Minnesota Council on Foundations Blog – Philanthropy Potluck

Kate Wolford, president of The McKnight Foundation, welcomed conference attendees. Photo by Robin Bernstein, Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers

Last week the annual conference of the Forum for Regional Associations of Grantmakers was held in Minneapolis. The Forum is an organization of regional grantmaker associations around the country, of which MCF is a member.

The McKnight Foundation hosted the opening reception at their offices in the old mill ruins in Minneapolis. Foundation president Kate Wolford welcomed attendees by sharing the history of the foundation, and of the space that houses their offices. First-time visitors to Minnesota were able to have a greater understanding of philanthropy in Minnesota through the lens of The McKnight Foundation and its history and traditions.

Back in the 1990s, I was a sociology major at St. Olaf College in Northfield. One of the sociological concepts that I learned about was the “Historical Perspective.” The historical perspective looks at social issues from the point of view of historical attitudes, values, practices and contexts and believes that it is easier to make sense of the complex issues of society when examining roles that such issues have played in history.

The historical perspective wove its way into my thoughts last Friday afternoon as our president, Bill King, was interviewed by an international publication to talk about the history of philanthropy in Minnesota, among other things. During the course of the interview the reporter cited an interview that Bill had done with the New York Times in December about philanthropy in Minnesota and the interconnectedness of philanthropy and community. Some background on Minnesota’s historical philanthropy from the article:

Ask anybody in the world of corporate philanthropy and they’ll tell you: Minneapolis-St. Paul is like no place else, a bastion of giving in an age when most companies are cutting back. “It is an unusual city in regards to corporate giving,” said former Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich. In the 1970s, John D. Rockefeller III said in a speech to the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce that he had heard so much about “the public spirit of its business community, about your remarkable Five Percent Club that I feel a bit like Dorothy in the Land of Oz. I had to come to the Emerald City myself to see if it really exists.”

The article mentioned Northwest Area Foundation, which was created by the Great Northern Railway founder James J. Hill’s son in 1934; Target and General Mills, two long-time members of the Keystone Club; and many more Minneapolis-based companies and foundations with long traditions of giving to the community.

I believe that in order to fully understand philanthropy today in Minnesota, and to understand where it’s going, you have to understand where it’s been and why it’s so important to this community.

- Megan Sullivan, MCF’s communications associate