Minnesota · Nonprofit
SMART NORTH
SMART NORTH (Minnesota) receives grants from 21 organizations whose IRS filings report $988,819 to it, the largest being CARGILL FOUNDATION ($375,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
Against its field
SMART NORTH has grown faster than three-quarters of the 792 science & tech nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 792 science & tech nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2024
Three funders worth looking at
Grantmakers with no record of funding this organization, ranked by how strongly the co-funder graph and the mission embeddings agree. The evidence is in section 03.
- Lloyd K Johnson Foundationshared fundersportfolio match
- Minnesota Council on Foundationslocalportfolio match
- Head of the Lakes United Wayshared funders
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.
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 (80% 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
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 38% of grant income and the top three 59%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
34% 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
87% 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 statesis 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.
Funders to approach
Grantmakers that don’t fund you yet, surfaced two ways: they back organizations that share your funders, or their grantees resemble your mission. The ones both signals agree on come first. Your 21 funders put you under-funded among the 400 organizations that share them.
- Lloyd K Johnson Foundationshared fundersportfolio matchMN · backs 63 organizations that share your funders · its grantees resemble your mission
- Minnesota Council on Foundationslocalportfolio matchMN · funds 42 organizations near you · its grantees resemble your mission
- Head of the Lakes United Wayshared fundersMN · backs 34 organizations that share your funders
- C K Blandin Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Bush Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Minnesota Voiceportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Owens Family Charitable Foundationportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Alliance for Metropolitan Stabilityportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Takeaction Minnesotaportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- Rooted Philanthropicportfolio matchits grantees resemble your mission
- The Sheltering Arms Foundationshared funderslocalMN · backs 62 organizations that share your funders · funds 65 organizations near you
- Ordean Foundationshared fundersMN · backs 45 organizations that share your funders
From the co-funder graph (funders backing at least two comparable organizations, shrunk for grantee count, donor-advised and mega-funds excluded) and the universe embeddings. A research starting point; overlap is association, not a guarantee of fit.
Organizations like SMART NORTH
Nonprofits whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over the universe of 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. 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 $988,819 to it, the largest being CARGILL FOUNDATION ($375,000). 8 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does SMART NORTH have?
- IRS filings report 21 organizations giving $988,819 in grants to SMART NORTH, 8 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.
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 21funders 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 August 27, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing