If you were taking a windshield tour of Eden Prairie to find projects that the Foundation has influenced or helped accomplish, you’d need to take plenty of time and expect to put quite a few miles on your vehicle.

The Foundation has awarded more than 500 grants over its lifetime, and been fiscal sponsor to more than a dozen organizations and projects. So, it’s no exaggeration to say the Foundation has touched just about every corner of Eden Prairie.

The four stops shown in the graphic below would need to be at the top of your windshield-tour list, but here are a few more you might want to see:

• The Let’s Go Fishing launch at Riley Lake Park. The Foundation has helped pay for a dock, boat lift, and storage shelter so this nonprofit can serve more people.
• The city’s historic Smith-Douglas-More house, where a back-yard gazebo was funded by the Foundation.
• The Foundation-funded fountain at Purgatory Creek Park.
• And, the Staring Lake Amphitheatre, which has received funding for its stage and sound system.

Other grants over the past 36 years have gone to park and trail signage, fire-safety demonstration gear, musical instruments and band uniforms, facilities and equipment to help people with special needs, and much, much more.

We have the full list of grants online, if you’d like to check it out.

The Foundation exists to help fill unmet needs in Eden Prairie, and help others with their philanthropic interests – especially if those interests will help create a better community.

You’ll find the Foundation’s fingerprints just about anywhere you go in Eden Prairie.