Nonprofits Receive More Than $746,000 in First-Quarter Grants
June 27, 2019
The Initiative Foundation and its Partner Funds are pleased to announce that 108 grants totaling more than $746,000 were awarded during the first quarter of 2019.
Innovation Fund Awards
The following organizations were among those that received grant funding during the months of January, February and March 2019:
- Terebinth Refuge--Women's Employment Readiness Program: $5,000 to support this St. Cloud-based program that provides job skills training, educational opportunities and safe housing for women who have been victims of sex trafficking.
- Kanabec County--Workforce Housing Feasibility Study: $10,000 to partner with the Central Minnesota Housing Partnership to complete a feasibility study for the development of a large workforce housing project in Mora.
- Dreams United/Sueños Unidos--Going Beyond Cinco De Mayo: $1,000 to engage young leaders of Long Prairie's Cinco de Mayo Fiesta to develop new programming or events to serve area families and children. The long-range goal is to foster event leadership succession planning.
-
Rural Renewable Energy Alliance--Community Solar for Community Action: $5,000 to support development of a community-owned solar array in Little Falls which will provide energy assistance to income-eligible veteran families and demonstrate a long-term approach to energy insecurity.
Partner Fund Awards
The Initiative Foundation hosts a variety of Partner Funds for families, businesses, nonprofit organizations and volunteer-led groups. The following organizations were among those that received grant funding during the months of January, February and March 2019:
- Patriot Foundation: $1,750 to the Pequot Lakes School District for Just Dancin' in the Gym.
- Paula & Chad Becker Foundation: $5,000 to the Browerville Schools wrestling program.
- Albany Area Education Foundation: $1,000 to Drumming 'Round the World, a program that supports a hands-on, multicultural approach to music education.
- Patrick & Jane Mitchell Family Fund: $1,000 to the Central Minnesota Taskforce on Battered Women-Anna Marie's Alliance.
About Initiative Foundation Grants
Since 1986, the Foundation has awarded thousands of grants totaling more than $34 million. The average grant award is about $5,000. All grants support projects that address at least one of the following areas:
- Help small businesses and social enterprises through access to technical assistance, mentorship and education efforts. The Foundation is especially interested in supporting minority business ownership and/or job creation in areas of concentrated poverty.
- Help communities address opportunities or barriers to business growth and creation or retention of quality jobs.
- Support activities that lead to improved skills and employment or advancement in growing sectors for future, displaced or underemployed workers.
- Support community-based early childhood efforts to advance literacy, school readiness and access to dental services for children in poverty.
- Help nonprofits that have a core focus on poverty become more effective or efficient through strategic planning, staff development or board training.
- Support activities that cultivate the next generation of leaders working and living in our region.
- Support planning or start-up funds for community-based amenities or events that help attract and retain skilled workers and young families.
- Help communities respond to and recover from significant local natural disasters.