Responding to
Local Needs in 2024

In addition to our annual grant rounds and the guidance we provide to support our fundholders’ giving, we make special investments to address community needs as they arise.

A Collective Investment in Affordable Housing – Our OneMPLS Fund pools resources from people across our community to address urgent and emerging needs. Announced in June, our latest OneMPLS grant round distributed $325,000 to three local organizations focused on our community’s housing crisis. These grant partners are leading innovative projects that will not only preserve and create affordable housing in the metro area, but also build momentum for state policy and funding solutions. See who we supported.

Encouraging Voter Engagement – Communities are stronger when everyone participates in our democracy. That’s why the Minneapolis Foundation has a long track record of nurturing civic engagement—and it’s why we deepened that commitment in the months leading up to Election Day. In 2024, we awarded $500,000 in grants to nine nonprofits that led nonpartisan outreach to ensure that all Minnesota voters had the resources they needed to learn about the issues and head to the polls. Learn more.

Grants that Foster Resilience – ​Our responsive grantmaking is grounded in the wisdom of people who are personally affected by community challenges. A recent grant round led by one of our advisory committees is a great example of how this works. In 2024, our Fund for Safe Communities awarded more than $500,000 to prevent violence and foster resilience in local communities. This grant round was designed with the insight and recommendations of the Fund’s advisory committee, a group of emerging leaders who have personal experience with community violence. They, in turn, leaned into the perspectives of people who work with youth and young adults across Minneapolis and the inner-ring suburbs. The result? Impactful grantmaking to 18 organizations that are leading work ranging from mentor-mentee programming to sports activities to services for justice-involved youth. Learn more.

​Disaster Response – When communities in Minnesota and beyond are affected by an unexpected crisis, our fundholders are quick to step in and help. Our team provides research and giving options to support their generosity, helping them determine where to direct charitable resources so they can provide effective assistance to the people who need it most. Hurricanes Helene and Milton are among the major disasters that our fundholders responded to in 2024. In addition, we manage 13 Employee Assistance Funds that make grants directly to people who are employed by organizations we partner with, in Minnesota and around the world. These funds provide financial support to employees facing hardships that can range from cancer to a house fire. Last year, we granted more than $200,000 to individuals and families through these funds to help them rebuild their lives after a natural disaster. Closer to home, we made a quick-turn grant from the OneMPLS Fund to support the Elliot Park neighborhood of downtown Minneapolis as it rallied to support families affected by a devastating apartment fire in August.

Our recent investments in housing justice are a great example of how our responsive grantmaking reflects the complexity of intersecting community needs. Get a closer look in this blog post.

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Learn more about our work in 2024 by exploring our year in review.