The ongoing social and economic impacts of the pandemic and structural racism have created new, or amplified existing, issues within our community. To respond to these needs, the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, F. R. Bigelow Foundation and Mardag Foundation are exploring how, as grantmaking organizations, we can best disperse our community resources to address these issues and better realize the goals of each of our organizations.

We expect this exploration will result in necessary shifts in the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation's Building Community Capacity grant program, and F. R. Bigelow Foundation and Mardag Foundation's twice-yearly grant programs.

The grantmaking redesign may impact funding priorities and processes for:

• Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation's Building Community Capacity grant program
• F. R. Bigelow Foundation
• Mardag Foundation

As independent organizations with distinct missions, values and goals, the changes to each Foundation’s grant programs will be unique and guided by their individual boards alongside staff and the Community Council. We will share more information on each Foundation’s timeline and specific grant program updates as they are available.

This redesign is focused only on our twice-yearly grantmaking for the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation’s Building Community Capacity grant program, F. R. Bigelow Foundation and Mardag Foundation. The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation’s other grant programs will continue as usual and are unaffected by this grant reimagining.

Our second grant round of 2024 will continue as planned with no change to our grant guidelines or process. Our next grant round of 2024 will open on July 15 and close August 7. The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation’s other grant programs are not part of this grant reimagining.

In 2024, the Community Council, the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation board, F. R. Bigelow Foundation board, Mardag Foundation board and our staff will be focused on informing, designing and testing any new grant concepts. 2025 will focus on communication, planning for and implementation of any grant program changes later in the year and in 2026.

You can expect ongoing updates throughout this process, with more insights the closer we get to any changes taking effect. For more information on the Community Council and the latest updates visit this grant redesign hub.

The second grant round of 2024 for the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, F. R. Bigelow Foundation and Mardag Foundation will continue as planned with no change to the grant guidelines or process. The next grant round of 2024 for each Foundation will open on July 15 and close August 7. Other grant programs from the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation are not part of this grant redesign.

In 2024 the Community Council, grantmaking staff and boards will focus on informing, designing and testing any new grant concepts. The three Foundations plan to share any changes to their grant programs by the end of 2024. Throughout 2025 our focus will be working with grantees and community members to prepare for any changes to the grant programs for each Foundation. We anticipate that any changes to each Foundation’s grant programs would be implemented in 2026.

You can expect ongoing updates throughout this process, with more insights the closer we get to any changes taking effect.

We will provide updates as we have them via our enewsletter and on this page. For any immediate questions not addressed on the website or in the FAQs, you can email CommunityImpact@spmcf.org.

There will be no changes to the second grant round of 2024. We encourage you to email a member of the Grants Team regarding your eligibility for a grant in 2024.

Regarding eligibility for grant opportunities in 2025 and beyond, the details of the new process have not yet been determined. You can expect ongoing updates throughout this process, with more insights the closer we get to any changes taking effect.

As the Community Council, our staff and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, F. R. Bigelow Foundation and Mardag Foundation boards continue to meet, we will have more clarity on what the application process may look like for 2026 and beyond. The application process for the second grant round of 2024 is unaffected.

Informed by the Community Council, our staff and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, F. R. Bigelow Foundation and Mardag Foundation boards, 2024 will be focused on the design of the new grantmaking process and granting priorities. The three Foundations plan to share their changes by the end of 2024 and will work with grantees and community through 2025 to prepare for any changes that will be implemented in 2026.

We expect that the new application and grantmaking process will be available in the second half of 2025, with the first grants made under the new process in 2026.

You can expect ongoing updates throughout this process, with more insights the closer we get to any changes taking effect.

The grant redesign will not affect current grantees with multi-year grants. Those grants will continue to be paid out according to the terms in your terms of grant agreement.