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The Helgeson Foundation at a glance

· Private foundation

The Helgeson 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.

$186k
Granted FY2025still arriving
29
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$15k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0196% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2017 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$640kEnvironment$393kRecreation & Sports$84kHealth$62kYouth Development$34kEducation$22kFood & Nutrition$20kAnimals$13kOther$0
02FY2025 · 29 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k20 grants · $78k
  • $10k–50k9 grants · $109k
$5,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$2.4M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Climate Generation$15,000
Voyageur Outward Bound School$13,500
Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center$13,500
Cedar Cultural Center$13,000
Brownbody$11,500
Interact$11,500
The Loppet Foundation$10,500
Penumbra Theatre Company Inc$10,000
Wilderness Inquiry$10,000
Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop$9,000
American Composers Forum$7,500
Twin Cities Jazz Festival$7,000
Center For Irish Music$6,500
Tru Art Speaks$5,500
Friends of the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge$5,000
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 (FY17–25, $54k) land where the poverty rate runs at 11%, against an area that typically sits at 7%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 7%Paramount Center for the Arts: $4k → 11%PARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $4k → 11%PARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $4k → 11%PARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $4k → 11%PARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $3k → 11%PARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $3k → 11%PARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $3k → 11%Paramount Center for the Arts: $3k → 11%PARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $2k → 11%Spark-Y: $5k → 11%SPARK-Y: $3k → 11%SPARK-Y: $3k → 11%SPARK-Y: $3k → 11%SPARK-Y: $3k → 11%SPARK-Y: $3k → 11%Spark-Y: $3k → 11%SPARK-Y: $3k → 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.

97%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.3M · 38 repeat orgs$35k to everyone else

38 repeat relationships: 29 still active in FY2025, 9 since wound down.

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

38
10

Total granted

$1.3M
$35k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
+20%

Still filing today

71%
50%

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
Arts & CultureEnvironmentEducationHuman ServicesAnimalsRecreation & SportsOther
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

  • TL
    THE LOPPET FOUNDATION INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $84k · revenue +43%
  • B
    BROWNBODY
    6× · 2020–2025 · $74k · revenue +356%
  • WI
    WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC
    9× · 2017–2025 · $59k · revenue +150%

Funded once

  • TN
    THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
    one grant, 2017 · $10k
  • TS
    THE SIERRA CLUB FNDN OUTDOORS MN
    one grant, 2019 · $6k
  • TS
    THE SIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION INSPIRING CONNECTIONS OUTDOORSMINNESOTA ICO
    one grant, 2018 · $5k
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
Arts Midwest Incorporated

Arts Midwest works collaboratively with private and public arts supporters to support, inform, and celebrate arts organizations and creative communities across the Midwest. Our mission is to build unprecedented opportunity across the…

Arts & Culture
2
Mixed Blood Theatre Company

Mixed Blood Theatre Company uses theater to disrupt injustice. We are a social justice organization catalyzing action and change through art. Our work is guided by deep community engagement and rooted in radical hospitality.

—
3
Northwest Minnesota Arts Council

Support and enhance the development of the arts in northwestern minnesota. facilitate and encourage the creation and appreciation of the arts.

Arts & Culture
4
Minnesota Brass Inc

Minnesota Brass shares a unique passion for the live performing arts by producing ensembles and events that challenge our members to reach their full potential while inspiring our audiences.

Education
5
Minnesota Voice

Minnesota Voice is a collaboration of organizations working toward permanent change in social, racial, and economic justice by increasing civic engagement and voter participation across the state.

Public Benefit
6
Central Minnesota Arts Board

To promote and enhance the creation, performance, and appreciation of the arts in the minnesota counties of benton, sherburne, stearns and wright by providing grants and services to arts and community organizations, cities, schools and…

—
7
African Development Center

Grow businesses, build wealth and increase reinvestement in the african communities of minnesota

Human Services
8
Minnesota Fringe Festival

Minnesota fringe connects adventurous artists with adventurous audiences by creating open, supportive forums for free and diverse artistic expression.

Arts & Culture
9
Wonderlust Productions

Wonderlust Productions is a multicultural, multi-disciplinary arts ensemble that illuminates a community's story through performance, mixing community members from across generations, ethnicities, and perspectives, alongside an ensemble of…

Arts & Culture
10
Red Wing Arts Association

Our mission is to build a vibrant community fueled by the arts. We enrich lives by connecting, celebrating, inspiring, and leading through shared art experiences. Our vision is a community alive with creativity.

Arts & Culture
11
Minnetonka Center for the Arts

In the belief that the visual arts are indispensable to a healthy community, it is the mission of the minnetonka center for the arts to provide teaching excellence, quality exhibitions, and cultural enrichment for people of all ages,…

Arts & Culture
12
Artaria

Artaria centers on string quartet performance and education in minnesota. it is committed to presenting inspiring performances, to mentoring string players of all ages, and to illuminate the world's great repertoire of chamber music to a…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Truartspeaks; the most unlike its peers is Ernest C Oberholtzer Foundation. 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

34 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. 34 of the 48 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.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
13
Early backer (in before they grew)
32/34
Grantees still filing
21/34
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

The Cedar Cultural Center Inc: $109,000 · Arts & CultureThe Cedar Cultural Center IncBROWNBODY: $73,500 · Arts & CultureBROWNBODYAMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM: $48,000 · Arts & CultureAMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUMPENUMBRA THEATRE COMPANY INC: $47,000 · Arts & CulturePENUMBRA THEATRE COMPANY INCCENTER FOR IRISH MUSIC: $42,000 · Arts & CultureCENTER FOR IRISH MUSICMINNESOTA PRISON WRITING WORKSHOP: $42,000 · Arts & CultureMINNESOTA PRISON WRITING WORKSHOPTRUARTSPEAKS: $36,000 · Arts & CultureTRUARTSPEAKSERNEST C OBERHOLTZER FOUNDATION: $35,500 · Arts & CultureERNEST C OBERHOLTZER FOUNDATIONHOPEWELL MUSIC COOPERATIVE-NORTH: $24,500 · Arts & CultureJAZZ CENTRAL STUDIOS: $21,500 · Arts & CultureARTICULTURE: $17,500 · Arts & Culture+4 more: $20,500 · Arts & CultureTwin Cities Jazz Festival: $52,000 · OtherTwin Cities Jazz Festiva…WOLF RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING: $50,000 · OtherWOLF RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL…Interact: $36,500 · OtherInteractVOYAGEUR OUTWARD BOUND UNIVERSITY: $22,000 · OtherVOYAGEUR OUTWARD BOUND U…Youth Farm and Market Project: $20,000 · OtherYouth Farm and Market Pr…WALKER WEST MUSIC ACADEMY: $12,500 · OtherTHE NATURE CONSERVANCY: $10,000 · OtherIN PROGRESS: $10,000 · OtherFRIENDS OF SHERBURNE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE INC: $24,500 · OtherFRIENDS OF SHERBURNE NAT…+12 more: $50,000 · Other+12 moreVOYAGEUR OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOL: $76,500 · EnvironmentVOYAGEUR OUTWAR…WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC: $59,000 · EnvironmentWILDERNESS INQU…WOLF RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING CENTER: $43,000 · EnvironmentWOLF RIDGE ENVI…+3 more: $6,000 · EnvironmentCLIMATE GENERATION: $121,500 · EducationCLIMATE GENE…THE M2 FOUNDATION: $25,000 · EducationTHE M2 FOUND…THE LOPPET FOUNDATION INC: $83,500 · Recreation & SportsPARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $28,500 · Human ServicesSpark Youth: $25,500 · Human ServicesMINNESOTA MENS CONFERENCE: $36,800 · Health
Arts & Culture$517,000Other$287,500Environment$184,500Education$146,500Recreation & Sports$83,500Human Services$54,000Health$36,800

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 budgetCLIMATE GENERATION: $121,500 over 9y, 1.9% of budgetThe Cedar Cultural Center Inc: $109,000 over 9y, 1.2% of budgetTHE LOPPET FOUNDATION INC: $83,500 over 9y, 0.3% of budgetVOYAGEUR OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOL: $76,500 over 7y, 0.3% of budgetBROWNBODY: $73,500 over 6y, 16% of budgetWILDERNESS INQUIRY INC: $59,000 over 9y, 0.2% of budgetAMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM: $48,000 over 9y, 0.9% of budgetPENUMBRA THEATRE COMPANY INC: $47,000 over 6y, 0.5% of budgetWOLF RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING CENTER: $43,000 over 4y, 0.4% of budgetCENTER FOR IRISH MUSIC: $42,000 over 8y, 2.3% of budgetMINNESOTA PRISON WRITING WORKSHOP: $42,000 over 8y, 1.8% of budgetMINNESOTA MENS CONFERENCE: $36,800 over 6y, 27% of budgetTRUARTSPEAKS: $36,000 over 8y, 4.1% of budgetERNEST C OBERHOLTZER FOUNDATION: $35,500 over 7y, 6.3% of budgetPARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS: $28,500 over 9y, 0.4% of budgetSpark Youth: $25,500 over 8y, 0.2% of budgetTHE M2 FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 2y, 27% of budgetFRIENDS OF SHERBURNE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE INC: $24,500 over 8y, 4.5% of budgetHOPEWELL MUSIC COOPERATIVE-NORTH: $24,500 over 8y, 1.1% of budgetJAZZ CENTRAL STUDIOS: $21,500 over 9y, 1.6% of budgetYouth Farm and Market Project: $20,000 over 8y, 0.5% of budgetARTICULTURE: $17,500 over 8y, 4.1% of budgetWALKER WEST MUSIC ACADEMY: $12,500 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetIndigenous Roots: $10,500 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetIN PROGRESS: $10,000 over 3y, 1.2% of budgetMINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA: $5,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTwin Cities Community Gospel Choir: $4,000 over 2y, 5.7% of budgetGREAT RIVER GREENING: $4,000 over 3y, 0.0% of budgetCOMMUSICATION: $4,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetAMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY HOUSING ORGANIZATION: $3,500 over 3y, 0.1% of budgetMINNESOTA CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCACY: $3,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCONSERVATION MINNESOTA: $2,500 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCOOK COUNTY COMMUNITY RADIO: $1,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetSIERRA CLUB FOUNDATION: $500 over 2y, 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.

  • Who funds CLIMATE GENERATION ↗
  • Who funds The Cedar Cultural Center Inc ↗
  • Who funds THE LOPPET FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds VOYAGEUR OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOL ↗
  • Who funds BROWNBODY ↗
  • Who funds WILDERNESS INQUIRY INC ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM ↗
  • Who funds PENUMBRA THEATRE COMPANY INC ↗
  • Who funds WOLF RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING CENTER ↗
  • Who funds CENTER FOR IRISH MUSIC ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA PRISON WRITING WORKSHOP ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA MENS CONFERENCE ↗
  • Who funds TRUARTSPEAKS ↗
  • Who funds ERNEST C OBERHOLTZER FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds PARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS ↗
  • Who funds Spark Youth ↗
  • Who funds THE M2 FOUNDATION ↗
  • Who funds FRIENDS OF SHERBURNE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE INC ↗
  • Who funds HOPEWELL MUSIC COOPERATIVE-NORTH ↗
  • Who funds JAZZ CENTRAL STUDIOS ↗
  • Who funds Youth Farm and Market Project ↗
  • Who funds ARTICULTURE ↗
  • Who funds WALKER WEST MUSIC ACADEMY ↗
  • Who funds Indigenous Roots ↗
  • Who funds IN PROGRESS ↗
  • Who funds MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO AMERICAN PUBLIC MEDIA ↗
  • Who funds Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir ↗
  • Who funds GREAT RIVER GREENING ↗
  • Who funds COMMUSICATION ↗
  • Who funds AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY HOUSING ORGANIZATION ↗

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.

The Minneapolis Found…Saint Paul & Minnesot…The McKnight Foundati…Mightycause Charitabl…Fr Bigelow FoundationXcel Energy FoundationMarbrook FoundationMinnesota Humanities …Propel NonprofitsElmer L & Eleanor J A…Patrick and Aimee But…Hrk Foundation
The Minneapolis FoundationMN44.5× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Minneapolis Foundation · Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation · The McKnight Foundation · Mightycause Charitable Foundation · Fr Bigelow Foundation · Xcel Energy Foundation · Marbrook Foundation · Minnesota Humanities Center · Propel Nonprofits · Elmer L & Eleanor J Andersen Foundation · Patrick and Aimee Butler Family · Hrk 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 Helgeson Foundation funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The Helgeson Foundation. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%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
    0get no government money at all
    13report 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 Helgeson Foundation?

    Find your warmest path to The Helgeson 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 48 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 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Helgeson’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