Foundation for Essential Needs
Minneapolis, MN · EIN 27-4342240. Reported 58 grants totalling $989,454 to 52 organizations across tax years 2020-2023, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For Foundation for Essential Needs, by its IRS classification it raises and distributes funds for human services (NTEE P12).
- How spread out its giving is. 52 distinct organizations, with 14% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 7% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $9,850. Half of what it reported fell between $6,115 and $20,434; the smallest was $5,074 and the largest $110,076. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
35 of those grants were non-cash -- goods, property or services worth $411,742 in total. In-kind giving is real support but it is not a cheque.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clues (comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio) | St Paul, MN | $133,596 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| United Way of Freeborn County Inc | Albert Lea, MN | $110,076 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Semcac Inc | Rushford, MN | $99,985 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Red Wing Area Food Shelf | Red Wing, MN | $94,412 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Salvation Army | Roseville, MN | $40,012 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Semcac | Rushford, MN | $30,183 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Incarnation Food Center | Minneapolis, MN | $29,250 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Organization of Liberians in Minnesota | Minneapolis, MN | $28,473 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| New Creations Ministries Church of God in Christ | Brooklyn Park, MN | $25,928 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Camden Promise Food Shelf | Minneapolis, MN | $21,214 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Houston Community Food Shelf | Houston, MN | $20,434 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| The Salvation Army - West 7TH | Saint Paul, MN | $18,370 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Vineyard Christian Fellowship Duluth | Duluth, MN | $16,842 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| New Creation Baptist Church Food Shelf | Minneapolis, MN | $15,848 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Calvary Lutheran Food Shelf (minneapolis) | Minneapolis, MN | $15,673 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| West African Family Services | Brooklyn Center, MN | $13,222 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Evangelist Temple House of Refuge Outreach Ministry | Saint Paul, MN | $12,833 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The Salvation Army - Eastside Food Shelf | Saint Paul, MN | $11,831 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The Salvation Army Noble Corps | Brooklyn Park, MN | $11,808 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Area Neighborhood Service Center Inc | Waseca, MN | $11,432 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Church of the Incarnation | Minneapolis, MN | $11,091 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Community Action Center Inc | Northfield, MN | $11,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Trinity Lutheran Church and School | Janesville, MN | $10,529 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Taskforce Inc | Brooklyn Ctr, MN | $9,951 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Sagrado Corazon Food Shelf | Minneapolis, MN | $9,750 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Springfield Area Food Shelf | Springfield, MN | $9,561 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Leroy Area Ministerial Association | Le Roy, MN | $9,439 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Freedomworks Incorporated | Minneapolis, MN | $8,370 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Sibley County Food Share Inc | Gaylord, MN | $8,346 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| The Camden Collective | Minneapolis, MN | $8,299 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Pine Island Sharing Shelves | Pine Island, MN | $8,283 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church | Minneapolis, MN | $7,791 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Shiloh Cares Food Shelf | Minneapolis, MN | $7,397 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Wells Area Food Shelf | Wells, MN | $6,846 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| A Place for Hope Recovery and Wellness Center Inc | Moorhead, MN | $6,429 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Belle Plaine Food Shelf Inc | Belle Plaine, MN | $6,343 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Joyce Uptown Food Shelf | Minneapolis, MN | $6,169 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Hometown Resource Center | Saint Charles, MN | $6,115 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Becker County Food Shelf | Detroit Lakes, MN | $6,049 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| The Salvation Army - St Louis County | Hibbing, MN | $5,894 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Hayfield Food Shelf | Hayfield, MN | $5,861 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Lifegate Services | Rochester, MN | $5,856 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Haven Intl Hope Alive for Vision Empowerment Network Intl | Saint Paul, MN | $5,634 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Division of Indian Works - Horizon United | Minneapolis, MN | $5,474 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| Outreach Foodshelf | Alexandria, MN | $5,397 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Area Food Shelf of New Richland | New Richland, MN | $5,308 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
| North Star Health | Saint Paul, MN | $5,184 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Community Pathways of Steele County Inc | Owatonna, MN | $5,183 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| North Point Health & Wellness Center Inc | Minneapolis, MN | $5,179 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Family Pathways | North Branch, MN | $5,123 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| North Suburban Emergency Assistance Response Inc | Crystal, MN | $5,107 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Neighborhood House | Saint Paul, MN | $5,074 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
5 of 52 (10%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- Clues (comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio)
CHANNEL ONE FOOD BANK FOOD SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION- AUSTIN, MN STAFFING - Red Wing Area Food Shelf
FOOD SHELF IMPROVEMENTS, CHANNEL ONE FOOD SYSTEM TRANSFORMATION STAFFING - Semcac
FUNDING FOR REFRIGERATION AND OTHER EQUIPMENT - Incarnation Food Center
DIRECT FUNDING AND RENOVATION - Camden Promise Food Shelf
PROVIDE FOOD SHELF SUPPORT - New Creation Baptist Church Food Shelf
FUNDING FOR RENOVATION AND OTHER EQUIPMENT
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 22 of 52 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 21 | $250,951 | $9,750 |
| 2021 | 14 | $272,027 | $15,762 |
| 2022 | 14 | $381,406 | $9,449 |
| 2023 | 9 | $85,070 | $6,343 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $9,850 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Minnesota.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from Foundation for Essential Needs's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2020-2023). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
Address of record on the latest return: 701 N 3RD Street 203, Minneapolis, MN, 55401.
EIN 27-4342240 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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