Are you curious how participatory funding could work in your organization? We offer consultations with grantmakers and administrators, presentations for groups and associations, and more robust services like process design and facilitation. Depending on scope and location, there may be a fee for these services.
Participatory funding puts impacted communities at the center of funding decisions
Participatory funding is the process of individuals working together to determine how grants and philanthropic gifts are distributed in their communities.
Instead of a top-down model telling communities where to distribute money, a participatory funding and grant-making model supports community input and participation, allowing impacted individuals to decide what needs to be funded in the places where they live and work.
The result is increased community engagement and participation in the funding process.
Putting participatory funding into practice
Educators at the University of Minnesota Extension have worked with public and private funders to help facilitate participatory funding in a variety of ways:
- Helping leaders from Goodhue, Crow Wing, and other counties across Minnesota engage with community members impacted by the opioid crisis to determine how to allocate opioid settlement funding.
- Partnering with Capital Impact partners to design and facilitate the Catalytic Investment Awards from the $250,00 Michigan Good Food Fund.
- Facilitating Action Learning Seed Fund shared gifting circles across the state of Minnesota in partnership with food system and public health funders to advance equity-based food system work.
- Educating regional and national organizations about how to use participatory funding models, such as shared gifting, in their philanthropy models and work with food policy councils.
- Training individuals and groups on how to secure grants for community impact.
“I believe as champions of equity, there is no better way to give grants. I also might go so far as to say we shouldn’t do anything except this process as equity demands that we empower the grantees, rather than keep the power for ourselves. I received so much positive feedback from grantees, which is unheard of with any other grantmaking process ... I’m entirely sold on participatory grantmaking and am advocating for it every chance I can!”
— Alicia Belay, Assistant Director of the Community Engagement Unit at the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services
Free resources for shared gifting circles
Find out how to run a shared gifting circle online through our virtual simulation with the Chesapeake Foodshed Network or by downloading our shared gifting facilitation templates:
Incorporate participatory funding into your work
Contact Noelle Harden
In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, religious creed, disability, age, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA.
Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.), should contact the Agency (State or local) where they applied for benefits. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877- 8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.
To file a program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form (AD-3027) found online at: http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html, and at any USDA office, or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call 1-866-632-9992.
Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by:
1. Mail
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410
2. Fax 202-690-7442
3. Email [email protected]
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
For any other information dealing with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) issues, persons should either contact the USDA SNAP Hotline Number at 1-800-221-5689, which is also in Spanish or call the MN Food HelpLine at 1-888-711-1151.
This resource was funded in part by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP – with funds received from and through the Minnesota Department of Human Services. SNAP provides nutrition assistance to people with low income.
Reviewed in 2025