Minnesota · Nonprofit
URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION
URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION (Minnesota) receives grants from 129 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,719,748 to it, the largest being WEM FOUNDATION ($4,860,000). 79 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $6.9M
- Funders on record
- 129
- Grants received
- $20M
- Net assets
- $28M
What Urban Ventures Leadership Foundation does
Mission
Urban Ventures Leadership Foundation envisions a city without poverty by educating kids, strengthening their families, and building healthy communities.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Academic foundations - academic foundations focuses on building a strong foundation for early academic success. Through me and my baby, 616 mothers received prenatal education and parenting support, equipping them to promote their children's healthy development. At the cornwell early learning center, 91 students were assessed for developmental milestones, ensuring that all graduates were prepared to succeed in kindergarten. Summer ventures offered academic support to prevent learning loss during school breaks, keeping 81 students on track for success. Reading plus provided intensive literacy intervention for 133 children, helping them achieve three months of literacy progress for every one month in the program. The long-term goal of these programs is to ensure every child has the tools to succeed academically and thrive in future educational settings.
$2,343,563 spent$1,347,462 earned by the program37% of program spendingLife & career skills - life and career skills prepares middle and high school students for continued education and career success while fostering confidence and leadership. Through the college and career center, 263 students from at least six local high schools explored post-secondary opportunities and received assistance with tasks like fafsa applications and job interview preparation. Youth mentoring programs supported 340 students on campus and at minneapolis public schools partner sites, providing mental health education and emotional support. Music education programs engaged 522 students through guitar and piano lessons, artist development, and music exploration activities. Act six offered 61 college students leadership training, academic guidance, and emotional support as they navigated higher education. Lake street works prepared 60 students for careers in vocational trades through a 10-month training program. Together, these programs aim to instill young people with the skills, education, and confidence needed for long-term personal and professional success.
$2,037,447 spent$6,091 earned by the program32% of program spendingCommunity outreach - community health programs promote well-being, reduce harm, and create opportunities for neighbors to connect. Wellness and athletics engaged 1,124 participants in activities such as fitness classes, open gyms, sports clinics, and team sports. Siempre padres (forever parents), a spanish-language parenting program, helped 582 parents develop personal and professional skills while building brighter futures for their children. The pathway program worked with 107 individuals referred through the minneapolis justice system, providing trauma-informed violence prevention support to reduce recidivism and increase opportunities for productive employment. Urban ventures also supported 21 local small businesses by providing consultations to improve their growth. At urban ventures' urban farm, 1,281 participants engaged in educational programming focused on nutrition and sustainable agriculture, while approximately 1,000 community members received fresh, locally-grown produce for free through the farm stand. The long-term goal of these programs is to foster a healthier, safer, and more connected community through education, prevention, and opportunity.
$1,052,183 spent17% of program spendingProgram services supports all uv programs through community outreach in addition to working with volunteers and community partners.
$863,802 spent$149,248 earned by the program14% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $6,296,995.
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.
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 $22M to $28M (+24%).
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 1% · 2018 2% · 2019 0% · 2020 0% · 2021 10% · 2022 4% · 2023 2% · 2024 3% · 2025 13%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 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.
Board chair
Gaylen Knack
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 24 funders to 49 funders, grant income rose $374k → $6.7M.
20 of 129 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 15% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
Left out of every figure on this page: $846k from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Uvlf Opportunities Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION raised.
From the IRS filings of URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 129 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
URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 25% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 27% · 2018 15% · 2019 24% · 2020 28% · 2021 20% · 2022 24% · 2023 68% — 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.
How long its funders stay
40% of URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 61% 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
88% of URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.0M arriving through sponsors registered in 13 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.
Government funding URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $38k on record.
- Department of Agriculture$38k
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 URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION
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
78% 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 URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION: 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 URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION?
- URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION (Minnesota) receives grants from 129 organizations whose IRS filings report $19,719,748 to it, the largest being WEM FOUNDATION ($4,860,000). 79 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION have?
- IRS filings report 129 organizations giving $19,719,748 in grants to URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION, 79 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION?
- WEM FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $4,860,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like URBAN VENTURES LEADERSHIP FOUNDATION 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 129 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