Funders › Minnesota

Expedition Foundation

Mendota Heights, MN · EIN 26-1915313. Reported 36 grants totalling $33,000 to 28 recipients across tax years 2021-2025. This foundation did not tell the IRS it funds only preselected organizations.

Yesaccepts unsolicited requests
$1,000median grant
$33,000granted, 2021-2025
28recipients, as named on its returns
20%of grantees funded again the next year
$3,716assets, 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. Expedition 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 $1,000. Half of everything it gave fell between $500 and $1,000; the smallest was $50 and the largest $2,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong foundation.

Under $1,000
16 grants
$1,000 - $5,000
20 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
American College of EducationDallas, TX$4,000222025
Minnesota State University MankatoMankato, MN$3,000212023
Eastview Community FoundationApple Valley, MN$2,500552025
Michelle MillsSt Paul, MN$2,000112021
Amanda MathisonMinneapolis, MN$1,500112021
Coon Rapids Community Scholarship AssociationCoon Rapids, MN$1,500332025
Crown CollegeSt Bonifacius, MN$1,500112024
University of Northwestern - St PaulSt Paul, MN$1,500112025
Chelsea StonerSanta Barbara, CA$1,000112021
College of St BenedictCollegeville, MN$1,000112024
Hennepin Technical CollegeBrooklyn Park, MN$1,000112024
Irondale High SchoolNew Brighton, MN$1,000112025
Isabel MedranoNew York, NY$1,000112021
Jenna NybloomCedar Rapids, IA$1,000112021
John Carroll UniversityUniversity Heights, OH$1,000112024
Metropolitan State UniversitySt Paul, MN$1,000112025
Minnesota State University - MoorheadMoorhead, MN$1,000112025
St Olaf CollegeNorthfield, MN$1,000112023
University of IowaIowa City, IA$1,000112023
University of St ThomasSt Paul, MN$1,000112025
Woodbury Middle SchoolWoodbury, MN$850112023
Annandale ElementaryAnnandale, MN$500112024
Compass ProgramCoon Rapids, MN$500112022
Coon Rapids Community AssnCoon Rapids, MN$500112021
Coon Rapids Community ScholarshipCoon Rapids, MN$500112023
Little Falls Community High SchoolLittle Falls, MN$500112022
Dick's Sporting GoodsMendota Heights, MN$100112023
SierraMendota Heights, MN$50112023

3 of 28 (11%) 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 20%, 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.

Plus 5 grants to individuals totalling $6,500 -- scholarships, hardship and emergency assistance. We deliberately do not publish the names of people who received them, even though the filings do.

What kind of organizations it funds

By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 17 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.

Education
12 grants
Philanthropy & Grantmaking
5 grants

Giving by year

Tax yearGrantsTotalMedian grant
20217$7,500$1,000
20224$2,000$500
20239$7,000$850
20248$8,000$1,000
20258$8,500$1,000

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.

Where its money goes

73% 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
$24K
Texas
$4K
Iowa
$2K
Ohio
$1K
New York
$1K
California
$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.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund10 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc9 shared recipientsAmerican Online Giving Foundation Inc8 shared recipientsThe Minneapolis Foundation8 shared recipientsSaint Paul & Minnesota Foundation7 shared recipientsCharities Aid Foundation America6 shared recipients

How to approach this foundation

  1. Check you are its size. The median grant is $1,000. 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.

Related guides

Foundations funding education in TexasEvery funder in this group

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Expedition 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: 1270 Northland Drive 350, Mendota Heights, MN, 55120. 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 26-1915313 · 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 [email protected] and we will correct it.