Funding

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We fund in the state of Minnesota with priority given to the seven-county metro area.

The best use of Sauer Family Foundation funding is to create change, fill gaps, or help create something new in an organization, government agency, or system. The Sauer Family Foundation is particularly interested in grants that support work in systems and agencies that keeps children in safe, supported families, decreases toxic stress and moves them to resiliency.

There will be two grant rounds in 2019 with due dates of Friday, March 8th and Friday, August 30th. Through our funding we want to:

Child Welfare (Child Protection, Foster Care, and Adoption)

• Help create systems that are focused on child, youth and family well-being. This includes family-first practices that supports parents and relatives to meet the needs of their children, as prevention to child protection involvement.
• Implement culturally appropriate training and support for professionals and parents that reduces toxic stress for children.
• Create more opportunities for children and youth to connect with permanent, nonpaid, supportive adults in their lives.
• Increase advocacy for foster care children and youth.

Early Childhood Education.

• Implement effective methods of lowering toxic stress in children ages 0-5 years old.
• Implement trauma/toxic stress education and support in early childhood programs that reduces behavior issues and expulsions.
• Implement effective trauma/toxic stress programs for Native American children ages 0-5.

K-12 Education – Public, Private & Charter Schools

• Implement school-wide toxic stress reduction programs that decrease behavior referrals, suspensions and expulsions.
• Implement affordable teacher and school leader preparation pathways and support so the adults are strong leaders who reflect the diversity of the student population.
• Create programs that attract high school students of color into teacher preparation programs.
• Implement personalized, competency-based learning.

The deadline for the spring grants is Friday, March 8, 2019, and the deadline for fall grants is Friday, August 30th, 2019. If you feel your organization or project fits into our funding priorities, please send an email to Colleen O’Keefe, our Executive Director, at Colleen@sauerff.org to discuss the potential fit. If Colleen invites you to apply, you will be given a username and password for our online grant system.

All applicants must comply with all Federal, State and local non-discrimination laws. The Sauer Family Foundation does not make grants to individuals, political and lobbying activities, endowments, deficit or debt reduction, fundraising activities or advertising.

Early Childhood

Brain development begins from day one, and we believe that early childhood development is critical for putting children on the path for a healthy, thriving life.

K-12 Education

Education is the pathway out of poverty. Every child deserves a relevant education that captures their interests and propels them into a career.

Child Welfare

How do we attend to our most vulnerable children? When children are abused or neglected, we need to attend to the child's well-being and support their family.