OneMPLS Grants
Will Strengthen Local Nonprofits Stretched
by the Pandemic

The Minneapolis Foundation today announced that it has awarded $952,000 in grants from its OneMPLS Fund, a collective impact fund that responds nimbly to urgent needs in the community.  

The grants announced today focus on enhancing the capacity of local nonprofits as they navigate the ongoing pandemic and meet the evolving needs of diverse communities in Minneapolis and inner-ring suburbs. Funding will support 29 organizations, mostly small to medium-sized nonprofits with budgets under $3 million that support children, youth, and families in need, or adults seeking living-wage career and business opportunities. 

Grant recipients will use funding for a variety of needs flowing from the pandemic, including investments in technology, staffing to properly manage restricted state and federal funding or to adapt their programs, staff wellness and incentives to combat burnout, and planning and visioning resources to help nonprofit leaders ensure sustainable operations for the long haul.

When she learned that Minnesota Housing Partnership would receive a OneMPLS grant for its staff wellness plans, “I just sat with my mouth open and almost cried,” said Anne Mavity, the organization’s Executive Director. “Our staff is working so hard right now on behalf of struggling families,” she said, and many are facing similar challenges, “with children all-of-a-sudden underfoot, trying to juggle the impossible task of succeeding at being a parent, a teacher, and an employee all at the same time.” The organization will use its funding to bring its team together for self-care and team building this year, Mavity said.

Established in 2018, the OneMPLS Fund enables people and businesses to pool their resources in response to emerging community needs. Every year, the OneMPLS Fund targets 1-3 pressing issues in greater Minneapolis. Previous OneMPLS grant rounds have addressed critical needs such as affordable housing, pandemic relief, and rebuilding support for small businesses recovering from the combined effects of COVID-19 and the civil unrest that followed the murder of George Floyd.

Photos provided by MIGIZI Communications.

Businesses and members of the public are encouraged to support the OneMPLS Fund in any amount. Contributions can be made online.

“I support the OneMPLS Fund because grants are awarded to organizations that serve the local communities most impacted by our greatest challenges,” said Lisa Finley, a contributor to the OneMPLS Fund. “The Fund’s straightforward grant application structure promotes innovative thinking and resilience.”

• African Development Center of Minnesota: $50,000 to expand administrative capacity by adding a CFO/COO position.
• Alliance for Metropolitan Stability: $30,000 to assist in planning and visioning by hiring a consultant to facilitate a strategic planning process.
• Altair ACO: $35,000 to update a technology platform to increase access to care, ease reporting, and identify gaps in health and social services for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
• Bridgemakers: $50,000 to expand administrative capacity by adding an operations director position.
• Catalyst Coalition: $37,500 to assist in planning and visioning by hiring a consultant to facilitate a strategic planning process.
• Center for Multicultural Mediation: $25,000 for strategic planning to ensure the sustainability if the organization’s programs for local Somali and African immigrant communities.
• Centro Tyrone Guzman: $25,000 to expand technology capacity by hiring a consultant and installing a new software system.
• Children’s Law Center of Minnesota: $24,000 to support wellness and remote working conditions for staff.
• City of Lakes Community Land Trust: $30,000 for board/staff wellness and professional development.
• Community Enhancement Services: $40,000 to expand administrative capacity to manage daily delivery of Halah meals.
• Cookie Cart: $38,000 to develop a staff wellness program that aligns with the organization’s internal diversity and social justice goals, and to reduce staff burnout and stress.
• Crescent Cove: $25,000 to support staff wellness and professional development.
• Indigenous Peoples Task Force: $40,000 to expand administrative capacity by hiring a development coordinator.
• Isuroon: $35,000 to hire a system administrator to manage a new CRM, integrate program data, and improve reporting related to state, federal, and county funding.
• Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota: $32,500 to purchase and customize a CRM to improve data reporting and develop a communications strategy for the organization.
• Latino Economic Development Center: $30,000 to expand technology data privacy capacity and improve video conferencing.
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation: $50,000 to expand administrative capacity by hiring additional staff for recovery and rebuilding efforts.
• MIGIZI Communications: $40,000 to assist in planning and visioning by hiring a consultant to facilitate a strategic planning process.
• Minnesota Housing Partnership: $25,000 for staff retreats, wellness, and team building strategies to build cohesion, bolster morale, and support collaboration.
• Neighborhood Youth Academy: $25,000 to hire an evaluation consultant and implement a data collection and program evaluation system.
• Organization of Liberians in Minnesota: $40,000 to purchase a new server and space management software, and to update its website and financial management systems.
• Phumulani Minnesota African Women Against Violence: $30,000 to engage a nonprofit accounting consultant, purchase office equipment and supplies for a new location, and to onboard and train program advocates.
• Phyllis Wheatley Community Center: $20,000 to add marketing, communications, and development staff capacity and to license a new CRM database system.
• Rebound, Inc.: $30,000 to support a staff wellness fund providing resources to pay for therapy and self-care, and to enhance security for evening programming.
• Seward Redesign, Inc.: $35,000 to expand technology capacity by hiring a consultant and installing new software.
• SLP SEEDS: $50,000 to expand administrative capacity by hiring an operations manager.
• The Mental Health Collective: $30,000 to provide training on the impact of secondary traumatic stress, launch a wellness fund to help clinic staff access professional support, and increase staff access to mentoring and other activities to support their resilience.
• Vietnamese Social Service of Minnesota: $20,000 for technology to support hybrid learning for participants in its employment and self-sufficiency programs. Funding will also enhance staff capacity for health education and mental health services.
• West Bank Business Association: $10,000 for staff wellness and healing.