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Minnesota Community IDEAS Grant Program

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The Minnesota Community IDEAS Program seeks to design, test and spread ideas that make our communities better for everyone and inspire, equip and connect people through meaningful, community-led change.

The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of a new annual statewide grant program in January 2025. As the Minnesota community grant partner of the Bush Foundation, we will award $1.6 million each year from 2025 through 2027 to eligible nonprofit organizations located in and serving Minnesota and the 11 Native Nations that share the same geography.

Learn more about our partnership with the Bush Foundation.

Program Overview

The Minnesota Community IDEAS Program seeks to design, test and spread ideas that make our communities better for everyone and inspire, equip and connect people through meaningful, community-led change.

Grants will be awarded within three target communities, with five grants awarded within each of the communities:

  • Greater Minnesota
  • Twin Cities 7-county Metro Area
  • Native-led, Native-serving organizations

This program’s selection criteria focus on an organization’s transformational impact; or the long-lasting, meaningful change that can happen through ideas of all sizes, within communities of all sizes, and through organizations of all sizes.

This statewide grant program was informed by, and developed alongside, community members. Grant selection will be determined by community members through Community Selection Committees that will consider the following criteria for grant review and selection.

I

Impact

Communities realize significant, long-lasting change

D

Development

Communities develop, test and spread ideas

E

Equity

Communities are equipped and connected to benefit from change

A

Agency

Communities inform and form change

S

Solutions

Communities drive action

Grant Guidelines

Grant Program Details

The Minnesota Community IDEAS Program will award a total of $1.6 million among 15 organizations in its first year. The two-step application process will open in January 2025, when eligible organizations can express interest in applying through a brief interest form. Interest form submissions will be accepted from January 6 through 1 p.m. January 30, 2025.

Selected organizations will each receive a total award of $160,000, paid over three years ($100,000 in 2025, $40,000 in 2026, and $20,000 in 2027).

Funding is unrestricted and can be used for any charitable purposes that align with the vision and purpose of the Minnesota Community IDEAS Program, including operating costs, program-related expenses, capital expenditures or whatever else would best support the organization's ongoing work.

No formal report will be required for this grant program. Instead, the Foundation will meet annually with each grantee for structured time for reflection and insights to build a supportive relationship, prioritize learning and develop deeper partnerships.

Target Communities

To ensure broad and equitable distribution of these grants across the entire state of Minnesota and the 11 Native Nations that share the same geography, the Foundation will distribute five grants to organizations from each of the three target communities. Organizations may only apply within one target community.

Greater Minnesota
Greater Minnesota

Organizations located outside the 7-County Metro Area

Twin Cities Metro Area
Twin Cities Metro Area

Organizations located within the seven counties of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington

Native-led, Native-serving Organizations
Native-led, Native-serving Organizations

Native-led organizations that serve Native communities within Minnesota and the 11 Native Nations that share the same geography. Organizations must have at least 51% of the Board of Directors and Senior Leadership identifying as Native to be considered Native-led.

Eligibility

Grants will be awarded to Minnesota nonprofit organizations meeting the following criteria:

  • Organizations must be located in Minnesota. If awarded, all grant funds must be used for charitable purposes to benefit communities in Minnesota.
  • Organizations that are 501(c)(3) public charities or government entities (including schools) are eligible to apply.
  • The Foundation accepts applications from organizations or programs that are fiscally sponsored. Fiscal sponsors must be 501(c)(3) public charities or government entities (including schools).
  • Groups of organizations (such as coalitions or collaboratives) are eligible to apply, but only one organization may apply and receive the award on behalf of the group.

Selection Criteria

Community Selection Committees will consider the following questions in their criteria for grant review and selection. The Foundation recognizes that each organization’s work in community looks different and proposed work might not prioritize all these values to the same extent. While applicants are not required to address each of the criteria listed below, we believe the strongest applications will speak to how the proposed work might address each of the selection criteria.

IMPACT - Does the proposed work have the potential for significant and long-lasting change?

DEVELOPMENT - Does the proposed work develop and test ideas to solve problems and create opportunity?

EQUITY - Does the proposed work support building an equitable future for communities and the individuals in those communities who have been historically underserved? (Black, Native, Asian, Latino, new Americans, immigrants, refugees, people with disabilities, LGBTQI communities, veterans, rural communities, low-income communities, and others)

AGENCY - Does the proposed work build agency with and within communities so they can inform, form and benefit from change?

SOLUTIONS - Does the proposed work have clear, actionable solutions where communities drive action?

If you have specific questions about eligibility or selection criteria not covered here, please contact the Minnesota Community IDEAS program team at MNCommunityIDEAS@spmcf.org or call 651.325.4202.

Application Process

To reduce the time and capacity required by an applicant to participate in this grant program, the Foundation has designed a two-step application process.

Step 1: Submit Interest Form

  • Organizations interested in applying for a Minnesota Community IDEAS grant will complete a brief interest form to provide details of the organization, confirm their eligibility, provide a brief summary of the proposed idea, and identify which of the target communities they are applying under: Greater Minnesota, Twin Cities Metro Area or Native-led organizations that serve Native communities.
  • Each applicant may only submit one interest form and only apply within one target community. If an organization is in multiple locations, they should choose the target community which most closely reflects the community or impact associated with the proposed idea.
  • For each of the target communities, the Foundation will randomly select 30 eligible organizations to proceed to the second step of submitting a grant application.

Step 2: Submit Full Application

Selected organizations will then receive:

  • An invitation to complete an application through the Foundation’s online grant portal
  • Active support from Foundation staff in preparing their applications through an opportunity to meet with an advisor/mentor
  • A $1,000 grant as compensation for the time to complete an application
  • An opportunity to receive feedback on their application if not selected

Applications will be reviewed by the Community Selection Committee for their target community. The Committees will select the fifteen awarded organizations.

Selection Process

Random Selection

All eligible organizations that complete an interest form will be entered into a randomized selection process to identify 30 organizations within each of the target communities.

The Advisory Committee designed this process with the intention to:

  • Remove merit-based bias from initial selection and provide equal access to this opportunity for organizations of all sizes, capacities and resources
  • Reduce the capacity organizations need to submit detailed merit-based applications
  • Create opportunity for the Foundation to work more closely with selected organizations to develop the best application possible
  • Compensate all organizations submitting applications within the program’s budget

Community Selection

The Foundation will convene a separate Community Selection Committee for each target community. Each Selection Committee will review applications and make final decisions on the organizations awarded funding from each target community. Selection Committee members will include a diverse group of community members from each target community, as well as the advisors/mentors who support applicants in the development of their applications. Each committee will receive staff support throughout the process.

Timeline

Jan

Interest Form Submissions Accepted

Interest form submissions will be accepted from January 6 through January 30, 2025. All Interest forms must be submitted by 1 p.m. on January 30, 2025.

Eligible organizations that complete an interest form will be entered into a random selection process to determine organizations invited to complete a full application.

Feb

Selected Organizations Notified

Selected organizations will receive an email invitation with instructions on how to submit an application through the online portal.

March

Applications from Selected Organizations Due

The step 2 application deadline will be 1 p.m. on March 13, 2025.

April

Grant Recipients Announced

Applications will be reviewed by a Community Selection Committee in March 2025, and grant recipients will be selected and awarded in April 2025.

How We Built This

To lean more fully into our value of 'Community is our compass’ when designing this grant program, the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation convened an advisory committee of philanthropic and nonprofit leaders from across the state to design the Minnesota Community IDEAS program in the fall of 2024.

Based on the input from our advisory committee, we took away the following items as crucial components that shaped the Minnesota Community IDEAS program design.

Broad and equitable access to funding for organizations across the entire state of Minnesota and the 11 Native Nations that share the same geography.

Commitment to equity and support for work where historically underserved communities inform, form and benefit from community change.

To address these needs, we created the three target communities to offer organizations in Greater Minnesota and Native-led, Native-serving organizations more equitable access to funding opportunities.

Respect for the time and resources each organization expends to seek funding by reducing the capacity needed to apply, providing a simplified application process, and providing unrestricted, multi-year funding without formal reporting requirements.

Community-led grant decisions by giving final decision-making authority to a Community Selection Committee.

Frequently Asked Questions

Applying for the Program

The first step is to show your interest in applying for the Minnesota Community IDEAS program. To do this, organizations can submit an interest form online beginning January 6. Ninety organizations will be randomly selected from those that submitted an interest form and invited to submit a formal application in February.

The interest form is a brief questionnaire that should take no longer than 30 minutes to complete. You will be asked to provide organization and contact information and asked questions to confirm your organization’s eligibility to apply. There are also two brief (3-5 sentence), open-ended responses required to describe the community you serve, the challenges/issues your organization seeks to address, and the proposed idea your organization hopes to accomplish with support from this opportunity.

If you want to review the interest form questions before submitting a form, you can download a PDF of the form.

If you have issues submitting your interest form, please contact us at MNCommunityIDEAS@spmcf.org or 651.325.4202.

You may only submit an interest form for one target community.

Organizations should select the target community in which the organization’s primary address is located, regardless of where the communities served reside.

If you belong to an organization with multiple locations and/or you feel you may be eligible for multiple target communities, you should choose the target community which most closely reflects the community or impact associated with your proposal.

For example, while not required, the Foundation encourages organizations eligible as “Native-led organizations that serve Native communities” to apply within that target community regardless of whether they are in the Twin Cities metro area or Greater Minnesota. Submitting an interest form for the target community that most closely matches the community you serve will help selected organizations form better matches with application advisors and be considered by the Community Selection Committee which is most closely aligned with those they serve.

Contact us at MNCommunityIDEAS@spmcf.org or 651.325.4202 if you have any questions, and we will work with you to identify the target community best suited to your organization.

To be eligible for the Minnesota Community IDEAS program, applicants must be located in Minnesota. If funds are awarded, those funds must be used for charitable purposes to benefit communities in Minnesota.

If your organization also serves communities in South Dakota, North Dakota or any of the 23 Native Nations across the three-state region, you may consider applying to one of the programs hosted by another Bush Foundation Community Partner. Those other programs and partners are:

If your organization is selected and invited to complete a full application, you will receive information from the Foundation with instructions on how to apply, including information on how to register your organization and access GranteeView, our online application system.

Organizations invited to apply will also be matched with an advisor/mentor who will help you navigate the application process and support your organization in preparing a successful application.

Potential applicants will be able to submit an interest form from January 6 - 30, 2025. We anticipate reaching out to selected applicants in early February.

No. Consideration of your organization’s eligibility, proposal or grant selection for the Minnesota Community IDEAS Program will not affect consideration or eligibility for any other funding opportunities at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, Bush Foundation or other funding partners.

Understanding the Program

The Minnesota Community IDEAS Program staff and Advisory Committee are committed to a process that respects the time and resources each organization expends to seek funding. The interest form is intentionally brief to reduce the time and resources expended by nonprofits to enter into the initial selection. The responses on the interest form provide the minimum necessary information for the Foundation to determine program eligibility and learn a bit about each organization and their proposal.

All eligible organizations that submit an interest form will be entered into the random selection process. The Foundation will conduct an initial review of all submitted interest forms to determine whether each organization is eligible for the program. Organizations deemed ineligible will be contacted and removed from further consideration. None of the responses provided on the interest form will be used for any merit-based consideration or give preferential treatment to any applicant.

The Minnesota Community IDEAS Program staff and Advisory Committee are committed to broad and equitable access to funding for organizations across the entire state of Minnesota and the 11 Native Nations that share the same geography.

We recognize that many communities across the state have been historically underserved by previous philanthropic opportunities. The three target communities were identified to ensure resources are available broadly to historically underserved communities.

To lean more fully into our value of “community is our compass” when designing this grant program, in the fall of 2024, the Foundation convened an Advisory Committee of philanthropic and nonprofit leaders from across the state to design the Minnesota Community IDEAS Program.

Based on the input from our Advisory Committee, one of the items we took away as critical for applicants was respect for the time and resources each organization expends to seek funding. This included reducing the capacity needed to apply, providing a simplified application process, and providing unrestricted, multi-year funding without formal reporting requirements.

To honor that input, we are piloting a random selection process for grant applicants with a goal to give equal opportunity to organizations with smaller staff and grantwriting capacity as larger, more staffed organizations may have.

Our intent with this process is to:

  • Remove merit-based bias from initial selection and provide equal access to this opportunity for organizations of all sizes, capacities and resources
  • Reduce the capacity organizations need to submit detailed merit-based applications
  • Create opportunity for the Foundation to work more closely with selected organizations to develop the best application possible
  • Compensate all organizations submitting applications within the program’s budget

Funding is unrestricted and can be used for any charitable purposes that align with the vision and purpose of the Minnesota Community IDEAS Program including operating costs, program-related expenses, capital expenditures or whatever else would best support the organization's ongoing work.

For example, some organizations use grant funds to hire or pay salaries for staff to support their idea. Others may put the grant funds in reserves to free other resources and consider the long-term sustainability of their idea.

Grant funds must be used for charitable purposes to benefit communities in Minnesota, but they may not be used to fund work in other states or regions, or any non-charitable purposes.

If awarded, there are no traditional interim or future-funding-contingent reporting requirements. Instead, grantees will be required to meet annually with the Foundation for structured time for reflection and insights to build a supportive relationship, prioritize learning and develop deeper partnerships with funded organizations across the state.

No formal final report is required, but the Foundation hopes to work with grantees to support marketing and publicity to amplify the stories of success and organizations supported through this opportunity.

If you have specific questions about the grant program not addressed here, please contact the Minnesota Community IDEAS program team at MNCommunityIDEAS@spmcf.org or 651.325.4202.

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