Minnesota · Nonprofit
FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER
FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER (Minnesota) receives grants from 86 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,446,626 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($1,125,000). 61 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.6M
- Funders on record
- 86
- Grants received
- $6.4M
- Net assets
- $3.2M
What Friends of the Mississippi River does
Mission
Friends of the Mississippi River (fmr) engages people to protect, restore, and enhance the mississippi river and its watershed in the twin cities region.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Land conservation - fmr works with public and private landowners, local governments and concerned citizens to protect and restore critical lands by providing technical assistance, planning, land management and hands-on natural resources restoration services.
$1,901,492 spent$652,422 earned by the program55% of program spendingLand use and planning - fmr works within river communities to provide the leadership, technical assistance and expertise in grassroots advocacy required to respect the values of public access, scenic views, equity, and environmental quality.
$300,571 spent9% of program spendingStewardship, volunteering & education - fmr works with individuals and communities to harness and inspire an ethic of river stewardship and conservation, engaging thousands annually in hands-on educational and volunteer activities that protect, enhance and celebrate our metro mississippi.
$591,470 spent17% of program spendingWater protection - fmr works with citizens and representatives to influence public policy to improve the health of the metro mississippi's water, which currently fails to meet federal water quality standards. We aim to make the twin cities a model for watershed planning and decision making that improves and protects water quality.
$655,658 spent19% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,449,191.
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 2022 to 2023, from $3.0M to $3.9M (+28%).
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: 2019 33% · 2020 43% · 2021 29% · 2022 19% · 2023 21% · 2024 37% · 2025 18%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
86% of FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Board chair
Dr John Anfinson
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 17 funders to 41 funders, grant income rose $210k → $982k.
18 of 86 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 38% 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 FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 86 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
FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 17% of grant income, and it takes 6 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 6 funders to its left
43% 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 FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 38% · 2018 26% · 2019 49% · 2020 34% · 2021 19% · 2022 24% · 2023 22% — 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
62% of FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI 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
82% of FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI 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. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 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
FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $30k on record.
- Department of the Interior$30k
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 FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI 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
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
88%
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 FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI 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 FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER?
- FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER (Minnesota) receives grants from 86 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,446,626 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($1,125,000). 61 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER have?
- IRS filings report 86 organizations giving $6,446,626 in grants to FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, 61 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER?
- The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $1,125,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like FRIENDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI 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 Friends of the Mississippi River →
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 86 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