Local philanthropy/nonprofit news from the last week:
- Bush Foundation Announces New Funding Priorities
Lots of coverage about Bush’s decision to change to three funding areas.
> Star Tribune: Bush Foundation Changes Its Focus and the Way It Will Issue Grants
> Strib editorial: Bush Foundation Makes a Smart Shift
> Pioneer Press: Major State Funding Group Alters Focus
> MinnPost: Bush Foundation To Focus On Three New Funding Priorities
> Business Journal: Bush Foundation Suspends Grants, Refocuses - Cub Scouts Complete Underwood Service Project
Fergus Falls Daily Journal: Pack 325 received a lumber donation and Valspar Corp. donated the paint for the caboose and playground equipment, including the play tower. “I noticed an article about a paint grant from Valspar Corp. and West Central Initiative last February,” Cubmaster Doug Hansen said. “Our pack approached the Underwood City Council with the idea. The council was all for it.” - Welcome Center Awarded Grant
Austin Daily Herald: A grant from AgStar Financial Services will provide funding to train and support rural residents with micro-farming, a small-business agricultural operation that offers economic opportunity and sustainability. The center also received $10,000 for the program this spring from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation. - Independence Center Receives Grants
St. Cloud Times: The Otto Bremer Foundation donated $30,000 and the CentraCare Health Foundation awarded $20,000 to this nonprofit organization that provides services to adults with developmental disabilities, for improvements to its facility in Waite Park. - Minnesota CEOs Weigh In on Corporate Philanthropy
Business Journal: High-profile Minnesota business leaders were part of a forum on corporate philanthropy sponsored by the Leadership Emergence and Development Project (LEAD), a nonprofit organized around 20- and 30-year-old Twin Cities professionals. - ACT Plans ‘Re-Visioning’ Get-Together
Annandale Advocate: The Annandale Area Community Team meeting will take place exactly five years to the day that ACT first invited community residents to a “visioning” session to suggest improvement projects to make the Annandale area better than it is. ACT grew out of leadership training for about 20 area volunteers under the Healthy Communities Partnership Program of the Initiative Foundation of Little Falls. - Bremer Bank, Otto Bremer Foundation raise combined $127,711 in annual Make Change Campaign
Lake Elmo Leader: Bremer Foundation kicked off the campaign with a $75,000 grant; benefits Second Harvest Heartland.
National philanthropy news from the last week:
- Big Tobacco, Meet Big Philanthropy
New York Times editorial: When two highly visible billionaire philanthropists put their resources and stature behind a campaign, the results are apt to be good. - New Online Donor Site is Shaded Green
New York Times: GlobalGiving Green, listing 25 projects that it has determined entail minimal greenhouse gas emissions and work in ways that have a positive impact on climate change, will go live on Friday. - Volunteering in America Strong, Retention Remains a Challenge
Philanthropy News Digest: Although cross-sectoral support for volunteering has never been stronger, keeping volunteers continues to be a challenge. According to a report, an estimated 22 million volunteers — more than one in three — stopped volunteering between 2006 and 2007. - Network for Good Acquires ePhilanthropy Foundation
Network for Good, a provider of online fundraising services and how-to resources for nonprofits, has acquired the ePhilanthropy Foundation, an educational organization helping other nonprofits to use best Internet practices. - Charities Devote Small Amount of Their Budgets to Lobbying, Report Finds
Chronicle of Philanthropy: Nearly three-fourths of charities do some kind of advocacy or lobbying, but the vast majority of them devote less than 2 percent of their budgets to such activities, according to a survey released by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies.
