Minnesota · Nonprofit
CONNECTIONS MINISTRY
CONNECTIONS MINISTRY (Minnesota) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $508,429 to it, the largest being OTTO BREMER TRUST ($225,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $748k
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $508k
- Net assets
- $133k
What Connections Ministry does
Mission
Walking with individuals and families experiencing homelessness by extending a radical welcome that provides dignity, shelter, and community.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Connections shelter - low barrier shelter that operates from approx. October 1 to may 1. We have 48 beds and serve men, women and families. Guests apply for shelter via our website, go through an intake process and are given a bed for 30 days, along with an assigned navigator to assist with overcoming barriers to housing. We are open from 5pm to 8am, and we also provide a hot dinner each night, showers, hygiene items, clothing, etc. 2-3 paid staff are in the shelter during all operating hours.
$317,835 spent61% of program spendingGeneral programs - expenses that apply to both programs, special events, administrative costs, etc.
$171,022 spentof which $16 as grants33% of program spendingDrop-in center - the drop-in center houses our executive offices, as well as serves as a place for guests to access basic needs and resources during the day. Guests can also meet with their assigned navigators during the day to help with housing and other resources.
$21,735 spent4% of program spendingOther programs: assistance and shelter church
$8,326 spentof which $8,066 as grants2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $518,918.
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 $103k to $185k (+80%).
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: 2021 2% · 2023 11% · 2024 37% · 2025 28%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
101% of CONNECTIONS MINISTRY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (37% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 7 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
Jennifer Echevarria
Executive director
Board chair
Nancy Patterson
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 7 funders, grant income rose $1k → $139k.
6 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 30% 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 CONNECTIONS MINISTRY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 11 of 12 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
CONNECTIONS MINISTRY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 44% of grant income and the top three 88%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
36% 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 CONNECTIONS MINISTRY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 85% · 2021 66% · 2022 72% · 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.
How long its funders stay
80% of CONNECTIONS MINISTRY's funders are still giving 2 years after their first grant; 42% 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
96% of CONNECTIONS MINISTRY's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $154k 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.
Against its field
CONNECTIONS MINISTRY has grown faster than three-quarters of the 4,980 housing & shelter nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,980 housing & shelter nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Organizations like CONNECTIONS MINISTRY
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
76% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
81%
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 CONNECTIONS MINISTRY: 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 CONNECTIONS MINISTRY?
- CONNECTIONS MINISTRY (Minnesota) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $508,429 to it, the largest being OTTO BREMER TRUST ($225,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does CONNECTIONS MINISTRY have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $508,429 in grants to CONNECTIONS MINISTRY, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of CONNECTIONS MINISTRY?
- OTTO BREMER TRUST is the largest funder on record, with $225,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like CONNECTIONS MINISTRY 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 2019–2025), and the filings of 12 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