NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bethany Wesley, Communications Director
email: bethanyw@nwmf.org
More than $1.7 million was loaned or granted 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 $940,000 in mission-driven grants to businesses and organizations, more than $667,000 awarded by local funds within NMF’s family of funds, and $108,000 through loans to small business owners.
Additionally, the Northwest Small Business Development Center, for which NMF serves as host, provided 757 hours of no-cost business consulting hours to 179 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).
MISSION-DRIVEN DISCRETIONARY GRANTS
MISSION-DRIVEN DISCRETIONARY GRANTS
More than $940,600 in mission-driven grants was released to businesses and organizations throughout Northwest Minnesota.
These grants included:
- 11 grants totaling more than $805,600 through the Main Street Economic Revitalization Program grants, funded by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, to support revitalization projects in three corridors: the Highway 59 Corridor, East Grand Forks, and Bemidji.
- 3 grants totaling $87,500 to support mental health initiatives. Recipients included Mental Health USA, Alluma, and the White Earth Child Care Program.
- 2 grants totaling $35,000 to support children and families initiatives, including funding for the Indigenous Parent Leadership Initiative and sponsoring a guest speaker at a sex trafficking awareness event in Red Lake.
- A $10,000 grant to the Crookston Economic Development Authority to support a research project focused on the potential of immigrant entrepreneurship
- A $2,500 grant to support training and education at White Earth Tribal & Community College.
FAMILY OF FUNDS
Through 274 grants approved by local funds, $667,699 was dispersed into Northwest Minnesota. NMF maintains more than 430 funds within its family of funds, including community funds, donor-advised funds, education funds, scholarship funds, and others. Each fund has its own purpose.
Grants dispersed through these funds included:
- Scholarship funds: 243 grants, totaling $266,825
- Community service funds: 6 grants, $271,000
- Donor-advised funds: 12 grants, $83,500
- Education funds: 5 grants, $8,774
- Environment and recreation funds: 3 grants, $30,800
- Health care funds: 1 grant, $2,300
- Cultural funds: 2 grants, $2,500
- Community funds: 2 grants, $2,000
BUSINESS LOANS
NMF approved five loans to four businesses, totaling $108,100.
These loans included:
- 3 loans through the NMF Child Care Finance Program for businesses in Polk, Pennington, and Beltrami counties.
- 2 loans to a Roseau County business with funding from NMF and a local economic development loan fund.
