Overview

WINGS grants support programs that contribute to the health, safety, education, socialization, artistic growth, and economic stability of the Northfield area. WINGS grants, which are awarded to both new and existing projects, encourage innovative initiatives. In awarding grants, WINGS considers not only financial need, but also the immediate impact of the project and the ability of the project to build future capacity.

Guidelines

WINGS awards two types of grants:

• Annual grants, of between $500 – $10,000 dollars, awarded every year
• Dare to Dream Grant, of $20,000, awarded every five years.

WINGS seeks projects with an emphasis on the following areas:

Basic Needs

• Housing Stability: Provide shelter and/or housing services to women and youth who are homeless or are at risk of homelessness.
• Food Stability: Increase access to healthy food for women and youth.
• Economic Stability: Increase economic stability for women and youth.
• Safe Environments: Support safe environments for women and youth.
• Elderly: Support safe environments and increase housing, food, and economic stability for the elderly.

Education

• Early learning: Support early learning efforts in preschool and elementary school for youth facing economic barriers or from under-represented populations.
• Out-of-school programs: Support access for youth with economic barriers or from underrepresented populations to quality out-of-school programs to enhance academics, athletics or artistic endeavors.
• Special needs and at-risk youth and adults: Support the learning of vocational and life skills for special needs and/or at-risk youth and adults.
• Adult learning: Support educational and developmental efforts of women facing economic barriers or from under-represented populations. 

Physical and mental health

• Healthcare: Enable access to healthcare for women and youth who face economic barriers, a lack of insurance, or come from under-represented populations.
• Healthy behaviors: Help engage youth and women in healthy, preventive behaviors.

Funding priorities

WINGS prioritizes programs that:

• address financial need and increase access to opportunity
• offer a proactive, innovative approach to solving a community problem
• address systemic change
• build capacity by leveraging resources through collaboration and partnerships
• enhance an organization’s abilities to carry out its mission
• result in tangible outcomes
• significantly impact the organization or the program

In addition to these funding priorities, the Dare to Dream grant emphasizes programs that stand out in providing innovative solutions to a new or existing program.  

WINGS is a founding member of the “Northfield Promise: Every child. Cradle to career.” collective impact initiative. As such, WINGS seeks to align its funding to help more Northfield youth reach the 10 Northfield Promise benchmarks.

WINGS strives to work alongside the City of Northfield in order to make the greatest impact in addressing local needs.  Therefore, WINGS seeks to align grants with the City’s strategic plan. 

WINGS cannot award funding for the purposes of: 

• Endowment campaigns
• Debt reduction
• Lobbying or sectarian purposes/programs
• Capital development/improvement projects, including iPads, smartboards, tools, etc.

WINGS gives grants to qualified non-profit organizations (organizations with 501(c)(3) status), public schools and government organizations for the purpose of general community support. Projects funded must benefit residents of the Northfield School District. Both the applicant organization and the project funded must comply with current legal requirements forbidding discrimination as to age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or national origin. 

Timeline – WINGS accepts grant applications from mid January until March 1. 

• Mid January – Applications open. 
• March 1 – Application deadline.  Late applications will only be accepted if there is additional funding available after all applications that meant the deadline have been reviewed.  
• March 2 to mid May – Applications reviewed by WINGS Grants Committee with an emphasis on the grant criteria.  If the committee needs additional information during this time, applicants are contacted via email.  
• Late May – Organizations fiscal status is verified and applicants are notified of application status.  
• Early June – Applicants are celebrated at annual grants celebration. Checks are mailed to grantees.  

“Dare to Dream” and “Dare to Dream Bigger” Grants
In 2014 WINGS launched a $10,000 Dare to Dream grant to be awarded to an area non-profit which WINGS felt had the most compelling dream to help women and children in the Northfield area reach their full potential. WINGS sought proposals that were innovative, impacted the community and built capacity. Applicants outlined ideas that could not be carried out without this financial award. This award did not take the place of annual grants, but rather created a new and exciting way to encourage applicants to take risks and dream big with either a new endeavor or an enhancement to a current initiative. A $10,000 grant was offered again in 2016.
In 2018, WINGS dreamed bigger, offering a $25,000 award to fund a project that was innovative, had the potential to impact a large number of women or youth in the Northfield area and would have a long term effect beyond the three years of the grant.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2020, WINGS awarded a $20,000 grant and made a commitment to award a Dare to Dream grant every five years. 
To celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2025, WINGS awarded a $25,000 Dare to Dream grant.