Northland Foundation and Valspar Foundation Invite Grant Applications for Free Paint Products to Brighten Northeastern Minnesota Communities

(January 11, 2010)

The Northland Foundation is partnering for the thirteenth year with the Minneapolis-based Valspar Foundation to provide free paint and coating products for community restoration or beautification projects. This grant opportunity is available to communities and non-profit organizations throughout the seven counties of northeastern Minnesota. Applications are due to the Northland Foundation by March 5, 2010. Awardees will be notified at the end of March. Paint products must be picked up by May 31st, and projects must be completed by November 1st, 2010.

Approximately 8-10 projects located within the Minnesota counties of Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, and St. Louis will receive grants. Grant awards are decided based on visual impact, public benefit, volunteer participation and support, intended use, and benefit to the needy. Projects that may qualify for a grant include historic buildings, senior citizen centers, community centers, public buildings and parks, murals, or other visual impact projects. Projects that do not qualify include churches, city maintenance, privately owned facilities, or schools (with the exception of mural projects). 

Since 1998, the Northland Foundation and Valspar Foundation have awarded more than 6,000 gallons of paint to more than 150 projects in northeastern Minnesota. Last year’s recipients in the region included beautification projects in Grand Marais, Northome, Duluth, Wrenshall, Hill City, Aitkin, Big Fork, Chisholm, Barnum, and Palisade.

To access an application, log on to the Northland Foundation’s Grant Pre-application page and scroll down to http://www.northlandfdn.org/Grants/PreApplication.shtml or call the Northland Foundation at (218) 723-4040 or 1-800-433-4045. If you have questions or need to request a hard copy of the application, contact Jan Amys, Program Associate, jan@northlandfdn.org.

Applications are available as a Microsoft Word file or as an Adobe PDF. If you need Acrobat Reader to view the PDF version, you may download it here.

Click to download the (203kb)
2010 Minnesota Beautiful application as a Microsoft Word file.

Click to download the (28kb)
2010 Minnesota Beautiful application in Adobe PDF format.