Minnesota · Nonprofit
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION (Minnesota) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,736,771 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($551,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.3M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $2.7M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Department of Public Transformation does
Mission
Department of Public Transformation is a nonprofit organization that develops creative strategies for increased community connection, civic engagement, and equitable participation in rural places.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Activate strategy area is to activate rural community assets. The yes house is a multi-use community social and creative gathering space currently under renovation through an artist-led community design and build process. The organization hosted and/or collaborated on over 80 events, performances, workshops, and gatherings. Construction progress continued throughout 2025. The yes house also hosted the river valley ripple artist residency, focused on uplifting and supporting rural artists with time, space, and resources to further develop and/or expand their artistic practice. Activate rural uses a cohort-based learning lab to cultivate and increase welcoming physical infrastructure in rural communities using an artist-led asset activation framework. Five building activation projects in minnesota communities with a population under 10,000 were selected to participate in the inaugural 2023-2025 program cycle. Activate rural also launched a series of public workshops and coaching sessions to support creative entrepreneurs and small business owners in minnesota and beyond. The activate rural public workshop series served over 1,000 unique businesses or entrepreneurs during 2025.
$525,913 spent$7,375 earned by the program53% of program spendingSupport strategy area is to support rural arts and cultural workers. Ignite rural supports rural artists and culture bearers to implement creative projects in their communities. The 2025 ignite rural artist cohort supported six artists and culture bearers based in rural communities with a population of 20,000 or less within the borders of minnesota, north dakota, south dakota, and the 23 native nations that share the same geography. Fiscal sponsorship supports small, start-up arts groups and projects working in or with rural communities that do not want (or are not ready) to become tax-exempt nonprofit organizations. Dopt managed 63,269 in fiscal sponsorship funds during 2025.
$260,274 spentof which $102,440 as grants$225 earned by the program26% of program spendingNurture strategy area is to nurture the rural arts and culture field. Beyond the clock is a series of virtual learning exchanges connecting and lifting up rural artists, culture workers, and connectors across the country. Dopt hosted 9 virtual events and 2 in-person events as part of beyond the clock throughout 2025, engaging over 180 attendees. Dopt engaged in mentorship, coaching, and keynote/breakout presentations across the united states. Dopt also facilitated and/or participated in various partnerships, cohorts, program design sessions, round tables, exchanges, coalitions, and communities of practice.
$124,758 spent$36,834 earned by the program13% of program spendingConnect strategy area is to connect rural municipalities, organizations, artists, and systems. Engage rural is a dynamic program that provides resources, guidance, and connection for rural community leaders as they develop creative strategies for civic engagement. Such strategies can break down barriers to civic participation and strengthen local leadership. During 2025, dopt documented, expaned, and updated the program with an eye toward sustainability and approachability. Through the discover, connect, and design tracks, engage rural is designed to support communities with a population of 20,000 or less, offering services that will benefit participants at various stages in their arts-based civic engagement journey.
$73,352 spent$7,000 earned by the program7% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $984,297.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 2021 to 2022, from $441k to $1.2M (+181%).
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 17% · 2021 13% · 2022 1% · 2023 5% · 2024 14%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
96% of DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 5 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
Leah Cooper
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $17k → $380k.
3 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% 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 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 14 of 15 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
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 39% · 2021 41% · 2022 61% · 2023 43% — 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
75% of DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION draws 51% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 5 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $305k 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
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $45k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$45k
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 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION
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
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
61%
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 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION: 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 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION?
- DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION (Minnesota) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,736,771 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($551,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $2,736,771 in grants to DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION?
- The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $551,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSFORMATION 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 FY2024 (financials across 2020–2024), and the filings of 15 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