Minnesota · Nonprofit
FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE
FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE (Minnesota) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,020,965 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($5,000,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $9.3M
- Funders on record
- 33
- Grants received
- $10M
- Net assets
- $2.6M
What First Children's Finance does
Mission
First Children's Finance (fcf) grows the supply and sustainability of high-quality child care by strengthening the business and financial foundations of the sector. Founded in 1991, fcf is a national nonprofit headquartered in minneapolis, minnesota, with state offices in michigan, minnesota, iowa, oregon, and vermont. Fcf provides financing, business training, and consulting to child care entrepreneurs, while partnering with public, private, and tribal stakeholders to advance policies and funding strategies that create sustainable child care systems.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
On its FY2024 return the organization reported a significant change in how it conducts a program.
On april 1, 2025, First Children's Finance (fcf) transferred all assets and liabilities not related to financing activities to a new entity called First Children's Finance group (fcfg) and amended their bylaws to make fcfg the sole member of fcf. Fcf continues to provide financing to child care entrepreneurs in michigan, minnesota, missouri, north dakota, vermont, and wisconsin.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 3).
Financial assistance community development financial institution (cdfi) loan fundas a certified community development financial institution (cdfi), First Children's Finance (fcf) provides flexible, mission-driven capital to child care businesses that often face barriers to traditional financing. Our lending program strengthens the business foundation of child care providers serving low- and moderate-income families, helping them grow, stabilize, and sustain high-quality early care and education.fcf is the only cdfi in the nation exclusively focused on child care, combining financial expertise with deep, sector-specific knowledge. Every loan is paired with tailored technical assistance that builds the borrower's capacity in business planning, cash flow management, and long-term sustainability. This integrated approach ensures that each investment strengthens both the individual business and the broader child care ecosystem.the fcf loan fund operates across ten statesiowa, michigan, minnesota, missouri, north dakota, south dakota, oregon, texas, vermont, and wisconsinsupporting family child care homes and centers in both rural and urban communities. In fy2025, the loan fund…
$890,149 spent$239,504 earned by the program12% of program spending1. Business support for child care entrepreneursfcf provides tailored business development services to child care entrepreneurs at every stagestart-up, stabilization, growth, and succession. Our staff deliver one-on-one consulting, group training, and access to financing and business tools that improve sustainability and quality. In fy2025, fcf supported 3,367 child care businesses, offering 254 trainings and 53 cohort-based programs across multiple states. In iowa, 77 business owners completed our business & financial fundamentals series, with 84% reporting measurable improvement in financial and management practices. These efforts strengthen small businesses serving low- and moderate-income families.2. Building local child care capacityfcf partners with communities to increase the supply and stability of child care that meets local workforce and family needs. Through data-driven consultation, financial modeling, and strategic planning, fcf supported 122 communities nationwide in fy2025. Our rural child care innovation program and related initiatives helped more than 45 communities conduct supply-and-demand analyses, identify barriers, and implement local solutionsturning child…
$6,733,417 spentof which $1,569,357 as grants$2,110,590 earned by the program88% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $7,623,566.
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 2024 to 2025, from $16M to $7.0M (−56%).
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 27% · 2018 41% · 2019 54% · 2020 21% · 2021 31% · 2022 77% · 2023 55% · 2024 80% · 2025 57%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
68% of FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (81% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 6 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
Heidi Hagel-Braid
President & CEO
Board chair
Dafina Williams
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 8 funders, grant income rose $75k → $5.1M.
13 of 33 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 58% 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 FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 33 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
FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE leans on a few funders — its largest provides 50% of grant income and the top three 63%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
62% 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 FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 58% · 2019 42% · 2020 19% · 2021 31% · 2022 62% · 2023 98% — 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
28% of FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 45% 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
58% of FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE'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 $4.3M that is directly attributable, 52% of it comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.8M arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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
FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE has grown faster than three-quarters of the 7,349 human services nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 7,349 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $8.2M on record — $2.5M federal, $5.8M state.
- Department of the Treasury$1.6M
- Small Business Administration$524k
- Department of Agriculture$358k
- VT$3.1M
- OR$2.7M
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 FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE
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
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 16 states
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- First Children's Finance Group · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE: 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 FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE?
- FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE (Minnesota) receives grants from 33 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,020,965 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($5,000,000). 15 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 58% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE have?
- IRS filings report 33 organizations giving $10,020,965 in grants to FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE, 15 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $5,000,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FIRST CHILDREN'S FINANCE 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 2017–2025), and the filings of 33 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