Minnesota Council on Foundations Blog – Philanthropy Potluck

In this new reality, Minnesota foundations and corporate giving programs are looking inward at their own operations and capacity, as well as outward at the communities they support, to expand their impact and turn a stiff-sounding, fuddy-duddy word like ‘philanthropy’ into a hotbed of creativity and change.

Our spring issue of Giving Forum highlights several Minnesota grantmakers engaging in innovative work.

“We view philanthropy as a community activity, rather than an individual one,” explains Trista Harris, executive director of Headwaters Foundation for Justice, a community foundation that relies on fundraising to secure resources to support its own grantmaking. Her organization has intensified its focus on donor organizing and engagement, identifying groups of people who want to make a difference and working to help them do that together.

“People connections are what sustain our major, long-time donors,” Harris says. With a small staff, Headwaters needs to be mindful of how it spends its time and energy. For instance, if its staff is making presentations standing up in front of a room of donors, is this the most effective way to help build community or is it just conveying information? “We need to figure out how we build relationships among people with similar interests and then how we enrich those relationships.”

Last fall, Headwaters invited donors and nonprofits to tour the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Line. Harris explains that this was a tangible way to connect donors with organizations that were putting their contributions to work. Donors want to see their dollars in action moving ideas forward.

Kevin Walker, president and CEO of Northwest Area Foundation, believes that shaping public policy has the biggest leverage potential for philanthropy. “My exhortation to our sector as a whole is that we all have a responsibility to think about public policy, not just good programs on the ground,” he says. “I hope all funders ask themselves, ‘Given the issues we care about, what are the public policy dimensions, do we have an opinion about those dimensions, and are there organizations that we ought to strengthen because we think their perspective needs to be heard?”

As Northwest Area Foundation focuses on better public policy approaches to addressing poverty, it is looking to build community leadership and strengthen the capacity of advocacy organizations that can frame and push forward an agenda that helps low-income families make ends meet.

The Hugh J. Andersen Foundation family members are conscientiously and strategically working to involve younger generations in their work. The enthusiasm and commitment of the next generation is integral to the family foundation’s future.

Sarah Andersen, board president, acknowledges some of the challenges family foundations will face as they bridge generations. Perhaps the main issue is how the generations define community. “My generation defines it more geographically – where we live. Supporting the neighborhood food shelf may be important to us. The next generation is much more global. What’s important them may be on another continent,” she says.

In addition, as more family members move to other communities, “How do we as a foundation that currently defines itself geographically, focusing on the St. Croix Valley and St. Paul areas – and that emphasizes that we support ‘community’ – address the challenge of only having one or two trustees living in the area where the foundation makes its grants?” Andersen asks.

Addressing these challenges will require innovative approaches by family foundations.

Our spring issue of Giving Forum also spotlights the innovative, energizing work of Aveda Corporation, Sunrise Community Banks, HRK Foundation, Best Buy, West Central Initiative, Mark and Charlie’s Gay Lesbian Fund for Moral Values, and Minnesota Community Foundation and .The Saint Paul Foundation.

Also in the issue, Susan Taylor Batten, president and CEO of the Association of Black Foundation Executives, challenges the philanthropic field to advocate and innovate for diversity, inclusivity and equity to foster leadership reflective of the communities it serves.

To read more about how Minnesota foundations are reinventing their giving by engaging a broader range of people and organizations, increasing the participation of those currently involved, and searching for more impactful investments in community, visit mcf.org to read the spring issue of Giving Forum.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate