Related Links

Links to Grantmaking, Nonprofit, and Philanthropy Resources

Minnesota Common Grant Application
www.mcf.org/mcf/grant/applicat.htm
The Minnesota Common Grant Application is designed to help make the grantseeking process simpler and more efficient for nonprofits. The form can reduce the amount of time grantseekers must spend rearranging basic information from one proposal to the next to fit the grantmakers' varying application requirements.

Minnesota Council on Foundations
www.mcf.org
MCF is a regional membership association of grantmakers. The Council's mission is to strengthen and increase participation in organized philanthropy. This site offers a wealth of information for grantmakers and grantseekers.

Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
www.mncn.org
This site offers information on Minnesota's nonprofit sector, including a searchable database on nonprofit organizations and a Nonprofit Library with documents on many nonprofit management issues.

Northwoods Nonprofits
www.northwoodsnonprofits.org
Northwoods Nonprofits is an educational program to help build the capacity of nonprofit organizations inNorthern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin through networking, collaboration, board-building, resource-sharing and life-long learning.

The Foundation Center
www.fdncenter.org
Serving the information needs of grantseekers and grantmakers.

The Grantsmanship Center
www.tgci.com
This site lists new grant announcements daily from the federal government's online Federal Register.

Links to Children and Youth Resources

America’s Promise
www.americaspromise.org
America's Promise - The Alliance for Youth, is dedicated to mobilizing individuals, groups, and organizations from every part of American life, to build and strengthen the character and competence of our youth.

Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota
www.cdf-mn.org
The Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota provides a strong and effective voice for children who cannot speak or vote for themselves. CDF-Minnesota provides services, such as research, publications, education, advocacy, and outreach to engage, mobilize, and motivate Minnesotans to consider the well-being of children in all private and public decision-making so that no child is left behind.

Connect for Kids Weekly
www.connectforkids.org
Connect for Kids, an award-winning multimedia project, helps adults make their communities better places for families and children. The Web site offers a place on the Internet for adults—parents, grandparents, educators, policymakers, and others—who want to become more active citizens, from volunteering to voting with kids in mind.

CYFERnet (Children, Youth and Families Education and Research Network)
www.cyfernet.org
CYFERnet compiles research and information from public land-grant universities nationwide as a resource for professionals who work with children, youth, and families, as well as for parents. It provides an avenue to connect with colleagues, share work nationally, locate funding opportunities, access grant-writing and evaluation tips, and more.

Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families
www.gcyf.org
Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families serves as a point of contact for grantmakers seeking collegial and collaborative relationships with other funders concerned with children, youth, and families.

National Institute on Media and the Family
www.mediafamily.org
The National Institute on Media and the Family is a esearch-based organization focused on the effects of media on children and youth. Its MediaWise® movement is being adopted in communities throughout the country to help families make wiser media choices and encourage parents to “Watch What their Kids Watch.”

Ready 4 K
www.ready4k.org
Ready 4 K is is 501(c)(3) nonpartisan statewide campaign of concerned citizens who are raising awareness and advocating for policy change to ensure that all children enter kindergarten fully prepared to succeed.

University of Minnesota Extension Youth Development
www.extension.umn.edu/youth
A Minnesota-based resource for Research and Evaluation, 4-H Youth Development, the Youth Work Institute, trainings, and more.

Zero to Three
www.zerotothree.org
ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit organization that informs, trains and supports professionals, policymakers and parents in their efforts to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers.

Links to Economic Development Resources

Anderson Center
www.acmbd.org
The Anderson Center is a nonprofit organization that provides management and business development services to facilitate economic progress in Greater Minnesota. The Center serves entrepreneurs, managers, executives, owners, and advisors from businesses and nonprofit organizations across Greater Minnesota. Among the Center's services are a number of highly focused Forums that may be held at their St. Cloud facility or in other communities around the state.

A 10 percent discount on Forum registration fees is available for qualifying organizations within the Arrowhead Region that receive a referral from the Northland Foundation. Please contact the Northland Foundation for information.

APEX (Area Partnership for Economic Expansion)
www.APEXgetsbusiness.com
The Area Partnership for Economic Expansion (APEX) is a private sector nonprofit organization tasked with expanding economic growth and business development in the Duluth area and the surrounding region. Its roots can be traced to the 2001 Mayor’s Economic Summit in Duluth, MN, where hundreds of business leaders and community members worked together to chart a new course for the region’s economy. APEX’s mission is to drive wealth to the region which will in turn create new employment opportunities.

Granite Equity Partners, Inc.
www.graniteequity.com
Granite Equity Partners invests financial and human resources in growing and profitable companies with revenues of $10-$100 million that are located within drive time of Granite’s St. Cloud, Minnesota offices. The firm focuses on management buyouts, recapitalizations, and growth equity achieved through the sale or purchase of a business, generational transfers, or business expansions.

Greenstone Group
www.greenstonegroup.org
The Greenstone Group is an initiative of the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund created to invest in the professional development of high-performing, high-potential entrepreneurs in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. The initiative seeks to foster a culture of entrepreneurship and strengthen entrepreneurs through group-based learning, peer support, and access to a variety of business services.

Iron Range Resources
www.irrrb.org
The Iron Range Resources Economic Development site describes the many financial and business development services that this unique state agency can provide to businesses located or locating in Minnesota's Taconite Tax Relief Area (TTRA).

Minnesota Community Capital Fund
www.mncommunitycapitalfund.org
The Minnesota Community Capital Fund (MCCF), a nonprofit organization, offers local communities and economic development organizations throughout Greater Minnesota the opportunity to participate in an innovative new development financing resource. This flexible loan fund is designed to leverage millions of dollars in underutilized local Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) capital. Through the pooling of RLF resources, the Fund provides its members with greater lending flexibility, the capability of offering much larger loans than would be possible with limited existing local resources, and no cost professional fund management services.

Minnesota Employee Ownership Fund
www.northlandinst.org/forums/about.cfm
The Minnesota Employee Ownership Fund provides subordinated, bank participation loans of up to $1 million to businesses in Minnesota that wish to transfer ownership to their employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The Fund also hosts informational seminars in Minnesota communities to better inform business owners, bankers, attorneys, accountants, financial planners, and others about ESOPs and their benefits to both business sellers and employees.

Minnesota Power Economic Development
www.mnpower.com/econdev
The Minnesota Power Economic Development Program provides site selection assistance, business development services, access to the Minnesota Community Capital Fund, and other special services for its customers.

Northland Connection
www.northlandconnection.com
NorthlandConnection.com is a web-based dynamic economic development research tool designed to provide the most current information needed to facilitate business expansion and retention in Northeastern Minnesota and Douglas County, Wisconsin. The portal contains data based on International Economic Development Council guidelines for site location including information on real estate, workforce, industries, infrastructure, resources and quality of life. It also offers direct links to Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Comparisons, a reference library, and a Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping tool for locating real estate and businesses.

Northeast Entrepreneur Fund, Inc.
www.entrepreneurfund.org
The Northeast Entrepreneur Fund, Inc. is a private nonprofit organization that provides education and technical assistance to help people develop their ideas for starting a business or expanding a small business in Northeastern Minnesota.

Northland Institute
www.northlandinst.org
The Northland Institute was established in 1996 as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) subsidiary corporation of the Northland Foundation. The mission of the Northland Institute is to develop innovative asset-building strategies for low-income individuals, entrepreneurial nonprofits, and community economic development organizations. The Institute is pursuing its mission primarily through the design of new products and services for the economic development finance field, the development of innovative new approaches to support employee business ownership, and the promotion of regional business networks to introduce business leaders to the most successful business practices and real world solutions to common business problems of our times.

Opportunity Finance Network
www.opportunityfinance.net
The Opportunity Finance Network is the leading network of private financial intermediaries, or community development financial institutions (CDFIs), identifying and investing in opportunities to benefit low-income and low-wealth people. Its CDFI Assessment and Ratings Service™ (CARS™) is a comprehensive, third-party analysis of community development financial institutions that aids investors and donors in their investment decision making. The Northland Foundation is an OFN member and has earned an "AA1" CARS rating for the Business Finance Program.

RAIN Source Capital
www.rainsourcecapital.com
Rain Source Capital is a multi-state network of RAIN^® funds that works with angel investors who are interested in supporting growing companies in rural communities.

The Northspan Group, Inc.
www.northspan.org
The Northspan Group, Inc., is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and diversification of the economy in the upper Midwest. Northspan offers a full array of professional business and community development services.

Twin Cities Community Capital Fund
www.tcccf.org
The Twin Cities Community Capital Fund (TCCCF) is an economic development financing resource for the seven-county Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. The purpose of the Fund is to leverage millions of dollars in Revolving Loan Funds (RLFs) and other economic development funds owned and managed by metro area local governments and development financing organizations. By pooling resources, TCCCF members have the advantage of offering much larger loans than would be possible with limited local resources, greater gap-lending flexibility for financing local development projects, and significantly lower loan risk—all with the support and services of a professional fund manager and experienced loan officers at no cost to Fund members.

UMD Center for Economic Development
www.umdced.com
The Center for Economic Development of the University of Minnesota-Duluth encourages economic development and innovation by providing area businesses and organizations with competent and timely technical assistance supported by training, education, and research.

Links to Aging Network Resources

Area Agency on Aging
www.ardc.org/aaa/
The Arrowhead Area Agency on Aging serves to make Northland communities desirable places to live and grow old. It links people with information; assists community groups and service providers with planning, coordination, and development; and improves the quality of life for older persons and their families through local and regional initiatives.

Older Adults in the Arrowhead Region: A Statistical Profile
http://www.ardc.org/library/pdf/census/NEMN2000censusbook.pdf
Released in July 2003, this comprehensive report on older adults in the seven-county region of northeastern Minnesota provides a statistical profile on demographics, living arrangements, economics, and indicators of well-being based on US Census 2000 data.