In the Media

September 30, 2009
Photo by Dan..

Ridin' the range and ropin' the headlines so you don't have to.

Your biweekly roundup of media coverage on the world of nonprofit and philanthropy (yee-ha.)

Local

Minnesota Charities Council Revising Its Standards
(Star Tribune) Minnesotans, who donate more than $1 billion a year to charities, soon will have more information before they write checks.

Philanthropy Sector Keeps Giving, Despite Economy
(Business North) Foundations cope with squeeze between falling asset value and higher demand.

Reacting to Race
(Forest Lake Press) The cultural background of the north metro area is changing rapidly, which local officials say can create new challenges for neighbors and classmates.

WomenVenture Opens Minneapolis Office
(Twin Cities Business Journal) WomenVenture now has a Minneapolis office, courtesy of a donation of space from U.S. Bancorp. The St. Paul-based nonprofit, which provides training and loans for women, moved a staff person last week into a U.S. Bank branch on 1030 West Broadway in North Minneapolis.

National
Foundations’ Agenda for Charities Should Include Money, Not Mergers
(The Chronicle of Philanthropy) More and more, foundation leaders are voicing concern that America has too many charities.

Gates Foundation Steps Up PRI’s
(The Chronicle on Philanthropy) The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is increasingly making loans, loan guarantees, and equity investments as ways to stretch its philanthropic dollars, The Seattle Times reports.

Less to Give
(Barron’s) Philanthropists hit by the recession face a tough choice as the giving season nears: Reduce all donations, or drop some causes? Smart advice from the field.

Nonprofits Paying Price for Gamble on Finances
(New York Times) Homeowners and businesses were not alone in taking on piles of debt over the last decade. Nonprofits of all sizes did the same, and now they, too, are paying the price.

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

New Research Studies LGBTQ Grantmaking in Minnesota

September 29, 2009

Over the past year, Funders for LGBTQ Issues (formerly Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues) partnered with the LGBT Funders Network of the Minnesota Council on Foundations to take a look at foundation giving to Minnesota’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community.

The recently released report, “State of Funding: LGBTQ Grantmaking in Minnesota,” provides a benchmark that measures and describes this giving.

Among the key findings:

  • In 2007, 29 Minnesota foundations awarded $1.1 million across 88 grants to 33 LGBTQ organizations and programs in Minnesota. In comparison, nationally 293 foundations granted $77.2 million in 3,206 grants.
  • Private foundations accounted for 72 percent of Minnesota grantmaking dollars to LGBTQ issues in 2007. The five foundations that awarded the most dollars were: Kevin J. Mossier Foundation; Bush Foundation; The Jay & Rose Phillips Family Foundation; AHS Foundation; Otto Bremer Foundation. The five foundations that awarded the most grants were: PFund Foundation; Kevin J. Mossier Foundation; U.S. Bancorp Foundation; John Larsen Foundation; Headwaters Foundation for Justice.
  • The study lists the top five LGBTQ strategies supported by Minnesota grantmakers as: 1) Advocacy; 2) Direct Service; 3) Organizational capacity building; 4) Litigation; 5) Community Organizing.
  • The top five issues supported in 2007 were: 1) Community building/empowerment; 2) Civil rights; 3) Philanthropic infrastructure; 4) Strengthening families; 5) Health.

Robert Espinoza, director of research and communications for Funders for LGBTQ Issues, presented the findings at a convening of the LGBT Funders Network on Sept. 25 in Minneapolis. A copy of the full report (pdf) is located on the MCF website. A report on funding trends at the national level is also available at the Funders for LGBTQ Issues website.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

Comments Off | diversity, economy, private foundations, research | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Chris Noonan

Can Bloggers Change the World? Some Food for Thought on Blog Action Day 2009

September 28, 2009

Can bloggers change the world? The folks over at change.org certainly think so. They are busy orchestrating the third annual Blog Action Day.

The idea behind Blog Action Day is simple. Individual bloggers can only do so much, but if enough bloggers can be united to write about a single issue on a particular day from their own unique perspective, suddenly that issue has an audience of millions.

Reading about change.org’s Blog Action Day got me thinking about the prospect of this type of cross-organizational communication on common causes within Minnesota. As a communicator working in the nonprofit and philanthropic sphere, I know I daily combat the daunting knowledge that we are all in a sense “competing” for a finite amount of the public’s attention.

Seeing the change.org initiative got me thinking. What if groups hooked arms and pulled together around causes, instead of elbowing each other out of the way?

What do you think? Are there more ways that organizations within Minnesota can be collaborating on communication around common causes? How effective do you think online, cross-organizational strategies like these are, especially when there’s no common message per se, but just a common directive to draw attention to the topic?

Can you think of any groups who are taking steps to communicate jointly around a shared interest using their online communications like the folks over at change.org?

I am all ears! If you have any thoughts or examples to share about this strategy for public engagement, please leave your comments below.

-Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate

Comments Off | environment, nonprofits, philanthropy blogs, philanthropy in the media | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Resources to Jump Start Conversations about Equality and Inclusion at Your Foundation

September 25, 2009

An article I saw today in the Daily Planet on Dr. Ghafar Lakanwal, a native of Afghanistan who won The Saint Paul Foundation’s Facing Race Ambassador Award, got me thinking about the wealth of resources there are on creating diversity for grantmakers.

MCF, in fact, did some groundbreaking work in the area of grantmaker diversity and inclusion. Our free, downloadable resources can be found on our website here.

The Saint Paul Foundation, The Foundation Center and many others have also put together tools and research reports for grantmakers which we have also aggregated for you on our site.

If you’re looking for folks who are doing programming around creating diversity in Minnesota, The Saint Paul Foundation offers a tool and program called New Dialogues About White Privilege. The Foundation offers both sessions for the general public and in-house facilitation.

Similarly, Dr. Lakanwal’s organization, the Multi Cultural Development Center (MCDC) offers programming for individuals and groups that cover a range of topics related to diversity.

In addition to the workshops listed above, The Facilitating Racial Equality Collaborative is hosting a conference November 6 – 7 in St. Paul entitled, “Overcoming Racism: Why IS It So Hard? A Conference for Advancing Antiracism Leadership and Practice.” The are currently accepting proposals for workshops through October 1. Learn more and register at their website.

Join the Conversation: If you have a resource to share or know of other opportunities to convene around the topic of diversity and inclusion, please share them by commenting on this post.

-Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate

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Unrestricted Operating Support, One Foundation Makes the Leap

September 24, 2009

A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review gives an overview of what authors Goggins Gregory and Howard refer to as the “nonprofit starvation cycle.”

This cycle is defined by a nonprofit feeling pressure to reduce their overhead to the point where it begins to erode the organization’s basic ability to function by cutting too far back on investments in both people and technology. The article posits that this cycle is an artifact of the fixation that  many funders have with keeping the percentage of dollars spent on overhead low.

This focus on overhead is understandable, as the percentage is a marker of “efficiency” more readily attained than other more slippery or subjective definitions of programmatic success.

Regardless, the consequences, as outlined in the article, are grim, and are tantamount to a hollowing out of  infrastructure in the nonprofit world. In closing, the authors call for a shift of focus from overhead to outcomes in the funding world.

At least one foundation has heard this call and is taking bold steps to refocus on outcomes and bolster operating support. The Boston Foundation announced recently that they will now be emphasizing “unrestricted operating support” as their primary funding strategy.

The move is being heralded by social entrepreneur Dan Pallotta as the nonprofit equivalent of “the fall of the Berlin Wall.” In addition to the shift to unrestricted funds, The Boston Foundation will be absolving grant term limits, and removing deadlines so that nonprofits can operate on their own timetables.

For more information on the Boston Foundation’s new funding strategy, read Dan Pallotta’s article in Harvard Business Publishing or visit The Boston Foundation’s website and read the press release explaining the organization’s new strategy.

-Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate

Join the Conversation: Do you see The Boston Foundation’s shift as a harbinger of a new trend in philanthropy towards increasing operating support? What other grantmakers do you know who are employing similar strategies to improve outcomes?

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

Second Helpings from the Blogosphere

September 23, 2009

Grab a plate folks, it’s time for your biweekly serving of the latest and greatest commentary from the philanthropy and nonprofit blogosphere.

Are Happiness and Generosity the Future of Marketing Campaigns?
(Beth’s Blog) Beth Kanter waxes philosophical on a micro-trend in marketing towards stressing positivity and affiliation.

Decoding the Future of Philanthropy
(Philanthropy 2173) Lucy Bernholz discusses the future of philanthropy, and how data will be the new platform for determining the flow of philanthropic dollars.

Not Your Mama’s Philanthropy
(New Voices of Philanthropy) Race and gender diversity are often talked about, but what about age diversity? Trista Harris addresses this rarely discussed dynamic and warns us about the consequences of ignoring it.

The Problem with Non
(Seth Godin’s Blog) This is the post that launched a thousand angry comments. If you’re not attuned to the rhythms of the blogosphere, you may be unaware of this particular post which unleashed a shock wave of responses from the nonprofit community. In it Godin lambastes the nonprofit community for not taking risks and engaging in social media.

Why Seth Godin is Wrong
(onPhilanthropy) In this frequently cited response to “The Problem with Non,” Tom Watson criticizes Godin’s arguements, pointing out that fear of embracing new technology is hardly unique to the nonprofit world, and that there many examples of nonprofits successfully leveraging social media to raise funds and awareness.

Photo CC Straitic

Comments Off | communication, diversity, nonprofits, philanthropy blogs | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

A Reflection on the “All Stars Among Us”

September 21, 2009

Ever since the Major League Baseball All-Star game in mid-July, I’ve been thinking about the pre-game video. And, now that my beloved sport is reaching its regular season conclusion in the next couple of weeks, I thought I’d finally blog about my unexpected, impactful encounter with that six-minute video.

Did you see it? There I was, sitting on my couch waiting for Pres. Obama to throw out the first pitch. Instead, what came next from St. Louis were Presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Carter appealing to us to go beyond, to do good work daily, to volunteer. They highlighted the stories of five “All Stars Among Us,” individuals who were not intimidated by challenges, but inspired by the difference they could make.

What struck me about these stories is that these folks are ordinary people who are transforming their world in simple, extraordinary ways because they chose to act. Not just talk about needs and what ifs, but taking it upon themselves to step up to the plate and do something.

My colleague Juliana Tillema wrote a blog about her reflections and actions around the Sept. 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance. A few days before that, I wrote about turning the word “philanthropy” into a verb. What is it about that word “do”?

Well, I’m trying to step up and do some sort of good work daily – whether it’s an organized activity or a spontaneous gesture. Opportunities abound. If you’re at all inclined to explore the possibilities for action, check out the website referenced in the All-Star video, http://www.serve.gov/.  Other appropriate names for this site could be do.org or act.com.

You get the point.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

Comments Off | individual giving, promotion of philanthropy, volunteers | Tagged: , | Permalink
Posted by Chris Noonan

Education Entrepreneurs and the Transformation of Public Education

September 18, 2009

The Tenth Annual NewSchools Summit, “Innovating Toward Excellence: Education Entrepreneurs and the Transformation of Public Education,” must have been a fascinating learning experience for the nearly 500 people who attended!

Since its founding in 1998, the NewSchools Venture Fund has been dedicated to improving public education. They have provided funding not only to many charter management organizations (including Mastery Charter High School in Philadelphia, Aspire Public Schools in California, the Noble Network of Charter Schools in Chicago, Green Dot Schools in Los Angeles, and KIPP DC), but also to organizations that are developing and providing talented professionals for district public schools (including New Leaders for New Schools, the New Teacher Project, and Teach for America).

The report on the Tenth Annual NewSchools Summit provides in-depth coverage of the day’s program, which included presentations by:

  • Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles, and Ted Mitchell, CEO, New Schools Venture Fund
    • Ted Mitchell described how innovation is typically not a “cool stroke of genius” but rather occurs along a four-stage path, which includes clarifying the problem, generating ideas to tackle the problem, testing and refining the ideas in a “small space”, and continuously improving and sharing the ideas that work.
  • David Kelley, Chairman of IDEO, a prominent and leading design firm, who delivered the Keynote Address.
    • David Kelley’s remarks focused on “design thinking,” how design thinkers approach a problem, and the critical importance of “creative confidence” in design thinking.
  • Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, who joined the Summit by videoconference.

The Summit also included a panel discussion on “Innovation as Driver for Reform” and break-out sessions on:

  • “Turning around Failing Schools: Opportunity and Challenge”
  • “Design Thinking Workshop: Cultures of Innovation and Systems Challenges”
  • “EdTech Debate”
  • “National Standards and 21st Century Assessments”

I found the report on this Summit very informative, inspiring, and thought-provoking. Now I am thinking about its relevance here in Minnesota.

Join the Conversation: Are you inspired by any of the ideas discussed in this report? Have you used design thinking in your work? Do you disagree with any of the ideas shared in this report?

- Cindy Moeller, MCF director of professional development and member services

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