A School’s-in-Session Spotlight: Mardag Foundation’s Support of Education

August 31, 2010

To quote the over-used (but it’s used over and over again for a reason) cliché, “It takes a village,” it truly does take a whole host of people and programs to strive to make sure that every student who walks through a school door this fall has the best opportunity to learn, thrive and succeed.

Now that my kids are off to school once again, this is the perfect opportunity to spend a moment reflecting on all that’s made possible by the support of education funders and the perseverance and creativity of nonprofits that serve our students.

For the facts and figure on education giving in our state, take a look at the Minnesota Council on Foundations’ Giving in Minnesota 2009 Edition.

To complement the data, I went looking for an education funder to highlight today and came across the Mardag Foundation’s recently published (online) 2009 annual report.

Like MCF, the Mardag Foundation, which is an MCF member, celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009. Over that period, the foundation has granted more than $51 million to nonprofits, “a nice return on (founder) Agnes Elmer Ober’s original investment of $5 million,” writes foundation President Timothy M. Ober.

Reflecting the foundation’s focus on “improving the quality of life in Minnesota for children, seniors and other at-risk populations and for programs in education and arts,” here’s a sampling of the education-related grants Mardag made last year:

  • The Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals’ Hands-on Teach-to-Learn program helps immigrant child-care providers learn how to ensure that the children they care for have the skills necessary to start kindergarten.
  • Century College’s Preparing to Achieve a College Education (PACE) program gives low-income St. Paul juniors, selected because they have the potential to succeed in college but need extra support, the chance to take Century College classes for credit while receiving academic counseling and tutoring.
  • The Saint Paul Foundation’s Words Work! initiative is an early literacy program that helps teachers through mentoring and professional development and sees parents as partners who reinforce reading at home.
  • Admission Possible, dedicated to helping low-income high school students prepare for and earn admission to college, is launching an Alumni Services Pilot Program.
  • Inver Hills Community College’s Access and Opportunity Center of Excellence offers services to generate academic success for underrepresented middle and high school students and their families by increasing high school graduation rates, strengthening college readiness, and developing collaborative relationships between high school and college teachers. Called Project Breakthrough, the center’s initiatives include five programs from one-day events with motivational speakers, active learning sessions and financial information for students and family members to Summer Bridge programs that provide college courses at no cost to underrepresented students the summer before beginning their first semester of college.
  • The Minnesota Literacy Council’s is expanding its Adult Basic Education programs and services on St. Paul’s East Side.

As schools open a new year, my thanks to the many education funders and nonprofits they work with, who, like Mardag and the organizations noted above, are providing invaluable school supplies.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Posted by Chris Noonan

Stakeholder Engagement: A Guide for Grantmakers

August 27, 2010

Do Nothing About Me Without Me, a guide for grantmakers on increasing stakeholder engagement, begins with a simple but inspirational African proverb about the importance of working together:

“If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.”

Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) partnered with the Interaction Institute for Social Change (IISC) on this report because there is a disconnect between grantmakers’ sentiments around stakeholder engagement and their perceptions of how inclusive they are in decision-making. 

And this perception is not without merit: while a slim majority of the surveyed grantmakers believe that it’s very important to solicit outside advice and collaborate with external groups, only 36 percent of respondents said they seek advice from grantee advisory committees or solicit feedback from grantees through surveys, interviews, or focus groups.

Why don’t more grantmakers involve external stakeholders in decision-making?  According to the survey, many grantmakers are comfortable with the status quo, prefer to get their information from experts rather than community members, or think it takes too much time and effort to involve outside constituents.  Valid or not, these excuses prevent many grantmakers from letting more diverse voices influence their work.

Yet, the benefits of stakeholder engagement are evident; inviting external constituencies to the table results in:

  • Deeper understanding of problems;
  • Truer sense of grantee needs and challenges;
  • Improved strategy;
  • Greater effectiveness;
  • More accountability and transparency; and
  • Increased buy in.

So how do grantmakers involve stakeholders in decision-making?  Do Nothing About Me Without Me provides several case studies of organizations that do this work successfully.  The report also offers a range of activities for grantmakers, depending on their current level of stakeholder engagement. 

Minnesota also has its own examples of foundations involving communities in their organizations:

  • Getting started: If your foundation is just beginning this work, surveying grantees for feedback and input is a great first step.  Some foundations also commission Grantee Perception Reports from the Center for Effective Philanthropy.  The McKnight Foundation published its report online for greater transparency and accountability.
  • Gathering input: Other grantmakers involve grantees and community members in focus groups, listening sessions, and community convenings around public problems.  For instance, the Central Minnesota Community Foundation has convened community meetings around important local issues, such as ways to promote collaborative planning with St. Cloud, Sartell, and Sauk Rapids.
  • Sharing decision making: For grantmakers that are able and willing to share decision-making authority with a group of constituents, they may consider either adding nonprofit and community representatives to their board, or appointing a panel of nonprofit staff and community members to decide on grants. Family foundations can expand their boards to include non-family members.  The Sundance Family Foundation has benefited from assembling a small, talented board of directors made up of several people from the community. At the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, the Social Change Fund and girlsBEST Fund each has its own committee that is charged with making funding recommendations to the board of trustees. Committee members include staff, board members, and community volunteers that participate in reading proposals, conducting site visits, and evaluating applications. The process incorporates perspectives of many different decision makers.

Join the conversation: How does your foundation involve stakeholders?  If you are with a nonprofit, how have funders engaged your organization in their work?

-Stephanie Jacobs, MCF director of member services

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Posted by Stephanie Jacobs

Co-Chairs Invite Minnesota Grantmakers to 2010 MCF Annual Convening

August 25, 2010

We will share fresh ideas and resources at the MCF Convening blog before, during and after the two-day event! In the posts below, Convening co-chairs LaTresse Snead and Kevin Walker reflect on why this year’s program is not-to-be-missed.

Keep up with the action! Subscribe to the MCF Convening blog RSS feed and follow MCF on twitter. For Convening highlights, stay tuned to the hashtag #MCFAnnCon.

LaTresse Snead

LaTresse Snead

Get Ready to Learn And Take Action!
LaTresse Snead, Co-Chair, Tastefully Simple

The philanthropic community in Minnesota has a huge opportunity to take control and create the kind of change necessary to overcome the challenges we now face.

The 2010 Annual Convening will offer us smart strategies, new avenues to think outside of the box, and connections that will enable us to become more engaged in building up our community (more).

Kevin Walker

Kevin Walker

Find Value, Be Challenged at “Innovative Strategies”
Kevin Walker, Co-Chair, Northwest Area Foundation

What kind of Minnesota do we hope to create for our children and grandchildren? What kind of future? My belief is that, whatever angle you and your organization take on the vital work of philanthropy, those defining questions are relevant to what you do.

And I think there’s an important role for the Minnesota Council on Foundations in creating a space in which we can think through these questions together, get serious about sharing ideas, and work toward innovative solutions (more).

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

Using Communications Strategies to Increase Foundations’ Public Policy Impact

August 23, 2010

The desire to achieve impact is taking yet another step. First, there was great talk about foundations moving beyond writing checks to figuring out how to change the systems that may have created the need for the check-writing in the first place.

This has led to more and more foundations putting their resources – money, knowledge and connections – toward public policy engagement and impacting public policy. We highlighted the work of several Minnesota foundations in this arena in our Summer issue of Giving Forum.

Now, a first-of-its-kind report from the Center on Philanthropy & Public Policy at the University of Southern California focuses on the question of how foundations that wish to engage in public policy are using communications to expand the reach and impact of their work even more.

The study, released in May and aptly titled “How Foundations Use Communications to Advance Their Public Policy Work,” compiles interviews with senior communications officers at 18 of the country’s largest foundations, including MCF member W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Three structural models for communications staff at these foundations emerged:

  • The advisory model, in which the communications team advises program staff both formally and informally.
  • The embedded model, where communications staff are embedded in the foundation’s major program teams.
  • The communications department model, an approach where a separate communications department produces independent products and programs, in addition to serving as advisers.

While the communications staff sizes are small, communications work extends beyond core staff and encompasses what consultants, partners and grantees do as well.

Study authors James M. Ferris, Marcia Sharp and Hilary J. Harmssen identified 10 distinct strategies foundations use to boost their public policy engagement through communications. Five are within a foundation’s grantmaking work, and five go beyond it:

Five Strategies Within the Grants Program

  1. Build communications support into the budget for a larger program – includes funding communications components of larger project grants related to public policy engagement.
  2. Give grants or contracts specifically for communications – includes stand-alone communications grants for strategy development, implementation, or messaging, as well as companion grants to projects or research studies with significant policy implications.
  3. Provide expert consulting support to grantees – includes expertise provided by consultants or networks or directly by foundation staff to further an organization’s skills and expertise in strategy development, messaging, social media, polling, and other general communications tools.
  4. Offer communications capacity building to grantees  – includes programs to build grantee skills and knowledge in organizational development, advocacy, strategy, and social media.
  5. Train program officers – includes programs on funding advocacy and communications, the role of communications in policy engagement, basic communications strategies and tactics, and legal issues related to advocacy and policy engagement.

Five Strategies Beyond the Grants Program

  1. Sponsor convenings – includes community forums and other forms of gatherings that bring together key actors and influences on an issue.
  2. Do direct media outreach – includes activities conducted in the name of the foundation, as well as on specific policy issues such as op eds, press releases, blogs, etc.
  3. Use the CEO’s bully pulpit – includes speaking, writing, or blogging on particular policy issues or topics, and calling meetings and conducting relationship building with important stakeholders.
  4. Establish communications departments within the foundation – includes publishing, creating news services, producing public education campaigns, creating media partnerships, and running awards programs.
  5. Build a cause brand – includes creating favorable/trusted name recognition for the foundation, as well as consciously developing a cause brand around a particular public problem or issue.

While communications can play a vital part in a foundation’s public policy work, interviewees stressed that the greatest challenges are: to manage the complexity of relationships involved for a core communications staff what works on daily basis with individual grantees, coalitions and collaborations, program officers, contractors and consultants; and content experts, and to integrate communications into the program work, especially at an early and strategic level.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Posted by Chris Noonan

Workforce Development: Why It Matters

August 20, 2010

How do we get more people working?

“Jobs.  Jobs.  Jobs.”  Politicians and employers have uttered this mantra a lot lately.  This should come as no surprise; the unemployment rate for the 50 largest metropolitan areas reached 9.3% in 2009.  Since the beginning of the recession in 2007, the United States lost over 8 million jobs.  Families continue to struggle, and leaders are anxious to find a solution that will get more people working.

At a meeting for public and private funders this week, Fred Dedrick, executive director of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, told the attendees that we should dispel the notion that people don’t want to work.  People are ready and willing to work, but the way that people find jobs has become increasingly complex.  Rarely do people join the family businesses anymore, which was common practice until a few decades ago.  Today’s job seekers send resumes into the black hole of the internet, unsure of whether they will ever even hear back about their applications.

At the National Fund, they believe in a strategy that involves not only understanding the needs of the labor force (the demand side), but also the needs of employers (the supply side).  The National Fund is a $50 million national effort designed to strengthen and expand high-impact workforce development initiatives dedicated to advancing low wage workers into good careers while addressing skill needs of employers.  They do this through forming regional collaboratives of government agencies, foundations, and other philanthropic organizations to focus financial and intellectual capital on creating jobs.  These collaboratives align funds to help create and expand workforce partnerships.  Their model brings employers and workers together to talk about their issues and solutions, or as Dedrick put it, their pain and opportunity.

The National Fund for Workforce Solution’s model is one innovative way of tackling workforce development.  But there are other issues that complicate workforce development even further.  In a report released by the Economic Policy Institute this spring called Uneven Pain, Algernon Austin, director of the Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy program, found that the Twin Cities metro has the worst racial disparity in its unemployed population than any of the other 50 major metropolitan areas in the United States:

“The Minneapolis metropolitan area has a black-white unemployment ratio of 3.1 to 1. This means that blacks are 3.1 times as likely to be unemployed as whites. Additionally, the black-white difference in unemployment is almost 14 percentage points.”

This disturbing statistic has prompted the Greater Twin Cities United Way, The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, and Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota to sponsor a convening to talk about local solutions to this issue.  Many groups are working on pieces of the issue to diversify and strengthen the metro area’s workforce, but how are they aligned?  How are these groups affecting policy?  What about green jobs?  And how strong is the safety net that supports low-income workers?

On September 1, MCF is pleased to welcome Dr. Austin and a distinguished panel of experts for a morning program open to MCF members to discuss these questions.   In addition, MCF is thrilled to partner with the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability on an afternoon meeting open to both nonprofits and funders.  MCF members, we hope that you are able to attend to discuss this important issue.  For those who are unable to attend, stay tuned for a summary of the program here at the MCF Philanthropy Potluck Blog.

- Stephanie Jacobs, MCF director of member services

Image CC Saad.Akhtar

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Posted by Stephanie Jacobs

McKnight Foundation Leading by Following

August 20, 2010

Philanthropy is a field of leaders, but Monitor Institute is focusing elsewhere with their Smart Money Award, a bi-monthly recognition of philanthropy’s most important acts of “followership”.

Instead of recognizing those who go where no one has gone before, the award celebrates those who follow in the footsteps of others. It honors acts like Warren’s Buffet’s 2006 gift of more than $31 billion to the Gates Foundation and Buffet’s recognition that “there was a terrific foundation that was already scaled-up…that would and that could productively use my money now. “

Most recently, the Smart Money Award went to The McKnight Foundation, an MCF member, for followership represented by its $100 million commitment to three re-granting institutions leading the effort against climate change: ClimateWorks, the Energy Foundation, and RE-AMP. Given the issue’s urgency and parters who were already doing work they trusted, McKnight’s Board decided it would be most effective to forego acting alone and instead join the ongoing efforts of others.

McKnight’s vice president of program Neal Cuthbert explains, “We have a long history of working with established intermediaries to try to put decisions in the hands of the people closest to the work. We often find that the best thing we can do is to support smart people who know what they’re doing and get out of the way.”

The award was born at a March 2010 gathering on the next 10 years of philanthropy where participants discussed how philanthropy could adapt to a rapidly changing world. There, a small group facilitated by Monitor Institute consultants Gabriel Kasper and Edward Wexler-Beron, focused on followership. Specifically, they wanted to dispel the notion that leadership is about doing something first or by yourself. For more on the story of the award’s creation, check out Eugene Eric Kim’s blog post: The Story of Philanthropy’s Smart Money Award.

Kasper, the Monitor Institute consultant and co-author of the reports “What’s Next for Philanthropy – Acting Bigger and Adapting Better in a Networked World” and “Intentional Innovation: How Getting More Systematic about Innovation Could Improve Philanthropy and Increase Social Impact”, will share insights from Monitor’s work at MCF’s 2010 Annual Convening in October. To read more about Kasper’s plenary address, visit mcfconvening.org.

- Susan Stehling, MCF

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

What’s In a Name?

August 19, 2010

Melissa Eystad, 2010 Annual Convening planner

One of the biggest challenges in planning an event like the 2010 MCF Annual Convening is designing how people are going to “be together.” How often have you attended events where the old lecture method is alive and well? Or there’s a panel of talking heads with no time for participant interaction or questions? Or how about the PowerPoint presentation where every slide is read to you – verbatim?

For many years MCF has been giving members the opportunity to gather as a whole to discuss and learn about philanthropy opportunities and issues.  Can you think of a conference format or feature you’ve experienced? Well, we’ve probably tried it.

It would be easier to offer the same design and format year after year.  But our goal is never what is easier for us, but what will make each event interesting, informational, engaging and energizing for as many busy grantmakers as possible. And ultimately, to create an event that plants the seeds for new ideas, solutions and relationships that will increase philanthropy’s impact into the future.

One of the first changes you may have noticed about our 2010 event is the name.  Planning committee members and staff felt strongly that we needed a different image for our annual gathering.  A conference is a conference. The term “convening” conveys more — that it’s about bringing people with common interests and purposes together to learn, discuss, and be inspired about the work ahead.  This will be a truly participatory event.

So, to “break the mold” again with new features and formats at the 2010 MCF Annual Convening, we are:

  • Exchanging the traditional CEO/trustee dinner with a dynamic morning of presentations, conversations and explorations between CEOs, top philanthropy executives and their boards of trustees. These peers will join together to hear about innovative governance and philanthropic leadership opportunities.
  • Reframing breakout sessions as “idea sessions.” Our planning committee challenged us to create more engaging small-group formats that deliver three things: relevant topic content, more attendee discussion and sharing, and clear, tangible tools and applicable strategies.  This may be a tall order for 75- and 90-minute sessions on complex topics – but we’re up to the challenge!
  • Partnering with the MCF Arts and Culture Funders Network and Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media to offer our first dinner and film option on Thursday evening. Special thanks to MCF members Cindy Gehrig and Robert Byrd from the Jerome Foundation for helping to make this possible!

As planning continues, we’ll have more new developments to report. We know that grantmakers’ time and resources  are limited and valuable, especially in these changing times. But we also know that coming together to build our field-wide strengths is essential, too.

MCF members as well as other grantmakers from Minnesota and the upper Midwest are invited to attend.  Stay tuned to this website for more details and to register.  For a whole new convening experience, join us October 28 & 29 in Plymouth, MN!

- Melissa Eystad, former MCF vice president and current 2010 Annual Convening planner from World Spirit Consulting

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

Pakistan’s Flood, Philanthropy’s Response and How You Can Help

August 19, 2010

More than one-fifth of Pakistan is currently under water, USA Today reports.  Sixteen-hundred people have been reported dead and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that almost 14 million people have been displaced. Two million of those displaced are now reported to be homeless.

Flood survivors use PUR sachets provided to them by Oxfam to disinfect drinking water.

Despite the magnitude of the disaster in Pakistan, the response from individual donors and grantmakers alike has been characterized as “sluggish”. Why has the response been so anemic, and what can yet be done for the survivors of this natural disaster?

Understanding the Sluggish Start

Although NGO’s now report a slight uptick in aid flowing to Pakistan, there is still much need, and the mystery remains why the response to the disaster has not mirrored the response to past natural disasters. A blog post at Asian American Giving suggests that reasons may include:

  • The death-toll and  ill-effects of the flood are not as dramatic or immediate as the earthquake in Haiti in January or the 2004 tsunami.
  • Donors are experiencing fatigue in this economy, and those in the West in particular are not accustomed to giving during the summer months.
  • There are concerns among donors that money given to support relief efforts may end up in the hands of the Taliban.

The Prognosis, and What Individuals Can Do

Due to the nature of the natural disaster in Pakistan, the full effects will not be accounted for until well after the water line has receded.

Just yesterday the U.N. released a message warning of the specter of disease hovering over the children of Pakistan, particularly those who have been walking through sewage contaminated water with their families to find dry ground. Outbreaks of endemic cholera, upper respiratory infections and diarrhea are a part of a growing list of threats to these 3.5 million children.

If you’re interested in helping the people of Pakistan, there are many trustworthy NGO’s responding to the disaster who are eager for your support — Oxfam, MercyCorps, Doctors Without Borders, and UNICEF among them. For a more complete list of options visit USA Today, or Asian American Giving.

The Philanthropic Response

To track ongoing developments in the philanthropic response to the floods in Pakistan, please visit the response page on the Council of Foundation’s site.

Minnesota Council on Foundations is currently collecting information from our members regarding the philanthropic response in Minnesota to the flood. If you’re a grantmaker in the state, please email a description of your activities to news@mcf.org.

Image CC Oxfam International

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

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