Medica Foundation Grant: MN Early Childhood Health

Medica Foundation Grant: MN Early Childhood Health is sponsored by Medica Foundation. This grant supports early intervention programs focused on the growth and development of children from birth to age 12 in Minnesota. With an emphasis on health equity, the grant prioritizes proposals serving marginalized communities, including BIPOC, immigrants, and individuals experiencing homelessness.

## About Our Grant Funding **The Medica Foundation funds organizations in the state of Minnesota. ** **NOTE:** Community support in other states within our service area is funded through corporate community giving and is by **NOTE:** An organization can receive just one grant per calendar year.

To request a grant, your organization must be a 501(c)(3) public charity, public/governmental agency, or one of the 11 Tribal Nations located in and providing services in Minnesota. A public agency is an organization established and primarily funded by a unit of government. Examples could include a public school, public health department, or state government agency.

* Capital campaigns / capital expenditures * Religious groups for religious purposes * Lobbying and political activities * Sports events and athletic groups * Direct support for individuals and families * Fiscal agents, unless the fiscal agent is an active partner in the program * Organizations with a pending 501(c)(3) status In addition to the specific focus of each funding area, below are some tips for completing a grant application.

These tips will support your proposal and will act as criteria for our grant review council to better understand your work, and to make the most impactful funding decisions possible. ### Demonstrated community need and involvement * Provide local and organizational data (if possible) to demonstrate the opportunity, problem, or community need your program is addressing.

* Share how you intentionally partner with the population you're serving and how they inform and critique your program. We prioritize investing in programs that are authentically co-designed with the community supported. ### Clear project explanation * In addition to how your program works, share why you use your approach.

We're particularly interested in approaches that tie strategically to advancing health equity for underserved populations. * Explain any existing models your project may be based on, including outcomes and why you selected that model. * If applicable, identify the organizational partners involved in your project, along with their level of involvement or commitment.

* Because our grant review council comes with varied experience and expertise, please avoid using specialist language a layperson may not understand. Please also spell out any words or titles before using an acronym. * Outcomes and evaluation metrics will be self-identified and funded proposals will be required to report on them annually.

Project realistic outcomes. * For the life of the grant, identify measurable outcomes and describe the benefits to program participants (improved health status, behavioral change, new knowledge, etc.). Describe the evaluation and measurement plan you'll use to capture needed data.

If you plan to measure changes in behavior or health, you'll need to identify a plan to measure baseline data. ### Accurate and complete project budget * Round the request amount to the nearest $5,000. We suggest you request the maximum grant amount if your program will realistically use the funds for the proposed program during the life of the grant.

* We accept existing program budgets in PDF form for easy review. It will help to submit a budget that articulates both revenue sources – pending and secured – as well as expenses needed for this program (staff, supplies, administrative overhead, etc.). This helps us understand the cost of your program and how you plan to realistically cover those costs, with our grant included.

* The grant proposal includes narrative questions to help us understand your financial reality. Please don't assume we understand your organization's financial position, along with the revenue makeup of your organization, field, or community. ### Viability and sustainability Once you've completed your proposal, reread it to ensure you've clearly described the following.

Each are necessary to succeed in your proposed work: * Human capacity (staff or volunteers needed, including their time and workload) * Resources (buildings, supplies, etc.) * Social capacity (trust, relationships, and influence) ### Strong performance on Medica Foundation grants * If applicable, we consider past grant performance in the application process.