Minnesota · Nonprofit
BELLIS
BELLIS (Minnesota) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $972,949 to it, the largest being THE SAUER FAMILY FOUNDATION ($643,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $987k
- Funders on record
- 14
- Grants received
- $973k
- Net assets
- $989k
What Bellis does
Mission
Bellis' long-term goal is to drive societal change by offering effective emotional support to people with termination of parental rights and/or termination of legal custody orders, and other similar experiences. The people Bellis supports, often stigmatized for circumstances largely beyond their control, deserve the opportunity to heal, regain a sense of self-worth, and rebuild their lives. By investing in people whose children are parented by others, we reduce the need for repeated costly legal and social interventions, and give them the tools to live more purposeful, fulfilling lives despite their trauma.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Peer-based networks: our primary focus is peer-based emotional support programs for people whose children are parented by others. Participants of Bellis programs come to us with a wide variety of experiences including termination of parental rights, transfer of custody, foster care, open child protection cases, custody disputes, parental alienation, adoption, and other circumstances. Licensed professionals ensure that sharing life stories happens in a safe and supportive environment that offers validation and acceptance in the following programs: six weekly online support groups, two annual retreats for women, a telephone warmline, and a monthly in-person group in st. Paul, mn.
$82,683 spent85% of program spendingBellis expanded the reach of its stronger together peer support model through both direct-service partnerships and a newly available facilitator training program. In collaboration with the university of minnesota, Bellis developed a comprehensive facilitator training manual and training process. This licensed training allows organizations that support people whose children are parented by others to equip their own professionals to implement the stronger together peer support model within their programs, with ongoing support from Bellis.
$14,591 spent15% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $97,274.
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.
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 $226k to $993k (+338%).
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.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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
Kelly Tronstad
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $15k → $243k.
4 of 14 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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 BELLIS’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
BELLIS leans on a few funders — its largest provides 66% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 69% · 2018 51% · 2019 51% · 2020 29% · 2021 69% · 2022 47% · 2023 72% — growing more concentrated.
“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
60% of BELLIS's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 79% 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
100% of BELLIS's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $120k arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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.
Organizations like BELLIS
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
44% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
34%
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 BELLIS: 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 BELLIS?
- BELLIS (Minnesota) receives grants from 14 organizations whose IRS filings report $972,949 to it, the largest being THE SAUER FAMILY FOUNDATION ($643,000). 11 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does BELLIS have?
- IRS filings report 14 organizations giving $972,949 in grants to BELLIS, 11 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BELLIS?
- THE SAUER FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $643,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BELLIS 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 Bellis →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 14 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