Children's Minnesota

Children's Minnesota

Children's Minnesota was founded in 1924 as an independent, not-for-profit pediatric health system serving the Upper Midwest. The system operates two free-standing hospitals — in Minneapolis and St. Paul — along with nine primary care clinics, multiple specialty clinics, and seven rehabilitation sites. Its investment function manages the accumulated reserves, philanthropic gifts, and operating surpluses of a health system that cares exclusively for children from birth through young adulthood. Major clinical partnerships include a pediatric cardiology and heart surgery collaboration with Mayo Clinic, a pediatric nephrology program with M Health Fairview, and a joint venture with Allina Health that operates The Mother Baby Center. The investment pool is deployed across a broad mandate that includes venture capital — spanning seed, early-stage, and growth — as well as buyout, mezzanine, distressed debt, natural resources, special situations, and co-investment positions. The portfolio holds direct real estate interests, including the flagship Minneapolis hospital campus on Chicago Avenue, the St. Paul hospital on North Smith Avenue, and outpatient facilities in Woodbury and Minnetonka. Beyond physical plant, the system maintains a REIT and real estate loan portfolio, a cryptocurrency donation position, and tangible assets such as the Life Link III helicopter fleet and its own vehicle fleet. The Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation contributed $5.5 million toward a mobile MRI suite, illustrating the intersection of philanthropy and capital deployment that defines the endowment's inflows. United Properties CEO Matt Van Slooten serves as Treasurer of the hospital board, linking the system's governance to commercial real estate expertise. The endowment participates in professional networks including the Children's Hospital Association and has been recognized as a Top Children's Hospital by The Leapfrog Group. Its philanthropic arm, the Children's Health Care Foundation, supports the system's mission alongside the broader Children's Hospital Association, of which it is a member. Structurally, the endowment's investment posture reflects the needs of a capital-intensive health system: significant direct real estate holdings, a willingness to accept illiquidity in venture and distressed positions, and a donor base that enables non-traditional assets like cryptocurrency. The governance architecture — with operating executives from partner organizations serving on the board — blurs the line between a pure financial endowment and a strategic operating enterprise, making co-investment and business partnerships a core extension of the investment function.