Minnesota · Nonprofit
Lake Street Council
Lake Street Council (Minnesota) receives grants from 129 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,404,598 to it, the largest being THE BUSH FOUNDATION ($950,000). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $2.3M
- Funders on record
- 129
- Grants received
- $8.4M
- Net assets
- $4.1M
What Lake Street Council does
Mission
Lake Street Council engages, serves, and advocates for the Lake Street business community in Minneapolis to ensure the vitality and prosperity of the commercial corridor. The Lake Street Council fosters economic vitality and amplifies Lake Street's vibrancy to create a thriving and livable commercial corridor.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Technical Assistance and Small Business Advising: The Lake Street Council provides small business advising in English, Spanish, and Somali. In 2024, our focus has moved to providing vital support to small businesses and entrepreneurs still struggling to succeed under challenging circumstances. We launched a workshop series focused on maintaining financial documentation, building credit, and planning for business expansion. We provided grants to businesses to improve their properties. We supported businesses through road construction.
$821,413 spentof which $337,455 as grants57% of program spendingWe Love Lake Street (WLLA) Recovery Fund: In late May 2020, civil unrest erupted in the Lake Street corridor. More than 400 businesses were looted, damaged, or destroyed by fire in the aftermath. The events that unfolded during those weeks have had a deep and lasting impact on Lake Street. The broader community came together to support these impacted businesses, and the WLLS recovery fund raised more than $12 million dollars in a matter of weeks. The purpose of the WLLS recovery fund is to support the recovery of businesses and nonprofit organizations in the Lake Street corridor. To facilitate the distribution of funds, we created the WLLS recovery fund oversight committee (the "oversight committee"), which includes local leaders with a history of supporting Lake Street's diverse business community. The oversight committee was charged with making decisions about funding priorities and guidelines. The oversight committee's subcommittees decided who received funding and in what amount. In 2024 this fund continued to invest in grants and forgivable loans to displaced businesses that were seeking to reopen, to entrepreneurs who owned demolished properties who were seeking…
$270,909 spentof which $216,280 as grants19% of program spendingVisitor Attraction and Placemaking Initiative: Through community activation events and millions of impressions online in the past year, we have uplifted individual businesses, highlighted our successes, and supported our partners. Our Lake Street Reimagined program continues to bring people out to discover and support Lake Street while creating opportunities for local artists. We provided funding for 20 murals, four sculptures and standalone installations, and two vinyl art installations.
$177,596 spentof which $5,000 as grants12% of program spendingCorridor Promotion: Attracted customers to the area through promotion of the Lake Street corridor.
$175,935 spent12% of program spendingFiscal Sponsorship: If a nonprofit organization has not yet received its 501(c)(3) status, it could operate under Lake Street Council as their fiscal sponsor who accepted donations and managed funds on its behalf allowing the program to begin work while awaiting tax-exempt approval.
$5,000 spent0% of program spendingCommunity Engagement: Lake Street Council ("LSC") supports the Lake Street community in Minneapolis to ensure the vitality and prosperity of the commercial corridor and its 16 surrounding neighborhoods. We engage entrepreneurs, employees, residents, and institutional stakeholders in programs that promote economic development. As the main business association for Lake Street, we regularly hear from business and property owners throughout the corridor about the concerns that matter to them, and our priorities shift to reflect the needs of the moment. Our core programs include community engagement through small business advising, visitor attraction, placemaking initiatives, and financial relief for small businesses and nonprofits.
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,450,853.
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 2019 to 2020, from $418k to $8.6M (+1968%).
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 26% · 2018 24% · 2019 35% · 2020 1% · 2021 9% · 2022 11% · 2023 24% · 2024 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
97% of Lake Street Council’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (60% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Chief executive
Allison Sharkey
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $50k → $564k.
27 of 129 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 32% 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 Street Council’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 129 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
Lake Street Council has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% 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
49% 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 Street Council.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 60% · 2018 100% · 2019 39% · 2020 25% · 2021 33% · 2022 21% · 2023 27% — 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
11% of Lake Street Council's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 24% 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
77% of Lake Street Council's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.7M arriving through sponsors registered in 21 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 Street Council holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 4,206 community improvement nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,206 community improvement nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like Lake Street Council
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
68% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
91%
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 Street Council: 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 Street Council?
- Lake Street Council (Minnesota) receives grants from 129 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,404,598 to it, the largest being THE BUSH FOUNDATION ($950,000). 31 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Lake Street Council have?
- IRS filings report 129 organizations giving $8,404,598 in grants to Lake Street Council, 31 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Lake Street Council?
- THE BUSH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $950,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Lake Street Council 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 2017–2024), and the filings of 129 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