Mardag Foundation

About Mardag Foundation

Mardag Foundation’s recent giving is anchored by a five-year food access grant program: $100,000 per year to organizations serving low-income Native American, Indigenous, immigrant, and refugee communities in the East Metro and Greater Minnesota. That pattern sits alongside housing, shelter, and community health funding, showing a clear emphasis on basic needs and local systems that help people stay housed, fed, and connected to care. The foundation also backs capital and operating needs for community institutions. Recent grants include $75,000 to Lower Phalen Creek Project for the Wakan Tipi Center capital campaign and $50,000 to Northwoods Battered Womens Shelter Inc for its capital campaign. Other awards support regional partners such as Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation for community sharing and management improvement, reflecting a mix of direct service, infrastructure, and intermediary support. Its focus areas extend across children, youth, and families; older adults; arts and culture; food access; and housing. Beneficiary groups include Indigenous communities, youth, BIPOC immigrant communities, survivors of domestic violence, seniors, veterans, rural communities, and artists.

What Mardag Foundation Funds

Food access is a defining area of the foundation’s grantmaking. It awarded $50,000 to Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank for Nourish the Northland and $50,000 to Channel One Inc for Channel One Regional Food Bank, while its active Food Access Grant Program provides $100,000 per year for five years to organizations working with Native American, Indigenous, immigrant, and refugee communities. Housing and shelter also appear repeatedly. The foundation gave $50,000 to Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency Incorporated for AEOA Hibbing Shelter, $30,000 to Safe Haven Shelter for Battered Women for a shelter remodel, and $30,000 to Goodwill Industries Inc for the 2022 Transitional East Metro Program. In health-related work, it supported Ely Community Health Center with $50,000 for its capital campaign and Minnesota Milk Bank for Babies with $50,000 for Milk Bank on the Move. Arts and cultural preservation show up in grants such as $35,000 to City of Winona for the Masonic Temple Arts & Culture Facility and $50,000 to Bear Paws Cultural Art for general operations support.

How Mardag Foundation Gives