2025: Supporting Changemakers in Challenging Times

In 2025, we doubled our grantmaking. In 2026, we’ll keep it up.

In early 2025, we made a big decision. For the first time in our history, we doubled our grantmaking budget to meet the urgency and depth current times demand. This increased funding gave us the flexibility to respond fast as our grantee partners faced overlapping challenges, and to listen and learn for how we could do more for the communities we support.

As this year comes to a close, we’re doubling down on that commitment.

In 2026, we’ll again invest about $35 million in grant funding. This decision builds on the momentum and learning of 2025, recognizing that the needs we responded to this year aren’t going away. Communities continue to face an onslaught of challenges, and we remain clear that we’re showing up with sustained, values-driven support.

“This is about walking our talk,” says Kevin Walker, president and CEO. “We made a bold move in 2025 to respond to the moment. Now, we’re renewing that commitment in 2026 because our partners continue to face headwinds, and we want to be a support they can count on.”

Communities received more money, more flexibly, to meet their changing needs.

When we first announced the 2025 funding increase, we shared that we were responding to what we heard from our partners: calls for greater investment in long-term movements working to ensure that people’s opportunities and outcomes in life aren’t determined by their race, where they live, or how much money they have. This is our definition of justice: that all people have the opportunity and tools they need to thrive.

Most of this year’s grant dollars moved in the second and third quarters in support of grassroots leaders, tribal organizations, community developers, and cross-sector changemakers across our region and beyond.

Our grantmaking centered the communities we serve. A major focus of the grants was Native communities, which consistently receive about 40 percent of our grant dollars. In 2025, we renewed our support for Native governance, economic development, and self-determined futures, such as ongoing work with the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, Native community development financial institutions (CDFIs), and Native youth leadership programs.

We also deepened support for Black-led and other efforts led by communities of color to advance change. For example, in Minneapolis–St. Paul, we supported organizations shaping a new model of safety and well-being, led by and for Black communities. And in Montana and the Dakotas, we invested in new strategies that combine housing, workforce, and climate resilience for rural Native communities. We also helped launch and strengthen narrative efforts, which include supporting storytellers, organizers, and communicators building a shared vision.

Funding was flexible to respond to grantee partners’ expressed needs.

One way we moved money fast and flexibly was by amending grants to our current partners. For example, we gave a $750,000 additional grant to the North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems of Minneapolis (NATIFs), founded by Chef Sean Sherman, to provide greater access to Native foods for Indigenous communities, from production and distribution all the way to recipes and preparation.

We also gave a $750,000 amendment to MN8 of St. Paul, supporting Southeast Asian immigrants and refugees facing detention and deportation.

Other grants marked new efforts we’re proud to support, including a $480,000 grant to American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho Foundation (ACLU-Idaho), which uses storytelling to shift public perception, humanize immigrants, and support long-term justice; and a $250,000 grant to Black Collective Foundation MN to coordinate legal education and training that addresses unmet needs of Black communities.

These grants and more reflect our approach of investing in community partners closest to the issues and most capable of shaping solutions. You can find listings of 2025 grants here and explore quarterly snapshots of our giving.

We’re carrying the momentum forward into 2026.

The choice to double our grantmaking this year is about living our values, listening to our partners, and moving with purpose.

As we look ahead to 2026, we know our work isn’t near finished. The crises we responded to in 2025 are still with us, but so is the opportunity to invest in the people and movements working together to create something better. We close the year with deep appreciation for the changemakers in our region who are leading with courage, wisdom, and vision, shaping a more just future for all.