18 grants · $127k
  • $10k–50k28 grants · $368k
  • $50k–250k2 grants · $231k
$10,000
Median grant
14
States reached
$324k
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Greater Twin Cities United Way$150,000
Fund for the Legal Aid Society$80,690
Advocates for Human Rights$30,000
And Justice for All$25,000
Guthrie Theater$20,000
Lawyers Co for Civil Rights Under$20,000
University of Minnesota Foundation$20,000
Project PAVE$16,080
Treehouse$15,390
Intermountain Healthcare Foundation at Primary Children's Hospital$15,000
Council for Canadian American Relations$12,500
Children's Museum of Denver$12,000
Breakthrough T1D$11,290
Triform Enterprises Limited$10,840
Genesis Women's Shelter & Support$10,225
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:

Its human-services grants (FY17–24, $1.1M) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 9%. 98% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 9%Covenant House Alaska: $4k → 10%Covenant House Alaska: $1k → 10%Covenant House Alaska: $1k → 10%Cooke School and Institute: $9k → 17%Cooke School and Institute: $9k → 17%Utah Parent Center: $8k → 8%Accessible Space Inc: $8k → 14%Cooke School and Institute: $6k → 17%Accessible Space Inc: $8k → 14%Cooke Center for Learning & Development: $6k → 17%Cooke Center for Learning & Development: $4k → 17%Cooke School and Institute: $3k → 17%Cooke Center for Learning & Development: $840 → 17%Cooke School and Institute: $840 → 17%Genesis Women's Shelter & Support: $10k → 14%Genesis Women's Shelter & Support: $10k → 14%Evergreen Children's Association: $6k → 9%Encircle Family & Youth Resource Ctr: $5k → 8%Way to Grow: $250k → 11%Asian Counseling & Referral Service: $5k → 9%Minneapolis American Indian Center: $500k → 11%Hallie Q Brown Community Center: $6k → 14%DOROT: $7k → 17%DOROT: $6k → 17%DOROT: $6k → 17%DOROT: $6k → 17%DOROT: $1k → 17%DOROT: $500 → 17%Sabathani Community Center: $10k → 11%American Red Cross MN Region: $10k → 11%American Red Cross MN Region: $2k → 11%YWCA of Minneapolis: $100k → 11%YWCA of Minneapolis: $100k → 11%Cooke School and Institute: $10k → 17%Cooke School and Institute: $10k → 17%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.

Which US states its grants reach

AK
WA
MN
IL
WI
NY
IA
NJ
CA
UT
CO
MD
AZ
DC
GA
TX
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.

60%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$9.9M · 82 repeat orgs$6.7M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +37% since the first grant, against +14% for those funded once.

82 repeat relationships: 37 still active in FY2024, 45 since wound down; 10 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

82
50

Total granted

$9.9M
$6.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+37%
+14%

Still filing today

94%
94%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 87% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $93k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureHuman ServicesCrime & LegalHealthEducationFood & NutritionOther
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

  • SH
    SECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND
    6× · 2018–2023 · $1.7M · revenue +81%
  • SH
    SIMPSON HOUSING SERVICES INC
    2× · 2022–2023 · $800k · revenue +87%
  • GT
    GUTHRIE THEATER FOUNDATION
    8× · 2017–2024 · $660k · revenue +37%

Funded once

  • MP
    MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA
    one grant, 2017 · $1.5M · revenue +5%
  • SA
    SUMMIT ACADEMY OIC
    one grant, 2020 · $1.0M · revenue +8%
  • NA
    NORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONEgraduated
    one grant, 2019 · $600k · revenue +88%
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
Twin Cities Diversity in Practice

To attract, recruit, advance, and retain attorneys of color in the twin cities through education and collaboration with member organizations.

Community Improvement
2
Minnesota Business Partnership

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…

—
3
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The minnesota chamber of commerce proactively leads the business community statewide to: advance pro-business, responsible minnesota public policy that creates jobs and grows the econony; provde member services to address evolving business…

—
4
Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation

Purpose: we inspire, advocate and invest to advance community visions. continued on sch o

Philanthropy
5
Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Inc

Central indiana corporate partnership (cicp) is an alliance of indiana's business and research university leaders coming together to foster long-term prosperity for the region. cicp's mission is to transform the economy of indiana in order…

Community Improvement
6
Minnesota Council on Foundations

MCF is a vibrant philanthropic community connecting, strengthening and mobilizing the power of philanthropy to advance prosperity and equity.

—
7
University of New Haven

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…

Education
8
Minnesota Medical Association

To be the leading voice of medicine to make minnesota the healthiest state and the best place to practice.

—
9
Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce

Creating powerful advocacy to enhance economic vitality in the minneapolis-st. paul region.

—
10
Columbia College Chicago

The organization's mission is to educate students for creative occupations in diverse fields of arts and media.

Education
11
Boston Architectural College

The bac is committed to provide excellence in design education grounded in practice and accessible to diverse communities.

—
12
Minneapolis Downtown Council

To create an extraordinary downtown minneapolis, applying the core values of leadership, collaboration, advocacy and innovation.

—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Minneapolis Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Utah Voices Inc. 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

138 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. 138 of the 145 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.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
24
Early backer (in before they grew)
136/138
Grantees still filing
95/138
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $1,500,080 · Arts & CultureMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERI…GUTHRIE THEATER FOUNDATION: $660,000 · Arts & CultureGUTHRIE THEATER FOUNDATIONChildren's Theatre Company and School: $580,000 · Arts & CultureChildren's Theatre Company a…MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $569,980 · Arts & CultureMINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETYLUNDSTRUM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS DBA LUNDSTRUM PERFORMING ARTS: $500,100 · Arts & CultureLUNDSTRUM CENTER FOR THE PER…+14 more: $454,692 · Arts & Culture+14 moreSIMPSON HOUSING SERVICES INC: $800,300 · OtherSIMPSON HOUSING SERVICES INCMetropolitan Economic Development Association: $500,000 · OtherMetropolitan Economic Developmen…CRISTO REY JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL: $250,000 · OtherST DAVID'S CENTER: $500,690 · OtherST DAVID'S CENTERNORTHSIDE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY NETWORK: $450,000 · OtherNORTHSIDE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY N…JEREMIAH PROGRAM: $400,000 · OtherJEREMIAH PROGRAMMINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM FOUNDATION: $252,350 · Other+63 more: $1,694,108 · Other+63 moreSECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND: $1,652,214 · Food & NutritionSECOND HARV…+6 more: $94,715 · Food & Nutrition+6 moreNORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE: $600,000 · Crime & LegalNORTHSIDE A…THE FUND FOR LEGAL AID: $534,360 · Crime & LegalTHE FUND FO…KING COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION: $90,100 · Crime & LegalKING COUNTY…PROJECT PAVE INC: $68,530 · Crime & LegalCENTER FOR FAMILY REPRESENTATION INC: $68,000 · Crime & LegalAND JUSTICE FOR ALL: $66,700 · Crime & LegalTHE FUND FOR MODERN COURTS INC: $66,000 · Crime & Legal+7 more: $161,754 · Crime & Legal+7 moreSUMMIT ACADEMY OIC: $1,000,000 · EducationSUMMIT ACAD…UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $201,810 · EducationUNIVERSITY …COLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $200,000 · EducationCOLLEGE POS…DENVER WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL DBA WORLDDE: $58,000 · Education+6 more: $165,610 · Education+6 moreGREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1,200,350 · PhilanthropyGREATER T…UNITED WAY OF KING COUNTY: $75,260 · PhilanthropyUNITED WA…+7 more: $104,440 · Philanthropy+7 moreMinneapolis American Indian Center: $500,000 · Human ServicesWAY TO GROW: $250,000 · Human ServicesYWCA OF MINNEAPOLIS: $200,000 · Human ServicesCOOKE SCHOOL AND INSTITUTE: $58,080 · Human Services+12 more: $146,165 · Human Services
Arts & Culture$4,264,852Other$4,847,448Food & Nutrition$1,746,929Crime & Legal$1,655,444Education$1,625,420Philanthropy$1,380,050Human Services$1,154,245

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetSECOND HARVEST HEARTLAND: $1,652,214 over 6y, 0.7% of budgetMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $1,500,080 over 1y, 1.4% of budgetGREATER TWIN CITIES UNITED WAY: $1,200,350 over 8y, 0.4% of budgetSUMMIT ACADEMY OIC: $1,000,000 over 1y, 9.0% of budgetSIMPSON HOUSING SERVICES INC: $800,300 over 2y, 3.6% of budgetGUTHRIE THEATER FOUNDATION: $660,000 over 8y, 2.8% of budgetNORTHSIDE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE: $600,000 over 1y, 8.0% of budgetChildren's Theatre Company and School: $580,000 over 8y, 3.5% of budgetMINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY: $569,980 over 8y, 0.3% of budgetTHE FUND FOR LEGAL AID: $534,360 over 8y, 5.5% of budgetST DAVID'S CENTER: $500,690 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetLUNDSTRUM CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS DBA LUNDSTRUM PERFORMING ARTS: $500,100 over 2y, 21% of budgetMinneapolis American Indian Center: $500,000 over 1y, 13% of budgetMetropolitan Economic Development Association: $500,000 over 1y, 4.1% of budgetNORTHSIDE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY NETWORK: $450,000 over 1y, 8.5% of budgetJEREMIAH PROGRAM: $400,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetMINNESOTA LANDSCAPE ARBORETUM FOUNDATION: $252,350 over 1y, 3.0% of budgetWAY TO GROW: $250,000 over 1y, 5.7% of budgetUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA FOUNDATION: $201,810 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetYWCA OF MINNEAPOLIS: $200,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetCOLLEGE POSSIBLE INC: $200,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetLawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: $161,000 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetThe Advocates For Human Rights: $122,250 over 8y, 0.8% of budgetAT HOME GROUP: $100,000 over 1y, 12% of budgetKING COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION: $90,100 over 8y, 1.1% of budgetMINNESOTA ORCHESTRAL ASSOCIATION: $81,140 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetMINNEAPOLIS SOCIETY OF FINE ARTS DBA MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS: $80,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetUNITED WAY OF KING COUNTY: $75,260 over 5y, 0.0% of budgetTHE FRIENDS OF THE SAINT PAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: $70,000 over 7y, 26% of budgetPROJECT PAVE INC: $68,530 over 6y, 1.2% of budgetCENTER FOR FAMILY REPRESENTATION INC: $68,000 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetAND JUSTICE FOR ALL: $66,700 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetTHE FUND FOR MODERN COURTS INC: $66,000 over 8y, 2.3% of budgetTWIN CITIES HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: $63,770 over 8y, 0.0% of budgetTHE CHILDRENS MUSEUM OF DENVER INC: $62,000 over 6y, 0.2% of budgetFAMILY GATEWAY INC: $60,000 over 5y, 0.3% of budgetLAWYERS ALLIANCE FOR NEW YORK: $58,100 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetCOOKE SCHOOL AND INSTITUTE: $58,080 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetDENVER WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL DBA WORLDDE: $58,000 over 8y, 1.2% of budgetORDWAY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $57,800 over 7y, 0.1% of budgetLegal Aid Foundation of Colorado: $53,164 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetCollege Success Foundation: $48,370 over 5y, 0.1% of budgetIEEE FOUNDATION INC: $48,000 over 8y, 0.1% of budgetALZHEIMER'S ORANGE COUNTY: $47,500 over 5y, 0.2% of budgetTHEATRE FORWARD INC: $46,940 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetTHE LOPPET FOUNDATION INC: $46,360 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetLEGALCORPS: $44,850 over 7y, 2.5% of budgetFOOD LIFELINE: $40,400 over 5y, 0.0% 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.

Mightycause Charitabl…Otto Bremer TrustThe Minneapolis Found…Saint Paul & Minnesot…The McKnight Foundati…Xcel Energy FoundationTarget FoundationFaegre Drinker Founda…William Boss Foundati…The Hubbard Broadcast…Hardenbergh FoundationFred C and Katherine …
Mightycause Charitable FoundationFL28.1× affinity27 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Otto Bremer Trust · The Minneapolis Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The McKnight Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Target Foundation · Faegre Drinker Foundation · William Boss Foundation · The Hubbard Broadcasting Foundation · Hardenbergh Foundation · Fred C and Katherine B Andersen 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 The Dorsey & Whitney Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Dorsey & Whitney Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 20%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    2get no government money at all
    47report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    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 The Dorsey & Whitney Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Dorsey & Whitney 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.

    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 145 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Dorsey & Whitney’s 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