The Initiative Foundation is seeking applications for its Otto Bremer Trust Community Responsive Fund.
Donor Name: Initiative Foundation
State: Minnesota
County: Selected Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/22/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The Initiative Foundation is pleased to serve as a 2025 intermediary for the Otto Bremer Trust (OBT) and its Community Responsive Fund. Through this partnership, the Initiative Foundation will award grants to organizations whose work aligns with one or more of the OBT Community Responsive Fund focus areas, including literacy; adoption and foster care services; children’s health and disability services; mental health support; and capital projects for hospitals and clinics.
Funding Priorities
- Literacy. Organizations and programs advancing literacy.
- Literacy includes reading, writing, speaking, and language skills needed for daily life and work. This can include early childhood literacy, tutoring programs, adult basic education, English as a second language, and so forth. Services such as health literacy or digital literacy do not align with OBT’s current lens for the literacy focus area.
- Adoption and foster care services. Organizations and programs that support adoption and foster care.
- Children’s health. Organizations and programs that provide health-related access and services for children.
- This area focuses on providing direct health services and increasing access to services for children. Programs focused on food, shelter, or other basic needs do not qualify for funding.
- Children’s disability services. Organizations and programs focused on supporting children with physical/cognitive disabilities.
- Mental health. Organizations and programs that support access to and delivery of mental health services, with preference given to work that addresses the needs of children aged 5-15.
- Capital projects for hospitals and clinics. Activities supporting the maintenance of hospitals, construction of facilities, and purchase of medical equipment including medical software.
Funding Information
Grants awards will be $10,000 – $75,000 to support operations, programming, and/or capital projects.
Grant Period
Grant funds must be used within one year of receiving funds.
Eligibility Criteria
- The work must align with one or more OBT Community Responsive Fund Funding Priorities for 2025.
- Organization must have a physical location in and serve the IF service region – Benton, Cass, Chisago, Crow Wing, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd, Wadena and Wright counties, and the portions of the Native Nations of the Leech Lake and Mille Lacs Bands of Ojibwe which lay within these counties. Preference will be given to organizations headquartered in the IF service region.
- The organization must have a 501(c)(3) determination from the IRS.
- Government entities, including public schools, are not eligible.
- Private schools are eligible to apply.
- Government-owned hospitals or joint powers healthcare systems are not eligible.
- Affiliated 501(c)(3) hospitals and healthcare foundations may be eligible.
- The organization must have had 501(c)(3) status and been operating for the past five years.
- The actual expenses from the last fiscal year of the legal entity receiving the grant funds must have been $2 million or more.
- Organizations may not apply as a coalition and consolidate their finances to be eligible.
- A fiscal sponsor with expenses more than $2 million cannot apply on behalf of a smaller organization.
- The organization may not have an open Otto Bremer Trust strategic grant. Note: This is a grant directly from Otto Bremer Trust and does not include a 2024 Community Responsive Fund grant through the Initiative Foundation.
Evaluation Criteria
Applicants for the 2025 OBT CRF grant will be evaluated based on:
- Alignment with Funding Priorities: Applications must clearly illustrate how the program/work directly aligns with the funding priority.
- Evidence of Need: Applications should clearly demonstrate the need for the proposed work/program within the community. This could include data on relevant demographics, community input, or evidence of existing gaps in services.
- Impact and Reach: Applications should demonstrate the potential impact of the program/organizations’ work on the target population or community.
- Community Engagement and Collaboration: Applications should articulate how the organization and/or work engages the community it serves and how they collaborate with other stakeholders.
- Measurable Outcomes and Evaluation: Applications should clearly and specifically outline goals and objectives. Projects with well-defined metrics for success and plans for evaluation will be scored higher.
- Feasibility: Applications should outline the feasibility of implementing the work/program/project. Applications showing realistic plans for funding, staffing, and support are likely to receive higher scores.
For more information, visit Initiative Foundation.
