Building Forward Fund Awards $1 Million in Grants

The Fund was created this year to support courageous leadership as Minnesota’s nonprofit community navigates today’s funding and policy upheavals. It was designed to invest in organizations that are rethinking how they operate, not to fill funding gaps or sustain current models.

“Facing enormous challenges that demand courage and bold change, these organizations are pushing past the status quo to face a new reality head-on,” said R.T. Rybak, President and CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation. “We stand with them through the complexity that comes with real transformation.”

Each selected organization will receive $100,000 to accelerate structural change, strengthen sustainability, or drive sector-wide transformation to meet community needs.

The Building Forward Fund was guided by an advisory committee of eleven leaders with expertise in nonprofit management, government, community development, food systems, philanthropy, advocacy, and housing. The Minneapolis Foundation is grateful to these leaders as well as two of its fundholders, Susan Boren and Steve King, who contributed $400,000 to augment the Foundation’s $600,000 investment in the Building Forward Fund.

The Fund’s collective decision-making process was facilitated by Patrice Relerford, the Foundation’s Vice President of Collective Impact & Giving, and Sara Lueben, its Senior Director of Impact & Collective Giving. 

“The committee’s diverse experience shaped our work and kept every step rooted in community priorities,” Lueben said.

Together, committee members refined the Fund’s focus, reviewed dozens of organizations, invited 17 to apply, independently evaluated 15 applications, and selected 10 grantees with strong potential for meaningful change.

“I was glad to join others in this process, especially at a moment when leaders and organizations are holding both urgency and possibility,” said committee member Bo Thao-Urabe, Co-Founder and Chief Belief Officer of Rooted to Last. “It was a way to practice our shared commitment to moving resources to organizations who are responding to the moment and actively innovating toward futures we imagine are possible.”

One grant will support Community Emergency Service, a food shelf in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis that also runs the largest Meals on Wheels program in Minnesota. With funding from the Building Forward Fund, the organization is renovating its lower level and installing 15 additional food lockers that allow clients to pick up groceries outside of regular business hours. 

“This grant allows us to rapidly scale innovative, community-designed solutions—from 24/7 refrigerated lockers to expanded appointment hours—that make food access easier, faster, and more equitable,” said Jamie Dolynchuk, the organization’s President. “It helps us meet record demand while advancing a food-shelf-of-the-future model that strengthens food security for our neighbors.” 

Photos courtesy of Community Emergency Service and The Good Acre

Another grant will support The Good Acre as it empowers farmers and food entrepreneurs. The organization’s Executive Director, Theresa McCormick, anticipates it will be able to double its sales to $6 million in the next three years, growing market opportunities for produce farmers in the region.  

“This award from the Minneapolis Foundation truly enables The Good Acre to build forward,” she said. “By investing in Minnesota’s farmers, we shock-proof our local food system, expand access to fresh produce in our communities, and make local food the first, easiest, and most accessible choice.” 

Here’s the list of all 10 grantee partners of the Building Forward Fund: 

• Community Emergency Service provides nutritious, culturally familiar food and connects neighbors in the Phillips-Midtown area to resources. The organization’s grant will support installation of 15 additional refrigerated food lockers to meet rising demand and renovate its lower level—improving the warehouse and kitchen to support people-centered services, expanded food rescue, and community meals and cooking classes. 
• Comunidades Organizando El Poder Y La Accion Latina (COPAL) is a member-based organization that works to improve the lives of Latine families in Minnesota by building collective power and transforming systems. Its grant will support equity-centered leadership by funding leadership training, shared-decision-making systems, and collective-care practices in policies and operations. 
• Dream of Wild Health creates culturally rooted opportunities for youth employment, entrepreneurship, and leadership while improving access to Indigenous foods and food traditions. The organization’s grant will enable it to adapt programs in real time, ensure consistent access to healthy culturally relevant food, build long-term capacity, and meet urgent needs. 
• Friends of Global Market supports the Midtown Global Market as a community resource for small businesses, cultural diversity, and free programming. Its grant will seed the new Friends Zone, which includes a retail space, a licensed commercial kitchen for early-stage food entrepreneurs, and a flexible kitchen where chefs, educators, and vendors can share food heritage. 
• The Indigenous Protector Movement is an Indigenous-led organization that advances community safety, land and water protection, and cultural survival. Its grant will fund InnoNative Consulting to strengthen strategic development and fundraising capacity—helping the organization shift from volunteer-driven crisis response to sustainable, community-based safety systems. 
• The Latino Economic Development Center is a Latino-focused Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that provides a continuum of small-business services, from technical assistance to lending. Its grant will invest in staff leadership through coaching and support development of a new strategic plan that incorporates business-continuity risk factors identified by LEDC. 
• The Minnesota Housing Stability Coalition works to address the significant threats facing the stability of low-income residents and financial health of the affordable housing system. Its grant will support long-term, multi-year strategy development, including coalition convenings, coordination of partners and workstreams, and development of a cohesive sector-wide approach to ensure the long-term sustainability of affordable homes. 
• The Food Group works across the food system—from production to distribution—while convening food shelves and sector partners. Its grant will support continued sector-wide leadership and fund a comprehensive analysis of trends and case studies to strengthen Minnesota’s food security ecosystem. 
• The Good Acre, the largest nonprofit food hub in Minnesota, is dedicated to empowering farmers and food entrepreneurs to achieve economic prosperity. Its grant will fund system, technology, and supply-chain improvements that the organization expects will enable it to double sales to $6 million over three years. 
• Youthprise advances equity so all Minnesota youth can thrive. Its grant will support new and existing partner collaborations, youth-led co-creation of solutions, and development of a multi-use youth hub in downtown St. Paul. 

Advisory committee members worked together to distribute resources from the Building Forward Fund.

Building Forward Fund Advisory Committee 

• Kate Barr – Independent Consultant; Retired President & CEO, Propel Nonprofits 
• Renay Dossman – President, Neighborhood Development Center 
• Kit Fordham – Principal Consultant, Fordham & Co.; Former Executive Director, Mni Sota Fund 
• Henry Jimenez – President and CEO, Propel Nonprofits; Former Executive Director, LEDC-MN 
• Olivia Jefferson – Vice President of Social Impact, Best Buy; Board Member, Greater Twin Cities United Way 
• Nawal Noor – Noor Companies 
• Allison O’Toole – Chief Growth Officer, Constellation Fund; Former CEO, Second Harvest Heartland; Former CEO, MNsure 
• R.T. Rybak – President and CEO, Minneapolis Foundation 
• Bo Thao-Urabe – Co-Founder & Chief Belief Officer, Rooted to Last; Independent Consultant; Former Executive Director, CAAL
• Hamse Warfa – CEO, World Savvy 
• Paul Williams – Independent Consultant; Retired President & CEO, Project for Pride in Living 

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