Minnesota · Nonprofit
TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY
TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY (Minnesota) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,314 to it, the largest being Think Small ($24,530). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $4.2M
- Funders on record
- 3
- Grants received
- $33k
- Net assets
- $-2521186
What Twin Lakes STEM Academy does
Mission
Tesfa international school is committed to providing an equitable and empowering education for all. Our scholars will engage in a transdisciplinary curriculum supported by conceptual and inquiry based learning. Side-by-side with dedicated educators, scholars will develop the knowledge, skills, and characteristics necessary for active citizenship throughout the world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Twin Lakes STEM Academy is a free public k-6 charter school that is committed to providing an equitable and empowering education for all. Our students will be prepared for a successful transition to the most rigorous and challenging middle school programs. Through their experience at tlsa, students will be held to the highest of standards both academically and socially, to prepare them for college and careers, as well as with leadership skills required of active and productive citizens in the 21st century. Through access and equity, students will follow a pathway to success for them and their communities. Tlsa is authorized by the volunteers of america-minnesota and commenced its first school year on august 24th, 2015.
$4,027,386 spent100% of program spendingOther program services, not described on the e-filed return.
$0 spent0% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,027,386.
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 2021 to 2022, from $1.9M to $14M (+622%).
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 97% · 2018 98% · 2019 99% · 2020 100% · 2021 99% · 2022 97% · 2023 97% · 2024 92% · 2025 99%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 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
Jason Stockwell
Principal/Executive Director
Board chair
Jeremy Gharinch
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2020 → 2021: the base held at 1 funder, grant income held at $5.
1 of 3 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY’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
TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 74% of grant income and the top three 100%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
100% 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 TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2020 100% · 2021 100% — broadly stable.
“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
100% of TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10 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
TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY's revenue grew 69% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY
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
89% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- TLS Building Company · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY: 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 TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY?
- TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY (Minnesota) receives grants from 3 organizations whose IRS filings report $33,314 to it, the largest being Think Small ($24,530). 1 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY have?
- IRS filings report 3 organizations giving $33,314 in grants to TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY, 1 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY?
- Think Small is the largest funder on record, with $24,530 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like TWIN LAKES STEM ACADEMY 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 Twin Lakes STEM Academy →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 3 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