2025 Reimagine Education Grants

The Minneapolis Foundation announces a call for proposals from nonprofits, schools, and school districts seeking Reimagine Education grants. Our 2025 grants will continue to support work that sustains and advances systemic changes to promote equity and improve academic outcomes for K-12 students. In addition, we will deepen our investments in evidence-based reading strategies and related training and professional development for educators. Read more about our approach this year.

Our Reimagine Education grants prioritize efforts to:

• Support public schools and school districts with the implementation of literacy strategies grounded in the science of reading, with the goal of ensuring all children can read at or above grade level.
• Elevate student and community voices and leadership to build bridges between schools, families, and communities in order to improve school climate, learning environments, 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 disparities in Minnesota’s education system.

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.

Application Process
The Minneapolis Foundation is using a new online application portal for this grant round. Applicants will need to set up an account in our new system, even if your organization has received funding from the Foundation in the past. We strongly encourage each individual grant writer to have their own account, as multiple accounts can be associated with one organization. It also ensures you will receive timely notice of your grant approval/denial.

We will begin accepting applications for these grants on May 19, 2025. All applications must be submitted online by the deadline of 1 p.m. on Thursday, June 19, 2025. We do not accept late applications or applications submitted via email. All applicants will be notified of funding decisions by late August 2025. Funding will be awarded in early to mid-September. The grant period is September 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.

Before you begin your application, we strongly encourage you to review and download this preview document.

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

What We Will Fund
We plan to award between $1 million and $1.2 million to 25 to 30 organizations. Grants will range from $25,000 to $75,000, with an average award of roughly $40,000.

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

• Professional development and training to support teachers and school leaders to implement evidence-based literacy instruction
• Recruitment and retention of diverse educators with equity-focused mindsets
• Principal and teacher leadership and collaboration
• Student leadership and power building
• Development of equity and climate frameworks
• Local or state policy advocacy
• Development and implementation of strategies to support student mental health and improve school climate and culture
• Efforts to engage students and their families in district and school-level decision-making

We are also open to other ideas that help create equitable outcomes for children and youth from local Black, Indigenous, and communities of color.

Eligibility and Geography
Funding will be awarded to public schools, school districts, and 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. We will prioritize proposals from organizations that have previously received Reimagine Education grants, which we first issued in 2021.

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

Further Assistance
Please email Patrice Relerford at prelerford@mplsfoundation.org if you have questions about your organization’s eligibility or the content of your proposal. If you have technical questions about this process, please contact our Grants Administration team at grantsadministration@mplsfoundation.org or 612- 672-8665. Please allow 1-2 business days for responses from our staff.