Vibrant & Equitable Communities Grant

The Vibrant & Equitable Communities Grant by The McKnight Foundation aims to foster shared prosperity in Minnesota through strategies like economic mobility, community wealth building, fair housing, and democratic participation. This grant supports organizations that enhance employment opportunities for underrepresented communities, strengthen community-focused financial institutions, and promote equitable access to housing and civic engagement. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, with a focus on systemic improvements for individuals and communities.

NOTE: McKnight has a one-step application process and accepts proposals on a rolling basis. We strive to make a decision and distribute funding within three months of receiving an application. Given year-end priorities, grants submitted and reviewed in the fourth quarter may take additional time. We recommend submitting your request by September 1 if funding in the current calendar year is critical.
Our Approach
McKnight’s Vibrant & Equitable Communities program fosters shared prosperity, power, and participation through four strategies: Accelerate Economic Mobility, Build Community Wealth, Cultivate a Fair and Just Housing System, and Strengthen Democratic Participation.
Within these strategies, we use all forms of capital—from our grants to our civic voice—to advance systemic improvements for individuals, communities, and society at large.
Accelerate Economic Mobility
We recognize that to create vibrant and equitable communities, all Minnesotans need high-quality jobs.
Our grantmaking priorities in this area focus on efforts that:

• Engage champions, allies, funders, workers, and private sector partners to identify and prioritize worker-centered approaches to high-quality jobs.

Develop and advance shared solutions among worker leaders, government, and the private sector to make gains in safety, wages, working conditions, and workers’ assets.
Build Community Wealth
Our grantmaking priorities in this area focus on efforts that:

• Strengthen key community-focused financial institutions’ operational and lending and investment capacity.

Develop and spread innovative and equitable lending and investment capital—such as new underwriting, risk management, due diligence, and credit consideration—resulting in new types of loans, ownership structures, and investments.
Increase private and public investments in Minnesota’s Community Development Financial Institutions and other community-focused capital providers.
Accelerate an equitable procurement strategy designed to increase underrepresented businesses’ share of contracts for products and services to the public and private sectors.
Cultivate a Fair and Just Housing System
Our grantmaking priorities in this area focus on efforts that:

• Increase political will and public support for public sector investments in affordable housing.

Expand capital flows to support project pipelines and resource efforts to make it easier and faster to produce and preserve affordable housing (rental and ownership) in our state.
Catalyze innovative housing-oriented wealth-building efforts, such as financial products, development practices, and models of ownership.
Strengthen Democratic Participation
We aim to foster multi-issue coalitions organizing in support of our program goals and to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in our democratic and governing institutions.
Our grantmaking priorities in this area focus on efforts that:
Support a strong civic infrastructure around the state through capacity-building investments in key organizations, networks, and intermediaries focused on civic engagement, organizing, and participation.
Census and legislative re-districting.

Eligibility

We provide operating and project grants to organizations in Minnesota.With very few exceptions, applicants must be classified by the Internal Revenue Service as tax-exempt nonprofit organizations to be eligible for a grant.Government entities may apply for funding for innovative projects.A note on lobbying and public policy analysis:The Foundation may consider funding requests for efforts such as advocacy and education to improve the policies and administrative rules of executive, judicial, and administrative agencies; information-sharing that is neutral, nonpartisan, and fully descriptive of both sides of pending legislative issues; and policy research.

Ineligibility

We generally will not fund activities that are traditionally the sole responsibility of government. We do not make grants for the following:Basic social services, such as food shelves, case management, or emergency shelterHealth servicesParks and open spacesTransit- and transportation-related effortsPre-K-12 educational programmingScholarships or other types of assistance for individualsConferences, including attendance or travel, except in rare casesEndowments and capital campaigns, except in rare casesActivities that have a specific religious purposeLobbying prohibited by the Internal Revenue Codethe Foundation will not fund attempts to influence specific pending or proposed legislation, including referenda, local ordinances, and resolutions.