Last week, the Minnesota Council on Foundations hosted a summer gathering for our members. As a relatively new staff person here at MCF, I didn’t know most people in the room.
Got any good stories of Minnesotans giving? We'd like to hear about them.
When I left the event, I had an extra spring in my step (even though my feet were killing me). Why?
Because my evening was filled with shaking hands and hearing story after story of foundations working to make a difference. Sometimes the storyteller was a staff person implementing an organizational mission that looked out a decade. Some storytellers were new hires at an emerging foundation that had just put ink to paper on how it was going to create change or raise the bar. I even met a few storytellers whose names matched the foundations’ and whose aspirations for their grantmaking were straight from their heart.
Why did a particular foundation choose that mission? How are they working to achieve it? What’s the story behind the giving? After all, someone somewhere sometime decided it was better to give than to keep.
So, I’m in search of books or articles that tell the giving story of our philanthropists and our foundations – both well-known and lesser-known. If my experience at our summer gathering is any indication, there are plenty of great stories out there. What are your favorites? What’s enlightened and inspired you?
– Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate
Since I decided to move to the Twin Cities, a little over a year ago, various people (who know I’m interested in antipoverty policy) have recommended the book Reforming Welfare by Rewarding Work, a history of welfare reform in MN. Though McKnight (an MCF member) is not the primary focus of the book, McKnight’s contributions to addressing welfare reform are discussed. McKnight contributed $20 million to local partnerships aimed at providing services and resources – like low-cost car loans – to welfare participants.
I still haven’t read the book … but I was happy to read your blog post and remind myself to check this one out.
Cheers,
Juliana