Supporting Our Community

Community Service

Community Service Projects

The Rotary Club of Edina’s Community Service Projects Committee organizes and oversees many programs in our community and the metro area.  Our club works directly with organizations and individuals in our local area and teams up with Rotary clubs throughout the district to hold meaningful events throughout the year. 

Among other things, Rotarians assemble food baskets and care packages at Thanksgiving for those in need, package food for Feed My Starving Children, host workshops on important issues such as opioid overuse prevention and human trafficking, assist in the VEAP food pantry, deliver unsold bread from grocery stores to food shelters, provide bell ringers for the Salvation Army, and donate Christmas gifts to local shelters.  

We also team up with many of our local grant recipients to provide sweat equity along with our monetary investments. Every year, we look for new organizations to team up with and provide fun and exciting ways to make a meaningful impact on our local community! For more information about our programs or to join our committee, please contact Director Nikki Ahlgren.

Community Service Grants

The Rotary Club of Edina, through its charitable arm, the Edina Rotary Foundation, provides grants for local projects and organizations.  Grant requests are accepted July 1-Oct. 31, with awards being given in the winter or spring.  The Community Service Grants committee oversees this grant-giving process, responding to the needs of organizations within our service area of Edina and contiguous communities.  We seek long-term partnerships that are sustainable, while at the same time providing for smaller organizations in need. Our club focuses on funding for tangible items (not operating expenses) in the areas of serving the disabled or disadvantaged, promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in our community, supporting education, safeguarding basic needs and serving youth.  Recent grant recipients include the following organizations: 

  • Assistance League of Minneapolis/St. Paul
  • Athletes Committed to Educating Students
  • Breanna’s Gift
  • Cornerstone
  • Good in the ‘Hood
  • Haven Housing
  • Hope Academy
  • Illusion Theater and School
  • Involve MN
  • JCS Affective Sober Living
  • My Very Own Bed
  • New Creation Baptist Church (NCBC Food Shelf)
  • Open Arms of Minnesota
  • Operation No Limits
  • Pillsbury United Communities
  • TreeHouse
  • Voices for Racial Justice
  • YMCA of the North
Please review our grant guidelines or watch our guideline video. Fill out our online local grant application before Oct. 31, 2024. After a grant application is submitted, it is assigned to a member of the committee for review. The committee makes recommendations to the Foundation’s Board of Directors, which makes the final decision on all awards.

For more information on Community Service Grants, please contact Director Nick Van Beek.