Access Philanthropy

FUNDING NOTES May ’22

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Target Foundation Funding Opportunity: Racial Equity Grants. This opportunity is up to $200,000 in general operating support, with an opportunity to request support over two years for BIPOC-led organizations. Four priorities:

  • Entrepreneurship and Small Business
  • Workforce Development
  • Housing
  • 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.

Mortenson Family Foundation is making three key changes to its grantmaking process:
  • Schedule a 30 minute call with Community Relationship Officer Ambar Hanson (for Expanding Opportunities for Children and Families grants) or Danyelle O’Hara (for Sustaining Environmental Systems grants).
  • Share updates on the outcomes you stated you want to accomplish in your 2021 application. No more budget reports.
  • If you have an annual report that includes last year’s outcomes, the foundation can use that report.[1]
  • We applaud the Mortensons for streamlining grantseeking for nonprofits.

This may confuse some applicants- there is a different process/contact depending on grant.
See: mortensonfamily.org/explore-partnership/

Huntington Bancshares (which merged with TCF) announced it wants to be the largest SBA funder in the Twin Cities market. No small feat, since climbing to #1 in SBA loans means creating A LOT of general banking business – both consumer and corporate lines. In turn, this means a lot more presence in the Twin Cities and lots more community investments, including Community Reinvestment funds. Consequently, more funding for community causes. Watch these folks, especially, Marcio Thompson, Community Development Relationship Manager.
Groundbreak Coalition – You’ll be hearing about these folks and the $2 billion they’re investing in thousands of BIPOC homeowners, businesses, rental units, and commercial developments in the neighborhoods most affected by the George Floyd protests. Th effort is led by representatives of major regional and national foundations, including the McKnight, Minneapolis, and Bush Foundations, our Twin Cities Mayors, several banks (PNC, Sunrise, Wells Fargo, US Bank, JPMorgan, and others), Chambers of Commerce, the Center for Economic Inclusion, Hennepin and Ramsey counties, and several private businesses.

Our Favorite Dysfunctional Financial Corporation – Our friends at Otto Bremer Trust are getting things together with the help of Ramsey County District Judge Robert Awsumb. Two big things:

  • The judge removed trustee Brian Lipschultz from the OBT board of trustees. Read the Star Trib article here.
  • The judge said the trustees could still move forward with the proposed sale of Bremer Bank, one of the things that started the relationship meltdown between the trustees and the bank official.

Lots of questions about the remaining trustees’ ongoing interest in selling the bank. But there’s no question that someone would be willing to pay big bucks for it, its presence in four states and its great relations with local (rural and urban) communities.

One of the top current bidders is Huntington Bank (the new TCF). Would Huntington keep up OBT’s community grants and outreach programs? They don’t have a history in their own banking practices, but maybe.

Meantime, the trust’s grantmaking operation remains remarkable, one of the best, if not the best, in Minnesota. April announcement of $7.3 million to 96 organizations.

James R. Thorpe Foundation, one of our favorite local funders, offers funding twice a year, once for youth and once for seniors. Youth requests are due June 15. Most grants are in the $6,000 to $12,000 range.
Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council  — This is the voter-approved State of Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Fund, one of four funds created by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. Deadline May 27, 2022.
G4GC’s Black Girl Freedom Fund (BGFF) is part of the Grantmakers for Girls of Color network. In only its second round of grants, BGFF awarded $4 million to 68 groups nationwide
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation issued its first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Progress Report. Will such reports become a standard annual thing for major foundations? We hope so.

Minneapolis Foundation – has three news items on grants made or grants to come:

Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation – another tried and true Metro area family foundation, the Butler Family Foundation continues to grow in financials and in wisdom. Although we aren’t crazy about the closed Invited Grants program, we understand this is a generations old family fund with its own family traditions. See the latest round of grants.

A Few Other National Opportunities:

US Agency for International Development recently announced plans to invest $50 million in global childcare infrastructure. USAID will invest $50 million in the World Bank’s Childcare Incentive Fund to expand global access to quality childcare and early learning programs.

People on the Move:

We welcome CEDRICK BAKER, the McKnight Foundation’s new Chief of Staff, who recently served as Chief of Staff for Saint Paul Public Schools. NA ENG, previously Communications Director at the McKnight Foundation, has been named new Chief Communications Officer at People for the American Way (PFAW).