The Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation is offering $100,000 in incentive grants to nonprofit organizations or agencies of local, state, or federal government.

This is part of SMIF’s effort to invest in economic growth within the region.

SMIF is looking for grant applications that encourage new asset-based approaches on their two focus areas: early childhood development and entrepreneur development.

“We want to focus on very specific early childhood and entrepreneur development issues that we believe are critical to the long-term economic vitality of our region,” notes Tim Penny, President/CEO.

“These incentive grants are designed to support projects that involve collaboration and achieve sustainable, measurable results.”

Twelve incentive grants totaling $174,835 were awarded in the past year, including a $19,000 grant to Northfield Public Schools and $20,000 grant to Red Wing Ignite to open a business incubator.

The SMIF online application can be found at www.smifoundation.org under Applications.

For more information, contact Jennifer Heien at jenniferh@smifoundation.org or 507-455-3215.