Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program
The Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program (NIGP) is aimed at supporting the missions of small, culturally led organizations by strengthening their infrastructure (aka, their Core Mission Support). We know that building the capacity of small organizations that focus on historically underserved cultural communities helps position them for greater impact in their community. Due to the success of the first two NIGP rounds, we received funding for a 2021-2023 Round of the Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program. These grants are paired with technical assistance on financial administration. Read our blog post for more background on the Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program.
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NIGP Details
Propel Nonprofits is happy to announce the 2021 -2023 NIGP grantees.
NIGP grant awards are designed to support meaningful improvement in an organization’s infrastructure, including technology investments, staff development, relationship building, or other opportunities to increase nonprofits’ core mission support. We made 38 grants of up to $48,520 for a grant period of 12-18 months. Grantees are required to receive post-award support from Propel in terms of managing the tracking and reporting requirements of this grant; they’re also asked to share lessons learned through mid-term and final grant reports and at a grantee convening.
How funds can be used
Organizational Infrastructure Improvement
Grants under this activity area can be used to improve organizational infrastructure. Eligible activities under this category include hiring staff or consultants to assist with: developing database management systems; developing financial systems; and building other administrative systems needed to increase the organization’s ability to access and sustain new funding sources and deliver on the organization’s mission. Other eligible expenses include investments in technology to improve internal infrastructure.
Organizational Workforce Development
Grants under this activity area can be used to increase workforce capacity that builds the organization’s infrastructure. Eligible activities include hiring culturally competent staff or consultants to expand programming capacity; providing training and skills development; and implementing other methods of increasing staff capacity.
Organizational Partnerships
Grants under this activity area can be used to create partnerships with other organizations to increase capacity. Eligible activities include the creation and expansion of partnerships with existing organizations that possess specialized expertise; and the creation of partnerships to increase the capacity of the grantee organizations to improve services for the community.
This is not an exhaustive list of activities that can be funded by this grant program. Propel Nonprofits will work with grant applicants to determine how and if their proposed activities fit within the eligible activities listed above.
2021 - 2023 Grantees
38 Organizations Awarded Nonprofit Infrastructure Grants
Propel Nonprofits, with a state appropriation coming through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development that was secured in partnership with the Coalition of Asian American Leaders, has awarded $1.71 million to 38 culturally led nonprofit organizations for infrastructure funding.
A full list of grantees can be found here: 2021 -2023 NIGP grantees.
These infrastructure grants will be used for everything from implementing new financial and data management systems to building staff and board capacity. There was strong demand from this kind of infrastructure support from nonprofits across Minnesota.
Questions?
Grant Contact
Naima Farah, Capacity Building Director
612-249-6671, nfarah@propelnonprofits.org
Previous NIGP Awardees
This grant program launched in the fall of 2017 and the first grantees were announced in January 2018 with another round of grantees announced in December 2019.
What past grantee’s have said about the program:
- “We invested in hardware for our staff, and replaced handwritten records at the farm with tablets. It’s a less visible change, but the new software and hardware has improved our data gathering and working efficiently from our multiple locations.” – Dream of Wild Health, Minneapolis
- “What this approach and grant has done is empower marginalized communities and people who run organizations on their behalf. We’re on the front lines and know what our communities need. It might not always be formal, because a lot of time the work we do is out of love and dedication to the kids we’re serving.” – ANEW BAM, St. Paul
- “You’ve given us the opportunity to actively and accurately recognize our weaknesses and actually solve them. You have enabled us to identify and embrace new tools, resources and ways of working that have built more efficient processes and more successful and new programming.” – Cultural Diversity Resources, Moorhead
Read case studies from two 2018 grantees: ANEW BAM and Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming.
The Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program is a partnership with the Coalition of Asian American Leaders and is made possible with funding from the State of Minnesota.