Service Area & Impact
Impact on Southwest Minnesota
Since its inception by The McKnight Foundation in 1986, the Southwest Initiative Foundation has grown to become a permanent resource for southwest Minnesota. The Foundation envisions southwest Minnesota as a highly productive and engaged region where growing numbers of people choose to live. About 287,000 people live in our 18 county area, which covers 12,340 square miles.
The mission of the Foundation is to be a catalyst, facilitating opportunities for economic and social growth by developing and challenging leaders to build on the region’s assets. The Foundation accomplishes this mission by providing leadership and resources focused on renewable energy and economic advancement, community development
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and leadership, and other efforts that
actively advance southwest Minnesota.
To date the Foundation has…
- Developed a permanent endowment fund with assets over $28 million
- Established the Paul and Alma Schwan Aging Trust Endowment Fund, a designated fund, with assets over $4.7 million
- Established 19 community foundations, which have raised over $2.5 million and reinvested over $546,000 into the communities they serve.
- Established 50 other designated funds including agency, donor-advised, field-of-interest and scholarship, which have raised more than $2.3 million and reinvested over $1 million for their specific charitable purposes throughout the region.
- Approved 1,824 grants totaling over $17 million
- Approved 390 grants benefiting the entire 18-county region totaling nearly $6 million
- Disbursed 528 loans totaling over $26 million
- Created or retained over 6,800 jobs
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