Search Through Job Creation Grants in Minnesota in the U.S.

Charitable Contributions

Costco Wholesale’s primary charitable efforts specifically focus on programs supporting children, education, and health and human services in the communities where we do business. Throughout the year we receive a large number of requests from nonprofit organizations striving to make a positive impact, and we are thankful to be able to provide support to a variety of organizations and causes. While we would like to respond favorably to all requests, understandably, the needs are far greater than our allocated resources and we are unable to accommodate them all.

Warehouse Donations:

Warehouse donations are handled at the warehouse level - please consult your local warehouse for up-to-date information regarding their donations contacts and review process.

Grant Applications

If the request is under consideration, you may be contacted by staff for any additional information needed. Applications are reviewed within 4-6 weeks, and decisions are made based on several factors, including: type of program; identified community need not otherwise available; indication that evidenced based data will establish measurable results of intended outcomes; community collaboration; broad base of financial support; project budget and operating expenses.

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.

Background

Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation seeks to dramatically improve the lives of underserved communities across the globe by supporting scalable, innovative, and impact-first solutions that leverage existing systems and stakeholders. Our goal is to find social entrepreneurs with dynamic products or services that have a proven ability to positively impact the lives of underserved people, and nurture those organizations at the early stages by providing capacity, capital, and community.

Our application process is designed to be open and accessible, and we accept applications year round from across our priority geographies and sectors. Borrowing from our venture capital legacy, we find exceptional entrepreneurs and provide them with: 

Capacity

• The core of DRK’s model is deep and extensive operational and technical support for each portfolio organization, both through dedicated hands-on Board service and specialist capacity-building resources for fundraising, board and organizational development, leadership, financial support, and scaling strategy,

Capital

• DRK provides up to $300,000 USD in either unrestricted grant funding or investment capital over a three-year period, and

Community

• DRK convenes our portfolio and alumni annually, facilitating connections and community. 

What We Fund

DRK Foundation funds early-stage social impact organizations solving the world’s biggest social and environmental problems using bold, scalable approaches.

What stage of growth does DRK Foundation typically fund?

Early stage: Organizations who are early stage, which we define as post-pilot and pre-scale. This typically means: 

• Your program, product or service is already being used in the market or in the field, 
• You have early indication that your model is having its intended impact on the beneficiary populations,
• Your organization is relatively young (ideally between two and five years old, although we will consider both younger and older organizations).

Venture funding: In the case of for profits, we typically support Seed to Series A organizations, and never lead rounds; we also generally but not exclusively refrain from participating in financings exceeding a $15M USD post-money valuation.  

Global Impact Cash Grants

Cisco welcomes applications for Global Impact Cash Grants from community partners around the world who share our vision and offer an innovative approach to a critical social challenge.

We identify, incubate, and develop innovative solutions with the most impact. Global Impact Cash Grants go to nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that address a significant social problem. We’re looking for programs that fit within our investment areas, serve the underserved, and leverage technology to improve the reach and efficiency of services. We accept applications year-round from eligible organizations. An initial information form is used to determine whether your organization will be invited to complete a full application.

Social Investment Areas

At Cisco, we make social investments in three areas where we believe our technology and our people can make the biggest impact—education, economic empowerment, and crisis response, the last of which incorporates shelter, water, food, and disaster relief. Together, these investment areas help people overcome barriers of poverty and inequality, and make a lasting difference by fostering strong global communities.

Education Investments

Our strategy is to inclusively invest in technology-based solutions that increase equitable access to education while improving student performance, engagement, and career exploration. We support K-12 solutions that emphasize science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as well as literacy. We also consider programs that teach environmental sustainability, eliminate barriers to accessing climate change education, and invite student engagement globally to positively affect the environment.

What we look for:

• Innovative early grade solutions using the internet and technology to bridge the barriers preventing access to education for underserved students globally.
• Solutions that positively affect student attendance, attitudes, and behavior while inspiring action by students to improve learning outcomes, whether they participate in person, online, or in blended learning environments. 
• Solutions with high potential to replicate and scale globally, thereby increasing the availability of evidence-based solutions that support student-centricity, teacher capacity in the classroom, and increased parental participation to help students learn and develop.

Economic Empowerment

Our strategy is to invest in early stage, tech-enabled solutions that provide equitable access to the knowledge, skills, and resources that people need to support themselves and their families toward resilience, independence, and economic security.

Our goal is to support solutions that benefit individuals and families, and that contribute to local community growth and economic development in a sustainable economy.

We target our support in three interconnected areas:

• Skills development to help job seekers secure dignified employment and long-term career pathways in technology or other sectors, including environmental sustainability/green jobs.
• Inclusive entrepreneurship with small businesses as engines of local growth as well as high growth potential start-ups as large-scale job creators nationally and internationally, in technology or other sectors, including environment sustainability/green businesses.
• Banking the unbanked through relevant and affordable financial products and capacity building services.

Cisco Crisis Response

We seek to help overcome the cycle of poverty and dependence and achieve a more sustainable future through strategic investments. We back organizations that successfully address critical needs of underserved communities, because those who have their basic needs met are better equipped to learn and thrive.

What we look for:

• Innovative solutions that increase the capacity of grantees to deliver their products and services more effectively and efficiently
• Design and implementation of web-based tools that increase the availability of, or improve access to, products and services that are necessary for people to survive and thrive
• Programs that increase access to clean water, food, shelter, or disaster relief and promote a more sustainable future for all
  • By policy, relief campaigns respond to significant natural disaster and humanitarian crises as opposed to those caused by human conflict. Also by policy, our investments in this area do not include healthcare solutions.

Climate Impact

Our strategy is to invest US$100 million in Cisco Foundation funds over the next decade to help reverse the impact of climate change, working toward a sustainable and regenerative future for all.

The commitment includes both grant and impact investment funding for early-stage climate innovation. Both categories of support will be focused on bold climate solutions, and the grants side will also concentrate on community education and activation. Grants will go to exceptionally aligned nonprofit organizations, while impact investments will go to highly promising for-profit solutions through the private sector and climate impact funds.

Funding comes from the Cisco Foundation and will focus on:

• Identifying bold and innovative solutions that:
  • Draw down the carbon already in the atmosphere
  • Regenerate depleted ecosystems and broadly support the transition to a regenerative future
• Developing curricular initiatives to spur community engagement that can lead to measurable behavioral change and collective action

We will prioritize organizations that can achieve, measure, and report outcomes such as:

• Reduction, capture, and/or sequestering of greenhouse gas and carbon emissions
• Increased energy efficiency and improved mapping and management of natural resources, such as ecosystem restoration, forest treatments, reforestation, and afforestation that also will help repair our water cycles
• Transition to inclusive, just, coliberatory, and regenerative operating models, ways of being, and ways of organizing economies
• Creation of, and increase in, access to green jobs and job training
• Changes in community and individual behavior that lead to carbon footprint reduction, community climate resilience, and localized roadmaps to a sustainable shared climate future for all

Community Grants

State Farm is committed to helping build safer, stronger and better-educated communities.

• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​We are committed to auto and home safety programs and activities that help people manage the risks of everyday life.
• We invest in education, economic empowerment and community development projects, programs and services that help people realize their dreams.
• We help maintain the vibrancy of our communities by assisting nonprofits that support community revitalization.

Good Neighbor Citizenship company grants focus on safety, community development and education.

Focus Areas

Safety Grants

We strive to keep our customers and communities safe. That's why our funding is directed toward:

• Auto safety — improving driver, passenger, vehicle or roadway safety
• Home safety — shielding homes from fires, crime or natural disasters
• Disaster preparedness and mitigation
• Disaster recovery

Community Development

We support nonprofits that invest and develop stronger neighborhoods. That's why our funding is directed toward:

• Affordable housing — home construction and repair
• Commercial/small business development
• Job training
• Neighborhood revitalization
• Financial literacy
• Sustainable housing and transportation
• Food insecurity

Education

Our education funding is directed toward initiatives that support the following programs:

• Higher education
• K-12 academic performance
• K-12 STEM
• Pathways for college and career success

Mission

The mission of the Hearst Foundations is to identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States can build healthy, productive and satisfying lives. Through its grantmaking, the Hearst Foundations support well-established nonprofit organizations that address significant issues within their major areas of focus—culture, education, health and social service—and that primarily serve large demographic and/or geographic constituencies. In each area of funding, the Foundations seek to identify those organizations achieving truly differentiated results relative to other organizations making similar efforts for similar populations. The Foundations also look for evidence of sustainability beyond their support.

Whether providing a scholarship to a deserving student, supporting a rural health clinic or bringing artists into schools so children can see firsthand the beauty of the arts, the Foundations’ focus is consistent: to help those in need, those underserved and those underrepresented in society. Since the Foundations were formed in the 1940s, the scale and capabilities of the grant making have changed, but the mission has not.

Culture Grant

The Hearst Foundations fund cultural institutions that offer meaningful programs in the arts and sciences, prioritizing those that enable engagement by young people and create a lasting and measurable impact. The Foundations also fund select programs nurturing and developing artistic talent. Supported organizations include arts schools, ballets, museums, operas, performing arts centers, symphonies and theaters.

Funding Priorities in Culture

In the recent past, 25% of total funding has been allocated to Culture. Organizations with budgets over $10 million have received 60% of the funding in Culture.

The Hearst Foundations are only able to fund approximately 25% of all grant requests, of which about 80% is directed to prior grantees and about 20% is targeted toward new grantees.

Types of Support

Program, capital and, on a limited basis, general and endowment support

Mission

The mission of the Hearst Foundations is to identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States can build healthy, productive and satisfying lives. Through its grantmaking, the Hearst Foundations support well-established nonprofit organizations that address significant issues within their major areas of focus—culture, education, health and social service—and that primarily serve large demographic and/or geographic constituencies. In each area of funding, the Foundations seek to identify those organizations achieving truly differentiated results relative to other organizations making similar efforts for similar populations. The Foundations also look for evidence of sustainability beyond their support.

Whether providing a scholarship to a deserving student, supporting a rural health clinic or bringing artists into schools so children can see firsthand the beauty of the arts, the Foundations’ focus is consistent: to help those in need, those underserved and those underrepresented in society. Since the Foundations were formed in the 1940s, the scale and capabilities of the grant making have changed, but the mission has not.

Social Service Grant

The Hearst Foundations fund direct-service organizations that tackle the roots of chronic poverty by applying effective solutions to the most challenging social and economic problems. The Foundations prioritize supporting programs that have proven successful in facilitating economic independence and in strengthening families. Preference is also given to programs with the potential to scale productive practices in order to reach more people in need.

Funding Priorities in Social Service

In the recent past, 15% of total funding has been allocated to Social Service. Organizations with budgets over $5 million have received 60% of funding in Social Service.

The Hearst Foundations are only able to fund approximately 25% of all grant requests, of which about 80% is directed to prior grantees and about 20% is targeted for new grantees.

Types of Support

Program, capital and general support

Funding

Minimum grant size is $100,000.

The Labcorp Charitable Foundation

We believe every person deserves equitable care and education.

In 2020 Labcorp established a private charitable 501(c)(3) foundation to advance our desire to bring quality healthcare access to all by supporting education and our local communities. 

Common grant opportunities include:

• Supporting food pantries and meal programs
• Providing healthcare and patient services for underserved populations
• Encouraging STEM programming
• Advocating for healthy lifestyles through ongoing medical research and screening

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation Grants

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation only accepts unsolicited proposals for specific areas within the education, family economic stability and childhood health sectors in select countries where we work, namely the United States, India and South Africa.

As a guideline, the foundation does not fund more than 25% of a project’s budget or more than 10% of an organization’s total annual operating expenses.

The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation has always recognized the power of providing grants to partner organizations that we knew were already working hard to improve the lives of urban children living in poverty. By aligning with organizations that are already making a difference, we continue to make an immediate impact on the lives of thousands of children.

Foundation priorities:

We fund social enterprises that directly serve or impact children or youth from urban low-income communities in the areas of education, health, and family economic stability (including livelihoods and financial inclusion). These social enterprises may be structured as for-profit or nonprofit entities.

Partnerships

We collaborate with a range of organizations focused on creating opportunities for children and families living in urban poverty, with a deep emphasis on measuring impact. Our funding advances projects already making an impact in education, health, and family economic stability. Through these enduring and long-standing partnerships, we create lasting change together.

PNC Foundation

Strengthening and enriching the lives of our neighbors in communities where we live and work.

Vision & Mission

For decades, we have provided resources to seed ideas, foster development initiatives and encourage leadership in nonprofit organizations where imagination and determination are at work enhancing people's lives everyday.

The PNC Foundation's priority is to form partnerships with community-based nonprofit organizations in order to enhance educational opportunities, with an emphasis on early childhood education, and to promote the growth of communities through economic development initiatives.

Foundation Grant

The PNC Foundation supports a variety of nonprofit organizations with a special emphasis on those that work to achieve sustainability and touch a diverse population, in particular, those that support early childhood education and/or economic development.

Education

The PNC Foundation supports educational programs for children and youth, particularly early childhood education initiatives that meet the criteria established through PNC Grow Up Great. Specifically, PNC Grow Up Great grants must:

• Support early education initiatives that benefit children from birth to age five; and
• Serve a majority of children (>50%) from low- to moderate-income families; and
• Adhere to all other standard PNC Foundation guidelines, as outlined on the PNC Foundation website, applicant eligibility quiz, as well as the Foundation policies and procedures; and
• Include one or a combination of the following:
  • direct services/programs for children in their classroom or community;
  • professional development/workforce development for early childhood educators;
  • family and/or community engagement in children’s early learning
• Additional considerations:
  • The grant focus should include math, science, reading, vocabulary development, the arts, financial education, or social/emotional development.
  • The grant recipient, or collaborative partner, should have early childhood education as an area of focus. If the organization’s focus is beyond birth to age five, the specific grant must be earmarked for birth to age five.
  • Incorporate opportunities for PNC volunteers in classroom or non-classroom-based activities.

Economic Development

Economic development organizations, including those which enhance the quality of life through neighborhood revitalization, cultural enrichment and human services are given support. Priority is given to community development initiatives that strategically promote the growth of low-and moderate-income communities and/or provide services to these communities.

• Affordable Housing
  • The PNC Foundation understands the critical need for affordable housing for low-and moderate-income individuals.
  • We are committed to providing support to nonprofit organizations that:
    • give counseling and services to help these individuals maintain their housing stock;
    • offer transitional housing units and programs; and/or
    • offer credit counseling assistance to individuals, helping them to prepare for homeownership.
• Community Development
  • Because small businesses are often critical components of community growth and help foster business development, the PNC Foundation provides support to nonprofit organizations that
    • offer technical assistance to, or loan programs for, small businesses located in low-and moderate-income areas or
    • support small businesses that employ low-and moderate-income individuals.
• Community Services
  • Support is given to social services organizations that benefit the health, education, quality of life or provide essential services for low-and moderate-income individuals and families.
  • The PNC Foundation supports job training programs and organizations that provide essential services for their families.
• Arts & Culture
  • Support is given for cultural enrichment programs benefitting the community.
• Revitalization & Stabilization of Low-and Moderate-Income Areas
  • The PNC Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that serve low-and moderate-income neighborhoods by improving living and working conditions.
  • Support is given to organizations that help stabilize communities, eliminate blight and attract and retain businesses and residents to the community.

Philanthropy is our commitment to communities in which we operate and broader society. We focus our resources on a limited number of key projects that can deliver valuable benefits from our contributions and those of our partners. We give priority to innovative, high-quality projects that meet the following criteria:

• promote sustainable development
• offer an opportunity for Roche to use its expertise and logistics capabilities
• involve Roche actively at an early stage with local authorities and established partners
• engage Roche employees in cultural (focus on contemporary arts), educational and social activities
• managed by an accredited charity

Our four focus areas

Humanitarian and Social

We direct the majority of our philanthropic donations to humanitarian and social development projects.

Science and education

We are dedicated to programmes that promote scientific interest and provide educational opportunities for young people around the world.

Community and Environment

We are committed to building stronger communities and responding to natural disasters sustainably.

Arts and Culture

We support groundbreaking contemporary art, cultural projects and activities that explore the parallels between innovation in art and in science. 

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. 

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) was created in July 2003 with the merger of the former Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development (DTED) and the Minnesota Department of Economic Security (MDES).  DEED is the state's principal economic development agency. The Department's programs promote business recruitment, expansion, and retention; international trade; workforce development; and community development.

The unique role of DEED is to empower businesses and workers to grow our economy by building partnerships, planning for long term growth, and creating opportunity for workers from all backgrounds and experiences. The work of the department is accomplished through its four divisions:

• Economic Development supports the growth of businesses and communities through grants and loans, consultations, education sessions, employment and economic information, and other programs and services.
• Workforce Development strives to ensure that businesses have the talent they need to be competitive and that workers have the skills they need to compete.
• Workforce Services and Transformation encompasses a range of key programs that help people who have been laid off, are unable to work or face other challenges to employment.
• Operations includes a range of internal and external services at DEED that help the agency run smoothly.

Transportation Economic Development Infrastructure (TEDI) Program RFP

The Transportation Economic Development Infrastructure (TEDI) program is created to foster interagency coordination between the Departments of Transportation and Employment and Economic Development to finance infrastructure to create economic development opportunities, jobs, and improve all types of transportation systems statewide.

• DEED is requesting for proposals from eligible applicants - local units of government - for the TEDI program.
• Funds appropriated for the program must be used to fund predesign, design, acquisition of land, construction, reconstruction, and infrastructure improvements that will promote economic development, increase employment, and improve transportation systems to accommodate private investment and job creation.

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?

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.

Centene Charitable Foundation

Successful corporate citizenship happens when companies invest in the local organizations that know their communities best. The Centene Foundation works with our local partners on initiatives that focus on inclusion, the whole person and community development.

Vision

Centene’s purpose is transforming the health of the community, one person at a time. The Centene Foundation is an essential part of how we pursue this purpose. We achieve measurable impact for the communities we serve through partnerships and philanthropy efforts that invest in initiatives with holistic approaches to dismantling barriers to health.

Areas of Focus

Reflecting Centene’s commitment to the needs of those who rely on government-sponsored health care and to addressing social determinants of health and health equity, preference will be given to initiatives in three distinct areas of focus.

• Healthcare Access
• Social Services
• Education

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, Tennessee, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. We believe in supporting where our clients, team members 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 four strategic initiatives: Affordable Housing, Workforce Development, Economic Development, and Financial Empowerment. We prioritize programs that serve underrepresented communities and low- to moderate-income people. 

Examples of funding priorities with measurable outcome focus areas include:

Affordable Housing

• Increase Homeownership Opportunities: We seek initiatives that enable individuals and families to purchase homes through accessible financing, down payment assistance, and homeowner education.
• Support Critical Home Repairs and Revitalization: We fund programs that ensure safe, habitable housing by assisting with essential repairs for homes
• Promote Multi-Family Housing Developments: We prioritize programs that develop or sustain affordable rental units

Economic Development

• Small Business Development and Growth: We aim to support programs that help small businesses scale, access resources, and build sustainable growth plans.
• Capacity Building for Technical Support: We encourage projects that enhance the capability of organizations offering technical support to small businesses and nonprofits.
• Entrepreneurship and Business Coaching: We support programs that offer entrepreneurship education, business coaching, and professional development for new or aspiring business owners.

Financial Education

• Old National Bank’s Real-Life Finance e-learning curriculum provides robust financial education training for community partners

Workforce Development

• Access to Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning: We support workforce readiness through initiatives offering hands-on training, particularly in trades and high-demand fields.
• Job Creation, Employment Entry, and Retention: We support projects that connect individuals to stable employment and increasing levels of income. This can include higher education with dual credentialing, leadership and professional development

Financial Empowerment

• Financial Wellness: We fund long-term initiatives that reduce barriers to banking and credit access, especially for underbanked groups. This can include culturally relevant and multilingual outreach, foreclosure prevention, and credit counseling with the goal of financial independence
• Community Lending Access: We support organizations that provide access to affordable microloans, emergency loans, and community cooperative lending as safe and sustainable alternatives to predatory loans

The Foundation is dedicated to providing financial assistance to organizations committed to improving our world. Solutions to the problems of today's world still lie in the values of innovation, practicality, hard work, and compassion.

The Foundation considers applications for grants in the following areas:

• Education
• Social Service
• Health care
• Civic and cultural
• Environmental

The categories above are not intended to limit the interest of the Foundation from considering other worthwhile projects. In general, the Foundation guidelines are broad to give us flexibility in providing grants.

The majority of our grants are made in the U.S. However, like Dr. Scholl, we recognize the need for a global outlook. Non-U.S. grants are given to organizations where directors have knowledge of the grantee.

Community Wealth Building Grants

Weaving together financial, intellectual, cultural, and social assets for healthy communities.

About Blandin Foundation and 2025 Grantmaking

Mission: We connect, fund, and advocate for ideas and people to inspire resourcefulness and move rural places forward.

As one of the few foundations in the nation devoted exclusively to rural needs, Blandin Foundation has shifted our strategic focus to better meet rural Minnesota’s urgent challenges. The COVID pandemic and racial turmoil accelerated many of the economic and social disparities that originally inspired our collective passion for rural philanthropy, and we realized we had to take bold steps to meet the moment. Our intent is to support rural communities and Native Nations in tapping courage, ingenuity, and resourcefulness to rebuild connections that have long been a source of their strength and identity.

Community Context for our Focus on Community Wealth Building

We know that land ownership inequality is growing, wealth and income gaps persist, and that this inequality harms economic growth. Community wealth building’s focus on collaborative work aimed at reducing disparities and support for projects that promote equitable access and outcomes will help push back against these harmful trends. Knowing that Community Wealth Building concepts were developed in urban settings, one objective of this grant program is to gather data from partners’ community wealth-building activities to more deeply inform rural practice and impact.

What is Community Wealth Building?

In a nutshell, it is building the rural bases of knowledge, money, workforce, entrepreneurship, and investment – and keeping those powerful resources close to home. Its goal is to reduce disparities in outcomes that too often fall along the lines of place, race, and class.

Community Wealth Building is a community development approach that considers the full spectrum of assets needed for healthy communities – financial, intellectual, environmental, cultural, and social – and weaves them together in a way that roots all development locally, focusing on sustainable, shared community benefit and reducing disparities.

Outcomes We Seek

Affordable Housing and Housing Stability

• Increased Affordable Housing Units:
  • Creation, preservation, or rehabilitation of a significant number of affordable housing units for low- and moderate-income residents, particularly in communities facing housing shortages in Itasca County.
• Improved Housing Stability for Disadvantaged Populations:
  • Reduction in housing instability and homelessness through initiatives that provide direct support services such as rental assistance, legal aid, and tenant education for marginalized groups (e.g., low-income, Indigenous, and people of color communities). Increases in the number of homeowners from historically underserved populations and from lower-income households as a core household wealth-building strategy.
• Green and Sustainable Housing Development:
  • Development of energy-efficient, climate-resilient housing projects that reduce long-term living costs for lower-income families and address environmental justice concerns.
• System Capacity Building:
  • Expand local expertise, organizational capacity, and access to capital to accelerate and sustain long-term capacity for strategic development of affordable housing in rural communities.

Community-Based Economic Development

• Local Business Growth and Job Creation:
  • Support for community-based businesses, particularly those owned by people of color, Indigenous individuals, and women, leading to new living-wage job creation and economic opportunities for marginalized groups.
• Strengthened Community Land Ownership:
  • Increased access to community land trusts and co-operative business models, giving local communities, especially people of color and Indigenous populations, greater control over their land and economic resources.
• Increased Economic Diversification:
  • Enhanced economic resilience through the development of new industries or revitalization of key sectors in rural areas, such as sustainable food systems, clean energy, or creative industries, benefiting rural communities.
• Whole-community Development:
  • Support Indigenous approaches to wealth—rooted in relational, cultural, and environmental well-being— that build not only financial capital but also value the health of relationships, the stewardship of natural resources, and the preservation of language, cultural knowledge, and traditions to build community.

Workforce and Talent Development Systems

• Improved Workforce Participation:
  • Increased participation of underrepresented groups (especially Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), rural women, immigrants, and low-income residents) in the workforce through tailored job training programs, apprenticeships, and support for re-entry populations.
• Industry-Specific Workforce Development:
  • Development of workforce pipelines in high-demand sectors like healthcare, housing construction, renewable energy, and technology, with pathways that are specifically inclusive of rural residents with greater barriers to success.
• Leadership Development for Underrepresented Groups:
  • Increased representation of BIPOC, women, and rural populations in leadership roles in both the public and private sectors through mentorship programs, leadership training, and capacity-building initiatives.
• K-12 and Higher Education Partnerships:
  • Enhanced collaborations between local schools, community colleges, and businesses to create career pathways for youth, particularly in underserved communities, including mentorship programs, internships, and dual-credit opportunities. Emphasis on collaborative regional approaches versus support for individual programs or organizations. Pathways should lead to living-wage work.

Equitable Access to Capital

• Increased Access to Small Business Financing:
  • Strengthening the rural economic development ecosystem to support small businesses and entrepreneurs from marginalized communities in Itasca County and across rural Minnesota, particularly those owned by BIPOC, women, and low-income individuals.
• Community Investment Funds:
  • Creation of community investment funds that pool resources from residents and local organizations to fund community development projects and businesses that directly benefit local residents, with a focus on rooting economic activity and wealth building in Minnesota’s rural communities.
• Financial Empowerment and Capital Access Education:
  • Increased financial empowerment programs aimed at BIPOC and low-income communities to improve financial management, investment strategies, knowledge of household wealth-building pathways, and access to credit for both businesses and households.
• Partnerships for Equitable Economic Investment:
  • Formation of strategic partnerships between local governments, financial institutions, and community organizations to increase investment in rural communities, prioritizing equitable access to capital for underserved populations.

Cross-cutting and Community-Level Outcomes

• Reduction of Racial and Economic Disparities:
  • Demonstrable reductions in economic disparities across racial, class, and geographic lines, with a focus on lifting up communities of color, Indigenous populations, immigrant communities, and rural low-income residents in Itasca County and across rural Minnesota.
• Strengthened Social Cohesion and Community Leadership:
  • Increased capacity of local community leaders, to advocate for and drive economic development and policy change that addresses racial, economic, and geographic disparities and emphasizes community benefit and inclusive prosperity.
• Improved Public Health and Economic Well-Being:
  • Measurable improvement in health outcomes (mental, physical, economic) through the combined impact of affordable housing, access to quality jobs, financial stability, and reduced systemic barriers.
• Sustainable Rural Development:
  • Enhance rural resilience by integrating climate adaptation, sustainable practices, and long-term economic sustainability into all community wealth-building efforts in rural, underserved areas.
• Community-focused Procurement and Purchasing Practices:
  • Grow resilient local and regional rural economies by prioritizing procurement for local businesses and producers, supporting conditions for increased economic activity, living-wage job growth, and inclusive, locally-created wealth.

Funding Range

Please request an amount that speaks to what you need to complete your proposal. Typical grant awards will be between $25,000 and $150,000. Funded projects can have a timeframe of up to 3 years. Requests over $250,000 may follow a different timeline for review and approval.

We expect funding decisions to be made around the end of May 2025; however, depending on the volume of proposals received, the timeline may shift.

Please see FAQs on the Grant Eligibility & Applications page for additional guidelines and information.

Small Communities Grants

Funding resources, skills, and needed system changes in rural Minnesota’s smallest communities.

Our Small Communities Grant Program is a program focused on reaching small, often overlooked places, and providing funding for the resources and skills they need to solve community issues. It is one important way we can improve community well-being and begin to reverse decades of fiscal policies and practices that have harmed rural places and the people who live there.

The Small Communities Grant Program will build on the pride rural residents feel for their communities. Rural connection and interdependence can be powerful community forces. When people work together to solve community issues, they create trust, ownership and buy-in which again translates to success with completing projects and initiatives, and ultimately strengthening the community. Activities funded by our Small Communities Grant Program should drive positive economic, physical, and social change in a rural community.

Blandin’s Value Framework

Build Rural Capacity

• Strengthening the resources and skills rural MN needs to address community problems and opportunities. We are focusing our funding and programming on strategies that produce measurable, sustainable outcomes in our three impact areas and those that can demonstrate coordinated, regional impact.

Build Connection

• Enabling can-do communities that are rich in people-to-people connections and generate opportunity at the individual, community and state levels. Connected individuals stay healthier, are happier, achieve higher education, improve their job outlook and are more likely to have long-term economic upward mobility. Connected communities thrive amidst change, both unintended (disaster, economic uncertainty) and proactive (future-forward community initiatives).

Focus Areas

Planning

• Planning for a small communities initiative.
  • Engage community in evaluating its financial, cultural, and natural assets to support community development planning.
  • Plan and design programs, inclusive community events, public spaces, and community amenities that improve wellbeing and increased livability.
  • Research to support community planning or increased access to grants and other financial resources.

Implementation

• Executing a small communities initiative.
  • Implementing community initiatives, including events, discussions and gatherings.
  • Creation, enhancement or revitalization of indoor and outdoor physical spaces, such as:
    • Community gathering and ceremonial places.
    • Community centers.
    • Downtowns/Main Street projects.
    • Repurposing buildings.
    • Redevelopment.
    • Addressing brownfields.
    • Libraries.
    • Revitalization and capital improvements.
    • Parks and trails.

Capacity Building

• Building small community skills and attracting resources.
  • Build the skills and resources of a community or organizations to drive positive economic, physical and social changes:
    • Grant-writing assistance.
    • Technical assistance.
    • Consulting expertise, including inter-generational knowledge sharing.
    • Leadership skill-building.
    • Research to support skill and resource-building.
    • Collaboratively changing how systems work and the outcomes they produce.

Outcomes We Seek

Proposed projects should impact one or more of the following objectives and should include a description of how your organization will measure progress toward those. It is acceptable to measure “what happened/what’s different” (qualitative data) along with or instead of “how many or how much” (quantitative) because impact in small rural communities is often challenging to demonstrate with numbers only.

• Bring about positive, visible change in the community, including increasing community/leadership engagement, planning, nurturing community pride and revitalization.
  • Possible metrics: visible community change in structures or enhancements, new construction, beautification, increased civic engagement, survey results showing increased pride in place.
• Engage in productive discourse around issues affecting small, rural Minnesota communities, including race, class, gender, and other self-identified divides.
  • Possible metrics: notable signs of a more connected, engaged and less divisive community, including possible survey results, social media tenor, examples of new community cohesion, policy changes or advocacy.
• Prepare for the future by enhancing community aesthetics and amenities, cooperating with neighboring communities for mutual benefit, and laying the groundwork for future development.
  • Possible metrics: visible community change in structures and amenities, established partnerships with other communities or partners, local business and job growth, and completing professional development and skill building and training opportunities.

Please see FAQs on the Grant Eligibility & Applications page for additional guidelines and information.

Funding Range

Please request an amount that speaks to what you need to complete your proposal. Typical grant awards will be between $25,000 and $150,000. Funded projects can have a timeframe of up to 3 years. Requests over $250,000 may follow a different timeline for review and approval.

We expect funding decisions to be made around the end of May 2025; however, depending on the volume of proposals received, the timeline may shift.

Greater Pine Area Endowment Grant

The Greater Pine Area Endowment (GPAE) was established to provide financial resources to meet the long-term strategic needs of the greater Pine area (within the physical boundaries of ISD 578), focusing on economic and community development. The GPAE is a component fund of the Initiative Foundation of Little Falls, Minnesota. 

FUNDING CATEGORIES:

Economic Development: The Greater Pine Area Endowment will consider funding projects that lead to quality job creation or high-tech employment.

Community Development: The Greater Pine Area Endowment will consider grants to projects that promote community pride and quality of life through environmental stewardship and community beautification. In addition, the GPAE will consider proposals that positively impact the housing, safety, employment, and other needs of the more vulnerable members of the community including youth, the elderly, and those who are low-income. Specifically, the GPAE will seriously consider proposals, which aim to lessen human suffering while at the same time building the capacity of people to positively change their life circumstances. 

Community Ties Giving Program

As part of the Community Ties Giving Program, Local Grants help us achieve our mission by providing small and medium-sized grants within our priority cause areas to local organizations spread widely across Union Pacific's footprint.

Funding Priorities & Objectives

Throughout its existence, the success of Union Pacific's business has been inextricably linked to the economic and community wellbeing of cities and towns across the nation. We take pride in the role we have played in helping communities thrive and believe the impact we can have on local communities is greatest when it is authentic to our history and reflective of the diverse company we are today.

As such, we have carefully aligned our Local Grants cause areas to our company's unique heritage, strengths, and assets. Specifically, we prioritize funding for direct services and efforts that build the capacity of organizations focused on the following causes within our local operating communities. Within each focus area, we aim to support programs and organizations working to advance the diversity, equity and inclusion of underrepresented populations within the local context and issue areas addressed. Find more information about our commitment to DEI in our FAQs.

Safety

In order for communities to thrive, all residents must feel safe. Just as the safety of our employees and community members is paramount to how we operate, Union Pacific is committed to helping communities prevent and prepare for incidents and emergencies, and helping residents get home safely at the end of each day. As such, we prioritize funding for projects and programs that seek to: 

• Encourage safe behaviors and prevent incidents through education and awareness, particularly projects which focus on rail, driver, bike, and pedestrian safety, and ensure outreach efforts reach underserved populations.
• Eliminate risks and improve safe and equitable access to community spaces through infrastructure improvements, such as signage, proper lighting, and public trail improvements.
• Prepare and equip residents and emergency responders* to effectively respond to incidents and emergencies if or when they occur.
  • *Union Pacific supports publicly funded emergency responders through a variety of corporate programs; only independent nonprofit, 501(c)(3) emergency response organizations, such as volunteer departments, are eligible for funding through this grant program
• Prevent crime and violent incidents and support survivors of domestic violence through efforts that address the root causes of these issues and seek to mitigate their occurrence.
• Build the capacity of safety-focused organizations to integrate practices that improve upon the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts of the organization. This can take the form of internal capacity building or the creation/expansion of culturally relevant programming and services that seek to impact a broad and diverse audience. 

Workforce Development

For more than 160 years, Union Pacific has helped stimulate economic growth in cities and towns throughout the nation by training and providing employment to millions of workers. More than ever, we are committed to helping underrepresented residents in our communities achieve family-supporting careers like those offered by Union Pacific. As such, we prioritize funding for programs that seek to:

• Put youth on the right track by creating awareness of and pathways toward employment opportunities; building foundational skills, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM); establishing necessary technical skills and life skills; and providing mentorship and positive role models for the future.
• Raise awareness of, educate and prepare young adults for middle skills jobs like those Union Pacific offers, for instance through community colleges, vocational and career training programs, workforce readiness initiatives, and programs that assist with job placement and/or on-the-job experience.
  • Programs that develop proficiency in areas relevant to Union Pacific operations such as welding, electrical work, machine operations, and civil and electrical engineering are given priority.
• "Up-skill" the existing workforce by providing training and resources that enable them to reach the next level of their career.
  • Programs that develop proficiency in areas of relevance to Union Pacific operations are given priority.
• Resolve barriers to employment such as transportation, childcare, acquiring necessary equipment for work, and second chance employment programs.
• Build the capacity of workforce development-focused organizations to integrate practices that improve upon the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts of the organization. This can take the form of internal capacity building or the creation/expansion of culturally relevant programming and services that seek to impact a broad and diverse audience. 

Community Vitality

Union Pacific Railroad is committed to establishing vibrant, healthy and inclusive communities for employees, customers and residents to work, visit and call home. Just as the railroad opened avenues for economic development and opportunity more than 160 years ago, we maintain this tradition by cultivating unique cultural and recreational experiences and equipping community members with opportunities to live healthy, vital lives. As such, we prioritize funding for projects and programs that seek to:

• Create, sustain or expand artistic and cultural experiences offered to a broad and diverse audience (e.g., museums, theaters, zoos, cultural and local heritage, visual and performing arts, etc.)
• Provide recreational opportunities that foster wellbeing, enrichment and/or an appreciation for our natural environment (e.g., parks, libraries, senior centers, recreation centers, learning centers, etc.).
• Revive neighborhoods and main street areas, especially in historically underinvested neighborhoods, to improve livability, promote commerce and attract more residents, businesses and visitors to town.
• Ensure residents’ basic needs are met and barriers are overcome (e.g., safe shelter and homelessness prevention, hunger relief, mental health and community health needs, etc.).
• Offer youth development and educational opportunities to ensure young people can thrive into healthy and productive community members (e.g., mentoring, leadership development, tutoring, services for youth in foster care, etc.).
• Build the capacity of community vitality-focused organizations to integrate practices that improve upon the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts of the organization. This can take the form of internal capacity building or the creation/expansion of culturally relevant programming and services that seek to impact a broad and diverse audience. 

Environmental Sustainability

The future of our business, communities and planet depends on bold, collective action to reduce and slow the impacts of climate change while building a more sustainable economy for the next generation. Union Pacific is taking deliberate steps to reduce our environmental impact and helping our partners improve their own. Extending this commitment to our community investments, we seek to support leading environmental nonprofits and community-based organizations to advance the health of our environment. As such, we prioritize funding for projects and programs that seek to:

• Preserve and restore nature, including programs focused on natural habitats, ecosystems, and biodiversity.
• Protect and enhance water, soil and air quality through innovative and proactive solutions such as water conservation, carbon sequestration and emission reduction programs.
• Reduce waste through initiatives focused on promoting recycling and circularity throughout the community, including recycling and composting programs and other efforts that reduce waste.
• Develop environmental stewards through youth programs focused on fostering environmental appreciation, responsibility, and leadership.
• Advance a sustainable economy by helping communities accelerate their transition to environmental jobs and renewable energy, as well as helping nonprofits and small businesses build their own capacity to operate more sustainably.
• Promote environmental justice through initiatives that ensure access to clean air, water, and land and protect underserved populations from disproportionate and adverse environmental effects.
• Build the capacity of sustainability-focused organizations to integrate practices that improve upon the diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts of the organization. This can take the form of internal capacity building or the creation/expansion of culturally relevant programming and services that seek to impact a broad and diverse audience.

About Us

The Foundation has historically leveraged human and financial resources to foster a thriving East Side St. Paul, Minnesota where the McNeely business developed. The McNeely Foundation was set up in the 1960s by Harry G. McNeely Sr, and his wife Adelaide Frenzel McNeely. It was originally funded with a gift of stock from their business, The St. Paul Terminal Warehouse Company. 

Grantmaking Focus:

The McNeely Foundation funds organizations that create a more vibrant and sustainable East Side of St Paul. It will consider applications from organizations outside of the targeted geography and age group for innovative work that could be integrated or replicated on the East Side. Our four grantmaking focus areas are Youth Development Through Enrichment, Youth Development Through Employment Training, Environment, and Family & Neighborhood Stability.

Family & Neighborhood Stability

Goal:

• Increase economic vitality and stability of youth and low-income families.

Strategies:

• Financial literacy and asset building opportunities.
• Supportive services to maintain families in stable housing.
• Employment education and training, and job creation.
• Maintain community development and community building organizations that create community leaders, support expansion of individual and community assets, and foster a sense of neighborhood.

Gupta Family Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, USA. Our mission is to support organizations that provide focused intervention in the lives of people who have been disadvantaged in some way to help them become self-reliant. We take a very broad view of “disadvantage” to include anything that holds a person back from realizing their potential, such as poverty, physical or mental disability, social alienation, etc. The foundation also supports relief agencies that serve people affected by emergencies such as natural disasters.

The foundation evaluates and awards annual and multi-year grants ranging from $5,000 to over $250,000 (USD). Our focus is on funding smaller organizations all around the world that are led by individuals with a deep personal commitment to their missions. 

Our selection criteria include:

• Mission alignment
• The organization is run by the founder or, if not, by a successor who embodies the original inspiration, passion and commitment of the founder.
• At least 90% of grant monies reaches the intended beneficiaries.
• The organization is non-sectarian, i.e.,
  • It does not, directly or indirectly, support or condone the proselytization of any religion,
  • It is not supported by or affiliated to a religious organization.