The Lord’s Cupboard food pantry is among past recipients of the Minot Area Community Foundation.

as been serving the Minot and surrounding communities for 25 years. As the foundation celebrates its 25th year, it is announcing new initiatives to continue to serve the community.

According to the foundation’s website, over the past 25 years, the foundation has granted more than $22.8 million to help improve the community. In 2024 alone, 225 grants totaling nearly $1.36 million were awarded. This marked the fourth consecutive year of exceeding $1 million to support the community and surrounding areas.

Jason Zimmerman, the foundation’s president, started with the foundation in March of 2020 after leaving a career in a very different field.

“I was actually in banking and prior to that our family owned a couple hotels in town that we sold in 2012,” Zimmerman said. “It was just a unique opportunity to continue to serve my community. I’ve been involved since I moved back from the East Coast in the late ’90s.”

The flood of 2011 was a devastating tragedy for the Minot community. Without the help of organizations such as the Minot Area Community Foundation, rebuilding would not have been possible. During this time, community members come together in a way never seen before.

“After the 2011 flood, I was the flood recovery coordinator for the City of Minot and Ward County. So, just another way to be involved in trying to better our community. And when the opportunity presented itself to me, I had to take it,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman’s family has had a hand in helping the community, dating back to when his grandparents first migrated in the early 1900s. Zimmerman explains his rich history: “They hung a shingle and got in the grocery business. And the one thing they continued to pass along to their kids, and now to us, is being invested in your community and its success.”

Zimmerman explained the foundation’s role as a “funder” organization.

“By virtue, what we do in establishing endowment funds for our donors is to support local organizations or regional organizations or sometimes national organizations, depending on the donor’s wishes. So we’re a very small office. And so everybody is involved in pretty much everything,” he said.

Although the foundation supports the Minot community, it also supports causes in about a 60 to 70 mile radius around Minot.

“We accept applications from nonprofits and organizations that are designated by the IRS as acceptable recipients from our perspective. 501(3)(c)s are some of the organizations that are similar to that,” Zimmerman said. “We provide them funding to improve their projects or to improve their communities or to enhance their communities.”

Endowment funds are a large part of the foundation’s success.

“The donor establishes the endowment and the purpose of the endowment is that it’s held in perpetuity,” Zimmerman said. “After the donor is no longer here, those dollars keep going out to organizations they designate. They also build interest on these accounts.”

The agency continues to work with donors and agency funds. At the moment, the foundation has more than 79 different donors, 64 Foundation Friends and 39 Agency Funds.

One thing that sets the agency apart from other organizations is its ability to grant funds year-round.

“A lot of organizations will have a single granting period where they open it up for applications,” Zimmerman said. “We will grant all year-round.”

The agency has different donors and tiers, as follows:

– Individual and Family: $100 donation

– Business and Corporate: $500 sustaining

– Cornerstone: $1,000

– Legacy: $2,500

– Philanthropist: $5,000

This year, the new permanently endowed funds total $2.4 million. The donors are:

– Prairie Grit Adaptive Sports

– Magic City Lions Club

– Agency Fund for North Dakota State Fair

– four anonymous donations, totaling $2.1 million

As the agency continues to celebrate 25 years of supporting the community, the foundation has announced its “Match Madness” initiative, in which the agency will match up to $5,000 dollar for dollar to new additions to existing and new endowment accounts.

As the foundation continues to impact the Minot community, the foundation will release the details of the next stage of “Match Madness.”

“There probably isn’t a nonprofit in Minot, or at least an immediate 20 mile radius, that we haven’t provided dollars to at some point in time,” Zimmerman said. “All of our funds are donor-directed, and that’s really kind of the beauty of what we do.”