Foundation has invested $2.75 million through grants and loans in southwest Minnesota since March
HUTCHINSON, Minn. – Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF) is now accepting grant applications to support nonprofit organizations addressing basic needs in southwest Minnesota. The intent is to help organizations working directly with people who need more and different support during the COVID-19 crisis. SWIF is leveraging dollars from the Minnesota Disaster Recovery Fund to support this grant round.
Focus areas include food security, mental health, domestic violence and homelessness. This grant will also support continuity of business for organizations serving children living in poverty, elder residents, farmers, native communities, new immigrants, people of color and refugees.
Applicants must demonstrate a benefit within one or more of the following 18 counties in southwest Minnesota: Big Stone, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Jackson, Kandiyohi, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon, McLeod, Meeker, Murray, Nobles, Pipestone, Redwood, Renville, Rock, Swift and Yellow Medicine; or the Upper Sioux Community or Lower Sioux Indian Community.
Grants from $500 to $5,000 will be awarded as funding is available. This will be an open grant process through July 1, 2020. Grant requests received by the 1st and the 15th of the month will be reviewed within the two weeks following submission on an ongoing basis. Eligibility details and an online application form are available at swifoundation.org/grants.
“We know there is incredible need in our communities,” said Nancy Fasching, SWIF’s vice president of community impact. “We are putting our resources into filling critical gaps so all people who call southwest Minnesota home can meet their basic human needs. We are grateful for the ways our nonprofits, schools, businesses and communities are coming together to help each other, and staff at Southwest Initiative Foundation will continue to do all we can to support these efforts.”
Southwest Initiative Foundation was established in response to the economic crisis of the 1980s and has a long history of collaborating to help southwest Minnesota communities thrive. Generous donors and partners including Blandin Foundation, Compeer Financial, Granite Equity, K.A.H.R. Foundation, Minnesota Dept. of Employment and Economic Development, Minnesota Disaster Recovery Fund and affiliate community foundation partners are helping expand SWIF’s emergency response efforts. Gifts to support this work can be made by visiting swifoundation.org/donate.
Since March, SWIF has awarded grants totaling more than $750,000. This includes COVID-19 response to support youth, students and families through Lower Sioux Indian Community, Project Turnabout, Minnesota West Foundation, Ridgewater College Foundation and Southwest Minnesota State University Foundation. It also includes emergency grants to 520 southwest Minnesota child care providers. In addition, SWIF has helped more than 100 businesses secure financing, which includes administering $2 million through state emergency loan programs.
Read more about our response to COVID-19.
About Southwest Initiative Foundation
Southwest Initiative Foundation is a nonprofit community foundation connecting people, investing in ideas and building communities to create a southwest Minnesota where all people thrive. Since its founding in 1986, SWIF has distributed more than $82 million through its grantmaking and business finance programs.
