Funders › Minnesota

Trillium Family Foundation

Saint Paul, MN · EIN 41-2009698. Reported 31 grants totalling $2,337,650 to 28 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$20,000median grant
$2,337,650granted, 2021-2025
28recipients, as named on its returns
$13.6Massets, 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. Trillium Family Foundation 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 $20,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $10,000 and $35,000; the smallest was $1,000 and the largest $498,500. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

$1,000 - $5,000
3 grants
$5,000 - $10,000
3 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
10 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
10 grants
$50,000 - $100,000
1 grant
$100,000 and Up
4 grants

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
See Attachment 3St Paul, MN$1,841,450442024
Lander Climate Action NetworkLander, WY$50,000112025
Comunidades Organizando El Poder Y La Accin LatinaMinneapolis, MN$40,000112025
Wyoming Outdoor CouncilLander, WY$40,000112025
The Nature Conservancy WyomingLander, WY$35,000112025
Amherst H Wilder FoundationSaint Paul, MN$30,000112025
Friends of the Mississippi RiverSt Paul, MN$30,000112025
The Center for Popular Research Education and Policy Dba Wind River Food SoFort Washakie, WY$30,000112025
WyofileLander, WY$30,000112025
Jugaad Leadership ProgramSt Cloud, MN$25,000112025
Nexus Community PartnersSt Paul, MN$25,000112025
Wind River Development FundFort Washakie, WY$25,000112025
MN350Minneapolis, MN$20,000112025
Sahan JournalSaint Paul, MN$15,000112025
Deer Lake ConservancySt Croix Falls, WI$10,000112025
Lander Art CenterLander, WY$10,000112025
Lander Community FoundationLander, WY$10,000112025
Macalester CollegeSt Paul, MN$10,000112025
Sugarloaf the North Shore Stewardship AssociationDuluth, MN$10,000112025
Ten Thousand ThingsSaint Paul, MN$10,000112025
The Friends of the Saint Paul Public LibrarySaint Paul, MN$10,000112025
Urban Boatbuilders IncSaint Paul, MN$10,000112025
National Outdoor Leadership SchoolLander, WY$5,000112025
Schroeder Area Historical SocietySchroeder, MN$5,000112025
Schubert ClubSaint Paul, MN$5,000112025
Lander Library Friends AssociationLander, WY$4,000112025
Lander Free Medical ClinicLander, WY$1,200112025
Grand Canyon Music FestivalGrand Canyon, AZ$1,000112025

1 of 28 (4%) received money in more than one year over the 5 years we hold.

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 21 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.

Environment
7 grants
Arts & Culture
5 grants
Education
4 grants
Human Services
1 grant
Health Care
1 grant
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
1 grant
Youth Development
1 grant
Community Improvement
1 grant

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20211$498,500$498,500
20221$471,750$471,750
20231$430,000$430,000
20241$441,200$441,200
202527$496,200$10,000

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.

Already committed for future years

Form 990-PF has a separate schedule for grants approved but not yet paid. Trillium Family Foundation has 14 of them, worth $889,250. This is the one part of the filing that looks forward rather than back.

OrganizationLocationApproved
See Attachment 3St Paul, MN$260,000
See Attachment 3St Paul, MN$260,000
Lander Climate Action NetworkLander, WY$52,000
Comunidades Organizando El Poder Y La Accin LatinaMinneapolis, MN$40,000
Wyoming Outdoor CouncilLander, WY$40,000
The Nature Conservancy WyomingLander, WY$35,000
Amherst H Wilder FoundationSaint Paul, MN$30,000
Friends of the Mississippi RiverSt Paul, MN$30,000
The Center for Popular Research Education and Policy Dba Wind River Food SoFort Washakie, WY$30,000
Jugaad Leadership ProgramSt Cloud, MN$25,000
Nexus Community PartnersSt Paul, MN$25,000
Wind River Development FundFort Washakie, WY$25,000
MN350Minneapolis, MN$20,000
See Attachment 3St Paul, MN$17,250

Where its money goes

89% of its giving went to organizations in Minnesota. If your organization is based elsewhere, look in the recipient list for grants to your area before writing.

Minnesota
$2.1M
Wyoming
$240K
Wisconsin
$10K
Arizona
$1K

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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.

Donor Advised Charitable Giving Inc14 shared recipientsFidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund13 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc10 shared recipientsSaint Paul & Minnesota Foundation10 shared recipientsThe Minneapolis Foundation10 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program9 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $20,000. 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 Trillium Family Foundation'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 14109, Saint Paul, MN, 55114. 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 41-2009698 · 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.