Grant FAQs
Welcome to the FAQs page for the Fall Grant Cycle 2024. As you embark on your grant application journey, we are committed to providing you with the essential information and support needed to maximize your impact. Our goal is to empower you with the knowledge to navigate the process confidently and successfully.
Frequently Asked Questions - Fall Grant Cycle 2024
Community Opportunity Fund Grants are designed to support transformative, collaborative projects leveraging resources for upstream successes, building strong communities, and ensuring everyone thrives. Grants focus on Opportunity, Resilience, Belonging and Transformation.
Area of Interest Grants allow organizations to make a significant impact in specific fields, such as nurturing creativity through the arts, enhancing quality of life through human services, or promoting animal wellness. These grants are designed to empower projects that drive meaningful change within specified focus areas.
Click here to login or create an account in our grants portal.
We recommend bookmarking this page so that it’s easy to find as you work on your grant application.
Foundant Technologies is the software platform we use for our grant application process. It provides a user-friendly online portal for applicants to submit and manage their grant applications, track progress, and communicate with our Community Impact Team.
Tutorials and resources, including the grant applicant tutorial and the collaborator tutorial, are available on our Apply for Grants webpage under the Resources section.
Yes, our grants portal supports collaboration. Refer to the collaborator tutorial for instructions.
Transformation Grants will not be offered in this grant round. Stay tuned for more information on future grant cycles.
- Application Period: August 1, 2024 – October 1, 2024 at 5PM
- Project Start Date: January 1, 2025, or later
- Project End Date: No more than 12 months from the project start date
- Notification Date: Mid-December 2024
- Funding Issued: End of December 2024
Projects must start on or after January 1, 2025, and must be completed within 12 months of the start date.
With the exception of Community Opportunity Fund – Transformation grants which fund projects for up to 5 years.
Detailed guidelines for each fund can be found by clicking on the respective fund names on the Apply for Grants webpage.
We administer a broad range of unrestricted, area-of-interest and donor-advised funds and make grants for a variety of purposes and projects.
The largest fund, the Community Opportunity Fund, is for projects that meet the changing community needs in the following areas: Opportunity, Resilience, Belonging and Transformation. The Board of Trustees may, from time to time, emphasize one interest area over another when emerging needs or opportunities require special attention. In addition, we make grants from area-of-interest funds designed to address a range of specific community needs.
Yes, you can apply for more than one grant per grant cycle.
Due to the increasing number of grant applications and limited capacity of our small but mighty Community Impact Team, we cannot guarantee you will be able to speak one-on-one with a team member regarding your specific application.
However, if you have specific technical questions please reach out to our Senior Community Impact Associate, Kursula Harris at [email protected]
There are many great resources to learn how to write grant proposals. Our team recommends the ones listed below as a good starting point:
Examples of Previously Awarded Community Opportunity Fund Grants
Being, Becoming, Belonging – Provides community engagement, storytelling, and support for unstably housed and under-resourced youth, fostering belonging and inclusion. Organization: Life House, Inc.
Community Space for BIPOC Thriving & Belonging – A nature-based retreat center for Black, Indigenous, and people of color, focused on healing, thriving, and community building. Organization: Maji ya Chai Land Sanctuary
Culturally Relevant Sex Education and Resources – Provides culturally specific sex education and resources to address sexual and reproductive health disparities in Northern Minnesota’s BIPOC communities. Organization: Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota (PPMNS)
Duluth Playhouse New Native Theatre Collaboration – A collaboration to produce workshops and a play celebrating diversity, focusing on indigenous stories and intercultural understanding. Organization: Duluth Playhouse
Full Range: The Iron Range Project – A collaborative theater project envisioning a just and beautiful future for the Iron Range community through storytelling and local artist collaboration. Organization: Mixed Blood Theatre Company
Inclusive Mentorship for Empowerment and Belonging – Enhances accessibility and inclusion in community-based mentoring, creating welcoming spaces and fostering diversity. Organization: Mentor North
Kitchen & Gardening Project Phase 2 – Enhances social interaction and health among seniors through cooking and gardening activities, reducing loneliness and social isolation. Organization: Tourist Center Senior Citizens Inc
Making Equal Genders Great (MEGA) – Promotes gender equity, leadership development, and mentoring among students, addressing systemic inequities through gender-specific curricula. Organization: Men As Peacemakers
Transgender Outreach & Belonging in Duluth – Supports transgender communities through direct services, support groups, and community organizing to foster inclusion and reduce transphobia. Organization: OutFront Minnesota Community Services
Twin Ports Area Veterans’ Programs – Supports veterans’ transition to society through positive reconditioning and community-building programs, focusing on reducing high rates of suicide, depression, and substance use among veterans. Organization: 23rd Veteran
Twin Ports Girl Scout Leadership Pathways – Develops leadership, confidence, and character in girls through hands-on, girl-led learning in STEM, entrepreneurship, and the outdoors. Organization: Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin Lakes and Pines
Annie’s House Expansion – Expansion of a refuge for young BIPOC mothers, developing physically safe and inclusive spaces to strengthen community and support services. Organization: Divine Konnections Inc.
A Twin Ports Environmental Justice Task Force – Establishes and empowers a task force to address environmental stressors affecting Black and Indigenous communities in Duluth and Superior. Organization: Minnesota Environmental Partnership
Building a Northeast MN Climate Resilience Network – Develops a resilience network to support low-income communities through weather emergencies and societal disruption fueled by climate change. Organization: Congregations Caring for Creation
Chum Capacity Building for Mission Advancement – Expands shelter services by building capacity through a new Mission Advancement Department, supporting a significant shelter expansion project. Organization: CHUM
Child Advocacy Center – Supports child survivors of abuse by establishing a center offering forensic interviews, prevention education, and advocacy, free of charge. Organization: Northwoods Women Inc.
Disaster Resilience in Northern Minnesota – Supports disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery programs to foster community resiliency, prioritizing vulnerable populations. Organization: American Red Cross Serving Northern Minnesota
Finland Food Chain Project Support 2024 – Brings together food system stakeholders to develop a holistic, resilient food system, supporting community food projects. Organization: Friends of the Finland Community
One Roof Community Housing Plover Place – Develops a new model for housing chronically homeless individuals, providing a cost-effective housing solution in Duluth. Organization: One Roof Community Housing
Program Integration to Support Parents – Integrates and supports parenting programs focused on young mothers and low-income families through training and community building. Organization: YWCA of Duluth
Superior-Based Service Model for Mental Health – Implements a holistic mental health approach in Douglas County, supported by a collaborative team to ensure comprehensive care. Organization: Miller-Dwan Foundation
Bridging Opportunities Through Discovery – The Discovery for All program at the Duluth Children’s Museum provides scholarship memberships to families facing financial barriers, ensuring equitable access to educational resources and promoting community engagement. Organization: Duluth Children’s Museum, Inc.
Creating Opportunity through Healthy Food – Focuses on addressing poverty and systemic barriers to healthy food in Duluth’s Central Hillside by providing meal kits and supporting women transitioning from welfare to work. Organization: Duluth Center for Women and Children
Do More with Less – Investment with Impact – Enhances communication, automates processes, and maximizes workforce development resources to connect individuals to needed services more efficiently. Organization: Northwest Wisconsin Workforce Investment Board
Duluth Area Outreach for Employee Ownership – Supports wealth equity by advancing employee-owned business startups and conversions in the Duluth Superior Area, addressing the retirement and business closure crisis. Organization: Minnesota Center for Employee Ownership
Duluth Maternity Home Program Manager – Provides a safe home and programming for pregnant women and mothers experiencing housing instability, focusing on health, self-sufficiency, and child development. Organization: Together for Life Northland, Inc. dba Star of the North Maternity Home
Economic Empowerment Center – Addresses social inequities in Duluth through a center providing educational programming and services to empower BIPOC families toward financial success and generational wealth. Organization: Ignite Empower Transform
HOPE Community Outreach Project – Aims to take outreach efforts to a new level in Aitkin County, focusing on promoting healing and improving lives affected by domestic violence. Organization: Advocates Against Domestic Abuse
Improving LGBTQIA+ Healthcare Access and Outcomes – Seeks to improve health outcomes for LGBTQIA+ patients in Duluth through affordable sexual and reproductive healthcare, including Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy and STI testing. Organization: Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota (PPMNS)
Leveraging Opportunity in the Hillside – Supports capacity-building partnerships in Duluth’s Hillside neighborhood to promote BIPOC entrepreneurship and equitable mixed-use development. Organization: Local Initiatives Support Corporation
ServeMinnesota Educational Programing – Administers AmeriCorps resources to address educational opportunity gaps in Minnesota through programs like Reading Corps and Math Corps. Organization: ServeMinnesota
Advocates for Family Peace Outreach Project – Provides community advocacy to domestic violence survivors in rural Itasca and northern St. Louis Counties, focusing on outreach and promoting healthy relationships. Organization: Advocates for Family Peace
Still have a question? Please contact our Senior Community Impact Associate, Kursula Harris at [email protected].
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