Minnesota · Nonprofit
THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL
THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL (Minnesota) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,686,414 to it, the largest being THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION ($697,770). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $1.0M
- Funders on record
- 15
- Grants received
- $1.7M
- Net assets
- $4
What The Great Northern Winter Festival does
Mission
The great northern celebrates our cold, creative winters through ten days of diverse programming that invigorate mind and body. In an era of changing climate that threatens our signature season, we seek to create community, inspire action, and share the resilient spirit of the north with the world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
In fy25 the great northern (tgn) continued its mission to host an annual winter festival across the twin cities, inspiring conversations, fostering community, and bringing people together during the most isolating time of the year: minnesota's long, cold winters. Tgn encourages our audience to get outdoors, build connections, stay active, and celebrate the perspectives, communities, cultures, and ecosystems that make this region special. Through multidisciplinary events, tgn highlights the urgency of climate change, encouraging awareness, action, and shared responsibility. By cultivating authentic, reciprocal relationships with our audience and partners, we contribute to a broader cultural shift toward environmental stewardship and collective care. Tgn's 2025 festival programming continued to celebrate what winter gives us, while exploring our changing climate through the lenses of culture/heritage, the economy, and social equity. Tgn hosted dozens of festival events including meaningful arts presentations, invigorating outdoor events, and unique dining experiences. More than 50% of these events were free and open to the public. The great northern produced and coproduced events…
$909,112 spent$259,086 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $909,112.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 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 $238k to $478k (+101%).
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 4% · 2022 8% · 2023 4% · 2024 6% · 2025 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
74% of THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 5 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.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 2 funders to 9 funders, grant income rose $85k → $315k.
4 of 15 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 57% 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 GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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 GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL leans on a few funders — its largest provides 41% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
68% 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 GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 88% · 2020 58% · 2021 48% · 2022 23% · 2023 34% — 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
100% of THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 60% 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
57% of THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $720k that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $967k arriving through sponsors registered in 4 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
THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL has grown faster than three-quarters of the 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,230 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $10k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$10k
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 GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL
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
74%
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 THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL: 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 GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL?
- THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL (Minnesota) receives grants from 15 organizations whose IRS filings report $1,686,414 to it, the largest being THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION ($697,770). 9 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 57% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL have?
- IRS filings report 15 organizations giving $1,686,414 in grants to THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL, 9 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL?
- THE MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $697,770 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like THE GREAT NORTHERN WINTER FESTIVAL 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 Great Northern Winter Festival →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2018–2025), and the filings of 15 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing