The Thielen Foundation Inc
Minneapolis, MN · EIN 82-5085997. Reported 52 grants totalling $2,492,645 to 38 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, 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 The Thielen Foundation Inc, the IRS classifies it as a public foundation -- a grantmaker that raises its money from many sources rather than from one donor (NTEE T30).
- How spread out its giving is. 38 distinct organizations, with 10% 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. 31% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 56% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% median for private foundations. It describes the organizations it already funds, not whether it would consider a new one.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $25,000. Half of what it reported fell between $10,000 and $50,000; the smallest was $7,211 and the largest $250,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V3 Sports Inc | Minneapolis, MN | $250,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Brooklyn Center High School | Brooklyn Center, MN | $200,125 | 2 | 2 | 2023 |
| University of Minnesota Foundation | Minneapolis, MN | $200,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Humboldt High School | Saint Paul, MN | $169,293 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Nexus Foundation for Family Healing | Plymouth, MN | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Urban Ventures Leadership Foundation | Minneapolis, MN | $150,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Salvation Army | Hoffman Estates, IL | $134,362 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Johnson Fitness & Wellness | Cottage Grove, MN | $111,177 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| City of Brooklyn Park | Brooklyn Park, MN | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Northside Achievement Zone | Minneapolis, MN | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Second Harvest Heartland | Brooklyn Park, MN | $100,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Crisis Assistance Ministry | Charlotte, NC | $85,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Fellowship of Christian Athletes | Kansas City, MO | $65,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Twin Cities Junior Golf Program | Shakopee, MN | $65,000 | 3 | 3 | 2024 |
| Med City Installation | Dexter, MN | $58,272 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Bolder Options | Minneapolis, MN | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Boys and Girls Clubs of the Twin Cities | Saint Paul, MN | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Goliath Project | Prior Lake, MN | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Woodbury Preschool at the Grove | Woodbury, MN | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities | Minneapolis, MN | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Bio Girls Inc | Fargo, ND | $35,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Minnesota Chill Foundation | Brooklyn Park, MN | $33,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation Inc | Duluth, MN | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Legacy Childrens Foundation | Fargo, ND | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Minnesota Teen Challenge Inc | Minneapolis, MN | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Kcb Companies | Lakeville, MN | $22,916 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Best Christmas Ever Inc | Cloquet, MN | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Isd #317 Deer River Public School District | Deer River, MN | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Childrens Health Care Foundation | Minneapolis, MN | $18,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Crookston Youth Foundation | Crookston, MN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Girls on the Run International | Raleigh, NC | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Impact Philanthropy Group | Alpharetta, GA | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Minnesota Valley Lutheran High School Foundation Inc | New Ulm, MN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| New Life Academy Educational Foundation Inc | Woodbury, MN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Red Lake Schools #38 | Red Lake, MN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| We All We Got | Minneapolis, MN | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Allina Health Foundation | Minneapolis, MN | $8,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Yes Network | Saint Cloud, MN | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
11 of 38 (29%) 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.
- V3 Sports
V3 CENTER, HEALTH AND WELLNESS FACILITY IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS - Masonic Childrens Hospital
TO UPGRADE WORKOUT ROOM FOR BEHAVIORAL YOUTH HEALTH PATIENTS - Brooklyn Center High School
ASSISTANCE TO STUDENT ATHLETES THROUGH SCHOLARSHIPS AND FUNDING FOR STADIUM LIGHTS AND PRGRAMS TO SUPPORT STUDENT PHYSICAL FITNESS AND ACTIVITIES WHILE ON "REMOTE LEARNING" - Humboldt High School
AID TO FAMILIES AND CHILDREN - Nexus-Gerard Family Healing
HEALTH, WELLNESS, AND RECREATION INITIATIVES - City of Brooklyn Park
TEEN CENTER - EQUIPMENT AND PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH THAT PROMOTE PHYSICAL FITNESS
What kind of organizations it funds
By the activity category the IRS assigns each recipient, for the 27 of 38 recipients we could match to a registered organization. The categories are the IRS's, not ours -- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | $439,998 | $27,500 |
| 2022 | 17 | $1,451,568 | $50,000 |
| 2023 | 13 | $286,722 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 12 | $314,357 | $12,852 |
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
85% of its giving went to organizations in Minnesota. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
Down to the city
Foundations that fund only organizations they pick gave to this one
8 private foundations that told the IRS they contribute only to organizations they select themselves reported 15 grants totalling $162,956 to The Thielen Foundation Inc. That is 47% of the 17 funders we can see giving to it. Those 8 foundations do not take unsolicited requests -- their own returns say so. The IRS classifies this organization as a grantmaking organization.
3 of them gave in more than one tax year, which is the only durability signal the filings carry.
What that does not mean. It does not mean an application here reaches that money. A grant from a closed foundation is often a designated gift or a donor-advised fund earmarked by whoever gave it, and has nothing to do with any open programme this organization runs. Neither tax return says which, so neither do we. The list below is who put money in. It is not a route to it.
| Foundation | State | Reported | Grants | Years | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hormel Foods Corporation Charitable | Minnesota | $117,500 | 5 | 5 | 2025 |
| David and Nicole Tepper Charitable | New Jersey | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Brandt Family Foundation | North Dakota | $14,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Burns Family Foundation | Minnesota | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Denman Family Foundation | Delaware | $5,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| The Culp Family Foundation | Minnesota | $1,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Amazonsmile Foundation | Washington | $250 | 3 | 3 | 2023 |
| Noll Family Foundation | Minnesota | $206 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
A linked name has a page of its own. We publish one for a foundation that takes no unsolicited requests only when a real share of its giving goes to organizations that make grants themselves, and that page opens by saying it does not take requests.
Both the count and the total are floors. A foundation appears here only where its return named this organization clearly enough for us to match the name to an EIN, which we manage for about two thirds of 990-PF grant rows. There are more; we cannot name them.
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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 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.
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 $25,000 -- 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 The Thielen Foundation Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Grant figures are from its returns. Recipient classifications, the concentration and retention figures and the funders that support the same organizations are our own calculations from them, described in how we build this.
Address of record on the latest return: 314 First Avenue N Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN, 55401.
EIN 82-5085997 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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