Minnesota · Nonprofit
Metropolitan Economic Development Association
Metropolitan Economic Development Association (Minnesota) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,950,359 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($2,762,000). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $16M
- Funders on record
- 42
- Grants received
- $14M
- Net assets
- $18M
What Metropolitan Economic Development Association does
Mission
Helping minority entrepreneurs succeed.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
MEDA's mission is to Help BIPOC Entrepreneurs Succeed. Our theory of communities of color is a primary strategy to build a more just and fair economy. To fulfil our mission, MEDA provides integrated, wrap-around services in the areas all entrepreneurs need to be successful to grow and scale their businesses through providing the access to the "3C's" -- Access to Consulting, Access to Connections, and Access to Capital. Meda's services and products are available to all low-income entrepreneurs in Minnesota. MEDA serves small business owners who do not have access to traditional commercial banking markets and services.Continued on Schedule OIn 2025, MEDA made a significant impact across Minnesota, deploying $10.5M in new loans across disadvantaged geographies of the state. MEDA served 722 unique businesses in 2025, in industries such as healthcare and social assistance (10.5%), manufacturing (6.2%), Construction (9.4%), retail (8%) and scientific and technical services (13%) as well as accommodation and food services (13.8%). The breadth and variety of these businesses drive economic growth, bringing revenue to our neighborhoods, cities, counties, and state. Moreover, the majority…
$5,529,408 spent$2,355,002 earned by the program84% of program spendingMEDA hosts the regional Minority Business Development Agency. For the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2025, we assisted 145 clients. They reported $45.5 million Gross Revenues, and we helped them to acquire $75.1 million in capital that helped to support 1,138 Jobs (Full and Part time).
$398,082 spent$22,765 earned by the program6% of program spendingAscend Management Education Programming: The purpose of MEDA's Ascend program is to improve the capabilities of suppliers, provide connections, and to assist suppliers with obtaining the capital needed to support meeting the needs of their contracts. The program meets the critical need to access management education as well as knowledge of corporate suppliers that are essential to scale a supplier's operations.Continued on Schedule OThe core gap that many disadvantaged, low-income suppliers encounter is that management education, contract opportunities, and capital are essential for scaling a business but is not always easily accessible to low-income or otherwise disadvantaged entrepreneurs. The Ascend program bridges the gap by providing the education needed to further develop their capabilities, providing an introduction and opportunity to showcase their business to corporate partners involved in procurement, and contract financing options that would be necessary to scale the business.In 2025, the program supported 14 small businesses through management education, with an additional 46 that maintained access to MEDA services.Across all client types, 65% of Ascend Alumni survey…
$413,992 spentof which $25,000 as grants$16,822 earned by the program6% of program spendingMEDA supports earlygrowthstage entrepreneurs through its Volunteer Accelerator Network (VAN), a program designed for entrepreneurs of color who are committed to building sustainable and growing businesses. VAN provides a structured pathway for collaboration, networking, education, and mentorship by connecting participants with seasoned subjectmatter experts and experienced entrepreneurs from within the community. The network now includes 65 mentors who offer strategic guidance, help entrepreneurs develop SMART goals, and deliver topicspecific support. Many mentors also serve as instructors in MEDA's Roadmap to Business Success educational series. In 2025 alone, the program facilitated 110 mentorships, with each engagement being specifically tailored to the unique needs of each business.Mentees receive biweekly mentorship aligned with their business goals, monthly educational sessions designed for earlygrowthstage entrepreneurs, and access to a supportive peer community. VAN also hosts everyothermonth coffee chats to build relationships and strengthen the broader entrepreneurial landscape, along with strategic celebrations and networking events that bring together mentors, mentees,…
$228,440 spent$12,056 earned by the program3% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,569,922.
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.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $43M to $64M (+48%).
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 57% · 2018 30% · 2019 34% · 2020 24% · 2021 20% · 2022 34% · 2023 37% · 2024 77%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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
Dorothy Bridges
President & CEO
Board chair
Kevin Besikof
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 17 funders, grant income rose $429k → $2.1M.
6 of 42 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 3% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $1.8M from 4 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Minneapolis Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Metropolitan Economic Development Association raised.
From the IRS filings of Metropolitan Economic Development Association’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 42 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
Metropolitan Economic Development Association has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
26% 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 Metropolitan Economic Development Association.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 47% · 2018 49% · 2019 45% · 2020 18% · 2021 29% · 2022 55% · 2023 45% — 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
40% of Metropolitan Economic Development Association's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 64% 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
52% of Metropolitan Economic Development Association's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $388k arriving through sponsors registered in 5 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.
Government funding Metropolitan Economic Development Association receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $14.2M on record.
- Department of the Treasury$9.5M
- Department of Commerce$4.5M
- Small Business Administration$150k
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 Metropolitan Economic Development Association
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
71% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
92%
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 Metropolitan Economic Development Association: 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 Metropolitan Economic Development Association?
- Metropolitan Economic Development Association (Minnesota) receives grants from 42 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,950,359 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($2,762,000). 27 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Metropolitan Economic Development Association have?
- IRS filings report 42 organizations giving $13,950,359 in grants to Metropolitan Economic Development Association, 27 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Metropolitan Economic Development Association?
- The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $2,762,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Metropolitan Economic Development Association 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 42 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