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Resilient. Rural. Community.
Blandin Foundation is all about Minnesotans imagining, leading, and growing resourceful, inclusive communities.
Foundation News
Blandin Foundation Invests More Than $10 Million to Strengthen the Itasca Area
Blandin Foundation awarded $10.2 million to 48 organizations across Itasca County and rural northern Minnesota.
Free Range Food Co-op Closer to Becoming Reality with Blandin Foundation Grant
“This grant supports a model of economic development that puts ownership and opportunity into the hands of the community,” said Kyle Erickson, Director of Rural Grantmaking. “This is community wealth building in action.”
Blandin Foundation Supports Reif Performing Arts Center Expansion With $475,000 Grant
Potential new facilities would serve as additional year-round cultural and civic hubs, and extensive community input will shape the feasibility analysis.
From Shared Meals to a Shared Vision: Marietta’s New Gathering Space
A grant from Blandin Foundation is helping the towns of Marietta, Bellingham and Madison to build a new community center.
Blandin Foundation Announces 2025 Local Grant Opportunities Open March 7, 2025
New grant portfolios are designed to strengthen Community Wealth Building, Small Communities, and Rural Placemaking.
Minnesota Women's Press Profiles Blandin Trustee Alice Moren
Alice Moren: Taking the Big View in Grand Rapids
Alice has been a Foundation trustee since 2015, and completed a 3-year term as board chair this past December.
Blandin Foundation Grant to Assist with Highway 2 Corridor Planning
A grant to the Grand Rapids Economic Development Authority (GREDA) has been awarded to drive regional growth and revitalization along the local Highway 2 (TH2) corridor from 5th Ave. E to 17th Ave. W.
This grant will provide for community-driven planning to strengthen Grand Rapids as a regional hub and improve infrastructure, safety and economic opportunity.
Q&A: What Are the Challenges and Opportunities of Small-Town Philanthropy?
The Daily Yonder talks with Jennifer Bevis, Blandin Foundation’s Senior Rural Advocacy Manager, about the charms of living in rural Minnesota, some of the unique challenges and opportunities of small-town philanthropy, and a big picture view on how we might reach a more prosperous future for rural people and places.
Blandin Foundation Goes Big on Small Communities
Announcing funding to 72 grantees in rural MN communities with populations under 5,000 in Blandin’s local giving area and throughout the state.
Spot Us
Blandin Foundation stands with communities as they design and claim their futures. That’s thousands of partnerships in hundreds of communities over more than 75 years.
Latest News
Blandin Foundation Invests More Than $10 Million to Strengthen the Itasca Area
June 30, 2025
More than 40 area organizations receive grants to build community wealth and resilience Key Points: Blandin Foundation awarded $10.2 million to 48 organizations across Itasca County and rural northern Minnesota. Strategic Community Alignment: The grants, ranging from $20,000 to $2.8 million, align with the Foundation’s priorities of community wealth building, rural placemaking and capacity building.…
GroundWork Blog
From Shared Meals to a Shared Vision: Marietta’s New Gathering Space
April 29, 2025
One Sunday each month, 80 to 100 people from Marietta, Minnesota, and surrounding communities descend upon the town firehall for a shared community meal prepared by volunteers from the HomeTown Group, a community enrichment organization that’s been connecting the community since 2009. For the small Minnesota community on the border of South Dakota, that attendance…
Blandin Foundation is located in the Grand Rapids area to which it has a perpetual and primary responsibility.