Charity Inc.

Charity Inc. is a small, tightly-held family private foundation operating out of Blaine, Minnesota since December 1964, administered in care of "Totinos" at the foundation's registered address. Its own IRS filing is unusually candid about process: "NO FORM REQUIREMENTS — PREFER A LETTER STATING APPLICANT'S NEEDS AND THE FUNDS REQUESTED." That single sentence should drive an applicant's entire approach — this is not a program-officer-staffed foundation with a rubric-based review; it is a board of four (President/Secretary Joanne Elwell, Vice President Bonita Brenny, and Directors Therese Munasinghe and Catherine Brenny) making a small number of relationship-informed decisions each year.

The grantee data confirms a narrow, consistent lane: of $1.54M in tracked historical giving across 12 grants, 71% ($1.10M) went to religious organizations, 15% ($231K) to schools and colleges, and 14% ($210K) to public charities — all recipients based in Minnesota. The foundation's own restriction language matches exactly: "primarily contributions to Christian educational organizations, religious organizations, and public charities." Organizations outside that triangle — even strong secular nonprofits — are working against the grain of 60 years of filed intent and should not expect a warm reception.

First-time applicants should treat this as a cold-outreach, mission-fit funder rather than a competitive RFP process. There is no LOI-to-full-proposal pipeline, no site-visit stage, and no published board meeting calendar — the entire process appears to compress into a single letter, reviewed by a small family board, resulting in roughly 3 grants per year historically (occasionally more; 4 grants per named category in the multi-year grantee schedule). Given the modest volume, the realistic path in is a direct, personal connection — through a Minnesota church, Christian school, or public charity already known to the Elwell/Brenny/Munasinghe family circle — rather than a cold mailing competing against dozens of peer applicants. Organizations with an existing relationship to Twin Cities-area Catholic or Christian education institutions (the search found a documented Totino family history of major gifts to Catholic education in Minnesota, including a $1M gift that renamed Totino-Grace High School in 1980) should lean into that alignment explicitly.

Charity Inc. paid out an estimated $462,833 in FY2024 across just 3 grants — an average of $154,278 per grant that year — up roughly 20% from $384,683 paid across the FY2023 filing. Total assets stood at $7,657,283 at FY2024 close, up from $7,229,948 in FY2023 and $6,077,857 in FY2012, a 26% asset increase over twelve years despite consistent annual payout, driven by strong net investment income (as high as $1,454,846 in FY2021, a year total revenue spiked to $1,632,158 on investment gains).

Across the full multi-year grantee schedule captured in this profile (12 grants, all Minnesota-based, $1,544,132 total, $128,678 average), the pattern by category is stark: Religious Organizations received 4 grants totaling $1,103,082 (71% of all tracked giving, ~$275,770 average per grant-year), Schools & Colleges received 4 grants totaling $231,000 (15%, ~$57,750 average), and Public Charities received 4 grants totaling $210,050 (14%, ~$52,513 average). The foundation's own "typical grant size" metric — likely reflecting individual recipients within the largest schedule-attached category — shows a median of $65,000 and a mean of $126,261, with a documented range from $38,300 to $275,483.

Annual grants-paid figures form a clear, gently rising trend line: $295,833 (2012), $320,058 (2013), $381,117 (2014), $380,825 (2015), $401,108 (2019), $378,783 (2020), $425,833 (2021, the peak year), $390,333 (2022), $384,683 (2023), and an estimated $462,833 (2024). Total giving (grants plus related charitable expenses) tracks slightly above grants-paid each year, running from $469,426 (2012) to $603,145 (2021) and $570,649 (2023). Officer compensation has stayed modest throughout — $20,000-$34,400 for the President/Secretary role, and a declining $12,000-to-$0 trajectory for the Vice President — indicating minimal administrative overhead relative to a foundation approaching $7.7M in assets. There is no evidence of geographic expansion beyond Minnesota or programmatic diversification beyond the religious/Christian-education/public-charity triangle at any point in the available filing history.

Charity Inc. sits at the small end of Minnesota's Christian/Catholic-giving peer set by asset size, but its ratio of giving to assets (roughly 6%) is notably higher than the much larger Melrose Family Foundation (under 1% of assets), meaning it distributes a larger share of its balance sheet each year despite having one-sixth the assets. Unlike the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota (invitation-only) or the Melrose Foundation (no public application process found), Charity Inc. is unusual among this peer group in explicitly stating an open, letter-based application path — making it comparatively more accessible on paper, even though its actual grant volume (roughly 3 awards/year) is smaller than several peers.

No news coverage, press releases, leadership announcements, or program launches were identified for Charity Inc. in any year — a pattern consistent with a foundation that has operated without a public communications presence since its founding in December 1964. The most concrete "recent activity" signal available is financial: the FY2024 Form 990-PF filing shows total assets climbing to $7,657,283 (from $7,229,948 in FY2023) alongside a jump in charitable disbursements to an estimated $462,833 across 3 grants, up from $384,683 in FY2023 — the highest single-year giving total in the available filing history, edging out the prior peak of $425,833 in FY2021.

On governance, the board composition shows movement worth noting for relationship-building purposes: Director Therese Munasinghe now appears with compensation (~$7,500) alongside long-standing Director Catherine Brenny, while Vice President Bonita Brenny's compensation has fallen to $0 in the most recent filing after declining steadily from $12,000 in 2021 — a pattern consistent with a generational transition on the family board rather than any operational disruption. President/Secretary Joanne Elwell has remained the consistent point of continuity, drawing $20,000-$21,000 in recent years.

One data-quality note for future applicants: the website on file for this foundation (charity.org) resolves to "Global Impact," an unrelated Washington, D.C.-based philanthropy intermediary with no connection to Charity Inc., its officers, or its Minnesota grant history — that domain should not be used as a source of guidance for this funder.

Skip the polished multi-page proposal template. Charity Inc.'s own IRS filing states a preference for a letter over any formal application — the strongest move is a one-to-two-page letter that states plainly (1) who you are, (2) the specific need, and (3) the specific dollar amount requested, mirroring the foundation's own stated preference ("a letter stating applicant's needs and the funds requested").

Lead with mission fit, not general nonprofit credentials. The grantee history is overwhelmingly concentrated in three lanes — religious organizations (71% of tracked dollars), Christian schools/colleges (15%), and Minnesota public charities (14%) — so a proposal should open by naming the religious, Christian-educational, or explicitly public-charity nature of the work within the first sentence or two, not bury it in a mission statement paragraph.

Stay inside Minnesota. Every tracked grant and every filing-level restriction ties this foundation to Minnesota recipients; there is no indication it has ever funded outside the state, so out-of-state organizations should not apply regardless of program alignment.

Expect a small, high-bar process. With roughly 3 grants awarded in the most recent filing year, this is a low-volume funder — treat outreach as relationship cultivation, not a form to submit and wait on. Given the "% Totinos" contact designation and the documented Totino family history of major Catholic-education philanthropy in Minnesota (including the 1980 gift that led to Totino-Grace High School's naming), organizations with genuine ties to Twin Cities Catholic or Christian institutions — parishes, Catholic schools, diocesan charities — have the clearest natural entry point.

Common mistakes to avoid: submitting a generic templated grant application (explicitly discouraged by their own filing language); applying from outside Minnesota; applying with a secular mission that doesn't touch religious, Christian-educational, or public-charity framing; and expecting a web portal, published deadline, or email contact — none exist. Since only a phone number is on file ((218) 330-8699) and no email or website, a brief, respectful phone inquiry to confirm where to mail a letter is a reasonable first step before sending anything.