This month the Bush Foundation’s Community Innovation grant program intermediaries awarded more than $380,000 in Community Innovation grants to 40 organizations across Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
In Minnesota, Headwaters Foundation for Justice awarded $114,500 to 12 organizations. The Consensus Council awarded a total of $131,603 to 14 organizations in North Dakota. The South Dakota Community Foundation awarded $137,250 to 14 organizations.
“Our Community Innovation intermediaries expand the impact of our Community Innovation program throughout the region. Thanks to their work we are able to get more communities the resources they need to pursue solutions to the challenges they face,” said Molly Matheson Guren, Community Innovation co-director.
The Bush Foundation launched the Community Innovation grant program in 2013, offering grants between $10,000 and $200,000 to support communities to use problem-solving processes that lead to more effective, equitable and sustainable solutions. In 2014, recognizing an opportunity to deepen the program’s reach across the region, the Foundation developed a partnership model to enable three intermediary organizations to award Community Innovation grants between $500 and $10,000.
After an in-depth search, the Foundation selected Headwaters, The Consensus Council, and the South Dakota Community Foundation as its Community Innovation intermediaries. Each organization agreed to abide by the Community Innovation grant program’s philosophy, content and criteria. The Bush Foundation agreed that each intermediary would make its own funding decisions.
“It was exciting to think about how the new programs would benefit a greater scope and diversity of organizations and projects—as well as about how perfect each intermediary is for the partnership,” said Gruen.
In their first year, the intermediaries managed three cycles of Community Innovation grants. Together, the intermediaries awarded 67 grants that totaled nearly $650,000. In 2015, each intermediary has $400,000 available in Community Innovation grantmaking funds — a significant increase over the previous year. The Foundation coordinates regular convenings and one-to-one check-ins with the intermediaries that serve as a guiding touchstone. This, in turn, ensures that a well-balanced portfolio of grantees emerges from one cycle to the next.
“The impact of these resources coming to North Dakota cannot be understated — they help to meet the needs of non-profit organizations engaged in creative and critical projects,” said Rose Stoller, executive director of The Consensus Council.
“We’re grateful for our partnership with the Bush Foundation’s Community Innovation grant program, and we’re pleased to offer support for organizations driving innovation in social change,” said Maria De La Cruz, associate executive director at Headwaters.
Stephanie Judson, president of the South Dakota Community Foundation, believes “the partnership is a wonderful opportunity for us to bring additional resources that foster a culture of innovative thinking to the state.”
To date, Headwaters has chosen 22 Community Innovation grantee organizations; The Consensus Council has chosen 24; and the South Dakota Community Foundation has chosen 21. The intermediaries will each open their next rounds of Community Innovation grants in May of 2015. The Bush Foundation will announce its 2015 Community Innovation grant recipients in May 2015 and open its next application round in the fall of 2015.