Blog
Grantmaking Year in Review: an HFJ update
October 2020
Beloved Community,
The summer was full of pandemic, physical distancing, mutual aid, and righteous anger. Through it all, HFJ grantee partners continued to care for community, fight for liberation, and call out for justice across Minnesota. Sometimes with grace, sometimes with fury. Always with hope.
With fall settling in, many of us are in back to school mode. We know it’s both familiar and different this year. As these routines become another new normal for now, everyone at Headwaters sends care to families, teachers, school staff, childcare workers, and, of course, to our students.
We are moving forward with our fundraising and grantmaking work. We also think it’s important to pause and share a few recent wins with you, because you helped make them possible. This is why we’re connecting with you today.
July 1st, 2019 marked a new fiscal year for Headwaters, and this past June 30th, 2020 closed it. During that time, we invested over $4.5 million in grants to 143 organizations* across Minnesota through the Giving Project Grant, Community Innovation Grant, Fund of the Sacred Circle, Communities First Fund, The Transformation Fund, and our donor advised funds, among others. You, our network of donors, brought this remarkable level of HFJ grantmaking to life.
Here highlights from our latest grantmaking work (expect more detail in our formal annual report, which will be published in early 2021):
- The average grant amount was over $30,000—up from a previous average of $15,000
- The latest Giving Project cohort raised and distributed over $230,000 to 14 organizations
- Communities First Fund raised over $1.1 million
- The Transformation Fund raised over $2.5 million
And here are just are three examples of what grantee partners have done thanks to these investments:
- Manidoo Ogitigaan paid stipends to community members who picked medicine, gathered food, made home deliveries, and assisted with disaster relief. They also provided PPE to essential workers in Ponemah, and supplies to border patrol workers on the Red Lake Indian reservation.
- South Sudanese Foundation, based in the Fargo-Moorhead area, hired a distance learning coordinator to help refugee and immigrant students and their families connect to and use distance learning. They also hired a rapid response community coordinator to translate public health information at local, state, and federal levels, and then share the information through phone trees and designated social media platforms.
- Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County used HFJ grant dollars for their emergency fund, which received 8,000 requests for help with rent, utilities, food, and medical costs in the first month of the coronavirus pandemic. They are the only organization serving the Latinx community in the Red Wing, Cannon Falls, Zumbrota, and Pine Island region.
One of our core values is trust in community. While we invested in community-generated solutions, we also saw you placing your trust in us. Your giving increased so significantly, it led to Headwaters doubling our previous year’s grantmaking work.
Never forget how we achieved this together during a pandemic and an uprising after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd. Joy Elizabeth, one of our most recent Giving Project alums, sums this season up best: “It is amazing to see how incredibly generous we are being, both with ourselves and with each other. We have abundance and know how to show up, focused, for the community right now.”
In solidarity,
HFJ Board Co-Chairs Avi Viswanathan and Coco
*The 143 organizations HFJ invested in (groups with a “^” next to their name received support only from one of our donor advised funds):
African Career and Education Resource, Inc
Afro American Development Association
AMAZE ^
American Indian Community Housing Organization
Asian American Organizing Project
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice ^
Biodynamic Cohort ^
Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council ^
BVM Capacity Building Institute ^
Center for Popular Democracy ^
Center for Third World Organizing ^
Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization
Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha
City of Lakes Community Land Trust
Community Stabilization Project
Council on American Islamic Relations -CAIR-Minnesota, Inc.
Defend Glendale and Public Housing Coalition
Elliot Park Neighborhood, Inc.
For The Culture ^
Frogtown Neighborhood Association
Good Food Purchasing Policy Twin Cities
Grassroots Indigenous Multimedia
Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery ^
Greater Minnesota Worker Center
Headwaters Foundation for Justice ^
Hispanic Outreach Program of Goodhue
Hmong American Farmers Association
Hnub Tshiab: Hmong Women Achieving Together
In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre ^
Indigenous Environmental Network ^
Indigenous Peoples Task Force ^
InquilinXs UnidXs Por Justicia
Leaders of Color Collective
Metro Quail Forever ^
Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition ^
National Black Food and Justice Alliance ^
National Network of Abortion Funds ^
Native American Community Development Institute
New Arab American Theater Works
Niibi Center
Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA)
OutFront Minnesota Community Services
Postpartum Support International ^
Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association
Resident Association of Greater Englewood ^
Restaurant Opportunities Center of Minnesota (ROC-MN)
Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment
Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation
Somali American Women Action Center
Southside Family Charter School ^
St. David’s Center for Child and Family Development
Third Wave Foundation ^
Trans Women of Color Collective ^
West Broadway Business & Area Coalition
West Side Citizens Organization
White Earth Land Recovery Project