Minnesota · Nonprofit
LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY
LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY (Minnesota) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,065,720 to it, the largest being THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION ($511,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $184k
- Funders on record
- 18
- Grants received
- $1.1M
- Net assets
- $174k
What Lake Effect Conservancy does
Mission
The Lake Effect Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that serves as an advocate and fundraising agency for the panoway on wayzata bay initiative, a public-private partnership with the city of wayzata. The goal of this initiative is to preserve and enhance the city's greatest asset, lake minnetonka, for future generations and to help improve the lakeside ecosystem with significant benefits to the community.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Construction of phase 2 was completed in june 2024. This included a 1,200 foot-long lakewalk that stretches along a restored shoreline of lake minnetonka from broadway ave to the depot. The lakewalk openend to the public in june 2024, and quickly became a popular commnuity asset. Private funds raised through the Lake Effect Conservancy helped pay for the improvements of phase 2 in 2024. Contributions to the city of wayzata for phase 2 totaled over $700,000 in 2024. We continued our efforts in raising funds and awareness of phase 3 of the panoway project, which includes preservation and renovation of the section foreman house and the eco park. We received over $12,000 of donations earmarked for this phase of the project in 2024.
$708,392 spentof which $700,892 as grants100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $708,392.
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 $128k to $801k (+525%).
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 38%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
91% of LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 8 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
Blake Sandvold
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 4 funders to 5 funders, grant income rose $141k → $207k.
4 of 18 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 73% 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 LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY’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
LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 48% of grant income and the top three 77%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
83% 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 LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 71% · 2020 56% · 2021 23% · 2022 73% · 2023 48% — 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
17% of LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 28% 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
73% of LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY'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 $292k that is directly attributable, 83% of it comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $774k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY's revenue grew 26% between 2017 and 2024.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY
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
87% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
70%
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 LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY: 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 LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY?
- LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY (Minnesota) receives grants from 18 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,065,720 to it, the largest being THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION ($511,000). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 73% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY have?
- IRS filings report 18 organizations giving $1,065,720 in grants to LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY?
- THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $511,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LAKE EFFECT CONSERVANCY 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 Lake Effect Conservancy →
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 18 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