Section 1:  The Landscape

Minnesota Private Foundations by Size

Of the 1,569 Minnesota private foundations that our team identified as existing in fiscal year 2014, 1,470 (94%) had tax forms available for review and are included in this section’s landscape data. These 1,470 private foundations together held assets of $16.7 billion (unadjusted) at the end of fiscal year 2014. The following graph shows the percentage distribution of private foundations based on foundation size (in green) and the percentage distribution of all Minnesota private foundation assets based on foundation size (in grey). “Foundation size” is defined as the fair-market value of the foundation’s total assets at the end of the tax year as reported in Form 990-PF, Part II, Line 16, Column (c). Dollar values in this entire landscape findings section are unadjusted for inflation.
 

 

Percentage of MN Private Foundations
And Percentage of MN Private Foundation Assets
By Foundation Size In Fiscal Year 2014

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Key Takeaways:

  • As of 2014, 888 private foundations in Minnesota (60%) had $1M or less in total assets, accounting for 1.3% of all Minnesota private foundation assets.
  • As of 2014, 20 private foundations in Minnesota (1.3%) had over $500M in total assets, accounting for 66% of all Minnesota private foundation assets.
 
 
 

Minnesota Private Foundations by Age

For the 1,470 Minnesota private foundations with fiscal year 2014 tax forms available, the following graph shows the distribution of private foundations based on foundation age in 2014 (in green) and the distribution of private foundation assets based on foundation age in 2014 (in grey). Foundation age is calculated as the difference between 2014 and the private foundation’s IRS ruling year provided by GuideStar.
 

Percentage of MN Private Foundations
And Percentage of MN Private Foundation Assets
By Foundation Age In Fiscal Year 2014

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Key Takeaways:

  • Over half of Minnesota private foundations existing in 2014 did not exist in 1998, at the beginning of the research period.
  • 75% of Minnesota private foundations existing in 2014 were established after 1990.
  • The Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, which was founded in 2006, had over $3B in assets in 2014. Excluding it from the 6-10 year category would drop that category to 4.2% of total private foundation assets from 22.2%.
 
 
 

Minnesota Private Foundations by Location

For the 1,470 Minnesota private foundations with fiscal year 2014 tax forms available, the following charts show the distribution of private foundations by location (at left) and the distribution of private foundation assets by location (at right). Location is presented both by region and county, which were determined primarily using the address provided in the private foundation’s FY 2014 Form 990-PF. In a limited number of cases, our team used an alternate address from the Minnesota Secretary of State or GuideStar. For reference, Minnesota has 87 counties.
 

MN Private Foundations
By Location in Fiscal Year 2014

 

MN Private Foundation Assets
by Location in Fiscal Year 2014

 

Key Takeaways:

  • 77% of Minnesota private foundations and 92% of Minnesota private foundation assets are located in the Twin Cities 7-county Metro area.
  • Two counties, Hennepin and Ramsey, are home to 64% of Minnesota private foundations and 86% of Minnesota private foundation assets.
  • 15 counties in Minnesota had no private foundations as of 2014.
 
 
 

Minnesota Private Foundations
by Charitable Administrative Expenses (CAE)

The IRS allows private foundations to count expenses that are incurred in pursuit of their charitable purposes toward their annual distribution requirement. For the 1,470 Minnesota private foundations with fiscal year 2014 tax forms available, the following chart shows the distribution of private foundations by amount of reported Charitable Administrative Expenses (CAE). The x-axis categories should be read from left to right as “CAE of $0,” then “CAE $1 to $10,000,” then “CAE $10,001 - $50,000,” and so forth. Please note that the scale of x-axis categories is not constant. CAE is based on the figure provided by each foundation in Form 990-PF, Part I, Line 24, Column (d).
 

Percentage of MN Private Foundations
by Amount of Reported CAE in Fiscal Year 2014

Key Takeaways:

  • 40.5% of Minnesota private foundations reported spending no money whatsoever on charitable administrative expenses in fiscal year 2014.
  • 80.6% of Minnesota private foundations spent less than $10k on charitable administrative expenses in fiscal year 2014.
  • Considering that expenses associated with PRIs generally count as charitable administrative expenses, transaction costs for PRIs would represent a new expense for most foundations.
  • For statistics on the relationship between PRIs and foundation CAE, see PRI Activity by Foundation CAE.