Minnesota · Nonprofit
BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART
BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART (Minnesota) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $220,740 to it, the largest being C K BLANDIN FOUNDATION ($100,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $61k
- Funders on record
- 5
- Grants received
- $221k
- Net assets
- $92k
What Bear Paws Cultural Art does
Mission
At Bear Paws Cultural Art, we aim to revitalize Ojibwe cultural heritage, foster mutual understanding and respect with our neighbors, and facilitate community healing through art.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Program
Bear Paws Cultural Art is a heartfelt initiative focused on bringing Ojibwe cultural heritage back to life. Our mission extends beyond just preserving the past; we aim to build bridges with our neighbors and support healing in our community through traditional arts. We host free workshops, which are more than just classes-they're experiences that help participants reconnect with their roots and strengthen bonds across generations. Founded to address the lingering effects of historical and intergenerational trauma, Bear Paws emphasizes cultural practices that are defined by the community itself. Traditional arts serve as more than creative outlets; they are essential channels for sharing language, stories, values, and a sense of belonging. We intentionally create warm, welcoming spaces where elders, adults, and youth can learn together, side by side. Since we started our journey, over 1,200 individuals have participated in our signature program, Maadaoonidiwag, which translates to "sharing knowledge." Here, participants learn directly from Native Artists and Culture Bearers, enriching their understanding and appreciation of our history and traditions. By investing in Native Artists…
$0 spent
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ. Program spending in total: $0.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2024, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2024, 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 2024 to 2025, from $168k to $92k (−45%).
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.
93% of BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (78% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 2 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.
Board chair
Wanetta Thompson
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990-EZ.
Who funds it, year by year
Grant support over time, funder by funder — shade shows the grant size each year.
1 of 5 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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 BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART’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
BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART leans on a few funders — its largest provides 45% of grant income and the top three 91%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
32% 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 BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART.
“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.
Where its funders are
100% of BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART's revenue fell 71% between 2024 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 10,242 arts & culture nonprofits under $100k, FY2025
Organizations like BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART
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.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART: 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 BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART?
- BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART (Minnesota) receives grants from 5 organizations whose IRS filings report $220,740 to it, the largest being C K BLANDIN FOUNDATION ($100,000). 0 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART have?
- IRS filings report 5 organizations giving $220,740 in grants to BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART.
- Who is the largest funder of BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART?
- C K BLANDIN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $100,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BEAR PAWS CULTURAL ART 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.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2024–2025), and the filings of 5 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