Burgum Foundation

The Burgum Foundation is a small, closely-held family foundation ($3.4M in assets, FY2024) run out of Fargo, ND with a hyper-specific geographic mandate: rural North Dakota communities not connected to the state's larger cities. Founded in 2015 by Frederick (Rick) and Jody Burgum, it is governed entirely by family members — Frederick W. Burgum (Board Chair), Jodelle J. Burgum (Secretary), and Brooks F. Burgum (Vice President) — with day-to-day operations handled by an outside administrator (President/Treasurer/Executive Director Katherine B. Itterman, compensated $28,050-$48,000 depending on year) via Arthur Companies Inc. This is a lean, personally-governed shop, not a large staffed program office, so applicants should expect direct, relationship-driven review rather than a bureaucratic multi-tier process.

The grantee data confirms the geographic and thematic focus is not aspirational — it is real practice. Of 88 tracked grants totaling $1.2M, 82 went to North Dakota recipients (only 6 went to MN/VA/WA, likely alumni or affiliated-program grants like the Seattle Children's Foundation endowment gift). The largest and most repeated grantee is University of Mary ($261,640 across 12 grants), followed by Bill of Rights Institute ($199,270 for a 'North Dakota Expansion Grant'), and a long tail of individual rural public school districts (Devils Lake, Northern Cass, Jamestown, Central Cass, Rugby, Oakes, Linton, Ellendale) each receiving recurring multi-year 'Education Grant' support in the $10K-$100K range.

First-time applicants should understand the relationship progression is informal: there is no evidence of a competitive RFP or site-visit-gated process in the data. Instead, the pattern looks like sustained multi-year partnerships with a stable core of rural districts and higher-ed partners, supplemented by smaller one-off grants. New applicants are most likely to break in through a clearly rural-ND-based education, literacy, teacher-development, or behavioral-health proposal that is modest in size relative to the $1.5M-$2M the foundation distributes annually.

Total giving has grown steadily: $388,335 (FY2019) → $484,907 (FY2020) → $648,093 (FY2021) → $771,308 (FY2022) → $1,082,644 (FY2023), roughly a 2.8x increase in five years, tracking the foundation's asset growth from $3.08M to $3.4M and consistent net investment income ($172K-$652K/year). Grants paid (cash basis) ran $253,303 (2019) to $965,004 (2023), with the foundation drawing well above the 5% minimum distribution requirement in recent years.

Across the tracked grantee dataset (88 grants, $1,202,690 total, $13,667 average), typical individual grant size is modest: the foundation's own reported typical_grant_size shows a median of $8,121, average $14,628, ranging from $200 to $100,136 (n=38 sampled awards). Independent web sources report a wider observed range of $214-$165,485 across 29 awards in a recent year, consistent with the Bill of Rights Institute's $199,270 two-grant total sitting at the high end.

By program area, education dominates overwhelmingly — the vast majority of the top 50 grantees carry the purpose tag 'Education Grant,' concentrated in K-12 public school districts (Devils Lake $105,962/6 grants, Northern Cass $86,952/10 grants, Jamestown $55,654/4 grants, Central Cass $48,510/4 grants, Rugby $48,310/4 grants). A secondary 'Behavioral Health Grant' line appears at smaller dollar amounts ($3,000-$22,500) across five rural districts (Turtle Lake Mercer, Fairmount, Maple Valley, Hettinger), and a 'Rural TCM Program' grant to Nexus Path Family Healing ($87,790/2 grants) signals openness to health/social-service partners serving rural ND. Geographically, 93% of tracked grant count (82/88) is North Dakota; the handful of out-of-state grants appear tied to alumni-network or named-endowment gifts (e.g., Seattle Children's Foundation) rather than open competitive awards.

The Burgum Foundation sits among a cluster of small, similarly-sized family foundations in the $3.3-$3.4M asset range with the same 'Philanthropy & Grantmaking' NTEE classification, though most peers lack public websites or defined program areas, making Burgum a comparatively more transparent and accessible entry point for applicants.

All five peer foundations are essentially asset-matched to Burgum almost to the dollar, but none maintain a discoverable website, published mission, or application process — a common pattern among small unstaffed family foundations that give exclusively to pre-identified relationships. Burgum stands out in this peer set for publishing explicit funding priorities, an online application portal, and named contact information, making it meaningfully more accessible to unsolicited applicants than its closest financial peers.

The most concrete recent activity is the Teacher Empowerment Incubator at Valley City State University, launched in partnership with The Educators' Lab: an 8-month professional-development cohort for 12 rural ND teachers, kicked off in person on May 28-29, 2025, offering personalized coaching plus up to $1,500 per teacher in project funding for educator-led initiatives (covered by VCSU, New Dakota News, and Valley News Live in March and June 2025). This reflects the foundation's stated 'Equipping Educators' pillar in practice and signals comfort funding intermediary/higher-ed-run cohort models rather than only direct district-to-foundation grants.

The foundation's most recent Form 990 (filed November 14, 2025, for FY2024) shows total assets of $3,397,671 and total revenue of $691,373, continuing steady asset growth from $80,186 at inception in 2015 to $3.4M in under a decade — driven primarily by net investment income rather than new contributions (contributions received have been $0 in FY2020-2023, with a $1.03M contribution only in FY2019).

Administratively, the foundation operates under Katherine B. Itterman as President/Treasurer/Executive Director via outside administrator Arthur Companies Inc., with the Burgum family (Frederick, Jodelle, Brooks) holding uncompensated board seats. No leadership changes or new program announcements beyond the literacy emphasis and the VCSU incubator were identified in this research; the 2026 application round has closed and 2027 dates were not yet announced as of the research date.

Timing: the foundation runs a single annual review cycle with rolling submissions — for 2026 funding the deadline was June 30, and notifications go out by fall. Applicants who miss a deadline are automatically rolled into the next round rather than rejected, so there is no penalty for late submission other than a longer wait; however, time-sensitive requests should be flagged 'urgent' on the application or via direct email to info@burgumfoundation.org to get reviewed outside the standard cycle.

What they look for: proposals must be explicitly rural-North-Dakota (the foundation defines this as communities not connected to or part of the state's larger cities — Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks proper are unlikely to qualify) and tied to one of three pillars — Supporting Students, Equipping Educators, or Cultivating Innovation. Given the foundation's stated current 'Literacy Emphasis,' proposals that explicitly connect to reading/literacy outcomes, backed by a state well-being indicator or partner-identified need, are likely to receive extra weight this cycle. Behavioral/mental health access for rural students is a validated secondary interest (five districts received Behavioral Health Grants).

Common mistakes to avoid: requesting capital campaign or major-expenditure funding, sports/athletics funding, lobbying-adjacent activities, or direct-to-individual support — all explicitly excluded. Applying with pending (not yet approved) 501(c)(3) status is also disqualifying; use a compliant fiscal sponsor if your organization is not yet recognized.

Relationship-building: the grantee list shows heavy repeat funding to the same rural districts and to University of Mary (12 separate grants) — this is a foundation that builds multi-year relationships rather than one-off awards. First-time applicants should look for ways to partner with or model programs after already-funded intermediaries (e.g., The Educators' Lab / VCSU incubator model) since cohort-based, higher-ed-anchored programs serving multiple rural districts at once appear to be a favored structure. Given the foundation's small size (avg. grant $13,667-$14,628) and lean governance (family board + single outside administrator), a direct, concise application emphasizing measurable rural-student or rural-educator impact — rather than a large capital ask — fits the observed giving pattern best.