Minnesota · Nonprofit
COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER
COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER (Minnesota) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,144,040 to it, the largest being MIGHTYCAUSE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($215,180). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.9M
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Community Aid of Elk River does
Mission
Provide support and relieve hunger together.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Caer has been serving the communities of elk river, zimmerman and otsego since 1979 through the collection of food and personal care item donations. Additional items are purchased by caer with cash donations received. Each donation dollar provides the purchasing power to provide three meals to clients. To assist our clients in stretching their food budgets to include fresh produce, caer forged alliances with second harvest heartland, the food group food banks, as well as local growers and grocers to significantly increase the amount of fresh produce offered. In total for all programs in 2023, caer provided 1,060,305 pounds of food to the communities of elk river, zimmerman, otsego and surrounding areas. In 2010, caer implemented a summer program called "kidz kitz". The program was designed to help families with school-age children by providing additional kid-friendly food, produce, milk and bakery items as weekly supplemental food packages during the summer months. In 2020, with the sudden shift to distance learning, the kidz kitz program was immediately implemented from march to august. Caer renamed the kidz kitz program to the kids weekend caer package in april 2021. It was…
$2,199,457 spentof which $2,199,457 as grants82% of program spendingCaer provides emergency financial assistance to help people maintain or obtain housing, gas and electric utilities. We seek to prevent eviction and utility shut off on behalf of our clients. Our service area is extended for this assistance to residents in the cities of elk river, big lake, becker, otsego and zimmerman. In 2023, 122 households received housing or utility assistance.
$125,490 spentof which $125,490 as grants5% of program spendingCaer initiated our "car caer" program more than 15 years ago as part of our commitment to help clients remain mobile so they can work or look for work. This program provides transportation assistance by helping individuals with vehicle maintenance. We partner with a local business that provides facilities and volunteer mechanics who provide the expertise and labor to fix or maintain a vehicle. Caer pays for the necessary parts or supplies. These parts and supplies are purchased through the shop owner at wholesale prices. In 2023, 16 households received help through car caer.
$11,227 spentof which $11,227 as grants0% of program spendingIn 2023, caer helped over 400 households with miscellaneous needs including school supplies, winter outerwear and gas cards.
$356,804 spentof which $817 as grants13% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,692,978.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 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 $486k to $1.1M (+120%).
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: 2020 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
92% of COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 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
John Jordan
Board chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 19 funders, grant income rose $5k → $294k.
11 of 34 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 44% 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 COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 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
COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 19% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
79% 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 COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 36% · 2020 25% · 2021 31% · 2022 22% · 2023 19% — 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
61% of COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 71% 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
62% of COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $504k arriving through sponsors registered in 10 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
COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER is better cushioned than half of the 11,263 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,263 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER
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
97% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER: 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 COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER?
- COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER (Minnesota) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,144,040 to it, the largest being MIGHTYCAUSE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ($215,180). 24 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $1,144,040 in grants to COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER, 24 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER?
- MIGHTYCAUSE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $215,180 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like COMMUNITY AID OF ELK RIVER 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 Community Aid of Elk River →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 34 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