Second Quarter Grants 2018

The Northwest Area Foundation approved 36 grants worth $529,585 in the second quarter of 2018.

Funding touched on work being done in two of our four interlocking portfolios, as well as sponsorships and work related to general projects that are not designated to a specific portfolio.

Our grants support organizations anchored in the culture of the people they serve and dedicated to expanding economic opportunity in under-resourced communities across our region, including Native nations, communities of color, rural communities, and other resilient communities who have fewer opportunities to thrive on their own terms.

We include grants of $10,000 or more below. For information on grants of less than $10,000, please visit our grants database.

Grants to Provide Access to Capital

Four Bands Community Fund Inc. of Eagle Butte, SD, received $75,000 to support its efforts to provide community development financial institution (CDFI) loans and services on the Crow Creek Reservation.
Grant term: April 1, 2018 – March 31, 2019

Grants to Support Enterprise Development

Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon (MESO) of Portland, OR, will receive $96,000 over two years to ensure it has sufficient staff to provide loans, as well as ongoing monitoring and support, to small-business owners.
Grant term: April 2, 2018 – March 31, 2020

General Grants

When we fund projects that help organizations and communities in ways that aren’t specifically associated with one of our four interlocking portfolios, we include those grants in the “General” category. General grants of $10,000 or more are listed below. For information on general grants of less than $10,000, please visit our grants database.

Amherst H. Wilder Foundation of St. Paul, MN, received $10,000 to support a statewide study by Wilder Research to better understand the prevalence, causes, circumstances, and effects of homelessness in Minnesota.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2018 – Oct. 31, 2019

North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS) of Minneapolis received $40,000 to address the economic and health crises affecting Native communities. Funding supports NATIFS’s efforts to re-establish Native foodways, as part of a reimagined North American food system, through food-related enterprises that generate wealth and improve health in Native communities.
Grant term: June 1, 2018 – May 31, 2019

Native Americans in Philanthropy of Minneapolis received $100,000 to support its efforts to partner with Foundation Center of New York (a nonprofit that gathers and analyzes data, shares it worldwide, and empowers people to understand and increase philanthropy’s ability to improve the world) to build a multicontent web portal featuring deep information about philanthropic funding related to, and by, Native Americans. The portal will provide an invaluable resource for nonprofits and individuals seeking support for Native programs and services.
Grant term: May 1, 2018 – April 30, 2019

Prosperity Now of Washington, DC, received $150,000 to facilitate two regional convenings of organizations in the Northwest that are working to address issues of financial capability and wealth equality, particularly for underserved areas such as rural communities and communities of color. Additionally, they will provide scholarships to ensure leaders from the Northwest are well-represented at the national Prosperity Summit in September 2018.
Grant term: June 1, 2018 – May 31, 2019

Region Five Development Commission of Staples, MN, received $21,500 to support “The Good Life … for ALL” initiative, a project that will provide a platform for equity and inclusion through learning and knowledge sharing with regional stakeholders and subject matter experts, along with capacity building of trained coaches to assist in the efforts. The project, which will foster efforts across the region in ways that improve livelihoods and ownership of the process and the outcomes, will provide a framework for rural communities to learn inclusive community practices, as well as tools for navigating a changing rural identity.
Grant term: May 1, 2018 – Dec. 31, 2019

Sponsorships

Sponsorships support opportunities for grantees to participate in activities that advance their learning, build relationships, exchange ideas and resources, and collaborate in unexpected ways. For information on sponsorships funded in the second quarter of 2018, all of which were for less than $10,000, please visit our grants database.