Otto Bremer Trust Strategic Grants

The Otto Bremer Trust Strategic Grants focus on enhancing the quality of life in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. These grants aim to support organizations that demonstrate a significant impact and align with the Trust's mission of investing in communities. The streamlined grantmaking process ensures that eligible organizations can efficiently navigate funding opportunities, fostering a lasting commitment to community development and stewardship of Otto Bremer's legacy.

Mission & History
Our mission reflects the intent of our founder, Otto Bremer. His vision and longstanding commitment to communities during and after the Great Depression endure today through the Otto Bremer Trust.
OBT is structured to reflect the challenges and opportunities found throughout Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. We are mindful of Otto’s extraordinary legacy and our obligation to be faithful stewards of his vision for the Trust’s perpetual structure.
Otto Bremer’s commitment to helping people and communities provides the cornerstone of the Trust’s investment philosophy.
Strategic grants are awarded to selected organizations for activities that align with the Otto Bremer Trust’s objectives and have demonstrated an impact that will be sustained and enhanced through further investments from OBT.
The Otto Bremer Trust appreciates your important work to improve the lives of people in your community. Because your time is valuable, OBT’s strategic grantmaking approach streamlines the otherwise lengthy steps commonly found in grantmaking.
We leverage internal knowledge, our robust funding history, engagement with external stakeholders, and research to identify strategic grant recipients.
Once we have identified a strategic grant candidate, we contact the organization to schedule an in-depth discussion and, in most cases, request some basic financial information. If a grant is awarded, we require a straightforward final report at the end of the grant period.

Eligibility

Strategic grants use the following as basic eligibility criteria.
Beneficiaries of the grants must reside in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and/or Wisconsin.The organization must have a 501(c)(3) determination from the IRS.  (Non-public schools are eligible.)The organization must have at least five years of successful operations.The organization’s last fiscal year’s actual expenses must have been $2 million or more.The organization may not have an open OBT strategic grant.

Ineligibility

Government entities, including public schools, are not eligible.