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"Support Our Troops" Grants — $4,000 a Calendar Year, Hard Ceiling

A statutory account funding direct grants to service members, Guard members, veterans in financial need and their immediate families. The maximum to any one individual is $4,000 in a calendar year.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

A statutory account funding direct grants to service members, Guard members, veterans in financial need and their immediate families. The maximum to any one individual is $4,000 in a calendar year.

What it's worth: Up to $4,000 to any one individual in a calendar year

  • The statute states the maximum grant awarded to an eligible individual in a calendar year may not exceed $4,000. That is a ceiling, not an entitlement.
  • Because grants are made against a demonstrated financial need rather than a schedule, we weight this well below the ceiling. Treat $4,000 as the most the year can produce, not as the expected award.
  • The account is split between the Department of Military Affairs and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and each side has its own uses — so which door you knock on changes what is available.

Who is entitled to it

  • You are the service member or veteran, or an immediate family member.
  • Your home is in Minnesota.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

  1. 1Start with your County Veterans Service Officer. The state runs a good deal of this through the county network and through approved foundations rather than a single application counter.
  2. 2Check you are within the statutory group: active service members, Minnesota National Guard members, veterans with financial needs, and immediate family — spouses, minor children and certain dependants.
  3. 3Bring the bill, not just the story. The account funds direct grants to eligible individuals, and an application anchored to a specific liability is easier to act on.
  4. 4Ask which side of the account applies. The Military Affairs share funds direct grants and family readiness groups; the Veterans Affairs share funds outreach, services, Gold Star licence plates and burial assistance.
  5. 5Keep the annual ceiling in view. If you have already had a grant this calendar year, what remains is $4,000 minus that amount.
  6. 6Ask about the foundation route as well as the direct route — the statute expressly allows grants through eligible 501(c)(3) foundations whose articles specify support for military members and families.
File with
Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, or an eligible foundation it works through
Documents you will need
dd214 · proof of income or hardship · vendor bills or statements
Annual
The $4,000 ceiling is per calendar year, so a new year restores the headroom.
CorrectionThe $4,000 is a per-individual, per-calendar-year ceiling, not a per-application one. Two hardships in the same year share one ceiling — which is the opposite of how most people read a maximum grant figure.
Worth knowingThe same section authorises grants of up to $100,000 to organisations approved by the commissioner, and the funding of Gold Star licence plates and burial assistance. Those are separate uses of the same account and are not what an individual applicant receives.
Known gapThe statute does not define "financial needs", set an income test, or name an application form. The department’s operating rules do all three. Ask your County Veterans Service Officer what the current test and form are before you assemble a file.

Sources

Why only one source type: The statute establishes the account, names the eligible individuals, lists the permitted uses on both the Military Affairs and Veterans Affairs sides, and sets the $4,000 calendar-year ceiling. The Department’s own page for the account was not reachable to us this session, so we publish the statute and flag the operating detail as a gap.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.