Minnesota · Nonprofit
Mississippi Park Connection
Mississippi Park Connection (Minnesota) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,322,076 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION ($1,453,672). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 40
- Grants received
- $4.3M
- Net assets
- $5.5M
What Mississippi Park Connection does
Mission
The mission of the Mississippi Park Connection (MPC) is to strengthen the enduring connection between people and the Mississippi River by enriching the life of the river and the lives of all who experience the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (The National Park). MPC is a 501(c)(3) organization. Mississippi River Paddle Share, LLC, is wholly owned by MPC. MPC engages private citizens, public and private foundations, and industry sources to support the activities of the National Park Service and its partners to enhance the National Park and Mississippi River by: Raising funds to support the National Park's programs. Increasing awareness of the National Park and the Mississippi River. Providing community connection, expertise, and inspiration for the National Park.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Community Programs and Engagement:MPC's community programs and engagement nurture deep relationships with communities and co-created programs to develop affinities between people and the Mississippi River. MPC collaborates with the National Park Service to coordinate and promote community engagement events year-round, providing accessible and positive experiences at the park for the public. In FY2025, Mississippi Park Connection expanded its community programming and engagement to connect with broader and more diverse audiences in meaningful river-based experiences. The organization advanced several new and existing initiatives, including planning for Float Fest 2025, a large-scale, river-centered celebration designed to reshape public perception of the Mississippi River and encourage recreational use. Additional programs such as Winter Day of Play and the Wild and Scenic Film Festival fostered seasonal engagement and community connection. MPC also prioritized community-based programming, including a Juneteenth paddle and partnerships, ensuring programming reflected and served historically underrepresented communities.
$324,750 spent31% of program spendingEnvironmental Stewardship:MPC's environmental stewardship programs connect people to the river through conscientious, hands-on stewardship activities that protect and restore the Mississippi River's cherished natural and cultural resources. MPC expands the National Park's capacity to conduct environmental restoration and field work that benefit the river and seeks out best stewardship practices of the ecological resources within the park.MPC's environmental stewardship efforts in FY2025 focused on habitat restoration, climate resilience, and volunteer engagement across the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. The Mississippi River Conservation Corps, including a youth cohort, contributed significantly to land management and restoration activities in partnership with the National Park Service and other stakeholders. The organization planted over 1,000 climate-adapted and culturally significant trees and continued advancing the Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change project, including completing a multi-year summary report and sharing findings with a national audience. Additional progress included onboarding an AmeriCorps member to support forestry and restoration work…
$321,868 spent$35,218 earned by the program31% of program spendingPaddle Share:Paddle Share is a self-serve kayak sharing system in the Twin Cities metro area that provides opportunities for users to rent a kayak and paddle to a destination downriver. Through operating partnerships with agencies and organizations throughout the National Park Service corridor, Paddle Share connects people directly to the river through outdoor recreation. In FY2025, Paddle Share remained a cornerstone program for increasing equitable access to the Mississippi River. MPC focused on system improvements, partner engagement, and operational enhancements, including convening partners for an end-of-season evaluation and preparing infrastructure for future growth. The program continued to evolve through new partnerships to develop culturally responsive, skill-based paddling instruction that integrates water safety. These efforts aim to reduce barriers to participation and expand access among underrepresented communities. MPC also continued to invest in operational capacity and strategic planning to strengthen Paddle Share's long-term sustainability and impact.
$175,375 spent$47,526 earned by the program17% of program spendingYouth Education:MPC supports the National Park's outdoor education and recreation programs for students throughout the community. MPC's outdoor and online youth education programs provide a fresh, hands-on approach to the ways learning can be integrated with the outdoors, empowering students to become avid learners, and enabling them to begin building a lifelong relationship with the river. Youth education remained a core component of MPC's mission in FY2025, with continued investment in programs that connect students to the Mississippi River through experiential learning. Programs such as Big River Journey saw strong participation, with over 1,300 students engaged in hands-on environmental education experiences. MPC also supported access to these programs through transportation scholarships and stipends for River Educators, helping reduce barriers for schools and communities. Staff participation in national learning networks and exposure to best practices such as visiting new education facilities and engaging in professional development further strengthened program quality and innovation. These efforts ensured that youth education programming remained impactful, accessible, and…
$110,603 spentof which $9,000 as grants11% of program spendingRiver Learning Center:Serving as the future National Park Service programming headquarters, the Mississippi River Learning Center (RLC) will be a one-of-a-kind space for environmental and cultural learning and a recreational gateway to the Mississippi River, welcoming Saint Paul residents as well as visitors from across the region, nation, and the world to experience the land, water, and culture of the Mississippi River. MPC is assisting with fundraising, awareness, and public programming at the future site of the Mississippi River Learning Center. In FY2025, MPC completed a comprehensive feasibility study assessing campaign readiness, donor potential, and organizational capacity, while also progressing design development in collaboration with project partners. MPC hosted and participated in community engagement opportunities to gather public input and build awareness of the project, while also organizing community events at the site.
$108,591 spent10% of program spendingNational Park Service:In fiscal year 2025, the Organization continued to strengthen its role as the official philanthropic partner of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area by directly supporting critical National Park Service programmatic and operational needs through Friends Funds. These flexible funds are designated by the board of directors to help address funding gaps and constraints during a period of federal uncertainty, enabling continued progress on key park initiatives. The Organization established and managed these funds to support program delivery, natural resource management, interpretation, volunteer engagement, and special park projects. Friends Funds helped offset park operational limitations related to purchasing and staffing restrictions, ensuring continuity of public programming and restoration efforts throughout the park corridor. Friends Funds also allow the park to meet local programmatic needs not currently funded at the federal level, expanding the park's capacity to connect more people to the Mississippi River.
$7,721 spent1% of program spending
The 6 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,048,908.
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 2024 to 2025, from $4.9M to $5.6M (+16%).
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 28% · 2018 16% · 2019 8% · 2021 15% · 2022 8% · 2023 31% · 2024 28% · 2025 19%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of Mississippi Park Connection’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. 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
Ellen Reed
Executive Director
Board chair
Ramesh Sairam
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 9 funders to 15 funders, grant income rose $187k → $443k.
8 of 40 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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 Mississippi Park Connection’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 40 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
Mississippi Park Connection has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 34% of grant income, and it takes 3 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 3 funders to its left
74% 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 Mississippi Park Connection.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 57% · 2018 87% · 2019 47% · 2020 26% · 2021 34% · 2022 46% · 2023 33% — 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
48% of Mississippi Park Connection's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 75% 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
Mississippi Park Connection draws 64% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 12 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $993k 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.
Against its field
Mississippi Park Connection runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 1,209 environment nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 1,209 environment nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding Mississippi Park Connection receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $1.9M on record.
- Department of the Interior$1.9M
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 Mississippi Park Connection
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
78% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
89%
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 1 related entity
- Mississippi River Paddle Share LLC · disregarded
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Mississippi Park Connection: 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 Mississippi Park Connection?
- Mississippi Park Connection (Minnesota) receives grants from 40 organizations whose IRS filings report $4,322,076 to it, the largest being NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION ($1,453,672). 30 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Mississippi Park Connection have?
- IRS filings report 40 organizations giving $4,322,076 in grants to Mississippi Park Connection, 30 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Mississippi Park Connection?
- NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,453,672 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Mississippi Park Connection 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 40 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