Who we are

The Hennepin County Sheriff Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to strengthening public safety through youth-based activity programs, education, intervention, outreach and 21st century crime fighting tools and programs.

While entirely independent of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, the Foundation collaborates with the Sheriff and his staff to identify and prioritize special needs that are not funded through the Hennepin County budget process. The Foundation provides grants to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office to fund new or existing programs with the goal of facilitating innovative solutions to the increasingly complex and underfunded problems confronted by law enforcement.

Our mission

The Hennepin County Sheriff Foundation is committed to serving the community, preventing crime, and supporting the Sheriff’s Office through community partnerships and public and private resources beyond the county budget.

The Foundation brings together a collaborative effort between the public and private sectors to support county-wide law enforcement programs, activities, and the people who serve the public to enhance the effectiveness of the largest sheriff’s office in Minnesota.

A Message from Sheriff Dawanna S. Witt

“The people of Hennepin County are better served because of the Hennepin County Sheriff Foundation and its generous supporters. Our communities are safer because of the Foundation’s support of Volunteer Deputies, and we have better relationships with young residents because of outreach programs like Hooked on Fishing and the Explorer Scouts. The Foundation awards youth scholarships for higher education, maintains a benevolence fund for fallen officers’ families, and financially supports new law enforcement initiatives. Most importantly, the Foundation helps the Sheriff’s Office build goodwill with the people we serve every day, helping to make the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office the most effective law enforcement entity in the state.”