Get Allied for Action!

May 15, 2012

Do you have a vision for a more prosperous Minnesota? Are you ready to tackle our state’s increasingly complex challenges head on? Are you eager to make cross-sector connections that will enrich your work and lift up our communities? Then we’ve got just the conference for you!

Join MCF and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits for Allied for Action: Bridging Differences for the Greater Good, November 1 & 2 at the Saint Paul RiverCentre. This two-day event will bring together nonprofit and philanthropic leaders intent on working together on behalf of a new Minnesota. Join us for mold-breaking plenaries, interactive breakouts and productive dialogues, where we all will learn how to harness the power of our differences and truly work together toward a greater good.

Visit the conference website for a sneak peek at what’s in store for you and 1,400 of your nonprofit and grantmaker colleagues, and then get registered! Keep checking back as we’ll soon be announcing speakers, breakout session details, exhibitors and more. And follow all the conference conversations from now through November on Twitter with the hashtag #allied4action.

We’ll see you there!

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

Visualizing Philanthropy: Storytelling with Data

May 14, 2012

We’ve all done it — we’re working in a spreadsheet, and we select “Insert Chart.” Our data storytelling is done, right?

According to Cole Nussbaumer, people analytics manager at Google, we’ve taken the first step in presenting our data, not the last.

Nussbaumer believes Excel and other number-crunching programs have made it very easy to create very bad graphs.  She suggests we step back and answer some basic questions before we make a pie — like we do before we bake a pie.

Here’s a quick summary of the process she walked us through at a meeting of the Grants Managers Network last week. For much more, check her website at: www.storytellingwithdata.com.

Answer some questions.
These are the sorts of questions we ask before writing an article, but this step is often skipped when creating visuals.

  • What story are you trying to tell with your data?
  • Who is your audience? What do they need to know?

Determine the right type of graphic to tell your story.
Goal: Make it easy for your audience to understand the data.

  • Bar charts are good for categorical data and are easy to read.
  • Line graphs are good for plotting continuous data over time.
  • Pie charts are difficult to interpret — use with care.

Eliminate clutter.

  • Much of what your spreadsheet program adds to your chart should be stripped away by you, including everything that muddies your message. This might include, unnecessary color, 3D, grid lines, backgrounds, etc.
  • Use Gestalt principles (color, size, intensity) to cut items with no informative value. What remains should help tell your story.

Draw attention where you want it.

  • Use certain attributes (color, size) to direct your audience’s attention and provide a visual hierarchy of information.
  • Don’t use color to make your chart colorful — use it draw the eye to important data.

Tell a visual story.

  • Use text to give context, title, label and help you tell your story.
  • Align text at the upper left of your chart, as that’s how we read.

Practice makes perfect.

  • Seek feedback from colleagues, especially from those less familiar with the data.
  • You will likely need to repeat these steps, several times, until you get a visual that truly tells your story.
  • Realize that your spreadsheet program may make it difficult, but not impossible, to get this done.

- Susan Stehling, MCF communications associate

Photo cc AlyssssylA

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

Member Post: Building Experience as a Young Professional

May 11, 2012

Rachel Hart

One of the services MCF offers to grantmakers is supporting peer learning networks, including the Minnesota chapter of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy (EPIP). Rachel Hart, EPIP-Minnesota member and community affairs specialist at H.B. Fuller Company, joins us today to share insights from this network’s recent conversations.

As a young professional in philanthropy, keeping up with the more seasoned professionals in the local grantmaking scene can seem daunting. In typical Millennial fashion, many of us want to bypass the grunt work and establish ourselves as experts right away, but it’s important to remember respect and experience don’t come overnight.

There are numerous sure-fire ways to build experience such as joining professional associations, connecting with a mentor in the field, going on informational interviews and simply asking questions. Honing in on a few key ideas may help you focus your career building plan to seem more manageable. Here are some we identified at last month’s EPIP-Minnesota networking lunch:

  • Find other young professionals. Connect with other fresh-faced professionals in the field as a way to learn from those who are at the same stage in their careers. They are a safe audience to say “I don’t know that yet” or to share a ‘light bulb’ moment that may seem obvious to others. Although the Twin Cities philanthropic community is refreshingly nurturing, finding a supportive group to learn and grow together makes the journey seem less lonely.
  • Budget your career-building time and resources. Once you know how much time you’re willing to devote to enhancing your skills, it makes setting realistic goals more manageable. Whether it’s talking to your employer or looking at your personal time and finances, it’s important to understand your limits and potential.
  • Have a network to hold you accountable. Anyone can set a goal, but it means nothing unless you actually follow through. Having accountability by sharing career goals with others makes them real and motivates you to work that much harder to reach them.

If you’re an emerging professional in the philanthropic community, just itching to build your experience and meet others in the same boat, consider connecting with the budding and welcoming members of EPIP-Minnesota. We are brimming with ideas, and are currently engaged in a series of discussions like this one based on Trista Harris and Rosetta Thurman’s book How to Become a Nonprofit Rockstar.

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Creating a Hmong Community Foundation

May 9, 2012

Lue Her

As part of his Archibald Bush Leadership fellowship, Lue Her has had an opportunity to visit with and learn from fellow Hmong-Americans around the country. Not surprisingly, he has found that complex issues continue to plague Hmong-American communities.

But he has been surprised to see that few in the community realize that many of the challenges facing its members could be addressed if Hmong-Americans had their own philanthropic vehicle to leverage financial, intellectual and cultural assets — assets that Her believes exist within the Hmong-American community now.

Hmong-Americans have long participated in a variety of traditions and practices that presume donations of time, effort and money, but for many the concept of giving back through philanthropic channels remains foreign — possibly because they have not been invited to contribute.

To remedy this, he is embarking on an endeavor to create a new Hmong Community Foundation. Read more about what he envisions for the new foundation in the “Voices in Philanthropy” section in the spring issue of Giving Forum on community philanthropy.

- Susan Stehling, MCF communications associate

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

Many Minnesota Nonprofits Living on the Financial Edge

May 8, 2012

The Nonprofit Finance Fund recently released its annual State of the Sector survey results, addressing the question of how nonprofits are faring as the economy continues its slow recovery. More than 4,500 nonprofits completed the survey nationwide, including 257 from Minnesota. The survey results tell a story of a sector still stretched thin, with organizations feeling distant from their funders.

Seventy-six percent of Minnesota nonprofits saw an increase in demand in 2011 and 82 percent expect an increase in demand this year. (Nationwide, 85 percent of nonprofits saw increased demand in 2011 and 88 percent expect a demand increase in 2012.) At the same time, 67 percent of Minnesota nonprofits have 3 months or less of cash on hand, and 88 percent don’t expect their financial outlook to get any better in 2012.

Many Minnesota nonprofits also report they cannot have open dialogue with funders about a variety of topics, especially financial issues. While 50 percent reported they can have open dialogue about program expansion, only 26 percent said they could dialogue openly about facility needs, 23 percent for operating reserves. Just 11 percent felt able to discuss building reserves. Twenty-seven percent reported they could not have open dialogue with funders about any of the listed options.

Join the conversation: How can funders help nonprofits build their own financial safety net?

- Anne Bauers, MCF research manager

Image source: Nonprofit Finance Fund, State of the Sector Survey, 2012

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Posted by abauers

Nominate an Engaged Philanthropist!

May 7, 2012

Social Venture Partners Minnesota and the Minnesota Community Foundation are seeking nominations for the 2012 Engaged Philanthropist Award.

Nominations are sought from nonprofit and foundation leaders, academics working in the field of nonprofit management, public policy leaders, financial advisors, and business leaders. A panel of judges with broad and deep experience in philanthropy and community service will select one winner who has generously given his or her time, talents and money for the betterment of communities in Minnesota.

Launched in 2010, the Engaged Philanthropist Award is designed to promote philanthropy in Minnesota and recognize innovative and effective philanthropists who are truly engaged in their communities. Past recipients include John Larsen, trustee of the John Larsen Foundation and original funder of Project 515, and Win Wallin, former Medtronic CEO and founder of Wallin Education Partners.

The award winner receives $2,500 to be given to a nonprofit organization of his or her choosing.

Deadline for submitting nominations is 5 p.m., May 18, 2012. Nomination forms are available here (pdf). Information contained in the nomination form will not be released without permission.

The winner will be announced the week of June 25, and an award ceremony will follow at the Engaged Philanthropy Conference (EPCON) on August 23.

Social Venture Partners Minnesota invests its partners’ charitable donations of time, money and expertise in social entrepreneurs who are looking for ways to solve complex social problems in the areas of early childhood development, academic achievement, access to post-secondary education, and developmental opportunities for youth.

The Minnesota Community Foundation has for over 60 years mobilized resources and acted as a catalyst to enrich lives and create vibrant communities where all people can find hope and opportunity in Minnesota.

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

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