Finding Grants to Support Your Existing and New Programs Compiled by Todd Pernsteiner, Pernsteiner Creative Group, Inc. and NRPA
With everything happening during the pandemic, communities across the country are coming up with unique ways to bring recreation, fitness, healthy living, and outdoor activities to residents. There’s one challenge…funding from in-person classes, camps, leagues and facility use has come to a grinding hault leaving many agencies to search for ways to fund current and future programming. This presents an immediate challenge – being creative when it comes to funding methods that will help keep your department ahead-of-the-game and engaged with your residents. A grant from a foundation or corporation might be the solution. We’ve compiled a list of potential grants that might apply to your programming and community outreach. While this is by no means a complete list, we hope this offers you some unique ideas of where you might find critical program dollars, and perhaps help you to brainstorm some new ways to operate through the shutdown.
Landscape Structures Playground Funding Guide
Hiway Credit Union Foundation
St. Croix Recreation Minnesota Playground Grants and Funding Options Guide
GameTime Playground Funding Guide
Landscape Structures has a page on their website dedicated to connecting you with playground funding partners. The page also includes information on how to write a playground grant that gets funded. For more information, visit https://www.playlsi.com/en/playgroundplanning-tools.
St. Croix Recreation has a page on their website dedicated to playground grants and funding options. For more information, visit https:// stcroixrec.com/minnesota-playground-grants/
Hiway Credit Union Foundation’s mission: Passionately providing resources to enhance the overall wellness of the community. Donation request forms must be submitted 4-6 weeks in advance of your event/project. Email foundation@hiway.org if you have questions or visit www.hiway.org/about/foundation for more information and details.
GameTime helps communities bring play to more children and families. They have compiled a list of local, regional, national and global funding sources to help you find the funds you need. With more than 30 pages of sources, including contact details, websites and grant and deadline information, GameTime’s Playground Funding Guide is a valuable part of any fundraising toolkit. Get more information at www.gametime.com/ resources/playground-funding-guide
Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants
The purpose of MHC’s Legacy Grants is to preserve and enhance access to Minnesota’s cultural and historical resources and to support projects of enduring value for the cause of history and historic preservation across the state. When Minnesota voters passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment in 2008, the state legislature created the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund (H.F. 1231), a portion of which was appropriated to the Minnesota Historical Society for history-related projects around the state. Eligible projects fall into three project categories: history projects, historic preservation projects, and structured grants. Find out more at www.mnhs.org/preservation/legacy-grants/ funded-projects. Deadlines for small grant applications are Friday, January 8, 2021 and Friday, April 9, 2021.
*NOTE: This list of grants and funding was compliled using information that was readily available online. MRPA, Pernsteiner Creative Group, and their partners and affiliates do not endorse nor guarantee availability any of the funding programs mentioned in this article.
2021 Buyer’s Guide • MINNESOTA Recreation & Parks 21
