Two New Public Policy Grantmaking Resources

June 20, 2008

Power Amidst ChaosPower Amidst Chaos: Foundation Support for Advocacy Related to Disasters
Foundations responded in many ways after the 2005 hurricanes. This paper by Alliance for Justice in partnership with the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation and Foundation for the Mid South provides a guide for foundations to evaluate their grantmaking practices and community involvement, and to assess how they can help communities become better prepared before disasters strike as well as better able to respond after they do.

Public Policy GrantmakingFoundations and Public Policy Grantmaking (PDF)
This report from The James Irvine Foundation explores the range of ways private foundations can engage in public policy and proposes a framework for public policy grantmaking. The paper suggests specific lessons that foundations should keep in mind when considering policy-related grantmaking, and highlights four case studies illustrating the variety of approaches foundations should consider.

Comments Off | disasters, public policy | Permalink
Posted by Chuck Peterson

Learn How To Share Your Story of Corporate Giving

June 19, 2008

Minnesota Council on Foundations Summit for Corporate Philanthropy

The Boston Center for Corporate Citizenship’s 2007 State of Corporate Citizenship report shows quite a gap between what executive leaders say about public expectations on corporate citizenship and what their companies actually share about the good they do. To help Minnesota’s corporations better share how they create partnerships with communities and organizations, fund critical community needs, and support and enable employee involvement, MCF is planning a corporate summit on communications for August 7 at General Mills, Telling Strategies: Sharing the Stories of Corporate Giving.

While it is clear from the research that companies are more committed to citizenship and philanthropy than their communications may indicate, I’m sure there are reasons for the gap that were not covered in the research. One possibility may be that businesses fear generating more requests for support from nonprofits similar to those they have funded or resourced with non-cash donations or employee volunteers. Others may just not have the staff or capacity to capture and assess the results of their giving and involvement.

We hope that this summit will help attendees to minimize or eliminate barriers to telling their story, and provide doable strategies that will help highlight the value and importance of corporate citizenship with exciting stories of change and impact.

- Melissa Eystad, MCF’s VP of member services

Comments Off | communication, conference, corporate, mcf, programs | Permalink
Posted by Melissa Eystad, Vice President of Member Services

In the Media

June 19, 2008

Local philanthropy stories from the last week:

National philanthropy stories from the last week:

  • The Coming Crisis in American Philanthropy
    Slate: The economy is tumbling. Will philanthropic donations follow?
  • Philanthropy Has Seen Better Days
    BusinessWeek: U.S. charity has stumbled along with the economy. From food pantries on up, contributions have diminished, just when they’re needed most.
  • Red Cross Disaster Fund is Depleted
    Washington Post: The organization has depleted its national disaster relief fund and is taking out loans to pay for shelters, food and other relief services across seven Midwestern states battered by floods.
  • Millions for Foreclosures
    Wall Street Journal: The Living Cities Consortium, which includes the Ford Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, will on Wednesday announce a plan to provide up to $10 million in grants and low-interest loans to state and local programs addressing rising foreclosures.
  • Charities Get Inventive with Name-Dropping
    Contribute: Donors pay more; recipients get inventive with named gifts.
  • Big Business Gives Back
    Forbes: Corporate America is lending its time and professional skills to nonprofits nationwide to show them how to run their business.

Comments Off | in the news | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Diverse Board, Private Information?

June 18, 2008

This week I attended a board meeting of a local nonprofit that works to end hunger and homelessness in Minnesota. A task force assigned to enhance board effectiveness brought a question before the group: If the organization seeks a more diverse board, what is the definition of diversity?

This question led to a brief discussion about demographic characteristics, professional skills, life experiences and, ultimately, privacy. The executive director assured the board members that — whether they knew it or not — individuals who had been homeless or had been food shelf clients had served on the board over the years. Whether those individuals chose to share information about their personal economic struggles was a private decision.

A similar question has been raised in California (summary from the Chronicle of Philanthropy):

The California Assembly on [Jan. 29] approved legislation to require big foundations to disclose the composition of their boards and employees by race, gender, and sexual orientation, as well as information about the grants and business contracts they award to organizations that help specific minority groups. The bill, which now goes to the State Senate, was promoted by the Greenlining Institute, a public-policy organization in Berkeley that says foundations are too secretive about their giving and award too few dollars to organizations that are led by African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanics, and members of other minority groups.

Virtually every nonprofit and foundation is asking (or should be asking if they’re not already) the same questions: What is diversity? How do we gather information about diversity characteristics? How do we respect the privacy of our board members? National sources such as BoardSource and the Council on Foundations have good background on these subjects. And our own MCF website includes some highly regarded diversity resources.

Join the conversation: How does your foundation or nonprofit define diversity and achieve diversity on its governing board? Have you developed diversity metrics for your organization? How do you maintain and respect privacy for your staff, volunteers and clients?

- Wendy Wehr, MCF VP of communications and information services

1 Comment | boards, diversity | Permalink
Posted by Wendy Wehr

Corporate Philanthropy’s Balancing Act

June 17, 2008

Scott Russell wonders in an article in today’s MinnPost: “…when all the giving shakes out, does corporate philanthropy address pressing needs or simply finance feel-good initiatives that help polish corporate images?”

Earlier this year, a post on the Harvard Business Conversation Starter went even farther, calling corporate social responsibility a “PR sham.”

Russell heard Medtronic Foundation executive director (and MCF board member) David Etzwiler speak about corporate philanthropy at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits’ philanthropy leaders breakfast series:

Etzwiler discussed finding the balance between doing “good” and “improving our business context.” He called it corporate philanthropy’s “sweet spot.” [...] “It is great philanthropy, and it is great strategy,” Etzwiler said. “It gets to brand and visibility. That is part of what I take back to the corporation and say, ‘This all fits together extremely well.’ “

Join the conversation: The author questions whether corporate philanthropy is truly selfless, but also asks, “As long as the money goes toward worthwhile projects, does it matter how it’s spent?” How would you answer those questions?

- Crystal Colby, MCF’s web communications associate

Comments Off | communication, corporate, in the news | Permalink
Posted by Crystal Colby

Philanthropy’s Awareness Problem

June 16, 2008
56 percent of
56 percent of “engaged” adults can’t name a U.S. foundation on the first try.
Image: Philanthropy Awareness Initiative

The Philanthropy Awareness Initiative has just released a report that is sure to be frustrating news to anyone who works for a foundation. The Philanthropy’s Awareness Deficit: Results from Survey of Engaged Americans survey of 733 “engaged” adults (individuals who hold a leadership, committee or board-level role in an organization working on community or social issues) showed:

Despite direct engagement in the social causes and organizations that foundations fund, many engaged Americans seem to know little about foundations themselves. Three findings in particular indicate a significant awareness deficit facing the field of organized philanthropy among critical stakeholders:

  • More than half (56%) cannot name a foundation on their first try, when asked which ones come to mind. [In fact, of the nine organizations mentioned, only five are actually foundations!]
  • Six out of ten (60%) consider themselves somewhat or not at all informed about foundations.
  • Few can cite examples of a foundation’s impact on their community (15%), and even fewer can give an example of a foundation’s impact on an issue they care about (11%).

It’s frustrating but perhaps not surprising, given previous examples of how the public views philanthropy, such as MCF’s Philanthropy is… video.

A little good news: these same respondents think that foundations are valuable to their communities, rating them 70 on a favorability scale from 1 to 100, and most of them trust foundations.

Read the entire report at philanthropyawareness.org (it’s a PDF).

Join the conversation: The report’s authors say that “A growing number of foundations and philanthropy associations are taking on the challenge — discovering ways to communicate value, demonstrate impact, tell stories, build relationships, make connections, and begin vital conversations with the engaged Americans whose views are the subject of this digest.”

Andy Goodman, who spoke at MCF’s 2007 annual conference, has a lot of great ideas and resources for telling your organization’s story. What is your foundation doing to effectively spread its message?

- Crystal Colby, Web Communications Associate

Comments Off | communication, research | Permalink
Posted by Crystal Colby

Philanthropy Year-In-Review

June 13, 2008

Philanthropy AnnualI recently received a copy of a new publication from the Foundation Center, Philanthropy Annual: 2007 Review (complete document available as a free download). It’s a national overview of news and issues in the world of philanthropy during 2007. Of note for those of us in Minnesota:

  • Brief note on retooled 990 (pg 8)
  • Minnesotans highlighted in The Nonprofit Times 2007 Power & Influence Top 50 (pg 18-21)
  • “5 Questions for…” posed to Ron McKinley, project director for the Kellogg Action Lab (pg 41-43)

Of particular interest to me: a section presenting research on grantmaking trends in 2005, the most recent year that data is available. (Both the Foundation Center and MCF are currently working on 2006 data.) It’s always interesting to see how other organizations present their research and consider how we present our own data. Foundations in Minnesota get a call-out in the tables of top foundations by grants and assets by state (pg 69), similar to our top rankings. You may notice differences in their tables compared to ours; we include corporate giving in the total grants paid amount and have a longer list of community foundations in the state.

Join the conversation: What caught your interest in Philanthropy Annual: 2007 Review?

- Anne Graham, MCF’s information services and database assistant

Comments Off | research | Permalink
Posted by Anne Graham

Flickr and Twitter: How can they help?

June 12, 2008

Flickr and TwitterToday I watched a webinar hosted by TechSoup that was called “Expand your reach with Flickr and Twitter.” It was moderated by Kami Griffiths from TechSoup, and the presenter was Michaela Hackner. She is the the director of online strategy at World Learning, a U.S. nonprofit that hosts study abroad, international development degree programs and international development projects globally, and she uses Flickr and Twitter to advance the work that she does.

Flickr is a photo (and now video) hosting site that is one of the top 10 most visited websites in the U.S. It allows users to upload photos and share them with whomever they choose. In titling, tagging and captioning photos you can gain exposure for your nonprofit or cause you are trying to advance.

One example Hackner shared of a nonprofit that uses Flickr effectively is Interplast, which is a humanitarian organization that provides free reconstructive surgery for children with clefts, disabling burns and hand injuries. Through Flickr they are able to show their work, and the people who benefit.

The second half of the webinar talked about Twitter, a microblogging/social network site. I heard of Twitter for the first time in March at MCN’s technology conference, but haven’t been enticed to jump in up to this point. This story about downtime makes me glad that I don’t rely on it as a communications tool.

Hackner talked about the basic premise of Twitter: you send text-based updates to people who have signed up to receive them (“followers”), and she considers it similiar to “calling a private helpline.” You can use Twitter to announce an event or link to a website, or for professional development in asking for help on a particular subject.

The difficulty with Twitter is that it’s only as valuable as the network that you have, and it can take time to find people to “follow” and for people to look for you to “lead.” Hackner recommends that at first you connect directly with people, even those you don’t know, until you build a network. But once you have a network, Twitter can be an easy way to share ideas, ask questions and give support.

If you’re interested in the continuation of the conversation, TechSoup has also hosted a Twitter event in its community forums.

Join the conversation: Are you using Flickr, Twitter or other Web 2.0 tools to forward the work of your nonprofit? What has worked and what hasn’t?

- Megan Sullivan, MCF Communications Associate

2 Comments | communication, nonprofits, technology | Permalink
Posted by Megan Sullivan

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