Funders › Minnesota

Stearns Foundation Inc

Hutchinson, MN · EIN 41-1609446. Reported 56 grants totalling $41,300 to 32 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$250median grant
$41,300granted, 2021-2025
32recipients, as named on its returns
47%of grantees funded again the next year
$251,879assets, latest filing

Does this foundation accept applications?

Yes -- on its own tax return. Form 990-PF asks every private foundation whether it makes grants only to organizations it selects itself. Of the 91,758 foundations in our data that made a grant and answered, 78% said yes -- and applying to those is wasted effort. Stearns Foundation Inc did not check that box on its most recent filing, which puts it in the minority that is at least open to being approached.

This is the foundation's own statement to the IRS, not our judgement, and it says nothing about whether they have a form, a deadline, or an appetite for new grantees. Treat it as the reason this foundation is worth your research time, not as an invitation. Many small foundations of this kind have no website and no application process -- a letter of inquiry is the normal first step.

How big are its grants?

The median grant is $250. Half of everything it gave fell between $200 and $1,000; the smallest was $100 and the largest $5,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
40 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
15 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
1 grant

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by name and state as they were written on the returns, so an organization entered under two different names appears twice. Years funded is the number of separate tax years in which that name received money.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Dollars for ScholarsHutchinson, MN$10,000442024
Hutchinson Library SystemHutchinson, MN$5,000112025
Riversong Music FestivalHutchinson, MN$5,000442025
Gopher Campfire SanctuaryHutchinson, MN$2,500112024
Hutchinson Area Dollars for ScholarHutchinson, MN$2,500112025
Hutch Center for the ArtsHutchinson, MN$2,200322024
Hutchinson Center for ArtsHutchinson, MN$2,200222022
Parents for SeniorsHutchinson, MN$1,150552025
Hutchinson Isd 423Hutchinson, MN$1,050112023
Mcleod AllianceHutchinson, MN$1,000222024
Mcleod Alliance for Victims of DomeHutchinson, MN$1,000222022
UcapHutchinson, MN$800222022
Hutchinson Public LibraryHutchinson, MN$525112025
Hutchinson Jaycee Water CarnivalHutchinson, MN$500222022
Junior AchievementHutchinson, MN$500222025
The Reach ProgramHutchinson, MN$500112022
United Way of Mcleod CountyGlencoe, MN$500222024
Aveyron Homes IncHutchinson, MN$450222022
Hutchinson Health FoundationHutchinson, MN$450222025
Meghan's PlaceHutchinson, MN$400222024
United Way of Mclleod CountyHutchinson, MN$400222024
2B ContinuedGlencoe, MN$375112022
Tim Orth MemorialHutchinson, MN$300222024
Crow River Habitat for HumanityHutchinson, MN$250112021
Epilepsy Foundation of MnBloomington, MN$250112023
Hutchinson Farmers MarketHutchinson, MN$250112025
Hutchinson Senior CenterHutchinson, MN$250112021
Jaycee Water CarnivalHutchinson, MN$250112023
Isd 423 FoundationHutchinson, MN$200112025
Tim Orth FoundationHutchinson, MN$200112021
Tim Orth Memorial FoundationHutchinson, MN$200112025
Greater Mn Family ServicesHutchinson, MN$150112023

16 of 32 (50%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.

Measured the way we measure every foundation -- what share of one year's grantees are funded again the next -- this one retains 47%, across 4 year-to-year transitions. The median foundation retains about 67%, so this one is less consistent than most. This measures how often it paid the same organizations again. It says nothing about whether it would consider a new one.

What the money was for

Taken verbatim from the purpose field of its filings. This is the closest thing to a statement of what this foundation cares about, in its own words.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 19 grants where we could match the recipient to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's. The match, made from the name and address on the return, is ours.

Arts & Culture
6 grants
Education
5 grants
Community Improvement
2 grants
Health Care
2 grants
Animal Welfare
1 grant
Mental Health
1 grant
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant
Food & Nutrition
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
202110$6,000$250
202210$7,275$450
202314$8,150$250
202412$9,200$225
202510$10,675$250

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- filings arrive about a year late, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a foundation winding down.

Where its money goes

Hutchinson, MN
$40K
Glencoe, MN
$875
Bloomington, MN
$250

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Funders that support the same organizations

These funders gave to organizations this one also funded -- some private foundations, some community foundations and other grantmaking charities. Shared grantees are a sign of overlapping priorities and nothing more: they do not show that any of these funders would consider a new organization. Each page says what its filings show.

Charities Aid Foundation America4 shared recipientsSouthwest Initiative Foundation4 shared recipientsSaint Paul & Minnesota Foundation3 shared recipientsSouthwest Minnesota Arts Council2 shared recipientsCh Robinson Worldwide Foundation2 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $250. A request many times that size asks for something it has rarely or never given.
  2. Check you are in its geography. Its giving is concentrated in Minnesota.
  3. Read the recipient list above for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer, and a cheap one to get.
  4. Look up the current filing before writing. The 990-PF names the foundation's officers and, where one exists, its application procedure. We link it below.

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Stearns Foundation Inc's own Form 990-PF filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 5 returns (tax years 2021-2025). Grant figures are from its returns. Matching recipients to registered organizations, their IRS classifications, the retention rate and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations, described in how we build this.

Address of record on the latest return: Po Box 50, Hutchinson, MN, 55350. This is the address the foundation gave the IRS; many small foundations file through an accountant or a bank trust department, so it may not be where post to a programme officer should go.

EIN 41-1609446 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Foundation returns are published about a year after the tax year ends. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this foundation has actually funded.

Is something here wrong about your foundation? Email hello@funderscope.com and we will correct it.