Grants and funding opportunities
Opportunity grants
These grants are ideal for larger projects seeking to leverage multiple funding sources. They are intended to help partners take advantage of opportunities to implement large projects that improve water quality or preserve, establish or restore natural areas.
Applicants are encouraged to use these funds as required match for other funding sources. A typical grant amount is $25,000, with a maximum amount of $50,000.
A pre-application meeting to discuss project details is highly recommended.
To determine application acceptance status for 2025, contact ellen.sones@hennepin.us.
For smaller projects with typical grant amounts ranging from $10,000-$25,000, we offer Good Steward grants.
Eligible applicants
All landowners are eligible to apply, including:
- Individuals
- Nonprofit and non-governmental organizations
- Local government agencies
- Businesses
If you're a renter, we encourage you to still reach out to us. We'd be happy to work with you and the property's landowner to identify and refine any grant ideas you may have.
Funding guidelines
Funding may be used for environmental or engineering consulting fees, materials, supplies, labor, and inspection fees.
- Ideal for larger projects seeking to leverage multiple funding sources from more than one partner
- Ideal for projects identified as priorities in the applicant's management plans (such as a comprehensive plan or watershed management plan)
- Typical funding amount of $25,000 to $50,000; maximum funding amount of $50,000
- No match required. Funds are often used for required match for other funding sources.
Application
There are no current grants available.
Learn more about grant eligibility and application requirements.
If you have any questions on the grant program or other funding opportunities, please contact Ellen Sones, ellen.sones@hennepin.us or 612-596-1173.
Grants awarded
We awarded six Opportunity Grants totaling $353,031 in 2024.
Sustainable Balance HUB at LynLake
$50,000 to expand its health-focused commercial property into an urban sustainability education and demonstration hub. Project components include installing a rooftop conveyance and cistern, converting a portion of their parking lot into a converting into a raingarden, and offering a demonstration and education hub to disseminate information on sustainable practices.
City of Eden Prairie
$50,000 to enhance and protect a remnant native plant community and woodland along the overlook trail at RT Anderson West Bluff Park through the restoration of an existing stairwell, stabilization of a drainageway and construction of a pretreatment settling basin to protect a nearby stream.
Woodland Villas HOA
$50,000 improve water quality, restore a natural pond, and protect and restore wildlife habitat within a 7.32-acre Association common space. The project will create a native wetland plant buffer by the pond and enhance the upland area through increasing native plant diversity.
Creekside United Church of Christ
$29,100 to remove four parking stalls within their current lot and replace with a raingarden planted with native pollinator plants to capture and infiltrate remaining parking lot runoff. The project goal is to reduce pollution and sediment from entering Diamond Lake and ultimately Minnehaha Creek.
City of Plymouth
$30,000 to construct a large raingarden at Parkers Lake Park to capture, infiltrate, and treat stormwater runoff before it reaches Parkers Lake. The raingarden will recharge local groundwater, re-establish wildlife habitat, and provide an important demonstration raingarden in a highly visible area of the park.
St. Alban’s Mill Condo Assoc.
$50,000 to reconstruct two raingardens originally installed in 1987 but no longer function as effective water quality treatment practices. The raingardens will capture and treat a significant amount of stormwater runoff before entering Minnehaha Creek, an impaired waterway.
City of Shorewood
$50,000 to restore an eroding channel from Shorewood Lane to a downstream wetland while enhancing water quality in the wetland and nearby Lake Minnetonka. Stabilizing the channel will reduce the amount of sediment entering the downstream wetland by 150 cubic yards/year.
Prairieview Center
$43,931 to construct five raingardens totaling 5,458 square feet to manage stormwater runoff from rooftops and parking lots and plant with native plants within a large retail center complex. Proposed water quality and habitat improvements on the property will result in a water quality improvement to nearby Smetana and Bryant Lake and Riley Creek.