2022 Reimagine
Education Grants

The Minneapolis Foundation announces a call for proposals from schools, school districts, and nonprofit organizations seeking grants for work that advances equity in our local K-12 schools.

Our education guidelines prioritize efforts to:

• Elevate student and community voices and power to build bridges between schools, families, and communities and improve school climates and academic outcomes.
• Provide opportunities for educators to build their understanding of race and equity and implement strategies that create culturally responsive and inclusive schools.
• Advocate for policies at the school, local, and state level to address systemic barriers to racial equity in Minnesota’s education system.

Why are we making these grants? 

These grant guidelines reflect our Reimagine Education strategy, which uses a community-centered lens to ensure that the wisdom and experiences of students, parents, principals, teachers, administrators, and community members guide efforts to disrupt inequities in our schools.

Our education guidelines were revised in late 2020 and represent a shift in our strategy to a community centric focus on ensuring the wisdom and experiences of students, parents, principals, administrators, teachers, and community members guide efforts to disrupt inequities in our K-12 education system.

We were influenced by the perspectives of the more than 1,500 young people and educators who attended the All-Metro Student Conference in 2019 and the researchers and educators who developed the Reimagine Education reports: Expanding the Vision of Reimagine Minnesota and Education Equity in the Age of COVID-19.

Application Process

We will begin accepting applications at 1 p.m. on May 24, 2022. All applications must be submitted online. If you are applying for a grant from the Minneapolis Foundation for the first time, you will first need to set up an account in our online portal, GranteeView.

All applications must be submitted online by the deadline of 4 p.m. on June 28, 2022. We do not accept late applications or applications submitted via email. All applicants will be notified of funding decisions by August 14, 2022. The grant period is September 1, 2022, to June 15, 2023.

Grantees will be asked to submit a brief narrative report and itemized budget at the conclusion of the grant period. Please note our grant reports emphasize learning and reflection with our grantee partners, not judgment.

We recommend downloading this document to preview the application questions and prepare for the online application.

What We Will Fund

We plan to award approximately $1.2 million to $1.4 million to 25 to 30 groups. Grant awards will range from $10,000 to $75,000 with an average grant size between $25,000 and $40,000.

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of examples of the types of work we plan to support:

• Student leadership and power building
• Recruitment and retention of diverse educators with equity-focused mindsets
• Parent/family/community organizing
• Principal and teacher leadership and collaboration
• Equity and climate frameworks
• Local or state policy advocacy

We are also open to other ideas that help create equitable outcomes for children and youth from local Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities. Our foundation supported a diverse set of groups in Minneapolis and the inner ring suburbs in 2021 as part of the first round of grants.

Eligibility

Funding will be awarded to schools/school districts and 501(c)(3) nonprofits that organize students, parents, and community members, engage in education policy advocacy to advance equity and eliminate disparities, and help educators collaborate to build their understanding of race, equity, culture, and create positive school climates.

We will prioritize proposals that impact Minneapolis; however, we will consider organizations in the inner-ring suburbs (Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, Robbinsdale, St. Louis Park, etc.).

Current and past grantees may apply as long as the organization is up to date with any reporting requirements due to the Minneapolis Foundation.

FURTHER ASSISTANCE

Please email Patrice Relerford at prelerford@mplsfoundation.org if you have questions about the content of your proposal or the timeline for this RFP. If you have technical questions about this process, please contact our Grants Administration team at grantsupport@mplsfoundation.org or 612-672-8665.