Minnesota · Nonprofit
BUILDING BLOCKS INC
BUILDING BLOCKS INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $135,000 to it, the largest being BNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($50,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1k
- Funders on record
- 4
- Grants received
- $135k
- Net assets
- $1.7M
What Building Blocks Inc does
Mission
To provide high-quality, low cost housing to individuals and families in north minneapolis; produce positive healthy living programming for north minneapolis's youth;and create economic opportunity and lower barriers to entry for aspiring business owners in the community.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Housing-the commons at penn apartment building began lease up at the beginning of 2016, and all 47 units were leased by the end of april, 2016. These apartments provide stable housing to residents whose incomes are below 50% of the area median income. The building continued to be fully leased through the remainder of 2016 and continued to be fully leased through 2018. Plans have begun for a second phase of affordable apartments in north minneapolis. The ground breaking for phase ii "penn ave union" happened in june 2019. This will be 64 units of affordable housing. Penn ave union is scheduled to be completed in oct-nov 0f 2020. Commons at penn continues to be fully leased. Healthy living-wirth co-op signed a lease in august of 2016 to occupy the commercial space in commons at penn. This organization will provide groceries to an area of north minneapolis that is a federally declared food desert. Core groceries will be set at an affordable price, and culturally sensitive food items will be present in the store. Building blocks received rent from the wirth coop through july, 2019 at which time the coop closed temporarily. It was announced in jan of 2019 that the coop will not be…
$512 spent100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2023 Form 990. Program spending in total: $512.
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 2017 to 2018, from $1.8M to $1.9M (+6%).
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 BUILDING BLOCKS INC’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (52% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2021: the base broadened from 1 funder to 2 funders, grant income rose $15k → $65k.
2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 52% 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 BUILDING BLOCKS INC’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
BUILDING BLOCKS INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 89%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
63% 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 BUILDING BLOCKS INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2019 100% · 2021 77% — diversifying over time.
“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
52% of BUILDING BLOCKS INC'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 $65k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from funders outside Minnesota, across 2 states.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $70k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
BUILDING BLOCKS INC is better cushioned than half of the 3,694 housing & shelter nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,694 housing & shelter nonprofits under $100k, FY2024
Organizations like BUILDING BLOCKS INC
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
43% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
32%
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 BUILDING BLOCKS INC: 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 BUILDING BLOCKS INC?
- BUILDING BLOCKS INC (Minnesota) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $135,000 to it, the largest being BNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($50,000). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 52% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does BUILDING BLOCKS INC have?
- IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $135,000 in grants to BUILDING BLOCKS INC, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of BUILDING BLOCKS INC?
- BNY MELLON CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $50,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like BUILDING BLOCKS INC 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 Building Blocks →
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 4 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