Largest Charities in North Dakota: Top 10 Organizations to Donate & Volunteer (2026)

Great Plains Food Bank is North Dakota's primary food bank, serving 151,000 people in North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota in 2024 — about a third of them children, 16% seniors. They operate distribution centers in Fargo and Bismarck with a truck fleet that reaches rural communities and tribal nations across the entire state. About 28% of their food supply has traditionally come through government programs — the 2025 federal cuts reduced purchasing power throughout the year before the November SNAP crisis added another surge in demand.

During the November 2025 federal shutdown, Great Plains received $915,000 in state emergency funds and used them to purchase more than 450,000 pounds of food for distribution to an estimated 24,000 households. They set a goal of doubling their normal 1 million pound monthly distribution — and achieved 3.5 million pounds over November and December, a 60% increase. Spokesperson Darby Njos: "These cuts are real, and they're being felt at every level." Interim CEO Kate Molbert described the food bank's geographic reach: "With distribution centers in Fargo and here in Bismarck, and a fleet of trucks that are on the road every day, we're able to move food efficiently to our network operating in large cities, rural communities and our tribal nations." Volunteers sort and pack food in Fargo and Bismarck.

North Country Food Bank covers part of Grand Forks County in North Dakota and 21 counties in northwestern and western Minnesota, making it a bi-state organization that addresses food insecurity across a geographically vast rural region. Executive Director Susie Boelter described the 2025 situation straightforwardly: "Those are real people on the other end of those cuts." North Country operates in a region where communities can be quite small and the distance between them large — getting food to every corner of its territory requires a strong logistics operation and reliable partnerships with local pantries and churches. Volunteers are welcomed at the Grand Forks facility.

Dakota Prairie Humane Society serves central North Dakota from Valley City, providing adoption, spay/neuter, and cruelty investigation services. North Dakota's vast rural landscape and agricultural character create animal welfare challenges across the state — stray and feral populations in small towns and farms, limited access to veterinary care, and county shelters that operate with minimal staff. The Red River Valley Humane Society (Fargo) and Bismarck Animal Control are other significant animal welfare operations in the state's larger cities. Economic pressure on rural North Dakota farming and energy communities drives animal surrender rates. Volunteers assist with animal care and adoptions.

Habitat for Humanity of the Red River Valley builds affordable homes in the Fargo-Moorhead metro — a bi-state region that has grown significantly in the 2010s and 2020s as North Dakota's oil boom drove population growth. Fargo is North Dakota's largest city and its economic center, and housing costs have risen along with population. For lower-wage workers in the service, healthcare, and retail sectors — who are less connected to the energy economy's wages — homeownership requires programs like Habitat's. North Dakota also has Habitat affiliates in Bismarck, Grand Forks, and Minot. Critical repair programs address the state's significant stock of aging housing in small towns. ReStore accepts building materials.

The North Dakota Community Foundation manages charitable funds, scholarships, and grants statewide from Bismarck with particular attention to rural communities and tribal nations — the populations with the greatest unmet need and least access to mainstream philanthropic resources. NDCF works with community foundations in Bismarck, Williston, Dickinson, Jamestown, and other cities, creating a distributed grantmaking infrastructure that can reach communities across a geographically large state. For donors who want to support North Dakota's most rural and tribal communities, NDCF provides a trusted infrastructure with local knowledge.

United Way of Cass Clay manages workplace giving for Fargo-Moorhead employers — Sanford Health, Essentia Health, Microsoft, Craig Corporation, and others — and distributes grants to nonprofits across the metro. They operate 2-1-1 North Dakota, the statewide helpline connecting residents to food, housing, utility, and emergency resources. During the November 2025 SNAP freeze, 2-1-1 North Dakota directed callers to Great Plains Food Bank partner pantries. North Dakota also has United Way chapters in Bismarck and Minot. The Cass Clay chapter is the largest by campaign volume given Fargo's economic concentration.

The Red Cross North Dakota Region responds to home fires, flooding, blizzards, and other disasters statewide. The Red River Valley — where Fargo sits — experiences periodic spring flooding from snowmelt, sometimes severe enough to require evacuations. The region's blizzards can be extreme, isolating rural communities for days at a time. Blood collection serves Sanford Health, Essentia, and other North Dakota hospital systems. If you need disaster assistance in North Dakota, call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

Catholic Charities North Dakota covers both the Diocese of Fargo and Diocese of Bismarck with refugee resettlement, immigration legal services, emergency food, housing, and social services. Fargo has received refugees from Bhutan, Burma, Somalia, and South Sudan; Catholic Charities handles integration services. North Dakota also has significant Indigenous populations — the Standing Rock Sioux, Three Affiliated Tribes (Fort Berthold), Spirit Lake Nation, and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa — and Catholic Charities has programs serving these communities. Services are available to people of all faiths.

The Salvation Army operates in Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks, and Minot with emergency food, rent and utility assistance, overnight shelter, and after-school programs. North Dakota's extreme winter weather — the state averages some of the coldest temperatures in the lower 48 — makes overnight shelter and utility assistance particularly critical. During the November 2025 SNAP freeze, Salvation Army corps activated emergency food distribution alongside Great Plains Food Bank. Red Kettle campaign runs November through Christmas.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Red River Valley serves children in the Fargo-Moorhead metro across North Dakota and Minnesota. About a third of those served by Great Plains Food Bank are children — food insecurity among North Dakota's young population is part of a broader wellbeing challenge that mentoring programs address. BBBS matching connects children who benefit from a consistent adult relationship outside their immediate family. Fargo's growth has brought more corporate employers whose workers are potential mentors; BBBS benefits from this expanding volunteer pool.