Search Through Houston County Grants for Nonprofits in Minnesota

Making community possible

At U.S. Bank, we are dedicated to supporting our communities through responsive and humbled actions focused on addressing racial and economic inequities and creating lasting change in our communities. Through our Community Possible Grant Program, we are partnering with organizations that focus on economic and workforce advancement, safe and affordable housing and communities connected through arts and culture.

The U.S. Bank Foundation is committed to making Community Possible through Work, Home and Play. We advance this work through collaborative grant making to bring equitable and lasting change through our focus on sustainable, high-impact funding with 501c3 nonprofit partners.

How we partner with nonprofits

We focus on collaborative grantmaking and sustainable, high-impact funding with 501(c)(3) nonprofit partners. We partner with organizations that support:

• Economic and workforce advancement
• Safe and affordable housing
• Community arts and culture

Our strategy

Our community affairs and foundation team work closely with U.S. Bank regional leadership, business resource groups and our National Community Advisory Committee to ensure that prevailing needs are addressed in all the communities we serve.

To make the most meaningful impact, we prioritize organizations that:

• Focus on economic development issues related to work, home and play
• Address more than one of the grant pillars (work, home and play)
• Are based in and serve designated U.S. Bank communities
• Advance diversity, equity and inclusion

Who We Are

The Creag Foundation is a private grant making foundation established in 2009 in Woodinville, Washington.

The founders of the Creag Foundation believe that meaningful change can only be achieved through hard work, creativity and passion. They also understand the practical mechanisms that allow charitable organizations to succeed and grow. As a group, Creag Foundation principals are dedicated to helping today’s most innovative programs improve the human condition in a wide variety of ways.

Our Focus

The broad purpose of the Foundation is to support the efforts of nonprofit organizations who are innovators in the field of human services. Our particular focus is on smaller organizations that are starting out or established organizations that are looking for funding to take their organization in a new direction.

What We Fund

/ What We Fund

The Creag Foundation is focused on innovation in the industry. We will consider proposals from 501(c)(3) organizations that are finding new ways to address societal issues facing the nonprofit community. Applicants must have held 501(c)(3) status for one year before submitting. If your organization has held 501(c)(3) status for over a year, and your believe that your organization has a new approach to an existing social problem or is addressing a previously unaddressed social issue, you are welcome to contact us and request that we consider your organization for a funding opportunity.

Mission

The DanPaul Foundation will use its resources to help train teachers and parents in early childhood development, protect children from abuse and neglect, stimulate children's personal social responsibilities, and offer them opportunities for enrichment and growth.

The Foundation will also encourage children to be concerned and informed about the environment and the underprivileged, particularly with regard to clean air and water, and adequate housing and nutrition for all.

Beliefs

The DanPaul Foundation believes that children should have ample opportunities for enrichment in their lives, and thus strives to provide many different ways to enrich and expand children's minds through direct programs and monetary support to organizations doing similar work.

We have provided or currently provide grants related to the following program areas:

• Workshops, Conferences, + Seminars: We strive to offer educational workshops, conferences, and seminars for parents and teachers on topics related to early childhood development.
• Student Scholarships: We aim to help students attending post-secondary education institutions by providing need-based and academic scholarships.
• Scientific Endeavors: We desire to advance scientific endeavors which seek to improve the quality of life for everyone in the world.
• Clean Air + Water: We hope to pass on knowledge and practical life skills to youth regarding their personal responsibility to the environment, teaching them about issues surrounding clean air and water.
• Child Advocacy: We believe in protecting children from abuse and neglect and particularly love to support programs that provide education and assistance to children as well as organizations advocating or caring for vulnerable children.
• Homelessness: We want to encourage young people to take a personal interest in seeing that adequate housing and proper nutrition, especially for the underprivileged and homeless, are available.
• Poverty + Neglect: We seek to help those in poverty as well as educate youth about their responsibility to consider the underprivileged and take care of those most in need of life's basic essentials like adequate housing and proper nutrition.
• Refugee Enrichment: We wish to help refugee youth by supporting programs that provide them enrichment and help them transition to life in a new country.

The DanPaul Foundation provides grants to 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organizations as defined by the IRS. The Foundation is interested in providing funding to programs that directly serve the health, education, development, and welfare of the world's youth.

Grants range from a few hundred dollars up to $15,000 per calendar year.

SEMAC: Arts Management Training

SEMAC offers Arts Management Training Grants to help regional nonprofit arts groups send key staff, board and volunteers to management education workshops, seminars or conferences. Examples of management training topics include fundraising, audience development, financial management, organizational development, marketing, and volunteer management.

• Arts Management Training Grants are for a maximum of $300 per event, per person.
• Funds for Arts Management Training are not always available; check with SEMAC.
• No match is required for Arts Management Training.
• The submission deadline is thirty days prior to the training start date.

Mission

SEMAC exists to encourage, promote, and assist regional arts development by providing leadership, outreach, advocacy, mentorship, grants, and services.

SEMAC: General Operating Support Grants

Nonprofit arts organizations in the SEMAC region with operating expenses of less than $174,000 are invited to apply for these grants to strengthen and stabilize their organization by supporting administrative and other overhead expenses over the course of two years (biennial grant). Recipients of this grant must submit an interim report after Year One to receive Year Two payment.

Award amount: Up to $5,000 per year (up to $10,000 total over two years)

SEMAC: Opportunity Grants

Opportunity grants provide nominal assistance to nonprofit arts organizations and schools or educational institutions for sudden projects intended to enable them to take advantage of opportunities that arise with little advance notice

• Opportunity Grants do not require matching funds.
• The deadline for receipt of Opportunity Grants applications is fifteen days prior to the intended start date.

The Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, Inc. (SEMAC) is one of eleven Regional Arts Councils designated by the State of Minnesota to make final decisions on the use of appropriations for local/regional arts development. SEMAC has served Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, and Winona counties since 1977 and is charged with assessing regional needs and planning and administering programs and services using its legislative allocation.

Mission

SEMAC exists to encourage, promote, and assist regional arts development by providing leadership, outreach, advocacy, mentorship, grants, and services.

Vision

All community members are inspired to take part in the arts and build partnerships that promote the arts and artists.

New culturally rich artistic opportunities are incorporated into our communities while preserving our existing artistic heritages.

Community members, leaders, and policy-makers foster a climate that celebrates imagination, creativity, innovation, and excellence that encourages life-long participation in the arts.

Core Values

• SEMAC seeks out and rewards creative efforts of high artistic integrity that stand out among similar efforts.
• SEMAC believes that high quality art should be challenging and original, able to illuminate the human condition and serve the vital interests of the community.
• Rooted in basic human values, SEMAC believes that art should move the imagination and the heart, and enrich rather than merely entertain.
• SEMAC believes that art should be artistically challenging for both the artists and the audience, and should significantly contribute to the development and enrichment of a given art form(s).
• SEMAC funded artists must demonstrate serious training with reputable teachers or mentors, a commitment to their art form and life as an artist, and present art of lasting value.

SEMAC: School Residency Grants

The School Residency grant is intended to support artist residencies in public or non-religious private schools. A residency is an interactive arts activity involving K-12 students, teachers, and artists. Residencies provide young people with a direct arts experience with artists, as well as encourage the artist’s professional development by providing a unique employment experience and audience contact. Residencies must be based upon a well-defined project and at least one full day or up to five full school days in length, and culminate in a capstone event that is accessible and open to the public.

• No matching funds are required for School Residency grants.
• The deadline for receipt of applications is thirty days prior to the planned artist residency.

We have strong partnerships with nonprofit organizations across the country that are working to advance economic mobility and social progress in low- and moderate-income communities. Our focus areas include basic needs like food and housing, workforce development and education, and community development. In addition to our philanthropic investments, we also encourage our employees to make a difference by offering robust employee giving and volunteering programs, including the opportunity to direct funds to organizations they support through volunteer efforts, and a matching gifts program that doubles their individual giving to causes they care about. Last year, we invested $350 million in the communities we serve, and employees contributed more than 1 million volunteer hours and directed $65 million through individual giving and matching gifts to support nonprofits.Through our regional U.S. sponsorships, we support the economic, social and cultural life of the places we live and work. We provide an extensive program of arts and sports sponsorships to help maintain vibrant, healthy communities.Sponsorships supporting communitiesBank of America welcomes your sponsorship proposal for opportunities that make our communities a better place to live and work. We are particularly interested in providing support to address needs vital to the health of our communities through a focus on:

• preserving neighborhoods;
• educating the workforce for 21st century jobs;
• addressing critical needs such as hunger and emergency shelter;
• arts and culture;
• the environment; and
• diversity and inclusion programs.

Grants are made at the Foundation’s discretion based on our current funding strategies focused on housing, jobs and hunger. 

Our Mission

The Tony Robbins Foundation is a nonprofit organization created to empower individuals and organizations to make a significant difference in the quality of life of people often forgotten.

We’re dedicated to creating positive changes in the lives of youth, seniors, the hungry, homeless and the imprisoned population, all who need a boost envisioning a happier and deeply satisfying way of life. Our passionate staff, generous donors and caring group of international volunteers provide the vision, inspiration, and resources needed to empower these important members of our society.

Grants

Dedicated to meeting challenges within the global community, creating solutions and taking action, The Tony Robbins Foundation provides monetary donations to various organizations around the world. Funding requests are evaluated on an ongoing basis. We look for organizations that align with our mission to empower individuals and organizations to make a significant difference in the quality of life of those often forgotten.

Best Life Community Awards

Nominate a nonprofit that you support with your time, talents, or money to receive a grant.

Funding

The winner will be awarded $10,000!

The Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation Vision

The Dudley T. Dougherty Foundation, "A Foundation for All", was established in 2002. It was begun in order to give a clear voice for those who wish to be a part of the many, worthy, forces for change in our world.

We are a foundation whose purpose is to look ahead towards the future, giving the past its due by remembering where we came from, and how much we can all accomplish together. We aim to make the critical difference on our planet by recognizing and having respect for our ever changing world. We respect all Life, the Environment, and all People, no matter who they are.

The Lawrence Foundation is a private family foundation focused on making grants to support environmental, human services and other causes.

The Lawrence Foundation was established in mid-2000. We make both program and operating grants and do not have any geographical restrictions on our grants. Nonprofit organizations that qualify for public charity status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or other similar organizations are eligible for grants from The Lawrence Foundation.  

Grant Amount and Types

Grants typically range between $5,000 - $10,000. In some limited cases we may make larger grants, but that is typically after we have gotten to know your organization over a period of time. We also generally don’t make multi-year grants, although we may fund the same organization on a year by year basis over a period of years.

General operating or program/project grant requests within our areas of interests are accepted. In general, regardless of whether a grant request is for general operating or program/project expenses, all of our grants will be issued as unrestricted grants.

Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Grant

The Foundation will consider requests to support museums, cultural and performing arts programs; schools and hospitals; educational, skills-training and other programs for youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities; environmental and wildlife protection activities; and other community-based organizations and programs.

Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council

The Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) has served as the designated regional arts council for Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, and Winona counties, including the Prairie Island Indian Community since 1977. Through our six grant programs, SEMAC supports arts programming in every corner of our region by awarding close to $1,000,000 per year to individuals, arts organizations, non-arts nonprofits, schools, and local government entities.

SEMAC is one of eleven Regional Arts Councils designated by the State of Minnesota to make final decisions on the use of appropriations from the state’s general fund and from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund | Minnesota’s Legacy to support local and regional arts development.

Artists and Culture Bearers in the Schools

These residency grants are meant to provide students in grades K-12 non-religious schools with opportunities to work directly with artists and culture bearers during the school day. Grant activities must supplement the school’s arts curriculum and not be a substitute for these basic requirements and can be in any discipline, including but not limited to, painting, photography, printmaking, textiles, music, dance, theater, performance, storytelling, literary arts, intermedia arts, and traditional arts.

The applicant for this grant can either be an individual artist or culture bearer living in the 11-county SEMAC region or the non-religious school in which the residency will take place. Written acknowledgement from the partner applicant (school or artist) confirming their commitment and role in the proposed activities is required. 

No public event is required. However the participating school must agree to share the residency in their district’s communications to families, with the School Board, and/or with any local press contacts to raise awareness of the importance of the arts.

Award Amount: $2,000 to $4,000

Purpose: To provide students in grades K-12 with opportunities to work directly with artists and culture bearers during the school day.

Mission

SEMAC exists to encourage, promote, and assist regional arts development by providing leadership, outreach, advocacy, mentorship, grants, and services.

SEMAC: Rural Arts Grants

These project grants are meant to bring arts experiences into the smallest rural communities in southeastern Minnesota with populations below 7,500. Eligible projects can be in any discipline, including but not limited to, painting, photography, printmaking, textiles, music, dance, theater, performance, storytelling, literary arts, intermedia arts, and traditional arts.

For inspiration, artists and community leaders interested in this grant program are encouraged to see these resources: Heartland, Heartwork: A Field Guide to Place and Possibility for Rural Leaders published by Springboard for the Arts and the Department of Public Transformation’s Activate Rural program

Award amount: $3,000 to $6,000

About Us

For over 30 years, Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee (CFMT) has been driving meaningful, positive change in our community. We do this by bringing together those who want to help and those who need help. Through the power of collective philanthropy, our goal is to amplify donor intent while remaining flexible enough to ensure that resources are directed to where they can do the greatest good.

We know the greater Nashville area. We understand its neighborhoods, its most pressing challenges, its unsung nonprofit heroes, and its emerging partnerships with the greatest potential. As our region continues to rapidly change, that knowledge gives us a unique vantage point to bring people and places together to do what none of us can do on our own—build a more thriving and inclusive community.

Mission

Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee strives to build a more thriving and inclusive community — today and for generations to come — by transforming thoughtful generosity into positive change.

A.D. and Peggy Hewlett and Colonel David R. Inman Medical Scholarship

To create a legacy for their parents and Colonel David R. Inman, Steve Hewlett, Pam Inman and Faye Houston established this Fund to honor their caring and compassionate concern for others, their belief in the importance of a good education, their commitment to nurturing the thirst for knowledge, and their dedication to providing a foundation on which others might build a career in health care. Those who will benefit are: students planning to enter the field of nursing as LPN, RN or Nurse Practitioner; pharmacy or physical therapy; and all those who will be comforted and cared for as a result.

The Minnesota State Legislature allocates grant funds to the State Arts Board and regional arts councils for arts-related programming by nonprofit organizations and individual artists. 

Programming Grants for Arts Organizations

Formerly called Presenter/Production Assistance, these grants support activities directly involved in the creation, performance, publication, and exhibition of the arts in Southeastern Minnesota. SEMAC offers $5,000 grants for arts programming in one of these funding types.

Presenter Assistance

Helps sponsor appearances by touring artists or companies who demonstrate a high level of artistic quality. 

Arts Production Project

Must develop an art form, or promote the artistic growth of artists associated with arts organizations. The project may be a single activity, a sequence of closely related activities, or an exhibition curated by the applicant.

THE LAURA JANE MUSSER FUND was established by the estate of Laura Jane Musser of Little Falls, Minnesota to continue the personal philanthropy which she practiced in her lifetime.

Intercultural Harmony Grant

The LAURA JANE MUSSER FUND would like to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between groups and citizens of different cultural backgrounds within defined geographical areas through collaborative, cross-cultural exchange projects. Projects must be intercultural and demonstrate intercultural exchange, rather than focused on just one culture.

Priority is Placed on Projects that . . .

Include  members of various cultural communities working together on projects with common goals

Build positive relationships across cultural lines

Engender intercultural harmony, tolerance, understanding, and respect

Enhance intercultural communication, rather than cultural isolation, while at the same time honoring the unique qualities of each culture

Projects must demonstrate:

• Need in the community for the intercultural exchange project
• Grassroots endorsement by participants across cultural lines, as well as their active participation in planning and implementation of the project
• The ability of the organization to address the challenges of working across the cultural barriers identified by the project
• Tangible benefits in the larger community

Available Funds

Planning (up to $5,000) 

These funds may support costs like: consultant or staff time, meeting costs, mailings, secretarial support, refreshments, local travel, childcare, etc.

Implementation (up to $25,000)

These funds are available to implement collaborative cross-cultural exchange projects. The projects should result in a tangible outcome within at least the first 18 months. Projects will be eligible for either planning or implementation funds during any one grant period

Outcomes

Outcomes should include:

• A demonstration of intercultural exchange between cultures
• Increased comfort in interaction between the groups and individual citizens addressed by the project
• Harmonious shared use of public space and community facilities
• Continued cooperation by the participants or communities addressed by the project

Intercultural Harmony projects can be carried out in a number of areas, including (but not limited to):

• Community service
• Youth activities
• The arts

What the program will cover

• New programs or projects within their first three years
• The planning or implementation phase of a project

The Laura Jane Musser Fund was established by the estate of Laura Jane Musser of Little Falls, Minnesota to continue the personal philanthropy, which she practiced in her lifetime.

Environmental Initiative Program

The Laura Jane Musser Fund assists public or not-for-profit entities to initiate or implement projects that enhance the ecological integrity of publicly owned open spaces, while encouraging compatible human activities. 

The Fund's goal is to promote public use of open space that improves a community's quality of life and public health, while also ensuring the protection of healthy, viable and sustainable ecosystems by protecting or restoring habitat for a diversity of plant and animal species.

The Laura Jane Musser Fund encourages the use of a community-based approach with broad and active local stakeholder participation in both planning and implementation stages of projects concerning the environmental preservation and sustainable use of public open spaces. It has been our experience that projects designed through this process have a greater chance of acceptance and lasting success.

The Musser Fund is likely to make a total of 5 to 7 grants in the Environmental Initiative this year. This is a very competitive granting initiative.

Funds will be available for: 

• Planning (UP to $8,000)
• Implementation (Up to $35,000)

Planning Grant Requests: Planning grant applications must demonstrate commitment to a broad-based, active community process for the design and use of local publicly-owned open spaces.

Note - The planning stage is optional and not a required phase prior to applying for or receiving an implementation grant. If an organization receives a planning grant from the Musser Fund, this in no way implies a commitment on the part of the Musser Fund to provide the organization with any subsequent implementation grant. 

Implementation Grant Requests:  Implementation grant applications must demonstrate clear evidence of local community active participation and support.

Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council

The Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) has served as the designated regional arts council for Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, and Winona counties, including the Prairie Island Indian Community since 1977. Through our six grant programs, SEMAC supports arts programming in every corner of our region by awarding close to $1,000,000 per year to individuals, arts organizations, non-arts nonprofits, schools, and local government entities.

SEMAC is one of eleven Regional Arts Councils designated by the State of Minnesota to make final decisions on the use of appropriations from the state’s general fund and from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund | Minnesota’s Legacy to support local and regional arts development.

Programming and Project Support Grants for Organizations

These grants are meant to support activities directly involved in the creation, performance, publication, and exhibition of the arts with a focus in one or more of the three key areas identified in the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund Legacy Amendment – Arts Access, Arts Education, and Cultural Heritage.

Nonprofit arts and non-arts organizations (nonprofits, schools, local government and tribal entities) are eligible to apply and collaborations between arts and non-arts organizations are encouraged. An accessible public event is required.

Proposed budgets should give priority to paying fees to artists, creative production team members, and people providing technical support to help create and support a thriving arts ecosystem throughout southeastern Minnesota.

Award amount: $3,000 to $11,000 for nonprofit arts organizations. Non-arts nonprofits, non-religious K-12 schools, or other non-arts organizations including local government entities, nonprofits, colleges, and universities are eligible for $3,000 to $6,000.

Purpose: To support activities directly involved in the creation, performance, publication, and exhibition of the arts with a focus in one or more of the three key areas identified in the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund Legacy Amendment – Arts Access, Arts Education, and Cultural Heritage.

Paint the Town Grants

The Paint the Town Grant Program is designed to engage volunteers, create a sense of community pride and build collaborative efforts that beautify communities through “Painting the Town” with a new community mural, community welcome sign or painting an historic structure. Paint the Town grants are administered by SMIF in collaboration with various Ace Hardware stores located in our region. Communities with populations under 10,000 are eligible to apply.

Calling to Serve

Since its inception in 2016, the Robinson Foundation has sought to demonstrate God’s love through sharing the gifts we have received. We understand the often unspoken hardships and struggles that people in and outside of our community face everyday. As such, our contributions are focused on relieving these hardships for the betterment of our world.

As a family-operated foundation, we pray that our small efforts will not only create immediate change in the lives of our neighbors, but will help set those lives on a course for success in the future. We are thankful for each and every day we have on this earth to use what God has granted us to make a difference.

Areas of Interest

• Animal Welfare
• Children & Families
• Disaster Relief
• Education
• Medical Assistance
• Nature & Wildlife Conservation
• Poverty Relief
• Religious & Spiritual Endeavors
• Veterans' Issues

Grant Considerations

We take many different aspects of applications into account when making grant issuing decisions, however these are some of the high-level questions we ask ourselves during the process:

• How does the organization serve their key audience goals?
• Is the organization fiscally responsible?
• Will a grant have a tangible, meaningful impact?
• Will we see direct results from this grant?
• Does the organization have other financial contributors?

Levitt Music Series Grants - AMP

Levitt AMP is a multi-year matching grant opportunity bringing the joy of free, live music to small to mid-sized towns and cities.

Geared to towns and cities with populations under 250,000, Levitt AMP grantees reflect the three goals of the Levitt AMP program: Amplify community pride and a city’s unique character; enrich lives through the power of free, live Music; and illustrate the importance of inclusive and vibrant public Places. From rural Alaska to Appalachian Main Streets and Midwestern locales, the Levitt AMP Music Series is a catalytic opportunity engaging a wide range of towns and cities across America to realize a shared mission—building community through music to create a healthy and thriving future for all.

In addition to financial support, the Levitt Foundation provides grant recipients with valuable resources including best practices, program frameworks, toolkits, and trainings to deepen impact in their communities.

Launched in 2015, the Levitt Foundation has provided funding to more than 50 communities coast to coast through the Levitt AMP program, activating underused public spaces, ensuring access to the arts and strengthening the social fabric of communities through creative placemaking, bringing people together of all ages and backgrounds through free, outdoor concert series.

Special Music Series Grant - Tennessee-Based Nonprofits

The Levitt Foundation is thrilled to announce its partnership with the Tennessee Entertainment Commission to award up to six communities based in Tennessee with multi-year Levitt AMP matching grants, with support from the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development and the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. This project marks the Levitt Foundation’s first joint partnership with a specific state.

Through this partnership, the State and the Foundation together will be awarding matching grants of up to $40K per year to small to mid-sized cities throughout Tennessee in through the next 3 years. The funding will go toward presenting free outdoor concerts featuring high-caliber entertainment in a broad array of music genres, amplifying stages across the state with up to 180 free concerts for Tennesseans of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy.

This partnership applies to the Levitt AMP grant opportunity only. There is no separate application process to be considered and interested Tennessee-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits should proceed with completing their online application on the Levitt Foundation website. Levitt AMP grant applicants from Tennessee that advance to the public voting phase will be in the running with other Tennessee-based Levitt AMP grant applicants only. Nonprofits based in Tennessee that are interested in applying for the Levitt VIBE or Levitt BLOC grant opportunity may still submit an online application, though if advanced to the public voting phase will be in the running with applicants from across the country.

Funding

U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits are eligible to receive a three-year matching grant of up to $40K/year (up to $120K total) to bring 7-10 free concerts to your community each year!

Levitt Music Series Grants - BLOC

Levitt BLOC is a multi-year matching grant opportunity that activates underused public spaces across multiple neighborhoods within a town or city through the joy of free, live music.

Geared to communities of any size, Levitt BLOC (Building Layers Of Community) activates different neighborhoods in a town or city by “layering” concerts across multiple public spaces, broadening the overall reach of the music series. Levitt BLOC fosters social cohesion and amplifies community pride by featuring a diverse lineup ranging from acclaimed, emerging talent to seasoned, award-winning artists on the local, regional, and national circuits, ensuring access to high-caliber performances throughout a community. Levitt BLOC launched as a two-year pilot program this past year with the Chattanooga-based nonprofit, RISE.

In addition to financial support, the Levitt Foundation provides grant recipients with valuable resources including best practices, program frameworks, toolkits, and trainings to deepen impact in their communities.

Funding

U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits are eligible to receive a three-year matching grant of up to $40K/year (up to $120K total) to bring 7-10 free concerts to your community each year!

Levitt Music Series Grants - VIBE

Levitt VIBE is a multi-year matching grant opportunity that brings the joy of free, live music to public spaces in city neighborhoods where access to arts experiences may be limited.

Geared to large cities with a population over 250,000, Levitt VIBE (Vibrant Inclusive Beats for Everyone) brings the free outdoor concerts to neighborhoods where there is limited access to arts programming and live music. Each Levitt VIBE concert series features a diverse lineup of acclaimed, emerging talent to seasoned, award-winning artists on the local, regional, and national circuits, ensuring access to high-caliber performances for people of all ages and backgrounds.

Levitt VIBE Music Series create a community destination, connecting people to each other and inspiring neighborhood pride of place. Levitt VIBE was launched as a two-year pilot program this past year with three city neighborhoods: the Belmont Cragin neighborhood of Chicago; the Near Southside neighborhood of Indianapolis; and the East Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California. 

In addition to financial support, the Levitt Foundation provides grant recipients with valuable resources including best practices, program frameworks, toolkits, and trainings to deepen impact in their communities.

Funding

U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits are eligible to receive a three-year matching grant of up to $40K/year (up to $120K total) to bring 7-10 free concerts to your community each year!

The Laura Jane Musser Fund wants to encourage collaborative and participatory efforts among citizens in rural communities that will help to strengthen their towns and regions in a number of civic areas including, but not limited to, economic development, business preservation, arts and humanities, public space improvements, and education.

Priority is placed on projects that: 

• Bring together a broad range of community members and institutions
• Provide the opportunity for diverse community members to work together
• Contain measurable short term outcomes within the first 12 to 18 months
• Include community members actively in all phases of the process 
• Work toward an outcome of positive change within their community

Projects must demonstrate:

• Support from a diverse cross-section of community members and institutions
• Matching financial and/or in-kind support from the local community
• Significant volunteer participation
• Reasonable plans to complete the project within 18 months or less

Funds will be available for: 

• Planning (up to $5,000) - These funds may support costs like: consultant or staff time, meeting costs, mailings, secretarial support, refreshments, local travel, childcare, etc.
• Note - this stage is optional and not a required phase prior to applying for or receiving an implementation grant. If an organization receives a planning grant from the Musser Fund, this in no way implies a commitment on the part of the Musser Fund to provide the organization with any subsequent implementation grant.
• But organizations that receive a planning grant may apply for subsequent implementation support after their planning activities are completed.      
• Implementation (Up to $25,000) - These funds are available to implement community based rural projects that originate in, have been planned by, and involve diverse people from the local community.
• Capital campaigns will not be supported.
• The projects should result in a tangible outcome within at least the first 18 months.
• Projects will be eligible for either planning or implementation funds during any one grant period.

What the Program will Cover:

• New programs or projects within their first three years
• A planning, and/or implementation phase

Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council

The Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) has served as the designated regional arts council for Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, and Winona counties, including the Prairie Island Indian Community since 1977. Through our six grant programs, SEMAC supports arts programming in every corner of our region by awarding close to $1,000,000 per year to individuals, arts organizations, non-arts nonprofits, schools, and local government entities.

SEMAC is one of eleven Regional Arts Councils designated by the State of Minnesota to make final decisions on the use of appropriations from the state’s general fund and from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund | Minnesota’s Legacy to support local and regional arts development.

Project Support for Individual Artists and Culture Bearers

These project grants are meant to encourage individual artists and culture bearers living in the 11-county SEMAC region to take the next step in their creative pursuits by providing the financial support needed to experiment, take on a challenge, or deepen their practice. Individuals creating new work in all disciplines, including but not limited to, painting, photography, printmaking, textiles, music, dance, theater, performance, storytelling, literary arts, intermedia arts, and traditional arts are encouraged to apply.

There are two categories for these project grants: Emerging and Advancing. To be eligible to apply as Advancing, an applicant must demonstrate that they have received regional or national recognition for their previous work.

The grant proposal must be to support the creation of new work and include an opportunity for public engagement with that work. This public component could be an exhibition, a performance, a reading, or another in-person activity, or it could be a series of events. As long as this component is accessible and meaningfully engages the general public, the applicant can determine the format that best supports their project.

Award amount: $2,000 to $4,000 for Emerging and $3,000 to $6,000 for Advancing