Minnesota · Nonprofit
MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY (Minnesota) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $572,500 to it, the largest being CARGILL FOUNDATION ($345,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $897k
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $573k
- Net assets
- $800k
What Minnesota State Horticultural Society does
Mission
To serve northern gardeners through education, encouragement and community.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The organization publishes northern gardener, the only magazine containing information written especially for cold climate gardeners, four times per year, over 13,200 subscribers.
$340,781 spent$91,434 earned by the program48% of program spendingEducational programs consist of conducting northern gardener classes, providing the minnesotan green program which provides donated plant materials to the community garden locations. Garden-in-a-box provides free or at a reduced cost a 3x3 cedar box, plant material, soil and a free class to low-income families.
$360,664 spentof which $13,916 as grants$30,214 earned by the program50% of program spendingMembership services provides members with two free tickets to the minnesota home and patio show and the minneapolis home and garden show. Discounts at over 78 garden centers and nurseries, discounts in the northern gardener bookstore, educational classes and tours, four issues and electronically transmitted supplements of the magazine northern gardener, lending privileges in the library. As of december 31, 2024, the organization had 9,616 members.
$13,352 spent$310,013 earned by the program2% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $714,797.
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 $294k to $925k (+215%).
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 2% · 2018 2% · 2019 2% · 2020 2% · 2021 6% · 2022 39% · 2023 44% · 2024 15%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
32% of MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (88% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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
Lara Lau-Schommer
Executive director
Board chair
Andrew Smith
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 7 funders, grant income rose $2k → $93k.
7 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 25% 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 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 60% of grant income and the top three 80%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
36% 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 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 71% · 2018 53% · 2019 71% · 2020 79% · 2021 78% · 2022 56% · 2023 70% — 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
64% of MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 47% 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
84% of MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $143k arriving through sponsors registered in 6 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 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY's funding base is broadening — from 2 funders to 7 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 4,264 environment nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Government funding MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $340k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$340k
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 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
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
97%
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 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY: 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 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY?
- MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY (Minnesota) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $572,500 to it, the largest being CARGILL FOUNDATION ($345,000). 7 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $572,500 in grants to MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 7 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY?
- CARGILL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $345,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 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 15 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