Deadline: 21-Mar-25
The Small Communities Grant Program is a program focused on reaching small, often overlooked places, and providing funding for the resources and skills they need to solve community issues.
The Small Communities Grant Program will build on the pride rural residents feel for their communities. Rural connection and interdependence can be powerful community forces. When people work together to solve community issues, they create trust, ownership and buy-in which again translates to success with completing projects and initiatives, and ultimately strengthening the community. Activities funded by the Small Communities Grant Program should drive positive economic, physical, and social change in a rural community.
Focus Areas
- Planning for a small communities initiative.
- Engage community in evaluating its financial, cultural, and natural assets to support community development planning.
- Plan and design programs, inclusive community events, public spaces, and community amenities that improve wellbeing and increased livability.
- Research to support community planning or increased access to grants and other financial resources.
- Executing a small communities initiative.
- Implementing community initiatives, including events, discussions and gatherings.
- Creation, enhancement or revitalization of indoor and outdoor physical spaces, such as:
- Community gathering and ceremonial places.
- Community centers.
- Downtowns/Main Street projects.
- Repurposing buildings.
- Redevelopment.
- Addressing brownfields.
- Libraries.
- Revitalization and capital improvements.
- Parks and trails.
- Building small community skills and attracting resources.
- Build the skills and resources of a community or organizations to drive positive economic, physical and social changes:
- Grant-writing assistance.
- Technical assistance.
- Consulting expertise, including inter-generational knowledge sharing.
- Leadership skill-building.
- Research to support skill and resource-building.
- Collaboratively changing how systems work and the outcomes they produce.
- Build the skills and resources of a community or organizations to drive positive economic, physical and social changes:
Funding Information
- Please request an amount that speaks to what you need to complete your proposal. Typical grant awards will be between $25,000 and $150,000. Funded projects can have a timeframe of up to 3 years. Requests over $250,000 may follow a different timeline for review and approval.
Outcomes
- Bring about positive, visible change in the community, including increasing community/leadership engagement, planning, nurturing community pride and revitalization.
- Engage in productive discourse around issues affecting small, rural Minnesota communities, including race, class, gender, and other self-identified divides.
- Prepare for the future by enhancing community aesthetics and amenities, cooperating with neighboring communities for mutual benefit, and laying the groundwork for future development.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants under this RFP will be required to meet the following target geography and/or population requirements:
- Be Native Nations, cities, towns, and townships in the Blandin Foundation local giving area: Itasca County plus Northome, Blackduck, Hill City, and Remer.
- Organizations (including fiscal sponsors) located in rural hubs of more than 5,000 people may apply if funding can be demonstrated to directly benefit small communities.
- Metro-based organizations are ineligible to apply for funding under this RFP.
For more information, visit Blandin Foundation.