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Far-Reaching Support As a donor-supported foundation, the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) invests for economic growth in the 20 counties of south central and southeastern Minnesota. Since 1986, SMIF has invested more than $154 million in the region. According to Tim Penny, president and CEO of Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, SMIF’s key interests include economic and early childhood development and community vitality. SMIF’s programming includes grantmaking, lending, trainings and more. “We provide many annual grant programs that support these three areas of economic development, early
SMIF provides loans for new and emerging businesses including GoRout, a software company in Rochester.
childhood, and community vitality,” Penny says. “In addition to direct funding for projects in these areas, SMIF also annually distributes free paint for small town beautification projects and thousands of books to dozens of organizations for early childhood reading programs. SMIF also provides loans for new and emerging businesses as well as training programs that support entrepreneurs, early childhood professionals and community leaders. In all, SMIF has invested $154 million in the twenty- county region since 1986.” In Olmsted County alone, SMIF has provided 82 loans to businesses, investing $3.3 million to entrepreneurs in the county. SMIF has also provided 918 grants, investing $8.3 million through our grantmaking. An additional $12.8 million has been invested in Olmsted County through other programming and community initiatives. As Penny explains, some of the Rochester area businesses enrolled in SMIF’s Prosperity Initiative program (a program providing mentoring and technical assistance to new immigrant and minority owned businesses) include LMS Boutique, RANAS Breakthrough Counseling, Salient Oils and Merge Food Truck. “In response to COVID-related closures and restrictions, many businesses experienced financial losses,” Penny says. “The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (with
Beyond directly working with individual entrepreneurs, SMIF supports the business community as a whole by providing economic development and community vitality grants to communities.
Advantage Magazine | 7
March 2023
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