NOTE: The Foundation does not have a formal letter of inquiry (LOI) process, and we do not generally accept unsolicited proposals for funding. However, we do want to hear ideas for how to support community-led, asset based solutions to challenges in our communities. If you have a program that incorporates at least three of the four areas below, please share it with us.

Organizations will be contacted if they have been selected to apply, but otherwise there is no opportunity to present an unsolicited proposal.

Our Board makes grant funding decisions three times a year. Once invited, organizations will receive information on the grant process and timelines directly from the Foundation.

Grotto Foundation seeks to improve the educational, financial, physical and social well-being of individuals and families by investing in effective nonprofit organizations throughout the state of Minnesota.

We award grants to organizations that work in at least three out of the following four areas:

Youth Development

Programs that provide experiences and activities to help youth develop personal values systems and social, emotional, physical, and cognitive competencies in order to achieve one's full potential.

Postsecondary Success

Any high-quality postsecondary credential or certification program that leads to workforce success as defined by individuals having the skills needed to secure living wage jobs with pathways to higher levels of pay, skill, responsibility or authority.

Community Safety & Neighborhood Development

Programs should incorporate community-led organizations, localized economic development, community leadership/leadership development and clear plans for sustainability.

Mentoring

Programs that promote both formal and informal mentoring relationships. Mentoring, when successful, can profoundly benefit all parties: the mentor, the mentee and the organization.

Note: We do not accept unsolicited letters of inquiry and do not have an open application process. If you have thoroughly reviewed the Foundation’s priorities and grantmaking activity on the website and you believe your organization is a good match for our mission, you can email our staff with a brief description of your work. 

Laird Norton Family Foundation

The Laird Norton Family Foundation (LNFF) is a private family foundation in Seattle, Washington, with a mission to honor and reflect the family’s shared values through giving and engage the family in philanthropy as a platform for strengthening family connections. 

Programs

Arts in Education

The goal of the Arts in Education program is to increase arts education and to improve pre-K through grade 12 student learning through the arts. Funding will be directed toward programs that seek to enhance students’ educational outcomes rather than to simply increase participation in, or appreciation for, the arts.

The Arts in Education program will consider funding programs that:

• Encourage the adoption and/or growth of arts integration within a public school or school district. We will prioritize programs that integrate the arts as a tool within greater, diverse curriculum content areas over arts enrichment or direct arts instruction programs.
• Advocate systemic change within schools, districts, or at the state level to encourage arts in education, and
• Utilize the arts as a tool to reduce the educational achievement gap.

Climate Change

Climate change poses a significant global threat, one which we are addressing by striving to ensure an equitable, resilient, habitable, and enjoyable world for current and future generations. While our work is focused on climate change, we believe in the value of ecosystems services and in the stability and resiliency of healthy natural systems. We also believe it is essential that the cost of externalities be incorporated into lifestyle, policy, and business considerations.

 We are focused on investing in regenerative biological systems that influence the carbon cycle (“biocarbon”) and reducing dependency on fossil fuels. We have chosen to focus our grantmaking on efforts to hasten the demise of coal and other fossil fuels and on work that increases the abilities of the forests, agricultural lands, and estuaries of the Pacific Northwest to sequester carbon.

Human Services

The goal of the Human Services program is to support, empower, uplift, and create opportunities for long-term success and a brighter future for unaccompanied youth and young adults (age 12-24) who are in crisis, have experienced trauma, or are aging out of the foster care system. We want to support these youth and young adults in their journey from surviving to thriving.

We will consider funding organizations or programs that provide support for youth/young adults suffering from trauma, mental illness, or addiction, with priority given to homeless youth and those impacted by the foster care system. While the full spectrum of services for youth in crisis is essential, we expect to do the bulk of our grantmaking in two areas:

• Prevention and early intervention work to keep young people from sleeping in unsafe situations — or at a minimum make that a very brief and one-time occurrence, and
• Support for long-term stability support services.

Watershed Stewardship

Watersheds have social, ecological, and economic significance. The goal of the Watershed Stewardship program is to create enabling conditions for long-term social and ecological health and resilience in places of importance to the Laird Norton Family. Currently, we prioritize work in Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as a few key watersheds in the Western United States, consistent with the Laird Norton family's priorities.

NOTE: The Management Improvement Fund has a rolling application. All interested applicants are highly encouraged to email the Management Improvement Fund before applying to ensure that the Fund fits your needs.

Nonprofit organizations work hard to meet the needs of our communities and raise the funds needed to support the day-to-day operations of their programs, leaving them little time and resources to devote to essential professional and technical services.

The Management Improvement Fund supports vital capacity-building work and technical assistance that expand organizational capacity, improve management capabilities to better serve the community, and nurture Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) leadership in the nonprofit sector. As a result, grant recipients can bolster fundraising, expand important programs and improve their services to the community.

The Management Improvement Fund

The Management Improvement Fund, a special fund of the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, provides grants to nonprofit organizations operating in or serving the Twin Cities East Metro (Ramsey, Washington and/or Dakota counties). This Fund makes grants to small to midsize nonprofit organizations to finance the cost of consultation or technical assistance to expand organizational capacity, improve management capabilities to better serve the community, and nurture Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) leadership in the nonprofit sector.

The staff of the Foundation provide assistance to potential grant applicants to help them define needs appropriate for funding and works closely with grant recipients to monitor their progress on their projects. Since 1991, the Foundation has provided more than 600 Management Improvement Fund grants totaling $6 million to nonprofit organizations across Minnesota.

In 2023, the Foundation expanded its approach to supporting the management and leadership of Minnesota nonprofits. Specifically, we saw the lack of support and resources available to BIPOC leaders and decided to expand the Management Improvement Fund to provide resources that are meant to be agile and responsive to nonprofits as they continue to pivot and grow from the racial reckoning and COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this expansion, the Management Improvement Fund has broadened its funding guidelines so that BIPOC nonprofit leaders and organizations have what they need to thrive.

Challenges Addressed

Many nonprofit organizations struggle financially to raise enough revenue for their programs to serve BIPOC and/or low-income individuals and families and don’t have the financial resources to pay for much needed professional consultation and technical services. Management Improvement Fund grants to nonprofit organizations help them stay strong and healthy, paying dividends to the communities they serve.

The needs of nonprofit organizations vary widely due to the type, age and size of organizations as well as external factors influencing the nonprofit environment. Because of these differences, Management Improvement Fund grants offset the expenses of a variety of capacity-building activities.

The Foundation acknowledges that the needs of our communities, and especially our BIPOC communities, cannot be properly addressed by a single source. More specifically, BIPOC communities have a multitude of needs and strengths requiring flexibility and responsiveness. A priority of the Management Improvement Fund is to reflect community-defined needs and identify mechanisms that work to enhance and improve conditions in low-income and BIPOC communities. The Management Improvement Fund is committed to being an ongoing, responsive opportunity for organizations to meet community needs.

Old National Bank Foundation

The Old National Bank Foundation makes contributions to nonprofit organizations to fund widespread community impact programs and/or projects. The Foundation is part of Old National's overall charitable giving initiative, which enables us to support programs that improve quality of life in areas of Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin where our clients, associates and shareholders live and work.

Funding Priorities

Our funding targets innovative programs that enhance the quality of life within our communities in support of the following strategic initiatives: Affordable Housing, Economic Development, Workforce Development, Financial Literacy and Education Achievement. Priority consideration is given to programs that serve low- to moderate-income populations/communities and small businesses. As part of our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, we also seek to support programs that focus specifically on enhancing opportunities for education, economic empowerment, mentorship and inclusion for underrepresented people and communities.

Examples of funding priorities with measurable outcome focus areas include:

Affordable Housing

• Increase homeownership opportunities
• Promote multi-family housing developments
• Enhance neighborhood stabilization and vitality through home revitalization and repairs

Economic Development

• Increase neighborhood revitalization initiatives
• Strengthen community resource infrastructure
• Increase business development and growth

Financial Literacy

• Our Real-Life Finance e-learning curriculum provides robust financial literacy training for community partners at no charge

Workforce Development

• Build skills/knowledge and improve achievement gain
• Increase entrepreneurship initiatives and business coaching/training
• Increase job creation, employment entry, and retention

Education Achievement

• Improve educational readiness and achievement
• Increase access to quality education
• Increase access to impactful mentoring programs

NOTE: Prior to submission of a funding request, organizations are required to contact Foundation staff to talk about how a project fits with the Foundation’s guidelines. This opportunity is for direct-services and advocacy grants only. Applicants for the Episcopal Faith Communities Grant can find information here.

The Sheltering Arms Foundation supports high quality direct service programs and a limited number of advocacy efforts that raises the level of public awareness and commitment to the well-being of children. Advocacy programs might include public education campaigns, public policy development, research, coalition building, or community organizing

What We Fund

Advocacy

The Sheltering Arms Foundation’s vision of success is that the opportunity gap will be significantly diminished because broad public will exists to make investments to assure that all Minnesota children succeed in school and life. To achieve this goal, we fund advocacy efforts that increase access to high quality, culturally appropriate early childhood care and education and youth development/out of school time opportunities.

We fund political networks, coalitions and campaigns that lobby, advocate and organize for children’s early learning and life success. We also support training to help parents become advocates for their children’s early learning and out of school time success.

Early Childhood

The Sheltering Arms Foundation’s vision of success is that all Minnesota children with the least access to resources are socially and emotionally, as well as physically and cognitively ready for kindergarten. To achieve this goal, we fund high quality culturally appropriate early childhood programs that support children’s social, emotional, physical and academic development with strong family engagement strategies.

Eligible programs include innovative early care and education, targeted home visiting and parent education, and early childhood mental health programs.

A high quality early care and education program has the following elements:

• A 3 or 4 star Parent Aware rating or is on a pathway to attain it
• A research based high quality curriculum
• Opportunities for family engagement in programming
• Quality assessment tools where data informs program improvement
• Access to professional development for staff that supports growth in their job in areas such as: program design, evaluation and assessment, inter-cultural skills, and child development.

A high quality parent education and targeted home visiting program has the following elements:

• A focus on strength-based whole child and family development that includes cognitive, physical, social and emotional development
• A research based high quality curriculum and evidenced based model
• A parent-child interaction component
• Active involvement of parents/caregivers in their child’s learning process
• Intensity and duration of contact appropriate for goals of the program
• Quality assessment tools where data informs program improvement
• Access to professional development for staff that supports growth in their job in areas such as: program design, evaluation and assessment, inter-cultural skills, and child development.

A high quality early childhood mental health program has the following elements:

• Priority given to mental health programs that align with high quality early care education and targeted home visiting programs
• Primary focus on Relationships
• Culturally appropriate interventions
• Research based high quality methodology
• Opportunities for family engagement in programming
• Initial assessment of each child including for trauma and chronic stress
• Intensity and duration of client services appropriate to the goals of the intervention
• Quality assessment tools where data informs program improvement
• Access to professional development for staff that supports growth in their job in areas such as: new developments in early childhood mental health treatments, program design, evaluation and assessment, and inter-cultural skills.

Youth Development

The Sheltering Arms Foundation’s vision of success is that all Minnesota children are socially and emotionally, as well as physically and academically prepared to succeed by 7th grade. To achieve this goal, we fund high quality culturally appropriate youth development programs for 5-12 year olds that support children’s social, emotional, physical and academic development with strong family engagement strategies.

Eligible programs are out of school time and mentoring programs in school based settings, community settings or affordable housing locations.

A high-quality youth development programming should include the following elements:

• Sequential activities that teach skills
• Active and experiential learning
• Focused and explicit skill development
• Developmentally and culturally appropriate program design
• Intensity and duration of contact
• Social and Emotional Learning competencies (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making)
• Opportunities for family involvement and participation in programming
• Quality assessment tools where data informs program improvement
• Access to professional development for staff that supports growth in their job in areas such as: youth programming, evaluation and assessment, inter-cultural skills, and program design.

BackgroundWe fund in the state of Minnesota with priority given to the seven-county metro area. We work in settings that serve children who are at-risk or experiencing abuse or neglect, exposed to toxic stress/trauma, or have challenges developing reading, writing and math skills. This includes schools and early childhood settings, non-profit and research organizations, government agencies, collaboratives, and networks. The best use of Sauer Family Foundation funding is to create change, fill gaps, or help create something new in an organization, government agency, or system. The Sauer Family Foundation is particularly interested in grants that support work in systems and agencies that keep children in safe, supported families, decrease toxic stress and move them to resiliency.Funding AreasWe fund direct service, research, field building, and systems change efforts in the following areas:Building Strong Family Relationships: Prevention and Intervention in Child Welfare

• Reducing child welfare placements away from family through parent support and family treatment services.
• Increasing family finding and natural connections for children & youth in child welfare. Our focus is reunification with primary caregiver, supporting kinship foster care & kinship permanency.
• Meeting the social emotional needs of foster children & youth and decreasing time to permanency, stopping the exit to homeless youth services.
• Increasing opportunities for the voice of foster youth in advocacy and increasing public awareness of the foster care experience.

Building Resilience to Trauma

• Early intervention models for preK-12 schools that support children to develop adaptive and flexible coping skills towards self-regulation.
• Professional development in trauma-informed practices in child welfare, children's mental health and education; including resiliency to secondary trauma.

Building Educational Success for Children: Literacy Skills and Learning Disabilities in Reading, Writing and Math PreK – 8th Grade

• Expansion of structured literacy and interventions based on the Science of Reading.
• Adoption of assessments that are indicated for learning disability screening and identification.
• Expansion of the accessibility and affordability of learning disability assessments and interventions.

Building a Workforce that Reflects the Diversity of Minnesota’s Children: Racially Equitable Career Pathways in our Funding Areas

• Programs that remove barriers to licensure for Black, Indigenous and People of Color to enter careers in child welfare, children’s mental health or education.
• Nontraditional pathways that lead to licensure and can move candidates from paraprofessional to professional positions in child welfare, children’s mental health, or education.
• Programs that increase support and mentoring for professionals of color in child welfare, children’s mental health or education allowing them to thrive.

Youth at Work Grant

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is committed to empowering the growth of the Minnesota economy for everyone. DEED facilitates an economic environment to produce jobs and improve the quality of the state’s workforce.

The Department of Employment and Economic Development, through the Office of Youth Development, is seeking proposals from qualified responders to the Youth at Work Grant Program.

Target Population

The purpose of this grant is to target ways in which to employ economically disadvantaged youth OR at-risk youth ages 14-24 (§116L.562). Below are the definitions used for the classifications in the grant:

• Economically disadvantaged youth
  • An individual who received an income, or is a member of a family that received a total family income, that, in relation to family size, does not exceed the higher of:
    • The official poverty level, for an equivalent period; or
    • 70% of the lower living standard income level.
  • Youth who are eligible to receive or are receiving free school lunch are considered to be economically disadvantaged.
• At-risk youth
  • The following individuals are considered to be at-risk:
    • A pregnant or parenting youth;
    • A youth with Limited English Proficiency;
    • A potential or actual dropout;
    • A juvenile offender/diversion program youth;
    • A public assistance recipient or a recipient of group home services;
    • A youth with disabilities including learning disabilities;
    • A homeless or runaway youth;
    • A chemically dependent youth or child of drug or alcohol abusers;
    • A youth with basic skills deficiency;
    • A youth with educational attainment one or more levels below grade level appropriate to age; or
    • A foster child.

Twin Cities Fund

As a worldwide company headquartered in Minnesota, the Best Buy Foundation considers proposals from 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that serve the seven-county Twin Cities metro area. This grant opportunity supports Arts & Culture organizations add to the vibrancy of the Twin Cities area and organizations with Teens and Technology programs that provide teens from disinvested communities access to hands-on technology skills and training they need to be prepared for a successful career.

Career Pathway Program Grant

The Career Pathway program grant supports organizations that provide tech skills and workforce readiness to help teens achieve a degree or credential, achieve self-supporting wages or have opportunities for further education and career advancement.

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, Public Law 93-415 provides for Minnesota's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee (JJAC) to authorize this Request for Proposal.

Goal

Provide direct services to youth and their families to prevent or divert involvement of youth in the juvenile justice system and to eliminate or to minimize racial and ethnic disparities.

Target Population

Youth within Minnesota’s juvenile justice system or who are at risk of becoming involved in the juvenile justice system.

Grant funding will be used to support the following areas:

• Positive Youth Development:
  • Programs for positive youth development that assist youth involved in the juvenile justicesystem and other at-risk youth in achieving a;
    • sense of safety and structure;
    • sense of belonging and membership;
    • sense of self-worth and social contribution;
    • sense of independence and control over one’s life; and
    • sense of closeness in interpersonal relationships
• Preventing/Reducing Re-entry:
  • Programs and services designed to reduce re-entry and that support youth involved in the juvenile justice system, their parents/caregivers, and other family members during and after detention, placement and/or supervision to strengthen families.
• Community, Faith and/or Culturally Focused Programming:
  • Community-, culturally-, and/or faith-based programs that provide youth involved in the juvenile justice system, or who are at-risk of such involvement, especially youth who have a parent/caregiver who is or was incarcerated, with positive youth development activities. Services can include mental health/behavioral health, treatment, counseling, tutoring, mentoring, and/or other educational and enrichment activities.

We anticipate having a minimum of $1.6 million available for grants of up to $150,000 per grantee for a two-year period (up to $75,000 per year). These will be cost reimbursement grants; federal requirements prohibit advancing grant funds up front. Funding must supplement, not supplant state and local government funds.