Minnesota · Nonprofit
Minnesota Council on Foundations
Minnesota Council on Foundations (Minnesota) receives grants from 71 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,403,019 to it, the largest being THE BUSH FOUNDATION ($1,547,000). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $6.4M
- Funders on record
- 71
- Grants received
- $8.4M
- Net assets
- $5.7M
What Minnesota Council on Foundations does
Mission
MCF is a vibrant philanthropic community connecting, strengthening and mobilizing the power of philanthropy to advance prosperity and equity.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Supporting Minnesota Communities: The Minnesota Council on Foundations engages with nonprofit organizations and partners to strengthen the practice of philanthropy, build relationships between philanthropy and the community, and promote community engagement and civic health. In 2024, this included grant support for organizations engaged in voter education on new election laws and voting rights and the launch of Press Forward Minnesota, the Minnesota chapter of a national movement to strengthen democracy by revitalizing local news and information.
$918,475 spentof which $918,475 as grants29% of program spendingMembership Services:MCF conducts a wide range of training and professional development opportunities for grantmakers, and creates opportunities for peer networking and learning within the field. Programs include: grantmaking skills; briefings on current events and issues; foundation type and issue based peer networks; and trends in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. MCF provides programming and peer learning opportunities in a range of issues related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. MCF's government relations and public policy program provides education, training and peer networks to its members, encouraging the incorporation of public policy and advocacy into grantmaking, in adherence with professional and legal practices. MCF responds to public policy issues related to the field of philanthropy, and advances public policy issues related to strengthening democracy.
$1,058,887 spentof which $79,750 as grants$248,229 earned by the program33% of program spendingPublic Awareness:MCF educates the public, nonprofit organizations, the media, government and elected officials about philanthropy, trends in the field, and the grantmaking process. This occurs through the publication of MCF Notes, MCF Giving Memo, Giving in Minnesota report, and working directly with the media and the interested public. Data used to inform the public is generated through surveys of philanthropy and through national databases including a 3-year commitment to work with Impala. The Press Forward MN effort, hosted at MCF, aims to increase public awareness about the connection between quality local news and information and civic health.
$1,183,757 spentof which $82,875 as grants37% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $3,161,119.
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 $3.1M to $5.9M (+91%).
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 17% · 2020 16% · 2021 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
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
Jenny Johnson
Board Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 11 funders to 29 funders, grant income rose $81k → $1.4M.
10 of 71 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 5% 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: $8.5M from 8 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest The Minneapolis Foundation). These are real filings, and they are not money Minnesota Council on Foundations raised.
From the IRS filings of Minnesota Council on Foundations’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 71 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
Minnesota Council on Foundations has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 28% · 2019 22% · 2020 33% · 2021 24% · 2022 21% · 2023 21% — growing more concentrated.
“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
50% of Minnesota Council on Foundations's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 59% 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
83% of Minnesota Council on Foundations's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $430k arriving through sponsors registered in 7 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.
Organizations like Minnesota Council on Foundations
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
88% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
80%
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 Minnesota Council on Foundations: 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 Minnesota Council on Foundations?
- Minnesota Council on Foundations (Minnesota) receives grants from 71 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,403,019 to it, the largest being THE BUSH FOUNDATION ($1,547,000). 42 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Minnesota Council on Foundations have?
- IRS filings report 71 organizations giving $8,403,019 in grants to Minnesota Council on Foundations, 42 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Minnesota Council on Foundations?
- THE BUSH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,547,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Minnesota Council on Foundations 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 71 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