GROW South Dakota Receives $5,000 Community Innovation Grant

The South Dakota Community Foundation (SDCF) selected the Northeast South Dakota Economic Development Corporation, dba GROW South Dakota, as one of eight nonprofit recipients in its most recent round of Community Innovation Grant awards.

GROW South Dakota will use the funds to host a Community Appeals Workshop to tackle key issues with a group of municipalities, county representatives, local employers and community organizations. Then GROW South Dakota will provide follow-up webinars and direct technical assistance to keep the regional partners engaged and working to accomplish their community or regional action plans.

“For the past 15 years, GROW South Dakota's regional strategy has been to bring our economic development partners together for peer-to-peer learning and provide resources to take back to their communities,” said Lori Finnesand, GROW South Dakota CEO. “The relationships that have been built during this time between GROW South Dakota and among the economic development partners has moved the region to a higher level of collaboration.”

The funds received by GROW South Dakota are part of the Community Innovation Grant program, which is a partnership between the SDCF and the St. Paul, MN-based Bush Foundation. The grants provide funding of between $500 and $10,000 to help uncover breakthroughs in community needs across the state. Applications for the final round of Community Innovation Grants in 2014 are due on November 30, 2014. Recipients will be selected on January 15, 2015. To apply for the grant, visit SDCommunityFoundation.org/For-Nonprofits/Community-Innovation-Grants/.

“The South Dakota Community Foundation is honored to award grants to help South Dakotans solve problems and address critical needs,” says Stephanie Judson, SDCF  President. “We strive to increase the amount of financial resources available to nonprofits and be a catalyst for change in communities across the state.”

Since 1987, the South Dakota Community Foundation has helped people reach their philanthropic goals and strengthened communities across the state. The SDCF administers over $200 million in assets for more than 650 endowed funds. Last year, the SDCF distributed more than $5 million in grants to nonprofits through the endowed funds it manages and the South Dakota Fund, which meets vital and diverse needs in the state.