Minnesota · Nonprofit
FairVote Minnesota Foundation
FairVote Minnesota Foundation (Minnesota) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,408,554 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($977,750). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $397k
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $2.4M
- Net assets
- $71k
What FairVote Minnesota Foundation does
Mission
FairVote Minnesota Foundation promotes better democracy through improving the voting system across the state. We provide research and education about the effects our voting system has on the quality of democracy and advocate for Ranked Choice Voting or other systems that promote greater competition, participation, majority rule, and proportional representation.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Education and Outreach Community Education Events FairVote Minnesota educated voters and public officials about RCV at numerous community events, including the Minnehaha Art Fair, Minnesota State Fair, League of Minnesota Cities Annual Conference, Twin Cities Pride, Open Streets, multiple city Pride festivals (Bloomington, St. Cloud, Hopkins), Hopkins Raspberry Festival, League of Women Voters meetings, and the Association of Minnesota Counties Conference. Executive Director Jeanne Massey also presented at the Represent Us American Democracy Summit in September 2023. RCV Election Education In 2023, RCV was used in 34 races across five Minnesota cities. These elections saw smooth implementation and strong voter participation, with voters reporting that RCV was easy to use and enhanced the democratic process. Civil campaigns and diverse representation were notable outcomes. FairVote Minnesota and its allies led voter education efforts at over 200 candidate forums and events, reaching more than 50,000 voters through door-knocking, social media, radio, phone outreach, and print media. Visit RankYourVote.org for more. Minnesota Flag Contest As part of the state's redesign of the…
$505,611 spentof which $5,250 as grants100% of program spendingLobbying
$1,408 spent0% of program spendingResearch
$140 spent0% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $507,159.
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 2020 to 2021, from $311k to $37k (−88%).
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 14% · 2021 13% · 2022 5% · 2023 29% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of FairVote Minnesota Foundation’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (84% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Jeanne Massey
Executive Director
Board chair
Maureen Reed
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 12 funders, grant income rose $51k → $348k.
10 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 67% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $200k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest FairVote Minnesota). These are real filings, and they are not money FairVote Minnesota Foundation raised.
From the IRS filings of FairVote Minnesota Foundation’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
FairVote Minnesota Foundation leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 66%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
88% 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 FairVote Minnesota Foundation.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 59% · 2018 94% · 2019 85% · 2020 39% · 2021 23% · 2022 27% · 2023 57% — broadly stable.
“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
54% of FairVote Minnesota Foundation'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
67% of FairVote Minnesota Foundation's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $802k that is directly attributable, 63% of it comes from funders outside Minnesota, across 5 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 8 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
FairVote Minnesota Foundation's revenue grew 28% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,131 public benefit nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like FairVote Minnesota Foundation
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
85%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- FairVote Minnesota · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FairVote Minnesota Foundation: 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 FairVote Minnesota Foundation?
- FairVote Minnesota Foundation (Minnesota) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,408,554 to it, the largest being FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND ($977,750). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 67% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FairVote Minnesota Foundation have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $2,408,554 in grants to FairVote Minnesota Foundation, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FairVote Minnesota Foundation?
- FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND is the largest funder on record, with $977,750 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FairVote Minnesota Foundation 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 FairVote Minnesota →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 21 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