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DONORS

Generosity. For Good.

The Mankato Area Foundation empowers individuals, families, and organizations to make a lasting impact through annual, lifetime, and planned giving opportunities. We offer personalized giving strategies and funds to help donors achieve their charitable goals in meaningful ways.

As a donor, you can shape your contribution by selecting from flexible funding options, including designated, unrestricted, or donor-advised funds. With MAF, you gain the benefits of a private foundation—without the complexities of startup and management—allowing you to bring your philanthropic vision to life.

Why Give Through the Mankato Area Foundation?

Choosing the Mankato Area Foundation for your charitable giving comes with unique advantages that make giving simple, flexible, and impactful.

Simplicity

We serve as your one-stop resource for philanthropy, making it easy to support the causes you care about. Whether you're passionate about local initiatives or broader community needs, we streamline the giving process for you.

Tax Advantages

Your contributions to the Mankato Area Foundation qualify for the maximum tax benefits available for income, gift, and estate tax purposes—helping you make the most of your generosity.

Flexibility

We accept a wide range of gifts beyond cash, including grain, land, and stock. Working closely with you and your financial advisor, we create a customized giving plan that aligns with your financial goals and charitable vision—both now and for the future.

Contact us to get the conversation started

PLANNED GIVING

Giving Looks Good on Us

You can easily establish a charitable fund (or add to an existing fund) at the Mankato Area Foundation that speaks to your philanthropic intentions. A bequest can be for a specific dollar amount, a percentage of your estate or residue of the estate. MAF would be happy to provide you and your attorney with suggested language to include in your will or trust.

Learn More

TELLING OUR STORY

A DONOR ADVISED FUND

Time-honored Connections

For the Richards family, the words “home” and “Mankato” are interchangeable. “My dad was a proud Welshman who had a strong sense of ‘home’ or ‘hiraeth’ in Welsh, and that was the Greater Mankato area,” said Marcia Richards, daughter to Cecil Jones. The family’s legacy starts with Cecil. Read More

TELLING OUR STORY

COMMUNITY IMPACT

Feeding the Need

A regional response to food insecurity.

How a coordinated effort is transforming excess into access across South Central Minnesota.

On the day Tom Polich agreed to meet to talk about food rescue efforts, he showed up with a spreadsheet of data and a car full of squash. 

The squash, part of a 684-pound rescue underway that day, was headed to the St. Peter Food Shelf and the Mayo Clinic Health System produce refrigerators, where it would be available for patients showing signs of food insecurity. Read More

GIVING IN ACTION

Philanthropy Review 2025

In this edition of the Philanthropy Review, you'll notice a lot of action words: strengthen, energize, transform, honor. Because when people like you choose to act with generosity and intention, incredible things happen. Behind every story and every gift is someone who chose to do something meaningful.

See Philanthropy Review 2025

News & Press

Who We Are


Since 1974, the Mankato Area Foundation has been dedicated to building a community of individuals that believe in the strength of giving. We continue today to shape Greater Mankato through connecting acts of giving with our community’s needs.

Location

Shared Spaces Philanthropy Center
212 E Walnut Street, Suite 1
Mankato, MN 56001
507-389-4583
Info@MankatoAreaFoundation.com

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