Minnesota · Nonprofit
LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT
LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT (Minnesota) receives grants from 105 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,640,658 to it, the largest being THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,625,000). 66 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $3.4M
- Funders on record
- 105
- Grants received
- $15M
- Net assets
- $3.9M
What Land Stewardship Project does
Mission
The Land Stewardship Project (lsp) was organized on june 1, 1982, as a division of the national catholic rural life conference and in 1983 was incorporated under the minnesota (mn) nonprofit corporation act. Lsp is supported primarily by contributions and grants from individuals, foundations, corporations, governmental agencies and membership revenue. Lsp wholly owns land stewardship legacy limited liability company (llc). The purpose of the llc is to own and operate the building in minneapolis where lsp currently leases office space. To support other nonprofit organizations whose missions support the broader work of lsp, we fiscally sponsor the midwest farmers of color collective.lsp fosters an ethic of stewardship toward farmland in the united states, promotes sustainable agriculture, and develops healthy communities. Lsp is dedicated to creating transformational change in our food
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Policy and organizingthe Land Stewardship Project's policy organizing starts from values like stewardship and justice and then organizes people, resources, and ideas to build the power to make a difference. Lsp works at the local, state, and national levels to change corporate, governmental, and institutional policies and practices. Key highlights grassroots engagement: engaged 897 farmers and their rural neighbors in policy and organizing campaigns that advance our community's values of stewardship and justice. Strategic communications: drove a narrative exposing the economic and environmental harms of industrial agriculture and the benefits of a regenerative food system centered on small and mid-sized farmers through lsp communications and earned media. Lsp was featured in local, regional, and national news outlets 48 timesraising public awareness of our issue areas and perspectivesand generated dozens of communications pieces including 33 podcasts and 2 issues of the land stewardship letter.
$995,701 spent$239,487 earned by the program29% of program spendingMembership and communication the membership and communications team, which conducts ongoing outreach, recruitment, renewal, fundraising, and engagement of lsp's members and supporters. Key highlights support for farmers: supported 757 farmers at all stages of their careers through workshops, field day events, and technical assistance. This included providing support and education to 299 established farmers and landowners to help them transition land, implement soil health practices, and develop leadership skills. We also helped 458 new farmers, including 24 bipoc participants, reach their farming goals including accessing land and adapting to climate change. Base building & leadership: welcomed 529 new supportersfarmers, rural residents, and food system advocates. Many became active campaign leaders: 214 testified at the capitol, spoke to media, led local meetings, and shared their stories to spotlight issues. We supported 52 emerging farmer spokespeople to build confidence and public speaking skills.
$777,340 spent$179,397 earned by the program22% of program spendingSoil healththe soil health program works with farmers, landowners, natural resource professionals, and scientists to promote agricultural systems that treat soil as a long-term investment that can result in a more resilient landscape, thriving farms, and vibrant communities. Lsp's farmer-led model supports landscape-level change by directly supporting the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices that reduce runoff, reduce emissions, improve soil fertility and farm viability, and increase the land's resilience in the face of the existing impacts of climate change. Key highlights farmer-to-farmer learning: fostered peer learning networks where regenerative practices grow out of lived experience and mutual trust. These groups bring farmers together to visit each other's operations, troubleshoot challenges, and share practical, hands-on insights. We support five groups, with a new small grains group launching in fy26. Farmers report these conversations wouldn't happen without lsp's facilitation. Research confirms peer networks are one of the strongest predictors of sustainable practice adoption.
$736,142 spent21% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$955,155 spent28% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,464,338.
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 2017 to 2018, from $3.3M to $4.5M (+36%).
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 21% · 2018 8% · 2019 12% · 2020 5% · 2021 2% · 2022 12% · 2023 10% · 2024 12% · 2025 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT’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. 5 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
Scott Elkins
Executive director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 29 funders to 44 funders, grant income rose $519k → $2.6M.
30 of 105 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 35% 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 LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 105 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
LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 11% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
46% 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 LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 12% · 2018 18% · 2019 24% · 2020 17% · 2021 12% · 2022 13% · 2023 12% — 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
51% of LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% 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
LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT draws 72% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 19 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $5.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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
LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT is better cushioned than half of the 1,074 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,074 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.1M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$1.1M
- 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 LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT
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
84% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Part of a family of 2 related entities
- Land Stewardship Legacy LLC · disregarded
- Land Stewardship Action Fund · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT: 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 LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT?
- LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT (Minnesota) receives grants from 105 organizations whose IRS filings report $14,640,658 to it, the largest being THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION ($1,625,000). 66 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 105 organizations giving $14,640,658 in grants to LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT, 66 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT?
- THE SCHMIDT FAMILY FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,625,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like LAND STEWARDSHIP PROJECT 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 Land Stewardship Project →
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 105 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