Minnesota · Nonprofit
THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT
THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT (Minnesota) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $353,402 to it, the largest being SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION ($120,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $382k
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $353k
- Net assets
- $222k
What The Beautywell Project does
Mission
The Beautywell Project addresses the critical issues of skin-lightening practices and chemical exposures within immigrant communities and communities of color. Our mission is to foster healthy individuals, families, and communities through education, wellness, and leadership initiatives, such as our young women's wellness and leadership cohort.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Young women's wellness & youth leadership we have successfully expanded the young women's wellness and leadership initiative (ywwli), which trains east african and other young women of color (ages 14-18) to lead in areas of health, advocacy, and social- emotional well-being. Cohort impact: participants meet weekly for 18 weeks to develop social media campaigns and gain policy skills to address colorism and reproductive health. Mentorship: the program provides safe spaces for exploration and includes one-on-one mentorship that continues after graduation. Youth advisory board: in 2025, our youth advisory board established the beautywell youth instagram account, creating a dedicated digital space to raise awareness and engage directly with their peers on wellness and self- esteem. Expansion: new grants allowed us to increase our mentor count and school partnerships, reaching more young girls than ever before.
$204,545 spent91% of program spendingWe have developed The Beautywell Project database that addresses the problem of skin-lightening products, chemical exposures, and colorism in the cosmetics industry. This database contains skin-lightening products that beautywell has tested in labs and identified to contain harmful ingredients that pose significant risk to individual and communities health. This will give individuals and communities to learn about this toxic skin-lightening and other cosmetics products that contain high levels of toxic chemicals. This will help individuals and communities to make informed decisions about their health and advocate for safer beauty practices and stricter regulations within the cosmetics industry. Last year we have tested more beauty products including skin-lightening products which showed elevated levels of mercury. Last year we have increased our partnership and collaborated with the university of minnesota school of public health on the healthy beauty salon project which is community-based participatory research project that helps beauty salon owners deliver the healthiest experience for their clients and workers. This project helped us working with several salons and learned the…
$15,792 spent7% of program spendingResearch, databases, and salon safety beautywell remains at the forefront of chemical exposure research through The Beautywell Project database. Laboratory testing: we tested beauty products that revealed elevated levels of mercury, lead, and arsenic, providing communities with the data needed to make informed health decisions. Healthy beauty salon project: in collaboration with the university of minnesota, we conducted community-based research with salon owners to identify toxic products and promote green business certifications. Professional training: we trained students and professionals to conduct participatory research and developed educational materials specifically for the salon industry.
We have expanded our reach into higher education to ensure a continuum of leadership. College ambassador program & community education college ambassador program: in 2025, we hired college-aged young women as ambassadors. These leaders raise awareness on the intersections of colorism, chemical exposures, and body image, while actively promoting diverse beauty standards and holistic wellness on their campuses. Knowledge hub: we launched a digital knowledge hub featuring videos and infographics in multiple languages to help individuals stop the use of toxic products. Conferences: staff conducted numerous educational sessions at national conferences to raise awareness about the psychological and physical impacts of colorism. Culturally specific outreach to address the root causes of skin-lightening use, we developed animation videos in seven languages, including somali, spanish, hmong, and amharic. These videos bridge the gap in culturally sensitive education by addressing social pressures and the lack of regulation in the cosmetics industry. Our outreach uplifts diverse beauty standards while communicating the specific risks of hydroquinone and steroid exposures.
$4,060 spent2% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $224,397.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2020, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2020, 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 $31k to $134k (+327%).
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 35% · 2023 86% · 2024 36% · 2025 61%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (76% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 6 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
James Koppel
Board chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base narrowed from 2 funders to 1 funder, grant income rose $29k → $30k.
2 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 34% 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 THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 6 of 7 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
THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT leans on a few funders — its largest provides 34% of grant income and the top three 76%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
86% 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 THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 60% · 2020 45% · 2021 48% · 2022 100% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.
“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
93% of THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $120k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT runs a healthier operating margin than half of the 179 social science nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 179 social science nonprofits $100k–$1M, FY2025
Government funding THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $500k on record.
- Department of Health and Human Services$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 THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT
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
75% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
100%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT: 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 THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT?
- THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT (Minnesota) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $353,402 to it, the largest being SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION ($120,000). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $353,402 in grants to THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT?
- SAINT PAUL & MINNESOTA FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $120,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE BEAUTYWELL PROJECT 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 Beautywell Project →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2020–2025), and the filings of 7 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