Minnesota · Nonprofit
NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP
NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP (Minnesota) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,840,998 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($1,122,258). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.8M
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $1.8M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What National Lutheran Choir Corp does
Mission
The national lutheran choir celebrates, invigorates and expands sacred choral music bringing inspiration and meaning to people of diverse faiths and backgrounds.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
On its FY2024 return the organization reported starting a significant new program.
The national lutheran choir is undertaking an expansion of its mission by providing educational programs in choral singing to children and youth.
Its own explanation, from Schedule O of that return (Part III, line 2).
During the national lutheran choir's 2024-25 season, 4,608 audience members were served in nine concerts taking place in the twin cities of mn and on tour to the mayo clinic in rochester, mn and luther college in decorah, ia. Youtube subscribers increased 14% to 6000 and 10,100 hours of content was viewed online, including live stream broadcasts of three concert programs. Works commissioned by the choir included "three songs of healing," by hans heruth and brian newhouse (which were professionally recorded and made available on streaming platforms and for digital download worldwide) and "there is a way," by melissa dunphy. See schedule o for additional program language.the national lutheran choir children's ensemble, comprising 20 children in grades 2-6, performed in advent concerts at the basilica of saint mary. The annual choral tune-up was expanded to offer programs for young people as well as a conducting masterclass for choir leaders, and attendance number grew from 360 to 500. Finally, the national lutheran choir received a grant of $1.12 million from the lilly endowment through its "nurturing children through worship and prayer initiative." this five-year grant will only…
$503,990 spent$126,266 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $503,990.
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 2024 to 2025, from $509k to $1.5M (+204%).
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: 2021 1% · 2022 8%. 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 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
Tina Meckel
Executive director
Board chair
Matthew Helland
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 7 funders to 6 funders, grant income fell $66k → $63k.
9 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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 NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP’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
NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP leans on a few funders — its largest provides 61% of grant income and the top three 83%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
32% 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 NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 46% · 2018 42% · 2019 45% · 2020 42% · 2021 47% · 2022 30% · 2023 37% — 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
50% of NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 67% 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
NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP draws 89% of its grant income from funders outside Minnesota, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $536k 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 NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP
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
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
66%
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 NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP: 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 NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP?
- NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP (Minnesota) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,840,998 to it, the largest being LILLY ENDOWMENT INC ($1,122,258). 14 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $1,840,998 in grants to NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP, 14 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP?
- LILLY ENDOWMENT INC is the largest funder on record, with $1,122,258 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NATIONAL LUTHERAN CHOIR CORP 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.
Play a game about who funds National Lutheran Choir →
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 21 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