Minnesota · Nonprofit
MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND
MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND (Minnesota) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,148,248 to it, the largest being THE JAY AND ROSE PHILLIPS FAMILY FOUNDATION OF MINNESOTA ($1,967,500). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 36
- Grants received
- $6.1M
- Net assets
- $1.9M
What Minnesota Private College Fund does
Mission
The Minnesota Private College Fund serves the shared needs of its members by seeking philanthropic support from corporations, foundations, and others for the benefit of its member colleges and universities and the students they educate.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Distribution of financial support for the 17 member private colleges, their students, and fund-operated scholarship programs that support students at member private colleges. Every dollar raised through fundraising goes directly to (1) the 17 member institutions in the form of general operating support, and (2) to students enrolled in member institutions in the form of scholarships. Each member institution pays annual dues to mpcf, which cover all the fund's general overhead, fundraising, and administrative expenses.
$969,062 spentof which $969,062 as grants$327,400 earned by the program50% of program spendingThe innovation scholars program is a collaborative program offering selected multi-disciplinary teams of students the opportunity to research projects with start-up and early-stage medical companies and the mayo clinic. Innovation scholars programming exposes students to the ambiguities of "real world" innovation and entrepreneurship, the role of teamwork, cross-disciplinary collaboration, in-depth research, analysis, and creativity. Thirteenth institutions and 60 students participated in 2023-2024.
$210,273 spent11% of program spendingTrailblazers offers a unique two-year leadership program for black men at our member colleges. The program combines a two-year scholarship with comprehensive academic and professional advising, culturally relevant mentoring, leadership development, financial literacy programming, experiential learning, networking opportunities with black professionals, and career preparation.
$743,034 spentof which $20 as grants39% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,922,369.
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 2023 to 2024, from $2.9M to $2.4M (−17%).
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.
81% of MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 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
Paul D Cerkvenik
President and CEO
Board chair
Barbara Mcdonald
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 3 funders to 23 funders, grant income rose $54k → $1.2M.
5 of 36 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 12% 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: $1.1M from 3 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Council of Independent Colleges). These are real filings, and they are not money MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND raised.
From the IRS filings of MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 36 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 PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND leans on a few funders — its largest provides 32% of grant income and the top three 61%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 81% · 2018 35% · 2019 57% · 2020 53% · 2021 40% · 2022 39% · 2023 51% — 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
69% of MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 69% 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
89% of MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $752k 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
MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 9,615 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,615 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND
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
77% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
53%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Innovation Scholars LLC · disregarded
- Partners for Education Opportunity · exempt
- Minnesota Private College Council Inc · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND: 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 PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND?
- MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND (Minnesota) receives grants from 36 organizations whose IRS filings report $6,148,248 to it, the largest being THE JAY AND ROSE PHILLIPS FAMILY FOUNDATION OF MINNESOTA ($1,967,500). 25 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND have?
- IRS filings report 36 organizations giving $6,148,248 in grants to MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND, 25 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND?
- THE JAY AND ROSE PHILLIPS FAMILY FOUNDATION OF MINNESOTA is the largest funder on record, with $1,967,500 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MINNESOTA PRIVATE COLLEGE FUND 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 36 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