To spark positive change by increasing collective understanding of ourselves, our communities, and our histories through stories and experiences.
Minnesota Humanities Center’s grantmaking is shaped by humanities work that ties stories, heritage, and civic understanding to Minnesota communities. A large share of its recent awards flow through legacy and cultural heritage funding, including repeated support for children’s museums, immigrant and Somali cultural organizations, and projects that connect community identity to education. The center’s role is not just as a direct grantmaker; it also appears as a regranting intermediary for state legacy funds, with awards that move through organizations such as Minnesota Children’s Museum and Springboard for the Arts. Recent grants show that the center supports both institutions and community-based cultural work. Minnesota Children’s Museum received multiple awards, including a $494,912 grant in 2023 and a $472,500 grant in 2025, while Hunger Solutions Minnesota received several sizable grants tied to healthy eating and farmers market incentive work. The center also funded Giiwedinong Museum, Reviving The Islamic Sisterhood For Empowerment, and The Works, pointing to a portfolio that combines heritage preservation, informal learning, and community storytelling. Its public purpose statement emphasizes increasing collective understanding of ourselves, our communities, and our histories through stories and experiences, and the recent grant pattern reflects that mandate across museums, ethnic media, youth literacy, and cultural studies.
Children’s museums are a major part of the center’s portfolio. It gave $472,500 to Minnesota Childrens Museum for Arts & Cultural Heritage Grants, and $177,188 to Giiwedinong Museum for the same grant program. Similar support reached The Works Museum in Bloomington, which received $85,657 for Arts & Cultural Heritage Grants. The center also invests in cultural studies and identity-based education. Under its Cultural and Ethnic Studies Grants, it funds materials for K-12 students in Minnesota, including communities such as Hmong, Karen, Somali, and Oromo. That same education-and-identity thread appears in youth literacy, where grants support authors and organizations creating books and literacy resources for children and youth in Minnesota. Another clear area is community heritage and civic memory. Reviving The Islamic Sisterhood For Empowerment received $102,284 for Arts & Cultural Heritage Grants, while Speaking Out Collective received $95,665 through Legacy Cultural Heritage Grant funding. These awards show attention to cultural expression, representation, and community narrative.
$8M
$44M
$30.7M
$14.6M
Most grants fall between $15K and $50K, with a median of $22K.
25th Percentile
$15K
Median
$22K
75th Percentile
$50K
KEVIN LINDSEY
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Typical grants cluster around a mid-five-figure range: the 25th percentile is $15,000, the median is $22,200, and the 75th percentile is $50,321. At the upper end, the center also makes much larger program awards, including grants above $400,000. The funding pattern is recurring rather than one-off. Several recipients appear in multiple years, including Minnesota Children’s Museum, Hunger Solutions Minnesota, Springboard for the Arts, and the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota. The center is a regular funder and also serves as a regranting intermediary for restricted public-legacy funds. Some programs accept unsolicited requests, including Cultural and Ethnic Studies Grants, Children’s Museums Grants, Ethnic Media Grants, Festival Grants, and Emergency Response Grants; others are not open to unsolicited applications, such as the biennium Children’s Museum Grants and Youth Literacy Grants.
Grantmaking is entirely local: 100% of grants go to recipients in Minnesota. Saint Paul appears often in the recipient list, alongside Minneapolis, Bloomington, Mankato, Duluth, Little Falls, Park Rapids, Saint Cloud, Grand Rapids, and Hutchinson. The distribution is broad across Minnesota communities but stays within the state. This matches the center’s state-centered grant programs for cultural studies, ethnic media, festivals, children’s museums, youth literacy, and emergency response.
The center funds children’s museums, cultural and heritage organizations, ethnic media, youth literacy work, and community identity projects. Recent recipients include Minnesota Children’s Museum, Hunger Solutions Minnesota, Springboard for the Arts, Giiwedinong Museum, and Reviving The Islamic Sisterhood For Empowerment.
Typical awards are in the mid-five-figure range: the 25th percentile is $15,000, the median is $22,200, and the 75th percentile is $50,321. The recent grant list also includes much larger program awards, including grants above $400,000.
No. Several recipients show up across multiple years, including Minnesota Children’s Museum, Hunger Solutions Minnesota, Springboard for the Arts, and the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota. That pattern suggests repeated awards and ongoing program relationships.
Yes. The Cultural and Ethnic Studies Grants, Children’s Museums Grants, Ethnic Media Grants, Festival Grants, and Emergency Response Grants all accept unsolicited requests. Other listed programs, including the biennium Children’s Museum Grants and Youth Literacy Grants, are marked as not accepting unsolicited applications.
Its grantmaking is local and fully concentrated in Minnesota. All grants in the provided data go to recipients in the state, with awards appearing in cities such as Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Bloomington, Mankato, Duluth, Little Falls, Park Rapids, Saint Cloud, Grand Rapids, and Hutchinson.
2026
Source: IRS Form 990-PF, fiscal year 2026.
Current and upcoming funding from Minnesota Humanities Center that your nonprofit may be able to apply for.
Who can apply: Organizations responding to major events in Minnesota.
Deadline: October 15, 2026, or until all funds have been expended, whichever occurs first.
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Most recent grants reported to the IRS.
| Recipient | Location | Amount | Year | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunger Solutions Minnesota | Saint Paul, MN | $563,780 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Springboard for the Arts | Little Falls, MN | $535,812 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Minnesota Childrens Museum | Saint Paul, MN | $472,500 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Giiwedinong Museum | Park Rapids, MN | $280,493 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Dakhota Iapi Okhodakichiye | Osseo, MN | $239,611 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| The Works Museum | Bloomington, MN | $204,111 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| United Way of Central Minnesota | Saint Cloud, MN | $178,241 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Move for America | St Paul, MN | $169,850 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Children's Discovery Center | Campbell, MN | $162,000 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Duluth Children's Museum | Duluth, MN | $159,093 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS) | Minneapolis, MN | $149,200 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Oromia 11 | Minneapolis, MN | $145,546 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota | Mankato, MN | $143,000 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Asian Economic Development Association | Saint Paul, MN | $136,390 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Speaking Out Collective | Minneapolis, MN | $130,000 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Green Card Voices | Minneapolis, MN | $119,702 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| The Rondo Community Land Trust | St Paul, MN | $116,975 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Great River Children's Museum | Saint Cloud, MN | $111,894 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Art from the Inside | Maplewood, MN | $106,403 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Otter Cove Children's Museum | Fergus Falls, MN | $96,075 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Monkeybears Harmolodic Workshop | Minneapolis, MN | $94,500 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| East Phillips Neighborhood Institute | Minneapolis, MN | $92,160 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| The Film Society of Minneapolis St Paul | Minneapolis, MN | $89,600 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| WonderTrek Children's Museum | Brainerd, MN | $88,140 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| St Paul Neighborhood Network | St Paul, MN | $85,050 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| SPARK | Rochester, MN | $84,700 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| The Link | Minneapolis, MN | $83,370 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Zeitgeist Center for Arts and Community | Duluth, MN | $82,940 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Judy Garland Children's Museum | Grand Rapids, MN | $82,928 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Twin Cities RSE | Minneapolis, MN | $81,709 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Telling Queer History | Minneapolis, MN | $80,000 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| (neo)muralismos De Mexico | Saint Paul, MN | $78,067 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Vietnamese Community of Minnesota | New Brighton, MN | $75,927 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| StoryArk | Stillwater, MN | $72,562 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Mini Sota Agricultural Children's Museum | Benson, MN | $72,250 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Public Art Saint Paul | Saint Paul, MN | $72,131 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Minnesota Museum of American Art | Saint Paul, MN | $68,250 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Northfield Healthy Community Initiative | Northfield, MN | $62,502 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| The Urban Village Inc | St Paul, MN | $60,750 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| AFRICAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS | Saint Paul, MN | $60,300 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| ESHARA | Moorhead, MN | $58,320 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Serpentina Arts Inc | Minneapolis, MN | $56,433 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Youth Leadership Initiative | Minneapolis, MN | $56,250 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| 826 Msp | Minneapolis, MN | $55,880 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Youthprise | Minneapolis, MN | $54,203 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Dakota Wicohan | Morton, MN | $53,205 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Katha Dance Theatre | Crystal, MN | $51,776 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Midtown Greenway Coalition | Minneapolis, MN | $51,494 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| Hawj United of Minnesota | Saint Paul, MN | $51,376 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
| More Than A Single Story Inc | Saint Paul, MN | $50,865 | 2026 | Art and Cultural Heritage |
Giiwedinong Museum
$280,493Art and Cultural Heritage
Dakhota Iapi Okhodakichiye
$239,611Art and Cultural Heritage
Art and Cultural Heritage
Move for America
$169,850Art and Cultural Heritage
Children's Discovery Center
$162,000Art and Cultural Heritage
Art and Cultural Heritage
Oromia 11
$145,546Art and Cultural Heritage
Speaking Out Collective
$130,000Art and Cultural Heritage
Art from the Inside
$106,403Art and Cultural Heritage
Otter Cove Children's Museum
$96,075Art and Cultural Heritage
Monkeybears Harmolodic Workshop
$94,500Art and Cultural Heritage
East Phillips Neighborhood Institute
$92,160Art and Cultural Heritage
WonderTrek Children's Museum
$88,140Art and Cultural Heritage
Judy Garland Children's Museum
$82,928Art and Cultural Heritage
Telling Queer History
$80,000Art and Cultural Heritage
(neo)muralismos De Mexico
$78,067Art and Cultural Heritage
Vietnamese Community of Minnesota
$75,927Art and Cultural Heritage
StoryArk
$72,562Art and Cultural Heritage
Mini Sota Agricultural Children's Museum
$72,250Art and Cultural Heritage
ESHARA
$58,320Art and Cultural Heritage
Serpentina Arts Inc
$56,433Art and Cultural Heritage
Katha Dance Theatre
$51,776Art and Cultural Heritage
Midtown Greenway Coalition
$51,494Art and Cultural Heritage
Hawj United of Minnesota
$51,376Art and Cultural Heritage
More Than A Single Story Inc
$50,865Art and Cultural Heritage