Third Quarter Grants 2012

Northwest Area Foundation announced $3,019,075 in grants for the third quarter of 2012 to support work to increase assets and wealth of people with low incomes. Consistent with the Foundation’s grantmaking approach, these awards fund several strategies that contribute to asset building, including public policy improvements, rural economic development, Native American social entrepreneurship and leadership development. The Foundation believes that increasing access to capital, financial education, workforce development, support for small business ownership and removal of policy barriers to increasing wealth are the best opportunities for reducing poverty and increasing prosperity. The following list includes the name of the nonprofit to which the grant is given, the title of the grant, the amount, a brief description, and the grant term.

Grants to Increase Assets and Wealth

Browning Community Development Corporation of Browning, Mont., received $25,000 for Fostering the Entrepreneurial Spirit Through Native Business Mentoring, a project to develop an online financial education program.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2013

East Metro Women’s Council of White Bear Lake, Minn., received $2,500 for General Operating Support.
Grant term: Sept. 3, 2012 – Aug. 31, 2013

El Centro de la Raza of Seattle received $50,000 for Volunteer Coordinating and Capacity Building. Funding will be used to strengthen El Centro’s Employment Readiness and Financial Literacy Program by increasing volunteer participation in providing services to people in need. The money will support three additional positions: volunteer coordinator, part-time work study and development associate.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2012 – Oct. 31, 2013

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) of Duluth, Minn., received $100,000 for Duluth at Work. Duluth LISC and City of Duluth work in partnership to provide training, coaching, mentoring and access to employment opportunities for low-income workers. This replication of an employment model in Portland, Ore., seeks to increase wages of program participants by 25 percent over three years.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2013

Metropolitan Economic Development Association of Minneapolis received $15,000 for the Federal Credit Union Feasibility Study.
Grant term: May 22, 2012 – Oct. 31, 2012

Spokane Tribe of Indians of Wellpinit, Wash., received $50,000 for the Sparking Ideas Project, which aims to create jobs and build the tribal economy through small-business development.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2013

Summit Academy OIC of Minneapolis received $50,000 for Leadership Development/Civic Engagement Sponsorship in Support of Dependency Reduction in North Minneapolis. Funding will support the HIRE Minnesota Coalition advocacy efforts to ensure that minorities, low-income workers and disadvantaged people benefit from jobs created through public investments.
Grant term: July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013

The NetWork for Better Futures of Minneapolis received $95,000 for Better Futures Enterprises. Funding will support training and employment opportunities in the recycling industry for prior offenders who are seeking new career paths.
Grant term: Nov. 1, 2012 – Oct. 31, 2013

The People’s Partners for Community Development (PPCD) of Lame Deer, Mont., received $60,000 for Increasing Prosperity in Native Communities. The goal of this grant is to stimulate the reservation economy through entrepreneurship. Funding will provide access to capital and support for as many as 50 small-business start-ups.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2013


Grants to Support the Native American Social Entrepreneurship Initiative

Oregon Native American Business and Entrepreneurial Network of Portland, Ore., received $210,000 for the Native American Social Entrepreneurship Initiative. Funding will provide supplemental support to the current two-year learning cohort that seeks to build local reservation economies and the ability of community-development financial institutions to support them. The additional dollars are to increase the services to cohort members, enhance social entrepreneurship pilot activities, increase participation of Tribal Ventures staff and build leadership support.
Grant term: Oct. 15, 2011 – Oct. 31, 2013


Grants to Advance Public Policy

Coalition of Communities of Color of Portland, Ore., received $150,000 over two years through its fiscal sponsor, Native American Youth and Family Center, for Foundations for State Equity: Advocacy, Capacity and Accountability. The grant will be used to extend racial equity advocacy from the city to the state levels.  
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2014

Oregon Business Council Charitable Institute of Portland, Ore., received $50,000 for Oregon Prosperity Initiative, Poverty Research and Analysis. This work will provide more-accurate data on poverty in Oregon in order to target the highest return on public investments in poverty reduction. The information will be made available to policy makers and those who are shaping the state budget.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2013


Grants to Support Rural Economic Development

Adelante Mujeres of Forest Grove, Ore., received $225,000 over two years for Connecting for Community, which will expand the geographic reach of its culturally relevant microenterprise program. Grant dollars will fund the launch of two pilot projects to share microenterprise development in rural areas of Northwest Oregon.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2014

Center for Rural Affairs of Lyons, Neb., received $65,000 for Rural Economic Policy Messages. Funding will provide analysis and reporting on messages and policy approaches that build support for programs and policies that improve economic opportunity for the working class in rural America.
Grant term: July 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012

Hmong American Farmer’s Association (HAFA) of Minneapolis received $75,000 over two years through fiscal sponsor Latino Economic Development Center for General Operating Support. HAFA will use the money to access land and greenhouses in order to grow and sell produce to local school districts and businesses. In addition, it will launch a vegetable-freezing pilot operation and develop a bilingual and bicultural farm training program.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2014

Idaho Community Action Network of Boise, Idaho, received $50,000 for Radio Voz de Magic Valley. Funding will support development of the first bilingual radio station in the rural Magic Valley region of Idaho. Programming will include information about health, education, immigration and services to reduce poverty.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2013

Immigrant Development Center of Moorhead, Minn., received $160,000 over two years for Entrepreneurial Training and Micro-Lending, which will provide financial education and access to capital that would enable low-income immigrants in the Moorhead and Fargo, N.D., areas to start small businesses.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2014

ISED Ventures of Des Moines, Iowa, received $200,000 over two years for the Latino Microenterprise Development Program, which will support small-business development among rural Latinos in southeast Iowa.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2014

Latino Economic and Development Center of Blackfoot, Idaho, received $63,000 for Rural Latino Micro-Enterprise and Lending Circles. Funding will support small-business financial training and a peer-to-peer lending program designed to build credit and provide access to mainstream lending institutions.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Oct. 31, 2013

Snake River Basin Business Association Inc. of Fort Hall, Idaho, received $60,000 for Small Business/Community Development in the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. Funding will support micro- and small-business development in the Fort Hall and Snake River Basin communities.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2013

Washington CASH (Community Alliance for Self-Help) of Seattle received $200,000 over two years for Latino Program Expansion–Snohomish County. Funding will provide training and support for Latinos who aspire to start their own small businesses.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2014

White Earth Land Recovery Project of Callaway, Minn., received $150,000 over two years for Technology, Policy, Sustainable Development, and Wealth Stabilization. The grant will fund a new wealth-creation model based on renewable energy, conservation and green jobs training.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2014


Grants to Urban Native Americans

First Peoples Fund (FPF) of Rapid City, S.D., received $130,000 over two years for Strengthening Native Economies and the Capacity of Tribal Bearers through Artist Entrepreneurship. Funding is aimed at sharpening entrepreneurial skills of Native American artists and culture bearers with support of asset- and wealth-building organizations and small-business training.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2014

Potlatch Fund of Seattle received $250,000 over three years for Redefining Potlatch Fund’s Approach Toward Building Capacity Within the Native Nonprofit Sector in the Pacific Northwest. The grant will support additional staffing and program work with nonprofits that serve Native American communities in eastern Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2015

Tiwahe Foundation of Minneapolis received $125,000 over two years for Advancing Leadership for Social Change and Impact in the American Indian community. This grant will support development of a statewide leadership network and bolster fundraising and administrative operations in order to provide more effective services to Native Americans in urban Minnesota.
Grant term: Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2014


General Grants

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy of Washington, D.C., received $10,000 for General Operating Support.
Grant term: Jan. 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012

Philanthropy Northwest of Seattle received $50,000 over two years for the Philanthropy Northwest Capacity Building Campaign. The grant will support expanded work around public policy and strategic communications as well as increased funder collaboration.
Grant term: Jan. 1, 2012 – Jan. 31, 2014

The Northland Foundation of Duluth, Minn., received $25,000 for the Business Flood Recovery Fund, which will assist entrepreneurs who suffer loss from the 2012 flooding in Duluth and northern Minnesota.
Grant term: July 31, 2012 – Aug. 3, 2012


Grants to Leverage Larger Investments and Work

Regents of the University of Minnesota of Minneapolis received $100,000 over two years for the Ideas for Action Awards, national awards designed to generate fresh thinking around policies to bolster asset- and wealth-building programs.
Grant term: June 1, 2012 – May 31, 2014

The Saint Paul Foundation of St. Paul, Minn., received $50,000 over two years for the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. The Collaborative seeks to increase affordable housing, collaboration and a strong local economy around the new Central Corridor light rail line.
Grant term: March 1, 2012 – Feb. 28, 2014

University of Washington Office of Sponsored Programs of Seattle received $100,000 over two years to administer the Ideas for Action Awards, national awards designed to generate fresh thinking around policies to bolster asset- and wealth-building programs.
Grant term: June 1, 2012 – May 31, 2014


Sponsorships

American Indian College Fund of Denver received $5,000 for the 2012 Flame of Hope Gala.
Grant term: Oct. 10, 2012 – Oct. 12, 2012

Economic Policy Institute of Washington, D.C., received $5,000 for the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) conference.
Grant term: Dec. 10, 2012 – Dec. 12, 2012

Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) of Portland, Ore., received $3,000 for the 9th Annual NAYA Family Center Auction & Gala.
Grant term: Nov. 9, 2012 – Nov. 10, 2012

North Dakota Association of Nonprofit Organizations of Bismarck, N.D., received $3,075 for Convenings of North Dakota Nonprofit Organizations.
Grant term: July 31, 2012 – Aug. 3, 2012

Regents of the University of Minnesota of Minneapolis received $50,000 for the Fourth World Conference on Racial and Economic Inequalities.
Grant term: June 1, 2012 – Dec. 31, 2012

Saint Paul Public Schools Foundation of St. Paul, Minn., received $2,500 for an alumni-and-friends event.
Grant term: Sept. 1, 2012 – Aug. 31, 2013

YWCA of Minneapolis received $5,000 for the 10th annual It’s Time to Talk: Forum on Race event.
Grant term: Oct. 15, 2012 – Oct. 19, 2012