Minnesota · Nonprofit
SMART NORTH
SMART NORTH (Minnesota) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,002,686 to it, the largest being CARGILL FOUNDATION ($375,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $808k
- Funders on record
- 21
- Grants received
- $1.0M
- Net assets
- $186k
What Smart North does
Mission
Smart North was born out of community vision to advance digital equity and opportunities for underserved and rural communities in minnesota. We provide free access and training in leading 21st century tech skills to create a level playing field for all at our tech hubs. We also provide education and managing pilot for 21st century smart infrastructure for needy communities, such as smart street lights, and host an annual thought leadership event called future of our communities to showcase latest projects that are in line with our work to create a digitally forward workforce and infrastructure for mn.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Program
Smart North's big accomplishments in 2024 were threefold:1. Opening a new tech hub in grand rapids, mn in partnership with the community ed of itasca county school district, which is providing the critically needed 21st century technology skills training and career pathways for youth and adults in the area.we had to build a team to operate the tech hub locally as well as extend our programming to this new tech hub. 2. With help of a deed's two year targeted population/ transformational careers grant we were able to launch our industry recognized certification training in leading tech areas for 18+ women across all our three locations. This opened and advanced our mission to include adults in the areas we serve. 3. We also launched our industry recognized certification training in leading tech areas for 16-24 old youth called next gen, across our three locations.
$642,292 spent$11,302 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $642,292.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2022, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2022, 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 2022 to 2023, from $276k to $173k (−37%).
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.
99% of SMART NORTH’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (79% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 3 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
Sabina Saksena
Chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2022 → 2023: the base broadened from 6 funders to 10 funders, grant income rose $219k → $283k.
3 of 21 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 6% 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 SMART NORTH’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 20 of 21 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
SMART NORTH leans on a few funders — its largest provides 37% of grant income and the top three 58%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
35% 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 SMART NORTH.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2022 57% · 2023 44% — 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.
Where its funders are
88% of SMART NORTH's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $57k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 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
SMART NORTH has grown faster than three-quarters of the 793 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 793 science & tech nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Organizations like SMART NORTH
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
79% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for SMART NORTH: 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 SMART NORTH?
- SMART NORTH (Minnesota) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,002,686 to it, the largest being CARGILL FOUNDATION ($375,000). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SMART NORTH have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $1,002,686 in grants to SMART NORTH, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of SMART NORTH?
- CARGILL FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $375,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like SMART NORTH 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 Smart North →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2022–2024), 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