Grants

Grants will generally range from $5,000 to $50,000.

Other considerations include:

• Grants may be provided to purchase equipment or provide resources to make facilities more inclusive to children with physical disabilities.
• Grants must be intended to serve the long-term needs or requirements of many children rather than only those of particular individuals.
• Grants will be made without regard to the religious orientation of the organization or of the clientele being served.
• Grants will not be made to continue the normal operating needs of organizations, for annual ongoing programs, or for programs or services already available.
• Grant recipients will be expected to submit a midterm and final report on how granted funds were used.
• Grants will be made only to organizations that are public charities and meet the requirements of SEC 501(c)(3) and 170(c) of the Internal Revenue code.

Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Minneapolis

The Jewish Community Inclusion Program

$25,000

J-HAP, Inc.

Tenant and Family Concierge Program

$85,000

Minneapolis Jewish Federation

Special Education Funding Pool

$40,000

Sabes Jewish Community Center

The Center for Inclusion

$45,000

Sha’arim

Darkaynu

$22,500

Sha’arim

The Thrift Shoppe

$20,000

Twin Cities Jewish Chorale

Inclusion Program

$1,100

Yachad

General Operating Support

$35,000

Total 2016 Allocations:  $273,600

• Family education;
• Teen programs; and
• Professional development.
• Special Needs – subsidies and other support for the education of children and adults with special needs and their participation in all aspects of Jewish community life.  This includes the removal of barriers of attitude, communication, physical accessibility and affordability, the provision of other support to enable people with disabilities to participate in Jewish education (both formal and informal), recreation, and social activities.

• The target audience of any project or programming must be local.
• Grants may be awarded from the Fund to support both new and existing programs and/or subsidize tuition or a voucher system.
• The Fund’s advisory committee will consider multi-year funding requests to support innovative programming that will impact a large segment of our community with special needs and/or programming in the arena of collaborative education.
• Preference is given to requests that:
• Are programmatic in nature
• Assist those in the lowest income brackets
• Have a track record of proven quality
• Have a wide reach of impact on the community
• Requests will NOT be considered to fund education programming for individuals with special needs otherwise funded by the Minneapolis Jewish Federation through unrestricted funds or from the special education funding pool or for requests where funding is available through government, either federal, state or local, sources.

Grants from this source average $5,000, and requests up to $10,000 will be considered.

To be eligible for dollars from the Opportunity Fund:

• Applicant Organization must be a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization
• Program/initiative must fall within one or more of the Community Priorities (listed above)
• Program/initiative must be a ONE-TIME request for funds with information on anticipated sources of future funding for the program/initiative (if applicable)

Federation will give preference to programs/initiatives to invest in:

• New, innovative, and creative ideas
• Collaborative projects
• Seed funding to meet important needs or opportunities not otherwise being addressed
• Engaging new community partners or existing partners in new ways

The Federation’s Board of Directors must give final approval for all grants from the Opportunity Fund. If funded, applicant must submit an Impact Report (within 1 year of award).

If you have questions, please contact Judie Rothschild, Associate Director of Community Impact at jrothschild@mplsfed.org or 952-417-2356

SPRING 2015

CAPI USA

To help ten newly arrived refugees pay their first rental deposit.

Center for Victims of Torture

To support the Barbara Chester Client Assistance Fund.

Centro Guadalupano/Holy Rosary Church

To support the expansion of the Andale Readers Initiative for children in the out-of-school time program to include fun, creative reading activities

Guadalupe Alternative Programs (GAP)

To support the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program

Hmong American Partnership (HAP)

To support services for Hmong and Karen women victims of violence, conduct trainings for the Hmong 18-family clan judiciary and US courts personnel, and engage the Hmong community through a culturally-appropriate community education campaign on domestic violence

Jewish Community Center of the Greater St. Paul Area

To fund a year-long outreach and marketing campaign and subsidized memberships for East African immigrants in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the community center

Joyce Preschool

To address the needs of immigrant families through the school’s Padres de Familia Program

Lifetrack Resources, Inc.

To address the needs of immigrant families through the school’s Padres de Familia Program

Minnesota Literacy Council, Inc.

To support the work of your organization’s Early Literacy and Families (ELF) program

St. Paul Area Council of Churches

To expand the Farm-Faith Project by increasing the number of congregations and volunteers

ELIGIBILITY:

• Applications must be submitted on behalf of a Twin Cities Jewish educational institution, or the formal Jewish education program of a Twin Cities-area synagogue (including preschool programs).

DOLLARS AVAILABLE:

• There is a cap of $2,000 per individual application, with more dollars possible for organizations working in collaboration with each other to provide a joint program or project.

PREFERENCES:

• Preference will be given to applications that represent a collaborative effort between 2 or more organizations and serve or benefit a significant number of the institution’s educational staff. Monies granted are intended for educators and hence, not available for student or parent components. Furthermore, the EDGE Grant is not intended for covering salaries or stipends of attendees. Applicants should describe ongoing follow-up to ensure new learning is incorporated, how the new skills will be shared with others in the organization(s) if possible and show financial support from all sources including the requesting organization(s).

TECHNOLOGY:

• Grants cannot be used to purchase hardware
• Educational support materials (i.e. DVD’s, CD’s or software that supports either the presentation, implementation, or ongoing use of learning) can be included
• Programs that utilize online or other media devices must have some type of onsite facilitation or follow up that supports the program.

APPLICATIONS:

• Applications should be completed in full, and must include the following:

1. A detailed explanation of the program or project for which the funds will be used
2. A summary of who the target audience is, and how many will be served
3. A detailed description of desired outcomes for the program
4. A detailed plan for implementation
5. A post-implementation plan for reinforcing and sharing the knowledge gained
6. A plan for follow up evaluation to gauge effectiveness
7. A detailed revenue and expense projection
8. Please indicate whether the program could still be undertaken if the full requested grant is not received

APPLICATION PROCESS:

• All applications will be reviewed by the EDGE Advisory Committee
• Applicants will have the opportunity to meet with the EDGE Grant Committee to briefly discuss their grant request. Date(s) and available times will be e-mailed to applicants upon receipt of their application. Attendance at these appointments is not mandatory and will not weigh against their request, but will give applicants an opportunity to address questions the committee may have regarding their proposed program.

POST FUNDING PROCESSES:

• Grant recipients must credit EDGE (Minneapolis Jewish Federation) verbally, and in all written materials including the use of the EDGE logo in all written material.
• All funded programs will provide EDGE with (at minimum) a final report that includes:
  • A narrative outlining the outcome of the program/project
  • Break down of number and makeup of participants
  • Financial breakdown showing how the dollars were spent
  • An overall evaluation of the program specifically detailing the results of desired outcomes listed in application
  • A positive or negative reference for other organizations that may be interested in the program or project
  • Should a funded program take place over the course of an entire school year, the recipient will also provide a mid-year report updating the status of the funded program

NOTE: Failure to complete requested mid-year and/or final report may result in ineligibility for future EDGE grants.

Click here to apply

Recent Grants Awarded:

In December 2015, The Women’s Endowment Fund awarded $36,000 to five local organizations to support new and innovative programs and services that enhance the lives of Twin Cities women and children in the Jewish community. The grant recipients and funded projects, programs and services are: 

Advocates for Human Rights: To provide community and social service providers with information to help them to recognize and refer sexually exploited youth to the Safe Harbor Program.

Alliance Housing: To provide new and intensified mental health support for poor and homeless families referred to The Northside Supportive Housing program.

Creating IT Futures Foundation: IT Ready Women – to provide job training and related services to 25 low-income Minneapolis women through its IT-Ready Women project and place program graduates into good jobs in the IT industry.

Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Minneapolis: Renewing Life Support Group – Partnership with Pathways to support the expense for a nine week support group for people who have long-term chronic illness, a life threatening illness, or a caregiver of someone with an illness.

The Birthday Party Project: To partially cover the costs of birthday parties for homeless children at People Serving People in Minneapolis.