Minnesota · Nonprofit
NORTHLAND FOUNDATION
NORTHLAND FOUNDATION (Minnesota) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,726,159 to it, the largest being MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION ($7,383,330). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 34
- Grants received
- $18M
- Net assets
- $121M
What Northland Foundation does
Mission
The Northland Foundation supports northeastern minnesota people and communities working toward a future where everyone feels they belong and can thrive.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
The grant program provides financial and technical resources to tax-exempt nonprofits and public entities such as school districts within our 7-county region. Our priority areas are: 1) children, youth and families; 2) individual and community wellbeing; and 3) maada'ookiing, to support grassroots efforts to strengthen indigenous communities. The Northland Foundation also acts as an intermediary grantor where mission and priorities align. In fiscal year 2024, northland awarded 264 grants totaling $7.6 million and distributed $3.7 million in minnesota early learning scholarships on behalf of the state.
$12,197,917 spentof which $11,315,585 as grants79% of program spendingThe kids plus program has been improving the well-being of children and youth since 1992. From birth to adulthood. Kids plus provides: 1) early childhood efforts encompassing early care and education, infant and early childhood mental health, and increased access to high-quality child care; 2) youth programs including leadership development and philanthropy engagement and learning; and 3) intergenerational programs connecting young people with adults 55+. In fiscal year 2024, kids plus engaged 1,566 people in 57 trainings and convenings, and its programs served people of all ages across the region.
$1,696,574 spent11% of program spendingThe business services program offers technical assistance and flexible financing to assist with business start-up and expansion within our 7-county region, in order to bolster the regional economy and promote job creation - critical components of thriving communities. Financing is often in the form of gap lending made in partnership with banks or other development lenders. Borrowers may be for-profit or nonprofit entities. In fiscal year 2024, northland closed 15 loans totaling $4.1 million which helped create leverage of $25.5 million in other investments. Northland Foundation hosts the regional small business development center (sbdc). The sbdc's mission is to "help entrepreneurs and businesses grow and succeed" by providing technical assistance and one-on-one consulting services to small and medium sized businesses at no cost to the client. The regional center is located in duluth; there are also five other satellite offices spread across the region. The regional footprint of the sbdc matches the Northland Foundation footprint.
$1,511,703 spent$358,091 earned by the program10% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2023 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $15,406,194.
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 2020 to 2021, from $95M to $122M (+28%).
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 1% · 2018 6% · 2019 57% · 2020 19% · 2021 29% · 2022 33% · 2023 53% · 2024 73% · 2025 44%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
51% of NORTHLAND FOUNDATION’s revenue is contributions — more earned-revenue than three-quarters of its peers (80% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Board chair
Peter Mcdermott
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 7 funders to 14 funders, grant income rose $1.3M → $1.6M.
8 of 34 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 13% 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 NORTHLAND FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 34 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
NORTHLAND FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 42% of grant income and the top three 75%; 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 72% · 2018 77% · 2019 54% · 2020 43% · 2021 41% · 2022 45% · 2023 31% — 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
45% of NORTHLAND FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
98% of NORTHLAND FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.3M arriving through sponsors registered in 3 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
NORTHLAND FOUNDATION holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 490 philanthropy nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 490 philanthropy nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding NORTHLAND FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $5.0M on record.
- Department of the Treasury$4.5M
- Corporation for National and Community Service$500k
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 NORTHLAND FOUNDATION
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
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
75%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 2 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for NORTHLAND FOUNDATION: 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 NORTHLAND FOUNDATION?
- NORTHLAND FOUNDATION (Minnesota) receives grants from 34 organizations whose IRS filings report $17,726,159 to it, the largest being MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION ($7,383,330). 19 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does NORTHLAND FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 34 organizations giving $17,726,159 in grants to NORTHLAND FOUNDATION, 19 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of NORTHLAND FOUNDATION?
- MARGARET A CARGILL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $7,383,330 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like NORTHLAND FOUNDATION 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 34 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