More than $890,000 was granted or loaned out into the region from January through March through the Northwest Minnesota Foundation. This three-month timeframe comprises the third quarter of NMF’s fiscal year.
Dollars released by NMF included more than $578,000 in grants through NMF’s family of funds, $165,000 in loans to small business owners, and $147,000 through NMF’s mission-driven grants programs.
Additionally, the Northwest Small Business Development Center, for which NMF serves as host, provided 608 hours of no-cost business consulting hours to 154 clients throughout the region.
The Northwest Minnesota region served by NMF includes two tribal nations (Red Lake Nation and White Earth Nation) and 12 counties (Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Kittson, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, and Roseau).
Local funds issued 318 grants, totaling $578,450 in this quarter. Of those, 275 grants were scholarships awarded to students from Northwest Minnesota, totaling more than $301,835. NMF houses 138 scholarship funds among its 450 total funds in its family of funds.
Additional disbursements included:
- 7 grants, $117,425, from community service funds, benefiting local efforts such as senior living, animal shelters, service organizations, churches, and homeless shelters.
- 13 grants, $79,000, from donor-advised funds, benefitting nonprofits that fit the donors’ interests.
- 2 grants, $34,450, from environmental and recreation funds.
- 11 grants, $21,780, from education funds, dedicated to supporting a specific school district.
- 1 grant, $10,000, from a cultural fund, supporting a local music, theater, or arts project.
- 7 grants, $9,960, from community funds dedicated to their specific community.
- 2 grants, $4,000, from a health care fund.
BUSINESS LOANS
Eleven loans were approved for small businesses, totaling $165,600.
Those loans included:
- 4 loans to Beltrami County businesses, totaling $85,600
- 3 loans to Pennington County businesses, totaling $55,000
- 2 loans to Polk County businesses, totaling $10,000
- 1 loan to a Norman County business for $10,000
- 1 loan to a Red Lake County business for $5,000
Through mission-driven grants, NMF approved 5 grants totaling $147,566.
Those grants included:
- $50,000 to support a youth leadership program
- $30,000 to support the Initiators Fellowship, a two-year program for social entrepreneurs
- $10,000 to support a local food program
- 2 grants, totaling $57,566, were also paid out to support a collaborative effort toward ending youth homelessness in Northwest Minnesota. These payments are scheduled monthly to support ongoing work.
