Minnesota · Nonprofit
ANIMAL FOLKS
ANIMAL FOLKS (Minnesota) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $481,821 to it, the largest being SOUTH DAKOTA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($140,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $216k
- Funders on record
- 19
- Grants received
- $482k
- Net assets
- $86k
What Animal Folks does
Mission
The mission of Animal Folks is to protect animals and prevent cruelty through constructive and sustainable reforms of the Minnesota criminal and civil justice systems. Core to this mission is system reform - to assess what is needed systemically to improve the enforcement of animal law and prevention of animal cruelty in Minnesota. The mission is achieved through five core programs.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Legislative Action GOAL: To lead and support state and local legislative efforts, including crafting of humane laws, lobbying, and advocacy, that protects animals and lays a foundation for systemic reform. 2024 Strategies and Actions * Office of Animal Protection bill (OAP) at Minnesota Legislature. Continued lobbying, advocacy, and education of issue. This state bill will establish an Office of Animal Protection under the Department of Public Safety to provide assistance to authorities in the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of animal cruelty. Hearing for the bill was granted in Senate Judiciary Committee. Bill continues to next session. * Companion Animal Board (CAB) bill - Reintroduced at MN Legislature. This state bill creates state governmental reforms to address pets and needs of pet sector. Efforts will continue in 2025. * Winona County: Puppy Mill Initiative - Animal Folks continued to work to ban future permits of dog breeding facilities (puppy mills) in Winona County. Significant data compiled. * Humane pet store ordinances within multiple Minnesota cities. Animal Folks worked with a coalition of individuals and organizations to pass humane pet store ordinances…
$35,799 spent28% of program spendingAnimal Cruelty Research GOAL: To research animal cruelty cases and issues pertaining to crimes against animals and provide credible Minnesota-specific data to the public, agencies, and organizations upon request. 2024 Strategies and Actions * Animal Cruelty Databank - Ongoing: Work continued on the animal cruelty databank, including requests to the judicial office for animal cruelty cases (convictions and disposition), coding of cases, and initial analysis of data. Cases are used to support education on cruelty and the link to human violence. * Data Requests - Import/Export/Regulatory law: Animal Folks submitted data requests to various states and to the federal government (FOIA-USDA) to obtain data on Minnesota dog breeding facilities and other licensees. This data is used in testimony and educational efforts to illustrate where puppies are sourced. * Data Requests - Criminal law: Numerous data requests were also made to local police departments/sheriff offices for documents related cases of animal cruelty. * General topics: Animal Folks researches a variety of topics to build data when pursuing initiatives, such as care and needs of elephants at traveling entertainment venues in…
$34,776 spent28% of program spendingCriminal and Civil Justice GOAL: To investigate and report suspected or known animal cruelty (or related crimes against animals) and provide input to criminal and civil cases throughout the legal process. 2024 Strategies and Actions * Victim Advocacy - Ongoing: Animal Folks provided assistance to multiple Minnesotans who requested help in filing animal cruelty complaints or consumer protection complaints after purchasing a sickly animal.
$26,465 spent21% of program spendingAnimal Law Resources GOAL: To foster professionalism and competency by providing training, resources, and support to Minnesota authorities responsible for the enforcement of animal law. 2024 Strategies and Actions * Judicial materials - Ongoing: Animal Folks wrote an animal cruelty chapter for the Minnesota Judges Criminal Benchbook in 2021; this chapter is updated yearly. Update completed in 2024. The Benchbook is used by judges and prosecutors while conducting legal research on Minnesota criminal laws and related issues. * Animal Cruelty Training for Veterinary Students - Ongoing: For the fifth year, Animal Folks worked with veterinarians at the University of Minnesota to teach senior veterinary students about animal cruelty and how to identify, document, and report suspected or known animal cruelty. * Animal Cruelty Training for Law Enforcement - Animal Folks worked with peace officers, law enforcement leadership, and academic institutions to begin assessing the needs for training on animal cruelty investigations, building curriculum, and determining costs for implementation.
$16,383 spent13% of program spendingOutreach & Communication GOAL: To educate the public on animal law and cruelty issues and enhance communication and cooperation between various stakeholders involved in the enforcement of animal law. 2024 Strategies and Actions * State event - Animal Folks hosted a booth again at the Minnesota State Fair to promote BE KIND TO ANIMALS and our efforts to gain supporters for animal protection. Multiple volunteers helped staff the booth, hear visitor stories, and answer questions. Giveaways and materials for education and distribution were created. At the booth, over 2,400 Minnesotans signed on to support to Animal Folks' efforts, representing all areas of the state. * Local events - Animal Folks participated in local events and conferences for outreach and education about animal cruelty, including the MN Chiefs of Police Association, MN Sheriffs' Association Conference, Office of Justice Conference on Crime and Victimization, Ruff Start Rescue's Tails & Trails event, Tri-County Humane Society Conference, and more. * Ongoing - Animal Folks continued to create and send a monthly newsletter about animal issues and cruelty prevention efforts, social media posts, and website updates.
$12,603 spent10% of program spending
The 5 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $126,026.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $52k to $89k (+71%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
100% of ANIMAL FOLKS’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (86% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Ann Olson
Executive Director
Board chair
Reese Frederickson
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $20k → $72k.
6 of 19 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of ANIMAL FOLKS’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
ANIMAL FOLKS has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 29% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
82% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund ANIMAL FOLKS.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 72% · 2019 40% · 2020 32% · 2021 49% · 2022 41% · 2023 48% — broadly stable.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
33% of ANIMAL FOLKS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
57% of ANIMAL FOLKS's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $207k that is directly attributable, 67% of it comes from funders outside Minnesota, across 9 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $274k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
ANIMAL FOLKS runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 6,435 animals nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 6,435 animals nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like ANIMAL FOLKS
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Minnesota
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for ANIMAL FOLKS: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds ANIMAL FOLKS?
- ANIMAL FOLKS (Minnesota) receives grants from 19 organizations whose IRS filings report $481,821 to it, the largest being SOUTH DAKOTA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ($140,000). 12 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does ANIMAL FOLKS have?
- IRS filings report 19 organizations giving $481,821 in grants to ANIMAL FOLKS, 12 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of ANIMAL FOLKS?
- SOUTH DAKOTA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $140,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like ANIMAL FOLKS find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Minnesota. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Animal Folks →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 19 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing