Blooming Prairie's Qualifications

The Blooming Prairie Foundation was established with money generated from the sale of Blooming Prairie Cooperative Warehouse, a cooperative distributor of natural and organic products, serving cooperatives, retail stores and buying clubs in a 12-state Midwestern area from the warehouse in Iowa City, Iowa, and from Blooming Prairie Natural Foods in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For over two decades Blooming Prairie brought knowledge and products to a growing population that genuinely values personal health as well as the ecological health of our planet.

Blooming Prairie Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization with specific purposes. These purposes are established to memorialize the pioneering spirit of Blooming Prairie Cooperative Warehouse in its market area, in the industry, and in the lives of the families who benefited from the products, and the courage and diligence of the people who brought them to market.

These are the activities that the Blooming Prairie Foundation was formed to pursue in furtherance of these purposes, which include the following:

Blooming Prairie Foundation will work to further the health of the people and the planet and the cooperative business model by supporting development, research, and educational efforts in the organic industry and the cooperative community; Blooming Prairie Foundation will work to encourage, support, promote and enhance the development of organic and natural products; Blooming Prairie Foundation will work to encourage, support, promote and enhance cooperative development in the natural products industry.

 

The Blooming Prairie Foundation has specific qualification requirements for grant applicants. First, and most significantly, Blooming Prairie Foundation is legally obligated by IRS regulations to make grants to other organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. This means that Blooming Prairie Foundation is not allowed to make grants to individuals, cooperatives, retail stores, production or distribution companies, or any other group of individuals that has not applied for and received tax-exempt status at this time. Grants cannot be made to organizations in the process of obtaining tax-exempt status until tax-exempt status is final.

Therefore, only charitable, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations that are working in the areas of development, research, education, promotion and enhancement of organic and natural products, and also within that universe, organizations that are working to promote and enhance the cooperative business model, are qualified to apply for a grant from Blooming Prairie Foundation.

In the future, Blooming Prairie may also make grants to individuals, but only upon advance approval from the IRS, and only with assurance of specific monitoring procedures.

Determination of qualification for each grant applicant is made by the Board of Directors of Blooming Prairie Foundation and its legal counsel. Before completing the forms for application, potential grantees are encouraged to establish qualification by email.