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Established in 1940, The Saint Paul Foundation is one of the oldest, largest and most sophisticated of the more than 600 community foundations in the country. Today, The Saint Paul Foundation has grown into a major philanthropic force in the city of Saint Paul and surrounding areas. Through the vision and commitment of hundreds of donors, The Saint Paul Foundation is now the largest community foundation in Minnesota.
The Saint Paul Foundation was founded in 1940 at a time when a group of Saint Paul business leaders began to look to private philanthropy to supplement public funds to address community issues and needs. A community foundation provided a way to draw together many donors who could contribute money, often in their own names, to establish funds that would support a variety of community projects.
The first donor was Annie Paper a Lithuanian immigrant who contributed $5,000 in 1944 through a trust fund as part of her will. Through the generosity of Ms. Paper and other donors, the Foundation was able, in 1952, to make its first grant to the International Institute to buy materials for use in teaching English to prospective citizens.
In the years following, thousands of charitable citizens made gifts to support the work of The Saint Paul Foundation in the community. These gifts have included cash, stocks, bequests, life insurance, trust funds and other types of assets. Each year, the Foundation makes thousands of grants within the community.
We started out as one entity. Today, we operate through two entities, The Saint Paul Foundation and our statewide affiliate Minnesota Community Foundation. In our early days, we sought contributions to build funds to make grants. Today, due to generations of hard work by our corporate trustees and professional advisors, thousands of donors have contributed to these two foundations. |
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