McKnight Foundation

08/20/2026

Join us in Minneapolis for an unforgettable evening celebrating Minnesota’s farmers!

On Tuesday, August 25, Food Tank, the City of Minneapolis, and the Minnesota Farmers Union will kick off the Minnesota State Fair with “Celebrating Minnesota’s Farmers: A Love Story” at Minneapolis Central Library’s Pohlad Hall.

Through powerful personal stories, live music, and immersive theatre, you’ll meet six extraordinary farmers shaping Minnesota’s food and agriculture system:

🐓 Trisha Zachman, Feathered Acres Learning Farm + Inn, is a Niman Ranch regenerative farmer committed to animal care, soil health, and helping the next generation understand where food comes from.

🌱 Mhonpaj Lee, founder of Mhonpaj’s Garden, leads Minnesota’s first certified organic Hmong-owned farm and advocates for food justice, land access, and immigrant entrepreneurship.

🌶️ Sina War, founder of Twin Tiger Farm & Gardens, grows culturally significant produce while celebrating Cambodian flavors, community, and heritage.

🐄 Emily Zweber, an Organic Valley farmer-owner at fourth-generation Zweber Farms, shares the story of organic dairy farming through education and advocacy.

🐖 Maddie Hokanson, CFO of seventh-generation Schafer Farms and part of Hokanson Family Farms, brings a powerful voice for livestock agriculture and Minnesota’s next generation of farmers.

🥬 Anita Fondikum, founder of Shining Lights Farm, grows organic vegetables rooted in her Cameroonian heritage and her journey back to the land, culture, and community.

This special evening builds on the sold-out success of Voices of Farmers: A Love Story, which has moved audiences from Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre to Sundance, SXSW, and Adelaide Fringe.

📅 Tuesday, August 25
📍 Pohlad Hall, Minneapolis Central Library
🎟️ Register here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/celebrating-minnesotas-farmers-a-love-story-tickets-1992660912430?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true

Come hear the people behind Minnesota’s food tell their stories in their own words.

08/19/2026

What does transportation that works look like? 🚲 🚃

It looks like reliable ways to get to work, school, healthcare, and the opportunities that shape everyday life. It looks like streets that are safe, transit people can count on, and communities where walking, biking, taking transit, or driving are all viable options.

Recently, transportation leaders from Minnesota, Illinois, and Michigan traveled to the Netherlands to experience firsthand how communities can be designed around people instead of traffic. They returned home with new ideas, practical lessons, and fresh inspiration for how to make transportation safer, more affordable, and more connected across the Midwest.

As Tenzin Dolkar, Senior Program Officer at the McKnight Foundation, puts it: "Transportation is about freedom. Transportation is about opportunity."

Watch the video to hear what these leaders learned and why they believe transformative change is possible in the Midwest, and check out the blog post on our website for more: https://www.mcknight.org/news-ideas/transportation-that-works-what-midwest-leaders-learned-in-the-netherlands/

Leaders featured in the film hail from the City of Detroit Government, Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan, State Smart Transportation Initiative, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Cook County Government, Commercial Club of Chicago, Minnesota Department of Transportation, and Mortenson Family Foundation.

Thank you to the partners who made this experience possible. This trip was led by Global Philanthropy Partnership with funding and planning support from TransitCenter, The Kresge Foundation, Mortenson Family Foundation, and McKnight Foundation. Program design was led by Urban Cycling Institute with support from re:consult. The film was created by André Kloer.

08/19/2026

This is a great example of what community-led innovation can look like. The Lower Sioux Indian Community is building more than homes with h**pcrete, an innovative building material made from industrial h**p used to create energy-efficient, durable housing while lowering energy costs and supporting healthier indoor environments. Through this venture, the community is creating jobs, diversifying its economy, and advancing a solution with benefits for people, the environment, and future generations.

We're inspired to see this story of self-determination, economic opportunity, and sustainable development highlighted by MPR News 🌱🏠

Hoping to diversify its economy beyond gambling, the Lower Sioux Indian Community has put its chips on h**pcrete, a sustainable housing insulation. The operation is part of a quiet, national surge in Native-owned startups. But steep challenges remain.

08/18/2026

“Democracy works when people show up for each other.”

In this powerful reflection, Minnesota community leader Lulete Mola, co-founder and president of Black Collective Foundation MN, shares what makes our state strong: neighbors caring for one another, people stepping into their power, and communities working across differences to shape our shared future.

Democracy is built by everyday people, not just institutions. It lives in the choices we make to show up for our communities, solve problems together, and take responsibility for the future we share.

As Lulete says, “This is the time to do the things that make your voice shake.”

Democracy is not something that happens out of sight. It is something we build together, day by day, through the thousands of ways we support one another, participate in community life, and make our voices heard.

Lulete’s reflection is a reminder that our voices matter, our communities matter, and each of us has a role to play in building a stronger future together.

08/17/2026

As climate impacts reshape lives across our country and globe, communities have an opportunity to show what welcoming, resilience, and shared prosperity can look like in practice.

We're inspired to see City Of Cincinnati Government, whose clean energy leadership we've highlighted in the past, exploring how it can support people and families seeking safety and stability while strengthening the city itself. It is a powerful reminder that climate solutions are ultimately about people, and that communities thrive when everyone has the opportunity to belong, contribute, and build a future together.

Across Ohio and the Midwest, local leaders are demonstrating that with vision, partnership, and care, we can meet the challenges of a changing climate while creating stronger, more vibrant communities for all. In Cincinnati's case, zoning changes would allow thousands of newcomers to settle in new multifamily apartment buildings while driving down rental prices for local residents.

🔗 Read the story about Cincinnati’s efforts by Alexander Nazaryan in The New York Times Climate Forward newsletter: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/climate/cincinnati-climate-migrants-plan.html

📽Watch our video with Power a Clean Future Ohio featuring cities like Cincinnati leading on the energy transition: https://www.mcknight.org/news-ideas/ohio-cities-lead-way-advancing-clean-affordable-energy/

08/12/2026

We’re excited to welcome Wini Froelich to the McKnight team as our new Events & Guest Services Assistant! In this role, Wini will help create welcoming experiences for the Foundation’s guests, staff, partners, and vendors, providing meeting support, coordinating logistics, and assisting with the day-to-day operations of our Events & Guest Services team.

Wini brings extensive experience in hospitality, events, and cultural institutions, having spent 20 years with the Minnesota Historical Society at Mill City Museum, and most recently as the Booking and Events Coordinator at Open Book. We’re thrilled to have her on our team.

Please join us in welcoming Wini to McKnight!

08/11/2026

Leadership shows up loudest in the hardest moments.

We’re proud to share that McKnight Foundation President Tonya Allen has been named to the 2026 The NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50. 🎉

This list honors leaders who kept showing up for their communities and the nonprofit sector through a year of mounting pressure, proving you can respond to near-term needs while still building toward a stronger future.

Tonya’s central belief is simple: to heal national division, we have to build local power. That looks like investing in the local leaders, organizers, and connectors who understand their communities’ problems—and their solutions—better than anyone else.

But Tonya’s leadership isn’t only about the causes she champions. Inside McKnight, across the field of philanthropy, and beyond it, she pushes others to lead with the same courage and conviction she models.

Congratulations, Tonya. As you remind us, “the future is not finished,” and we’re proud to be building it alongside you!

Take a look at the full group of honorees, each one proof of what committed leadership looks like right now. Please join us in congratulating all of these inspiring leaders!

08/11/2026

"McKnight took a bet 40 years ago on a new way of doing philanthropy."

A bet on rural communities. A bet on local leadership. A bet on the idea that the people closest to a challenge are closest to the solution.

What began during the farm crisis has grown into a powerful model for Greater Minnesota: six regionally rooted foundations connecting resources, ideas, and people to help communities shape their own futures. Over four decades, the Minnesota Initiative Foundations have helped turn local ideas into thriving businesses, stronger neighborhoods, childcare and housing solutions, economic opportunity, and lasting community leadership.

Hear directly from all six Minnesota Initiative Foundation presidents as they reflect on the promise that launched the MIFs and the impact that continues to ripple across rural Minnesota today.

As one president puts it, the MIFs are a "living, breathing expression of our communities" and proof that "the right resource, the right support at the right time" can create change that lasts for generations.

Thanks to Benya Kraus at Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, Brian Voerding at Initiative Foundation, Karen White at Northwest Minnesota Foundation, Tony Sertich at Northland Foundation, Anna Wasescha at West Central Initiative, and Scott Marquardt at Southwest Initiative Foundation for your leadership and sharing what “40 years of investing in your good ideas” has made possible in your regions.

08/10/2026

“People here are steadfast. They are reliable.”

Ben Sakry is a farmer in Stearns County. He moved to Melrose at the age of 20 and while he now has a strong support system, he admits, it took time for him to no longer feel like an outsider in the tight-knit town. Today, he says he wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

As we observe the 40th anniversary of the Minnesota Initiative Foundations, which elevate communities across Greater Minnesota, we are sharing stories about the people in them.

For more stories like this one, visit https://www.mcknight.org/news-ideas/why-rural-stories-matter-more-than-ever-a-conversation-with-filmmaker-lynn-melling/.

(er)Minnesota

08/10/2026

Tomorrow is primary election day in Minnesota!

Democracy works when people show up for each other—and voting is one of the most powerful ways we do that. Across Minnesota, every ballot is a way to help shape our shared future and keep power where it belongs: with the people.

🗳️ Make your plan to vote at mnvotes.org. There, you can check your registration, find your polling place, see what’s on your ballot, and lots more.

PS: Did you know Minnesota also offers mail-in voting? The deadline to request a mail-in ballot for the Minnesota primary has passed, but if you’ve already gotten one, make sure to mail it in by Tuesday, August 11. If you’d like to vote by mail in the general election this November, the Minnesota Secretary of State recommends you apply for an absentee mail-in ballot by Tuesday, October 20: https://www.sos.mn.gov/elections-voting/other-ways-to-vote/vote-by-mail-in-us/