Aaron, philanthropy director with the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), presented an overview of the foundation's regional work and the organization's recent activity in Winona County.

SMIF described itself as a donor-supported foundation that invests in entrepreneurship, early childhood and small-community vitality across 20 counties in south-central and southeastern Minnesota. Aaron said the foundation has invested more than $170 million in the region since 1986 and reported that SMIF had deployed about $9.1 million in Winona County through loans, grants and programming to date.

He highlighted recent local activity: 43 loans, 399 grants to support community projects and more than $1.3 million leveraged into Winona County in the last three years through community and entrepreneur grants, training and technical assistance. The foundation also runs free continuing-education training for early-childhood providers and distributes books for children.

Aaron requested the county increase its annual affiliation support from $6,000 to $6,300 (a 5% increase) for fiscal 2026 and offered to provide a detailed list of recent Winona County awards and partner contacts by email.

Commissioners thanked the presenter and asked staff to receive the materials for follow-up. No formal appropriation vote occurred at the presentation; the board will consider outside-agency funding requests during budget preparation.

Ending: SMIF will provide the requested list of local awards and follow-up materials; commissioners will consider the request during the outside-agency budget process.