Minnesota · Nonprofit
YOUTHLINK
YOUTHLINK (Minnesota) receives grants from 101 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,878,608 to it, the largest being HEARTH CONNECTION ($1,567,657). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $4.7M
- Funders on record
- 101
- Grants received
- $8.9M
- Net assets
- $2.4M
What Youthlink does
Mission
To be a community in which all youth, without regard to their living situation, have an equal opportunity to pursue and achieve their goals and dreams. The agency does this by supporting, resourcing, and empowering young people on their journey to self-reliance.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Drop-in / outreach / basic needs: for over 50 years, the Youthlink drop-in center has been a low barrier, inclusive refuge and community of safety for all young people ages 16-24 experiencing or at risk of homelessness in the geographic area surrounding downtown minneapolis and hennepin county. Nearly 3,000 unduplicated youth are served annually; disproportionately 90% are bipoc youth (74% identify as african american and 6% as native). Young people coming to Youthlink access a nonjudgmental, youth-centered community where healthy, trusting relationships are created in authentic, meaningful ways to support young people to transition to safety, stability, and wellbeing. (continued on schedule o)drop-in / outreach / basic needs (continued from part iii): young people are empowered to chart their journeys by believing in and using their own potential (not their current circumstances) to achieve stability, self-reliance, and well-being. Four components frame the services provided through the drop-in: street outreach, crisis/basic needs response, intervention services, and after care. Goals are to decrease length of time between homelessness, temporary shelter, and housing…
$2,731,250 spentof which $567,869 as grants61% of program spendingHousing stability: access to housing stability resources is a priority for youth. This starts the first day a young person comes in contact with a staff person. Youthlink is one of the largest providers of supportive housing services in the twin cities.Youthlink provides supportive housing services to eligible youth at 42-unit nicollet square apartments, a partnership with beacon interfaith housing collaborative, and 46 beds at downtown view apartments, a partnership with project for pride in living. (continued on schedule o)(continued from part iii) in addition, Youthlink proves supportive housing services to youth in over 50 scattered site units annually. Eligible youth can lease a one-bedroom or an efficiency apartment while surrounded by an effective system of support. Support includes case management as well as access to the full scope of drop in and youth opportunity center services and resources, including mental and chemical health care, educational and career services, group support, and cultural activities.
$1,737,848 spentof which $579,194 as grants39% of program spending
The 2 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,469,098.
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 2017 to 2018, from $5.0M to $8.4M (+68%).
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 47% · 2018 57% · 2019 44% · 2020 44% · 2021 56% · 2022 51% · 2023 45% · 2024 53%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
100% of YOUTHLINK’s revenue is contributions — more reliant on donations than three-quarters of its peers (81% 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.
Chief executive
Rich Melzer
CEO
Board chair
Rachael Scherer
Acting chair
As listed on its FY2024 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 33 funders, grant income rose $409k → $930k.
12 of 101 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 18% 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: $5.2M from 10 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Greater Twin Cities United Way). These are real filings, and they are not money YOUTHLINK raised.
From the IRS filings of YOUTHLINK’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 101 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
YOUTHLINK has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 18% of grant income, and it takes 7 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 7 funders to its left
47% 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 YOUTHLINK.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 54% · 2018 41% · 2019 26% · 2020 17% · 2021 20% · 2022 19% · 2023 16% — 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
39% of YOUTHLINK's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 56% 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
85% of YOUTHLINK's grant income comes from Minnesota funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.6M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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
YOUTHLINK's funding base is broadening — from 19 funders to 33 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 11,274 human services nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like YOUTHLINK
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
82% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
96%
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 YOUTHLINK: 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 YOUTHLINK?
- YOUTHLINK (Minnesota) receives grants from 101 organizations whose IRS filings report $8,878,608 to it, the largest being HEARTH CONNECTION ($1,567,657). 57 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does YOUTHLINK have?
- IRS filings report 101 organizations giving $8,878,608 in grants to YOUTHLINK, 57 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of YOUTHLINK?
- HEARTH CONNECTION is the largest funder on record, with $1,567,657 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like YOUTHLINK 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 Youthlink →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 101 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