Minnesota · Nonprofit
RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE
RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE (Minnesota) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,679,789 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($475,100). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $3.5M
- Funders on record
- 24
- Grants received
- $2.7M
- Net assets
- $1.3M
What Renewing the Countryside does
Mission
Renewing the Countryside strengthens rural areas by championing and supporting rural communities, farmers, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, activists and other people who are Renewing the Countryside through sustainable and innovative initiatives, businesses, and projects. We do this by sharing stories of rural renewal, building awareness and support for sustainable endeavors, connecting people interested in sustainable rural development to each other, providing practical assistance and networking opportunities for those working to improve rural america, and fostering connections between urban and rural people.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Community and farmer developmentrtc coordinates educational and networking activities for beginningfarmers. We manage and grow the farmland access hub, a multi-statenetwork of organizations working collaboratively on farmland access forbeginning farmers and transitions for retiring farmers. We provide public education:through the ecoexperience exhibit at the minnesota state fair where we bring information and excitement about local food and farming to the 250,000 attendees from mn and beyond that attend every year. With ""come and get it"", we are assisting 9 mn communities to develop on-farm events that connect farmers to consumers, and retail and institutional buyers. In our urban ag work we provide grants and assistance to urban farmers and gardeners to further develop their operations.
$1,560,941 spent$188,078 earned by the program59% of program spendingConservationrtc assists farmers in connecting with usda programs and services, such as loans offered by the farm service agency and natural resource conservation service programs. As of the end of 2024 we have assisted over 240 farmers, providing coaching via a team of community connectors, as well as support, workshops, farm tours,and networking. We empower women through the soil sisters and women in conservation projects, recently expanded into mn. We are bringing shared ecological and social benefits to urban communities through the development of mini forests, with one completed and two in planning phases.
$272,559 spent10% of program spendingLocal food systemwe work to develop systems that support a robust local food system. Rtcoffers individualized technical assistance to small and mid-sizedfarmers and food businesses and institutions who are incorporatinglocal foods into their menus and onto their shelves. We support sixregional farmers markets hubs, expanding operations through productaggregation and sales to individuals consumers, wholesale andinstitutional buyers. We are a partner in the artisan graincollaborative, working to develop short, values-based supply chains,with a goal to incorporate more small and artisan grains in the uppermidwest landscape. As co-founder of the feast! Network, we coordinate the feast! Local foods marketplace in rochester, mn, as well as an annualtradeshow connecting foodmakers to wholesale buyers, and produce anannual local feast! Magazine. We work with farmers, processors andspecialty food manufacturers to increase their use of local farms andbolster the supply chain for local food in our region, in 2024 developing a specific focus on building capacity for functional berries. Adedictated staff team makes connections through farm to early care andfarm to school and institution…
$810,795 spent31% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $2,644,295.
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 $811k to $1.6M (+94%).
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 41% · 2018 38% · 2019 50% · 2020 50% · 2021 53% · 2022 57% · 2023 59% · 2024 55%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
94% of RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE’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. 3 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
Jan Joannides
Executive director
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $20k → $621k.
7 of 24 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 20% 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 RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 23 of 24 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
RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
39% 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 RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 50% · 2018 56% · 2019 84% · 2020 51% · 2021 57% · 2022 25% · 2023 36% — 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 RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE'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
53% of RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $526k 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
RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 11,761 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,761 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Government funding RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6.7M on record.
- Department of Agriculture$6.7M
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 RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE
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
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
99%
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 RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE: 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 RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE?
- RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE (Minnesota) receives grants from 24 organizations whose IRS filings report $2,679,789 to it, the largest being The McKnight Foundation ($475,100). 16 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE have?
- IRS filings report 24 organizations giving $2,679,789 in grants to RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE, 16 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE?
- The McKnight Foundation is the largest funder on record, with $475,100 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like RENEWING THE COUNTRYSIDE 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 24 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