Minnesota · Nonprofit
Cologne Academy
Cologne Academy (Minnesota) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $298,700 to it, the largest being MIGHTYCAUSE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($146,563). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 6
- Grants received
- $299k
- Net assets
- $1.4M
What Cologne Academy does
Mission
To provide students in Cologne and surrounding rural areas with a content-rich education based on a strong foundation of knowledge through the use of the core knowledge sequence and classical curriculum. We are committed to providing a community school with small class sizes where students, parents and teachers work together to achieve accelerated academic achievement and strong character development.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Cologne Academy provides students in Cologne and surrounding rural areas with a content-rich education based on a strong foundation of knowledge through the use of the core knowledge sequence and classical curriculum. We are committed to providing a community school with small class sizes where students, parents and teachers work together to achieve accelerated academic achievement and strong character development. Cologne began with grades K-5 in the 2008-2009 academic year, added 6th grade in 2009-2010, 7th grade in 2010-2011, and added the final grade, 8th grade, in 2011-2012. The average number of students for the 2024-2025 school year was 724.
$10,848,206 spent$453,269 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $10,848,206.
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 2019 to 2020, from $9.6M to $7.7M (−19%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 91% · 2018 94% · 2019 93% · 2020 93% · 2021 96% · 2022 94% · 2023 92% · 2024 94% · 2025 94%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
95% of Cologne Academy’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 0 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
Lynn Peterson
Ex-Officio/Executive Director
Board chair
Craig Johnson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $27k → $49k.
2 of 6 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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 Cologne Academy’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
Cologne Academy leans on a few funders — its largest provides 49% 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
98% 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 Cologne Academy.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 79% · 2019 78% · 2020 99% · 2021 76% · 2022 41% · 2023 50% — 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
Cologne Academy draws 68% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 3 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $52k 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
Cologne Academy is better cushioned than half of the 3,758 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding Cologne Academy receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $145k on record.
- Department of Education$145k
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 Cologne Academy
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
94% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Cologne Academy Building Company · exempt
- Cologne Academy Pave Committee · exempt
- Cologne STARS Building Company · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Cologne Academy: 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 Cologne Academy?
- Cologne Academy (Minnesota) receives grants from 6 organizations whose IRS filings report $298,700 to it, the largest being MIGHTYCAUSE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($146,563). 4 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Cologne Academy have?
- IRS filings report 6 organizations giving $298,700 in grants to Cologne Academy, 4 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Cologne Academy?
- MIGHTYCAUSE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $146,563 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Cologne Academy 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 Cologne Academy →
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 6 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