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Minnesota · Nonprofit

CARLETON COLLEGE

CARLETON COLLEGE (Minnesota) receives grants from 298 organizations whose IRS filings report $96,591,134 to it, the largest being Robert and Ardis James Foundation Inc ($24,639,000). 182 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2025
$315M
Funders on record
298
Grants received
$97M
Net assets
$1.8B
182/298 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 7%
01What it does

What Carleton College does

Mission

See schedule o.founded in 1866, Carleton College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college of 2,007 students located in the historic river town of northfield, minnesota. Nationally recognized as the nation's top college for undergraduate teaching, carleton is known for its academic rigor, intellectual curiosity, and sense of humor. Carleton offers 33 majors and 40 minors in the arts, humanities, natural sciences, mathematics, and social sciencesthe Carleton College mission is to provide an exceptional undergraduate liberal arts education. The college is devoted to academic excellence, distinguished by the creative interplay of teaching, learning, and scholarship and is dedicated to a diverse residential community and extensive international engagements.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Instruction - Carleton College exists to provide an exceptional liberal arts education for students, preparing them for leadership in their communities, countries and the world (2,086 students). A student - faculty ratio of 8:1 supports classroom, laboratory, off-campus study and research opportunities, average class size is 16, student financial aid programs - carleton meets 100% of the demonstrated financial need of all admitted students (1,165 students).

    $147,592,843 spentof which $68,060,091 as grants$144,128,029 earned by the program
    64% of program spending
  2. Academic support - programs to enhance the carleton liberal arts experience with library and information technology resources (2,086 students).

    $29,964,970 spentof which $1,085,000 as grants
    13% of program spending
  3. Student services programs - programs designed to support the residential Carleton College student life experience including co-curricular and recreational opportunities (2,086 students).

    $23,938,761 spent
    10% of program spending
  4. Auxiliary enterprises - Carleton College maintains a rural residential campus to enhance the educational experience of the student body with room and board programs designed to encourage a spirit of collegiality and conversation beyond the classroom and laboratory (2,024 students).

    $21,661,467 spent$31,197,584 earned by the program
    9% of program spending
  5. Research - faculty and student research to enhance the academic instructional experience.

    $7,849,708 spentof which $667,007 as grants
    3% of program spending
  6. Summer academic programs - programs for high school students in grades 7-12 to develop skills for rigorous academic programs (211 attendees).

    $1,076,184 spent$1,048,124 earned by the program
    0% of program spending

The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $232,083,933.

02The organization over time

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.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($227M) Expenses 100 ($186M) Net assets 100 ($1.1B)2018 Revenue 110 ($250M) Expenses 102 ($190M) Net assets 107 ($1.2B)2019 Revenue 105 ($239M) Expenses 106 ($196M) Net assets 110 ($1.2B)2020 Revenue 106 ($240M) Expenses 107 ($199M) Net assets 108 ($1.2B)2021 Revenue 141 ($321M) Expenses 109 ($203M) Net assets 137 ($1.6B)2022 Revenue 124 ($281M) Expenses 120 ($224M) Net assets 131 ($1.5B)2023 Revenue 131 ($297M) Expenses 129 ($240M) Net assets 138 ($1.6B)2024 Revenue 123 ($279M) Expenses 137 ($254M) Net assets 145 ($1.7B)2025 Revenue 139 ($315M) Expenses 140 ($261M) Net assets 156 ($1.8B)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (139)Expenses (140)Net assets (156)Peer revenue range

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $1.4B to $1.7B (+23%).

$1.3B
$1.4B
$1.4B
$1.4B
$1.7B
$1.7B
$1.7B
$1.9B
$2.0B
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2017 2% · 2018 2% · 2019 2% · 2020 2% · 2021 3% · 2022 2% · 2023 3% · 2024 2% · 2025 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

13% of CARLETON COLLEGE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (14% for the typical peer).

This organization
Typical peer · 732 orgs

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$41M
’17
$59M
’18
$43M
’19
$41M
’20
$117M
’21
$57M
’22
$57M
’23
$25M
’24
$54M
’25
2.8
months of
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

Cathy Paglia

Trustee chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed394241424346444848
Joined·+10+7+8+4+7+7+9+10
No longer listed·787349510
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 87 funders to 117 funders, grant income rose $7.5M → $10M.

52 of 298 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 CARLETON COLLEGE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 298 funders by total. 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

CARLETON COLLEGE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 26% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left

39% 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 CARLETON COLLEGE.

26%
largest funder
42%
top three
~11
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 36% · 2018 13% · 2019 17% · 2020 39% · 2021 40% · 2022 24% · 2023 30% — 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.

How long its funders stay

46% of CARLETON COLLEGE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

CARLETON COLLEGE draws 93% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 39 states in all.

ME
NH
WA
ID
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
TN
NC
DC
HI
OK
LA
AL
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Minnesota out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $34M arriving through sponsors registered in 23 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.

04Its place in the field

Against its field

CARLETON COLLEGE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 684 education nonprofits its size.

Operating margin17% · top quartile
Months of reserve2.8mo · above the median
Revenue growth (annualized)4% · below the median

this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 684 education nonprofits over $100M, FY2025

Government funding CARLETON COLLEGE receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $26.4M on record — $26.4M federal, $2k state.

Federal$26.4M
grants $26.4Mcontracts $0
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Top agencies
  • National Science Foundation$14.3M
  • Department of Education$8.5M
  • Department of Health and Human Services$2.5M
  • Corporation for National and Community Service$911k
  • National Endowment for the Humanities$110k
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration$98k
State$2k
Top programs
  • DISTRIBUTION TO INDIVIDUALS$2k

Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.

Organizations like CARLETON COLLEGE

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

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

89% of spending goes to programs.

Program 89%Management 9%Fundraising 3%

Governance

34
board members
97%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

57%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 4 states

NH
WA
MN
CA

Part of a family of 3 related entities

  • Patricia V Damon Scholarship Fund · exempt
  • S Eugene Bailey Scholarship Trust · exempt
  • Charitable Remainder Trusts (54) · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for CARLETON COLLEGE: 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.

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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 CARLETON COLLEGE?
CARLETON COLLEGE (Minnesota) receives grants from 298 organizations whose IRS filings report $96,591,134 to it, the largest being Robert and Ardis James Foundation Inc ($24,639,000). 182 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does CARLETON COLLEGE have?
IRS filings report 298 organizations giving $96,591,134 in grants to CARLETON COLLEGE, 182 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of CARLETON COLLEGE?
Robert and Ardis James Foundation Inc is the largest funder on record, with $24,639,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like CARLETON COLLEGE 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 298 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing