From $8,181 in 1998 to 304 schools in 116 Minnesota cities. Totals through December 31, 2025.
In 1998, five households contributed $8,181 to promote peace and address violence in the world. They started a private foundation. It became what we know today as PeaceMaker Minnesota.
This is the first post on our News & Updates page, so it's only right to begin at the beginning. Here is how 28 years of work grew from that first $8,181.
28 years in peacemaking education | 304 schools served | 116 Minnesota cities. Totals since PeaceMaker began, through December 31, 2025.
It started with five households
On May 10, 1998, the group incorporated as Peace Maker Foundation. It began by giving scholarships to college students doing international research on peacemaking.
Then we turned to schools
In 2000, we began helping schools with money, starting with $400 for Trinity Catholic School in St. Paul. Before long, preventing violence in schools was all we did.
In 2005, State of Minnesota employees could give through payroll deductions. In 2007, Dan McNeil, one of our founders, joined us as part-time Executive Director.
From private foundation to public charity
A private foundation is usually funded by a small group. A public charity runs on support from many people. We made that change on purpose.
In 2009, Peace Maker Foundation told the IRS it intended to become a public charity and received a five-year temporary status. In 2011, we opened an office in Roseville, renting space from Corpus Christi Catholic Church, and formed our first community fund, a permanent fund for one community. That one was for Dayton. In 2012, we changed our name from Peace Maker Foundation to PeaceMaker Minnesota to show who we had become: a charity that depends on broad community support.
We asked what actually works
Our 2011–2013 strategic plan gave us a question: what do the best school-based violence prevention efforts have in common? We spent nearly two years researching and talking with schools. The answer was a six-point best-practices framework.
In 2014, we added evaluation services with Hazelden Publishing, The Improve Group, and the Minnesota Twins. Hazelden sells a comprehensive student survey on bullying. The Improve Group, an independent evaluation company, analyzed each school's survey results. The Twins helped publicly recognize the schools with exemplary results. The service ran until the pandemic.
Then we started doing the work ourselves
In 2017, we began offering planning and workshops. A four-hour workshop at a school helped staff assess their work using survey results and other information, then make improvement plans. Workshops taught teachers and administrators to recognize bullying and step in. That same year, the total we had paid to schools since 2000 passed $1 million.
In 2018, funding from the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, through Merrick, Inc., let us begin Ambassadors for Respect, where adults with developmental disabilities teach fourth graders about inclusion and speaking up for themselves, drawing on what they've lived. The Executive Director job also became full-time that year.
One Peace Guide, ten hours a week
In March 2020, the pandemic closed schools. Our financial help, evaluation, and training nearly stopped, and Ambassadors for Respect moved online.
That fall, Peace Guide Services began. A Peace Guide is a trained adult who works one-on-one and in groups with students, right inside their school. We started with one, working about 10 hours a week at St. Helena Catholic School in Minneapolis. By the fall of 2021, Peace Guides were working at four schools. In 2022, six.
Books for Peacemakers also began in 2021. Students read, discuss, write about, and keep their own copy of a book. The first two were Make a Friend, Be a Friend and Ease the Tease. In 2022, we added One and The Barnyard Buddies STOP for Peace, and Ambassadors for Respect trainings returned to in-person.
Where we are now
In 2024, two contracts from the State of Minnesota Office of Justice Programs let us expand Peace Guide Services. Funds for St. Cloud and Stillwater brought our total to fourteen community funds, and for the first time, they collectively passed $1 million. They finished the year at $1,024,481.89.
In 2025, we piloted The Peaceful Pen, a program that teaches adults communication and conflict-resolution skills. We created Peacemaker Quest, a card game that helps elementary students practice seeing things from someone else's point of view and working together. We created a new fund for Winona. We served 68 schools in 35 school districts, more than 10% of school districts in Minnesota.
What hasn't changed
Over 28 years, we have been a scholarship fund, a funder of school violence prevention education, a supporter of school-wide best practices, and a provider of services in schools, from teacher training to one-on-one time with students.
Our commitment to peacemaking education has stayed the same. So has our belief that individuals move this work forward: by starting community funds, building them, and sharing their time and talents so services happen. We became a public charity because we saw the need for this work to grow, and it grows when more people take ownership of it.
We're in this for the long haul with our schools, donors, volunteers, and staff. If you'd like to be part of what comes next, we'd love to have you.
About PeaceMaker Minnesota
PeaceMaker Minnesota is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that furthers peacemaking education in schools, workplaces, and communities across Minnesota.
Are you for bullying prevention and conflict resolution education for children, youth, and adults?
Support peacemaking education with a gift →