Search Through St. Paul Grants for Nonprofits in Minnesota

At MPC, our community investment strategy is centered around strengthening communities and helping make people's lives better. We focus on contributions and partnerships with charitable organizations that reflect the priorities of our community stakeholders, align with our core values, amplify our sustainability strategy and enable us to make a positive, measurable impact.

Charitable Contributions and Grants

MPC and our employees provide support to 501(c)(3) non-profit and government-related organizations and agencies in the form of foundation grants, corporate contributions and sponsorships and workplace giving and volunteerism. While we will accept requests from eligible organizations across our marketing area, preference will be given to communities where the company has a significant operational and employee presence.

We strategically focus community investments on three core areas where it can make a positive, measurable impact: workforce development, sustainability and thriving communities.

Communities Investment Priorities

Workforce Development

From engineers to pipefitters, chemists to accountants, IT specialists to welders, MPC’s success relies on our ability to recruit and retain employees with exceptional skills-based experience. Our goal is to invest in workforce initiatives that better prepare individuals for professional success by increasing access to high-quality educational training and career readiness resources inclusive of vocational, technical and skilled trades.

Sustainability

Consistent with our commitment to meet the needs of today while investing in a sustainable future is our support of community programs involving environmental conservation and sustainability. MPC supports environmental government agencies, community groups, trade organizations and professional and industry associations devoted to protecting, conserving and sustaining natural resources. These efforts may include life sciences and breakthrough research, protecting biodiversity, preserving or creating parks and green spaces, improving air and water quality and increasing access to clean water and food.

Thriving Communities 

We are committed to making our communities stronger, safer and thriving places to live, work and play. MPC provides funding for programs that promote the resiliency of our shared communities including helping to address basic needs, supporting youth development programs and creating opportunities for economic vitality. This also includes safety projects and efforts that help communities better prepare for, mitigate the risks of and respond to disasters, hazards and emergenciess

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

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.

Global Impact Cash Grants

Identifying and incubating innovative early-stage solutions. We identify, incubate, and develop innovative early-stage solutions with the highest potential for impact. Global Impact Cash Grants go to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that address a significant social problem. We're looking for programs that fit within our investment sectors, focus on the underserved, and use technology to improve the reach and efficiency of services.

We accept applications year-round from eligible organizations. A brief Letter of Inquiry (LOI) is used to determine whether your organization will be invited to complete a full application. Please expand and carefully review each of the three sections below to learn more

Our priority social impact sectors

We focus on investing in innovative, tech-enabled solutions to the challenges and opportunities that matter most to communities in need, prioritizing four social impact sectors:

Cisco Crisis Response

Mobilizing to provide essentials to communities in need and those in crisis, including food, housing, secure connectivity, and disaster relief

By leveraging Cisco’s people, technology, financial resources, and strategic partnerships, we help strengthen community resilience and drive long-term recovery from crises.

Education

Supporting students, teachers, and schools by increasing engagement, building skills, promoting subject mastery, and expanding their capacity to thrive

Cisco is committed to inclusive access to digital skills training and supporting those who use technology to educate. Through programs like Cisco Networking Academy and social investments in education, we create new opportunities for individuals to thrive.

Economic Empowerment

Transforming communities through skill development, long-term career opportunities, entrepreneurship, and access to financial products and services

Strategic grants that unlock economic prosperity and growth for individuals and communities.

Climate Regeneration

Building an inclusive, regenerative, and resilient climate future through education, regenerative agriculture, conservation, protection, and clean energy solutions

Our efforts began in 2021, when the Cisco Foundation committed US$100 million over 10 years to fund nonprofit grants and impact investing in climate solutions. 

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.

Minnesota Humanities Center

Mission

The Minnesota Humanities Center connects our past, present, and future by bringing people together to increase understanding and spark change.

Vision

A just society that is connected, curious, and compassionate.

The Minnesota Humanities Center (MHC) collaborates with individuals, organizations, and communities to bring transformational humanities programming into the lives of Minnesotans throughout the state. Using story as a catalyst, we produce, create, and support projects and programs that explore a range of subjects. Founded in 1971, MHC is an independent nonprofit affiliated with and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. MHC is also a grantmaking organization and operates a full-service event center in a historic building on St. Paul’s East Side.

In 2019, MHC completed a new strategic framework that affirms our identity and key priorities. Through educational opportunities, cultural experiences, and public engagement, we are committed to making the humanities more broadly relevant and accessible to people across the state.

Why Treaties Matter”: Program Description

“Why Treaties Matter” began when tribes residing in Minnesota approved a partnership between the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, Minnesota Humanities Center, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

We created the exhibit through a community-based approach. Since its inception, the knowledge, insight, and perspective of tribal members have been the exhibit’s foundation. From this foundation emerged a vehicle for Dakota and Ojibwe individuals and communities to tell their own stories of sovereignty, adaptability, and sustainability.

The current partners are the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and the Minnesota Humanities Center.

Funding support

 The “Why Treaties Matter” partners seek applications from potential host communities interested in utilizing the exhibit in two different ways:

• Community-engaged host site—These host sites develop public programming and/or interpretive or educational resources to complement their hosting of the exhibit with Dakota and/or Ojibwe scholars, cultural knowledge bearers, and/or community members. These scholars, cultural knowledge bearers, and/or community members may already work for your organization and/or be a part of your community. Or, your organization may choose to work with these people or organizations specifically in support of your hosting of “Why Treaties Matter.” Community-engaged host sites may receive contracts of up to $2,000 with the Minnesota Humanities Center to offset project costs. MHC will give preference to community-engaged host site applicants over general host site applicants

• General host site—These host sites share the exhibit with their audiences but don’t have the capacity to develop public programming or interpretive or educational resources at this time. MHC will not support general host sites with additional funds. MHC will give preference to community-engaged host site applicants over general host site applicants.

Program Goals and Core Values

MHC offers a new way to think about our future — grounded in the humanities. We collaborate with organizations and people through education, partnerships, and public programs to inspire community conversations, forge deep connections, and illuminate authentic, diverse voices across the state — especially those left out, marginalized, or otherwise absent from our education and public awareness.

We help people listen, connect, and understand each other better — because we know isolation and division are dangerous. The Humanities Center’s approach affirms we’re all in this together — using philosophy, literature, civics, history, language, and more.

At the core of our work is the Absent Narratives Approach™, a values-driven framework for community engagement and collaboration. The four values ask us to put relationships with people at the center of community change-making and to center voices that have been absented. The four core values are:

• Learn from and With Multiple Voices
• Build and Strengthen Diverse Relationships
• Recognize the Inequity (or Dangers) of a Single Story
• Amplify Community Solutions for Change

Goals

• Communicate, in a meaningful and truthful way, the history of sovereignty and treaties between nations in Minnesota territory (and, later, the state of Minnesota) to educators, students, and the general public.
• Improve the amount and quality of teacher instruction about American Indian histories and cultures in the project’s partner school districts.
• Center indigenous knowledge and expertise in the hosting of the exhibition and community engagement activities.
• Build relationships that will endure beyond the active exhibition period.

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.

WCA Foundation Grant

The WCA Foundation is a volunteer-led grantmaking organization whose mission is “women changing the lives of women.” Its members, all local women, are committed to learning about and responding to the most urgent needs of women in communities across the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. They contribute their time, talent, and care to advance the foundation’s mission and engage in participatory grantmaking.

What We Will Fund

The WCA Foundation seeks proposals from nonprofit organizations based in the Twin Cities metro area for projects or programs that advance its members’ shared commitment to a world where all women thrive.

WCA will consider requests for initiatives delivering direct services that address the fundamental needs of adult women (ages 18+) in these areas:

• Health
• Economic stability
• Shelter
• Safety

Ameriprise Financial Grantmaking

At Ameriprise Financial, giving back is deeply rooted in our culture. We’ve initiated positive change in the communities where we live and work for more than 120 years. We believe our community involvement enables us to actively live our values. Through grant making, volunteerism and employee and financial advisor gift matching programs, we support a diverse group of over 6,000 nonprofits across the country.

Focus Areas

Awarding grant dollars to nonprofits is one way we strengthen our communities and help individuals on a path to financial independence. To ensure we're meeting the needs of our communities and making an even greater collective impact, we focus on three key giving areas when awarding grants.

Volunteer engagement is a priority across all focus areas:

The engagement of Ameriprise employees and financial advisors is a critical component of our philanthropy. Whether it’s serving on a nonprofit board, engaging friends, clients and community members in volunteering or providing skills-based support, our relationships with nonprofits go deep. For this reason, we give priority across all focus areas to applications where there is active volunteer engagement of Ameriprise advisors and employees. 

Meeting Basic Needs

At Ameriprise Financial, we help clients achieve financial security and peace of mind. That’s satisfying, meaningful work. We also help the people in our neighborhoods who struggle to meet basic needs such as where their next meal comes from, where they’ll sleep tonight or how they’ll find a higher wage job. We’re here to help them through the three platforms of our Meeting Basic Needs focus area.

Consideration is given to applications addressing the following: 

• Hunger
• Food banks, food shelves and food pantries, daily meal programs or meal services for the homebound
• Hunger-relief programs targeted to meet the special needs of children, ethnic populations or veterans
• Food programs run by nonprofits where hunger is not their sole focus, for example a youth meal program at the YWCA or a backpack program run by a Boys & Girls Club
• Shelter
• Emergency shelter, including youth homelessness
• Transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and efforts to end chronic homelessness
• Housing-first models (programs quickly providing housing and then addressing needed services)
• Achieving and maintaining home ownership, repair and maintenance efforts helping keep seniors, veterans and other populations in their homes 
• Adult Self-Sufficiency: Programs serving adults age 21 and older that help address the following areas:
• Basic hard and soft skills that help adults achieve economic and family stability
• Basic financial and budgeting skills
• Increase employability and wages, including work readiness and job transitions
• Employment of disabled adults

Supporting Community Vitality

We believe communities should be strong, healthy and resilient. We want livable places for all, where neighbors look out for one another, cultural events are well-attended and people pull together in times of crisis and joy. We work to create economic vitality and cultural enrichment through the following areas of focus.

Consideration is given to applications addressing the following: 

• Community Development
• Neighborhood revitalization
• Economic development
• Strengthening and supporting small businesses and nonprofits through technical expertise
• Cultural Enrichment
• Arts education
• Access for underserved populations
• Diverse artists and performances that spark topical community conversations 

Volunteer Driven Causes: Ameriprise employees and financial advisors are outstanding volunteers who serve in teams and also as individuals bringing personal skill-sets to nonprofits. Volunteering is part of the culture at Ameriprise and we are proud to support communities through contributions of both service and financial resources. 

Funding for Volunteer-Driven Causes is determined by current Ameriprise volunteerism. In general, funding is in proportion to the size of the Ameriprise volunteer team supporting a nonprofit. A team may include employees, financial advisors and/or staff or a combination of any Ameriprise volunteers. 

Culturally Enriched Communities

Travelers supports organizations that build communities and enrich lives through arts and culture, and that use the arts to contribute directly to enhanced academic learning.

Arts Education

Travelers funds organizations that incorporate the use of the arts in learning and stimulate creativity, while supporting improved academic achievement in local public schools.

Arts & Diversity

Travelers funds a wide range of organizations in order to build multi-cultural understanding in our communities. Travelers also aims to strengthen organizations that develop and present cultural and artistic traditions and/or provide access to various forms of art to diverse audiences.

Enhancing Communities Through the Arts

Travelers provides a small number of operating grants and/or sponsorships for key arts organizations in our downtown neighborhoods of Hartford, Conn., and St. Paul, Minn., in order to contribute to the vitality of the region.

Best Buy Foundation

The Best Buy Foundation™ conducts its work via a strategic grant portfolio, in partnership with nonprofit organizations across the country that share our focus on supporting young people in building brighter futures through tech access, career training and the cultivation of vibrant communities.

Twin Cities Fund

The Twin Cities Fund supports nonprofit youth programs in the seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area that provide teens from disinvested communities access to tech skills and career training. The fund also supports arts and culture organizations that contribute to the vibrancy of the Twin Cities area. Funding is available for both programming and capital grants. Requests are reviewed by focus area.

Arts and Culture General Operating Grant

The Best Buy Foundation™ provides general operating support to enhance the cultural life and vitality of the seven-county Twin Cities metro area. General operating grants are made to Twin Cities-based and serving arts and culture organizations dedicated to creating, producing, presenting, preserving, or exhibiting works of art.

Overall goals of the Twin Cities Arts & Culture grant program are to:

• Provide general operating support to Twin Cities-based and -serving arts and cultural institutions and organizations.
• Recognize the contributions of Twin Cities-based organizations that have a demonstrated track record of service and the financial management and programming capacity to continue providing service.
• Encourage and increase opportunities for involvement and participation in arts and cultural activities by disinvested communities.

Funding

Awarded grants will be a minimum of $5,000. The median grant amount is $10,000. Up to one year of funding.

Grant Program

Our mission – “We secure your future” – doesn’t stop at managing risk in retirement.

For Allianz, it also means helping to secure the future of our community by reducing barriers to economic inclusion. We do this by providing charitable grants to nonprofit organizations that help people achieve financial stability, sustainability, and security throughout their lifetime.

Financial Stability Grant

We understand that to be included in economic life, people need to meet their basic needs first. Allianz supports organizations that work to meet these needs, with a focus on creating stability and financial independence.

We provide grants to organizations that:

• Provide food, clothing, and shelter paired with programming that supports individuals and families in increasing their financial stability (for example, food banks and transitional housing programs).
• Improve access to affordable food.
• Increase or improve affordable housing.

We give priority to organizations that:

• Serve low- to moderate-income families
• Are led by and primarily serve people who are racially and/or ethnically diverse
• Have a mission rooted in equity
• Collaborate with other community organizations
• Include some focus on the St. Paul Midway and adjacent communities, such as Frogtown and Rondo

Funding

Grants are typically one-year commitments ranging from $50,000-$75,000.

How and Why Giving Back to Communities is Important to O’Reilly

From O’Reilly Auto Parts’ inception, O’Reilly co-founder C.H. “Chub” O’Reilly instilled the culture of maintaining high standards for every endeavor, including the area of building civic pride. With Chub’s good example to guide them, all four of his children adopted a business and family philosophy of “giving back” to the community as the Company grew and prospered. Supporting a large number of charitable organizations in all communities in which we operate has long been a focal point for O’Reilly Auto Parts. In order to make an even greater impact, the O’Reilly Automotive Foundation was established in 2020.

O’Reilly Automotive Foundation, Inc.

Impact

The O’Reilly Automotive Foundation complements O’Reilly Auto Parts’ role as the Friendliest Parts Store in Town. The Foundation serves as an additional conduit to connect with, support, and strengthen the communities in which O’Reilly Auto Parts’ team members and customers live and work. The Foundation continues the philanthropic legacy of the O’Reilly family as dependable community partners, seeking to support critical services in times of need to build stronger communities.

Mission

The O’Reilly Automotive Foundation strives to have a lasting, positive impact in the communities where O’Reilly Auto Parts’ team members and customers live and work by supporting organizations and programs which address issues critical to improving the quality of life for underserved and underrepresented individuals and families. In particular, the Foundation will concentrate its giving in support of organizations and programs addressing economic stability and mobility, workforce development, health and social services, and disaster relief.

Economic Stability and Mobility

Advocating for and endowing programs which provide assistance with issues including hunger, homelessness, and poverty for the economic betterment of the communities in which we operate.

Workforce Development

Promoting programs which aid in workforce readiness, technical training, and literacy, including children’s literacy, to ensure the continuance of an educated society and a capable, innovative workforce.

Health and Social Services

Championing and prioritizing matters of health, including mental and behavioral health, access to basic needs such as medical and dental care for underprivileged communities, and providing funding for organizations focused on childhood development and children’s advocacy as well as care and support for victims of domestic violence.

Disaster Relief

Providing funding and visibility to organizations specializing in providing relief from natural disasters and state of emergency, including providing temporary shelter, food, water, and hygiene or sanitation products to those affected and aiding in cleanup efforts.

Application Requirements

We will consider three principal types of grants:

Project Support Grants support specific projects or programs aligned with our mission. These requests may include some funds earmarked for the overhead costs associated with running a project.

General Operating Support Grants provide limited general operating support for the core operations or organizations whose missions and activities are aligned with our mission. These grants will often help the grantee build organizational, programmatic, and fundraising capacity. Operating support is not intended to help organizations in fiscal crisis. Applicants must have a current strategic or business plan that clearly outlines the organization’s goals and presents a plan for achieving results. Operating support grants must not exceed 15% of an organization’s total agency budget.

Capital Support Grants provide limited support for capital campaigns to fund the acquisition and construction of facilities, existing property renovation, or the purchase of major equipment. The program has a comprehensive approach to funding capital initiatives, which also includes funding for increased program capacity. A feasibility study may be required for capital initiatives to be considered.

Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation

The Butler Family Foundation seeks to foster safety, opportunity, and growth for individuals and families by supporting effective nonprofit organizations in the arts, environment, and human services.

Community Grants

The Butler Family Foundation's Community Grants Program awards two-year grants for general operating support or for specific projects and programs. Organizations applying for grants in the arts or human services must work in the urban cores of Saint Paul or Minneapolis or in the East Metropolitan suburbs. Organizations applying for grants in the environment may work anywhere in Minnesota.

Travelers believes that strong communities are sustained by educational and economic opportunities — and we are dedicated to assisting our communities in generating those opportunities. With a focus on equity and inclusion, we target our giving and volunteerism to help improve academic and career success, develop thriving neighborhoods and create culturally enriched communities.

Travelers is ensuring opportunity by contributing to efforts that create strong, vibrant communities and offer pathways to success. Through corporate funding and the Travelers Foundation, Travelers targets its giving to achieve three outcomes: Academic & Career Success, Thriving Neighborhoods and Culturally Enriched Communities. Our primary focus is educating underrepresented students to lead tomorrow’s workforce. In addition, Travelers contributes to organizations that aid in developing communities through small business support and neighborhood revitalization, and that enhance lives and learning through arts & culture. 

Travelers accepts grant applications exclusively for Hartford, Connecticut and St. Paul, Minnesota, primarily for project, program and operating support and for limited capital opportunities.

Academic & Career Success

Because today’s student will be tomorrow’s co-worker, education is the primary focus of our giving. We support college and career readiness programs for underrepresented students from middle school through college and into career. 

A successful future starts in the classroom. But many people struggle to get the education they need to compete for quality jobs and to lead a fulfilling life. Our giving focuses on helping to provide a foundation for individual success and on building a skilled workforce for our industry and our communities.

Where We Give

Nearly half of our annual giving goes toward initiatives that help underrepresented students attain academic and career success. We seek to improve academic achievement gaps by focusing on low-income and minority students in grades five through 12, students in college and those seeking careers in the insurance industry.

Funding Priorities

Academic & Career Success: Travelers supports initiatives that improve academic achievement and career success for underrepresented youth, specifically targeted at public school students in grades five through 12, students in transition to post-secondary education, and students in post-secondary learning environments.

• Middle & High School Academic Achievement– Travelers funds initiatives that foster improved academic achievement for middle and/or high school students.
• Post-Secondary Preparation & Degree Attainment– Travelers supports organizations that are building awareness of and personal readiness for post-secondary education and educational initiatives that improve degree completion for underrepresented students.
• Career Awareness & Readiness– Travelers supports educational initiatives that are building awareness of and preparation for careers in insurance and financial services.

Background

Established in 2005, the C.H. Robinson Foundation is a Minnesota nonprofit corporation as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation is funded by C.H. Robinson and creates a long-term resource for giving back to our communities through the support of other Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. We work with a trust company that provides support to charitable organizations to provides checks and balances while ensuring compliance with Internal Revenue Service guidelines and corporate tax law.

Through general operating and program grants to organizations that address hunger, provide shelter, support K-12 education and develop workforce, the C.H. Robinson Foundation helps strengthen the greater metropolitan area of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Giving Priorities

The C.H. Robinson Foundation Twin Cities Grants Program is focused on strengthening our local communities and supporting basic needs of hunger, shelter, education and workforce development.

To be considered for a Twin Cities grant from the C.H. Robinson Foundation, your charitable organization must meet one of our giving priorities:

Hunger

• Serving the local community through food shelves/pantries/banks
• Providing meal service or food programs targeted to specific needs of senior citizens, youth, people living with life threatening illnesses, etc.

Shelter

• Providing transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and efforts to end chronic homelessness
• Offering emergency shelter for those facing homelessness or domestic violence
• Supplying essential household items and furniture for those in need

Education

• Improving educational opportunities for k-12 for students facing barriers to success
• Developing youth to become successful, productive adults through core educational programming
• Supporting systemic improvements to advance education outcomes for students, schools and educators
• Cultivating talent for successful careers in supply chain and technology

Workforce Development

• Strengthening pathways to quality jobs for low-income workers
• Supporting strategies that move low-wage workers into higher wage jobs including bridge, upskilling, and credentialing
• Improving the quality of low-wage occupations
• Building the capacity of workforce and education organizations to prepare for the future needs of the labor market
• Additional consideration may be given for:
  • Workforce development and talent pipeline initiatives for supply chain and logistics
  • Workforce development and talent pipeline initiatives for technology

Grant Program

Our mission – “We secure your future” – doesn’t stop at managing risk in retirement.

For Allianz, it also means helping to secure the future of our community by reducing barriers to economic inclusion. We do this by providing charitable grants to nonprofit organizations that help people achieve financial stability, sustainability, and security throughout their lifetime.

Financial Sustainability Grant

Financial success is sustained through equitable access to resources and opportunities for gainful employment. Allianz supports organizations that help members of the community be successful in the workforce, including through college preparedness, skills training, entrepreneurial support, and access to capital and investment.

We provide grants to organizations that:

• Help high school students and adults prepare for and access post-secondary education.
• Provide job and career skills training and placement.
• Provide access to capital, business development services, and financial empowerment support for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Funding

Grants are typically one-year commitments ranging from $50,000-$75,000.

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?

Our Legacy

For more than 100 years, the Target Foundation (founded as The Dayton Foundation) has upheld the idea that the prosperity of a business is dependent on the prosperity of the communities in which it operates. It’s an important part of our history and our commitment to serve and support our neighbors.

In 2019, the Foundation expanded its support to address the growing urgency in our hometown, across the country and globally to help address widening socioeconomic gaps.

Target Foundation

We’re proud to continue our long legacy of support for communities in our hometown and around the world.

At the Target Foundation, we envision a world where all families and communities have the resources they need to determine and realize their own joy in life. It’s a reality that is out of reach for far too many families as they struggle for access to economic opportunity and stability, for equity and for the kind of empowerment that lifts up their communities. We believe we have a responsibility to work to remove structural barriers and help create access for those who have been left out. When we shift power to communities, they can more meaningfully participate in the economy, creating a world where all families can thrive.

Serving as a learning lab, the Target Foundation is committed to enabling shared prosperity and opportunity by upholding equity and inclusion for all communities. Guided by our deep commitment to community, we invest in leaders, organizations, coalitions and networks that expand economic opportunity equitably, enabling communities to determine their own futures. We support strategies that center and elevate the voices, stories and leadership of individuals and communities that have historically been silenced.

The Target Foundation is leaning into trust-based philanthropy to drive systems change, with values rooted in advancing equity, shifting power and building mutually accountable relationships. The Foundation’s capabilities allow it to work toward long-term solutions across complex and interconnected economic issues, grounded in the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) as well as Global South communities and organizations.

Building on our legacy of giving in our twin hometowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and extending across the U.S. and in emerging economies around the world, we remain committed to listening, learning and building the kinds of relationships with partners that will shift systems to realize a world where joy is for all.

Hometown Racial Equity Grant

Advancing racial equity for underserved and under-resourced communities to enable shared prosperity and opportunity for all.

At Target Foundation, we believe a vibrant and growing economy is only possible when economic opportunities are available to all our neighbors. The Target Foundation is committed to advancing racial equity and shared prosperity in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the greater state of Minnesota.

In addition to supporting the overarching Minneapolis-St. Paul philanthropic ecosystem and addressing persistent and immediate community needs, the Target Foundation hometown program concentrates its investments in organizations working to address the specific systemic and structural barriers facing Black communities, Indigenous communities and communities of color. We do this in four priority areas: entrepreneurship and small business, workforce development, housing and asset building.

• Entrepreneurship and Small Business: The Foundation supports entrepreneurship initiatives that address current ecosystem gaps, drive inclusive practices and create access to knowledge, services, networks and capital for entrepreneurs at all stages.
• Workforce Development: The Foundation supports employment and technical training opportunities to ensure the workforce development system operates effectively and connects job seekers and workers with the skills they need to succeed.
• Housing: The Foundation supports efforts that increase housing availability, stability and access — creating pathways to greater opportunity.
• Asset Building: The Foundation supports organizations that improve the asset-building opportunities available to traditionally marginalized communities, especially those that are engaged in work to increase financial inclusion, wealth building and overall financial health.

Why We Care

Target is proud to have called the Twin Cities our home since its founding more than 100 years ago. Our commitment to our hometown region continues to be a signature legacy of the Target Foundation.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul region is home to more than three million people. The region’s assets include the natural beauty of its parks, woods and lakes; a deep, vibrant and robust history of craft, visual arts, music and theater; numerous longstanding international anchor corporations; and widespread and increasing racial, ethnic and cultural diversity.

There are many communities who continue to be at an economic disadvantage despite our region’s thriving job market and strong economy.

Similar patterns can be found across the nation — rising income inequality and persistent racial gaps in health, education, employment, income and wealth preventing all people from realizing their full economic potential. As the demographics of our region continue to shift, the costs of inequality will grow.

However, the Twin Cities not only mirrors what is happening throughout the United States, but in several key areas, our hometown actually fares worse. Recent statistics on home ownership, income inequality, wages, and educational attainment all paint a picture of glaring disparities that could impact the region’s long-term success.

Equalizing economic opportunities for communities of color is not just important for these families and communities but also critical to a vibrant and growing economy, which ultimately benefits all.

Compelled by this data, Target Foundation recognizes that everyone’s future depends on overcoming inequalities and has made racial equity the cornerstone of its hometown program.

Our Desired Outcome

In our hometown program area, the Target Foundation envisions racial equity that enables shared prosperity and opportunity for all. To achieve this vision, the Foundation believes that our hometown region needs:

• A strong frontline of Black-, Indigenous- and people of color-led direct service organizations that are well-resourced, connected and able to serve the most marginalized communities, lifting them out of poverty and into economic vitality.
• Well-coordinated and well-resourced multi-sector networks, coalitions and alliances that are catalyzing economic development in the Twin Cities’ poorest neighborhoods, while displacing no one and leaving no one behind.

Who do we want to impact?

• Black communities, Indigenous communities and other communities of color.
• Historically disinvested communities.
• Individuals with low income.

Funding

Estimated grant size will range from $25,000-$200,000.

Best Buy Foundation

The Best Buy Foundation™ conducts its work via a strategic grant portfolio, in partnership with nonprofit organizations across the country that share our focus on supporting young people in building brighter futures through tech access, career training and the cultivation of vibrant communities.

Twin Cities Fund

The Twin Cities Fund supports nonprofit youth programs in the seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area that provide teens from disinvested communities access to tech skills and career training. The fund also supports arts and culture organizations that contribute to the vibrancy of the Twin Cities area. Funding is available for both programming and capital grants. Requests are reviewed by focus area.

Capital Grants

The Best Buy Foundation™ provides capital support directed specifically toward projects from nonprofit organizations aligned to our core philanthropic focus of Teens & Tech, Career Pathways and Arts & Culture.

Funding is available in two areas of focus: Bricks & Mortar and Capacity. If your request falls under both areas, please select the category that most closely fits your request.

Bricks & Mortar

Bricks & Mortar grants supports organizations’ investment in buildings, facilities and equipment. Funding may support the total cost of acquisition, construction, repair, renovation, rehabilitation, creation or improvement of public spaces or other improvements to a facility for the purpose of Teens & Tech, Career Pathways or Arts & Culture programming.

As part of their Bricks & Mortar proposal, applicants may also request support for equipment, technology, software or hardware purchases. It is neither required nor expected that you purchase technology and equipment from Best Buy.

Best Buy Foundation

The Best Buy Foundation™ conducts its work via a strategic grant portfolio, in partnership with nonprofit organizations across the country that share our focus on supporting young people in building brighter futures through tech access, career training and the cultivation of vibrant communities.

Twin Cities Fund

The Twin Cities Fund supports nonprofit youth programs in the seven-county Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area that provide teens from disinvested communities access to tech skills and career training. The fund also supports arts and culture organizations that contribute to the vibrancy of the Twin Cities area. Funding is available for both programming and capital grants. Requests are reviewed by focus area.

Capital Grants

The Best Buy Foundation™ provides capital support directed specifically toward projects from nonprofit organizations aligned to our core philanthropic focus of Teens & Tech, Career Pathways and Arts & Culture.

Funding is available in two areas of focus: Bricks & Mortar and Capacity. If your request falls under both areas, please select the category that most closely fits your request.

Capacity

Capacity funding supports nonprofits’ organizational capacity and programmatic effectiveness.

One-time support may be provided for:

• Strategic planning
• Succession planning
• Program evaluation
• Staff, board or volunteer training and development program design/piloting and
• Program expansion
• Strategic marketing or communications
• Development plans
• Equipment, technology, and software or hardware purchases

Support may include staffing expenses and/or consultant costs for any of the aforementioned capacity needs. It is neither required nor expected that you purchase technology and equipment from Best Buy.

Community Partnership Award

The Mutual of America Foundation Community Partnership Award recognizes outstanding nonprofit organizations in the United States that have shown exemplary leadership by facilitating partnerships with public, private or social sector leaders who are working together as equal partners, not as donors and recipients, to build a cohesive community that serves as a model for collaborating with others for the greater good.

Each year, the Mutual of America Foundation sponsors a national competition in which hundreds of organizations demonstrate the value of their partnership to the communities they serve, their ability to be replicated by others and their capacity to stimulate new approaches to addressing significant social issues.

Six organizations are selected by an independent committee to receive the Community Partnership Award.

• The Thomas J. Moran Award is given to the national award-winning program and includes $100,000 and a documentary video about the program.
• The Frances R. Hesselbein Award is given to a partnership that is addressing social challenges in more than one community, or which demonstrates the potential to be replicated in other communities. This recipient receives $75,000.
• Four other organizations are named Honorable Mention recipients for their programs, and each receives $50,000.

Since its inception in 1996, the Community Partnership Award has recognized 262 partnerships from cities and towns across America. Like so many of our clients working in the nonprofit community, Mutual of America is dedicated to having a direct, positive impact on society.

Grant Program

Our mission – “We secure your future” – doesn’t stop at managing risk in retirement.

For Allianz, it also means helping to secure the future of our community by reducing barriers to economic inclusion. We do this by providing charitable grants to nonprofit organizations that help people achieve financial stability, sustainability, and security throughout their lifetime.

Financial Security Grant

Long-term financial security and retirement readiness require preparation and financial knowledge. Allianz supports organizations that help ensure all community members have financial well-being, are protected from fraud and other financial abuses, and know how to prepare for their future.

We provide grants to organizations that:

• Help youth, adults, and families build financial knowledge, skills, and habits so that they can define their financial goals, develop financial plans, and improve their long-term financial well-being.
• Support prevention and intervention of elder financial abuse.

Funding

Grants are typically one-year commitments ranging from $50,000-$75,000.

Background

Established in 2005, the C.H. Robinson Foundation is a Minnesota nonprofit corporation as described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation is funded by C.H. Robinson and creates a long-term resource for giving back to our communities through the support of other Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. We work with a trust company that provides support to charitable organizations to provides checks and balances while ensuring compliance with Internal Revenue Service guidelines and corporate tax law.

The C.H. Robinson Foundation contributes to organizations that make a positive impact on our people, communities, industry, and planet. Through general operating and program grants to nonprofit organizations, our approach to giving is informed by community input, partner dialogue, and regional needs.

Focus Areas

The Foundation's Strategic Industry Grants program funds organizations that:

• Diversify the supply chain and logistics workforce
• Support carriers and drivers
• Provide education in transportation and logistics
• Support environmental sustainability in transportation and logistics

Travelers Foundation

Travelers believes that strong communities are sustained by educational and economic opportunities —and we are dedicated to assisting our communities in generating those opportunities. With a focus on equity and inclusion, we target our giving and volunteerism to help improve academic and career success, develop thriving neighborhoods and create culturally enriched communities.

Travelers contributes to organizations that prepare historically underrepresented students to lead tomorrow’s workforce, develop vibrant communities through small business support and neighborhood revitalization, and enhance lives and learning through arts & culture.

Travelers accepts grant applications exclusively for Hartford, Connecticut and St. Paul, Minnesota, primarily for project, program and operating support and for limited capital opportunities.

Thriving Neighborhoods

Travelers supports organizations that help create and maintain safety, stability and vitality in low- and mixed-income communities.

What Our Funding Supports:

• Accessible, Safe Housing– Travelers supports organizations and programs that provide permanent housing and supportive services to create safe, stable neighborhoods.
• Successful Small Businesses – Travelers funds organizations that develop economic vitality and create and retain wealth by assisting the creation and growth of small businesses, with an emphasis on women-, minority- and veteran-owned businesses. Travelers also supports programs that prepare individuals for business ownership and support them on their journeys.
• Resilient Communities – Travelers supports organizations that show leadership in disaster preparation, response and recovery.

Aegon Transamerica Foundation

The Aegon Transamerica Foundation supports non-profit organizations that help improve the well-being of the communities where Transamerica employees live and work. The nonprofit, private foundation evaluates grant requests based on their location and priorities.

The Aegon Transamerica Foundation was formed on June 30, 2000, when the Aegon USA Charitable Foundation and the Aegon Transamerica Foundation merged.

Our grant programs are designed to empower our neighbors to provide people in our communities the resources to live life on their terms.

What we support

The Aegon Transamerica Foundation focuses on financial and social empowerment to create more inclusive communities where people can live longer, more fulfilling lives. The nonprofit organizations we support must:

• Encourage self-reliance and empower people socially by enhancing their adaptability, skills and capabilities
• Empower people financially by building financial awareness and knowledge and providing relevant tools
• Be active in a market where we operate
• Include opportunities for employees and stakeholders to contribute (time, effort, knowledge)
• Be a distinct and innovative initiative

Social empowerment

We support partnerships that enhance the opportunities and capabilities of people in our communities; broaden social networks, interactions, and aspirations; and increase access to essential services.

• Increase accessibility to the arts for youth and the underserved
• Advance community development, civic engagement, and leadership
• Advance inclusion and diversity
• Promote health education, nutrition, medical services, or disease prevention
• Increase access to food, housing, and clothing
• Build resilient communities 
• Encourage self-reliance and empower people socially by enhancing their adaptability, skills and capabilities

Financial empowerment

Partnerships that build financial awareness, knowledge, and skills, or provide tools to become more financially resilient. 

 

• Provide and promote education and personal development, especially in financial literacy
• Provide access to job skills training