Image: Photo of the Blandin Foundation office as seen from the river, with snow covering the ground, a bright blue sky, and a mature white pine to the left.
Resilient. Rural. Community.
Blandin Foundation is all about Minnesotans imagining, leading, and growing resourceful, inclusive communities.
Foundation News
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 Announces 2025 Local Grant Opportunities Open March 7, 2025
March 6, 2025
New Grant Portfolios Designed to Strengthen Community Wealth Building, Small Communities and Rural Placemaking Grand Rapids, Minn. – March 6, 2025 – The Blandin Foundation announced applications for its 2025 grant programs open on March 7, 2025 for prospective grantees in its local giving area of Itasca County, Blackduck, Hill City, Northome and Remer. The three…
GroundWork Blog
Connecting Community Through Maadaoonidiwag ("Sharing Knowledge")
December 13, 2024
When Blandin Foundation announced a funding opportunity in 2022 with the specific goal of bringing communities together in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wanetta Thompson, a community artist, entrepreneur and enrolled member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, saw an opportunity. A past participant in Blandin Foundation’s Reservation Community Leadership Program, Wanetta had…
Blandin Foundation is located in the Grand Rapids area to which it has a perpetual and primary responsibility.