Call for “Nancy” Award Nominations

February 26, 2010

The Minnesota Early Childhood Funders Network, an MCF member network, is calling for nominations for the 4th Annual “Nancy” Award.  To be presented at the Annual Nancy Latimer Convening for Children and Youth on June 24, 2010, the award recognizes outstanding contributions by individuals or groups to enhance life for young children and honors the spirit and legacy of Nancy Latimer’s leadership, passion, and commitment to children.

Nancy Latimer was a longtime senior program officer at The McKnight Foundation, a leader of the Minnesota Early Childhood Funders Network, and a lifelong advocate for children. She contributed to the healthy development of young children, the prevention of child abuse, and the creation of public and policy support to improve the lives of Minnesota’s children and families. Nancy was especially dedicated to enhancing early childhood care and education. Her leadership, passion, creativity, and commitment to children were recognized in 2005 with the Council on Foundation’s Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking.

Prior “Nancy” Award recipients are:

  • 2009: Dr. Glenace Edwall, Director, Children’s Mental Health Division, Minnesota Department of Human Services, and Chair, Minnesota Child Psychologists, and Zoe Nicholie, early childhood systems specialist and director of the Build Initiative and public policy work at Ready 4 K
  • 2008: Dr. Martha Farrell Erickson, Ph.D., Founding Director, University of Minnesota Children, Youth & Family Consortium, and Director, Irving B. Harris Programs, Center for Early Education and Development
  • 2007: Early Childhood Caucus, Minnesota State Legislature, accepted by Representative Nora Slawik and Senator Claire A. Robling

Nominees should exemplify unwavering dedication and outstanding contributions to the well-being of young children through program innovation, policy, advocacy, and/or mentorship. In addition, they should demonstrate persistence, humility, vision, courage, tenacity, servant leadership, humanity, and compassion.

Two-page nominations are due March 26, 2010.  They should include:

  • For individuals, a brief biographical and professional overview, with significant activities and accomplishments on behalf of children in Minnesota.
  • For groups, a brief overview of the significant activities and accomplishments of the group on behalf of children in Minnesota.
  • The name and contact information of the nominator, as well as a brief statement of the connection between the nominator and nominee.
  • The names, email addresses, and phone numbers of two individuals who can provide additional information about the nominee.
  • Contact information, including email address and phone number, for the nominee.

Nominations should be emailed to: Vicki Itzkowitz, vitzkowitz@aol.com.  The award recipient will be selected by the Early Childhood Funders Network steering committee. For a pdf with a full explanation of nominee criteria and submission information, click here.

The Minnesota Early Childhood Funders Network works to strengthen the individual and collective efforts of funders to enhance the well-being of Minnesota children and their families. To increase support and opportunities for the youngest Minnesotans and their families, the network provides information to network members and policymakers, monitors how changing public policy affects early childhood issues and organizations, and works to strengthen the voice for early childhood within Minnesota philanthropy.  The network steering committee includes these MCF members:

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New Award to Honor Minnesota’s Engaged Philanthropists

February 19, 2010

Minnesota Community Foundation and Social Venture Partners Minnesota are looking for nominations for the new Engaged Philanthropist Award. This award is intended to recognize Minnesota’s most innovative and effectively engaged philanthropists.

If you know someone whose novel approach to philanthropy has had a transformative impact on their grantees and the communities they serve, please consider nominating him or her for the award. Nominations will be accepted until March 12. The winner will receive the award at the June 17 2010 Engaged Philanthropy Conference.

The  winner will be highlighted in a brief video regarding his or her work, and will also receive a plaque and a  cash award of $2,500 to donate to the Minnesota-based 501(c)(3) organization of his or her choice. Visit the awards page on the Social Venture Partners Minnesota website (scroll to the bottom for the Engaged Philanthropist Award) for more information and to download the nomination guidelines and form.

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McKnight Seeks Distinguished Artists

February 18, 2010

The McKnight Foundation invites nominations for its 13th Distinguished Artist Award, which recognizes individual artists with enduring and exceptional careers in Minnesota. Nominations for the $50,000 award are due March 31.

The award honors one artist each year for his or her substantial impact on the arts in Minnesota over a lifetime. The chief selection criteria is the quality of the nominee’s work. Other considerations include the artist’s commitment to his or her field, and ways the artist has enriched life for audiences and the community.

McKnight president Kate Wolford notes that, although the award celebrates one individual’s career, it also “celebrates the achievements of the entire family of Minnesota artists who have built — one performance, poem, and painting at a time — the robust and resilient arts community we all cherish.”

Artists in all disciplines are eligible for nomination but may not apply for the award themselves. Although nominees must have worked in Minnesota much of their lives, they need not reside in Minnesota when nominated.

The recipient will be announced mid-year. Candidates not selected this year will be considered again in subsequent years. 

Previous awardees are:

  • 2009: Bain Boehlke, theater artist
  • 2008: Bill Holm, writer
  • 2007: Kinji Akagawa, sculptor
  • 2006: Lou Bellamy, theater artist
  • 2005: Judy Onofrio, sculptor
  • 2004: Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, conductor and composer
  • 2003: Mike Lynch, visual artist
  • 2002: Emilie Buchwald, writer, editor and publisher
  • 2001: Dale Warland, choral music conductor and composer
  • 2000: Robert Bly, poet, translator, writer and editor
  • 1999: Warren MacKenzie, potter
  • 1998: Dominick Argento, composer

For more information about the award, please visit the arts program section of the McKnight website, or call the Foundation at 612-333-4220.

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Media Roundup

December 15, 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).

Bush Foundation Invests In Teacher Prep Programs
(Minnesota Public Radio) This month the Bush Foundation announced a bold, $40 million, 10-year initiative to improve teacher preparation in 14 colleges in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Opinion: High Demand for Aid Exceeds Folks’ Supply of Empathy
(The Star Tribune) In this powerful and very personal article, columnist Jon Tevlin talks about his own experiences growing up in a family that relied on food stamps for a time to survive, and how he sees troubling stereotypes about the poor that he became familiar with then, playing out in the giving (or sometimes the lack there of) today.

Knight Foundation Grants $1 Million to United States Artists to Support Artists, Art Initiatives
(The Daily Tell) As a part of its ongoing commitment to support the arts, the Knight Foundation has announced a 5-year, $1 million commitment to the grantmaking and advocacy organization United States Artists.

The Minnesota Wild Launches Foundation
(Twin Cities Business Magazine) The Minnesota Wild has launched their own foundation which aims to support educational initiatives, children’s medical support and the advancement of youth hockey in the state of Minnesota.

Northwest Area Foundation Awards $500,000 to Native American Prosperity Building Efforts
(Press Release) The Northwest Area Foundation recently awarded three grants, totally $500,000 to Native American organizations. Intended to support the growth of financial and human assets, the awards are a part of the Foundation’s strategic plan to redress the inequalities and poverty that many Native communities and other minorities are confronted with.

United Way Launches WarmSafeFed.org for Families in Need
(MPP Southwest Journal) The Greater Twin Cities United Way has launched a new website and a new grant to help families in need. The website WarmSafeFed.org has detailed information about the struggle that many families are facing in current economy. The grant money is intended to support area shelters as they assist homeless families in their transition from shelter to stable housing.

Did we leave something out? Please email your Minnesota grantmaker and nonprofit news to Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate, at cwalski@mcf.org, or leave a comment to this entry below.

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Charting a Course From the Boardroom Table

November 16, 2009

At kitchen tables across America, we’re mulling over what the current economic situation means for each of us. Jobs, bills, education, loans, investments, travel, holiday shopping, donations.

With the exception of holiday shopping and perhaps travel, similar conversations are happening around foundation boardroom tables as well.

Decisions to shift funding guidelines, focus areas, investment practices, grant timelines, grant payouts, internal staffing and organizational short- and long-term priorities – the list goes on – are not made lightly or quickly. And for many board members and trustees, this is the first time they’ve encountered such significant and perhaps drastic discussions.

These conversations and decisions by foundation leaders are critical and necessary. MCF’s Effective Governance Principle calls for its members to share a commitment to excellence and achieve effective governance by ensuring performance in the areas of stewardship of assets, donor intent, fiduciary responsibility and sound decision-making.

Join the conversation: What types of effective governance decisions has your organization made during these challenging times? What shifts and changes in how your organizations does its work have resulted from discussions by your board or executive leadership in response to the economic stresses we’re facing?

Here is one example: Marina Munoz Lyon, vice president of the Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation, recalls going to the offices of Pohlad family members to discuss how the foundation could step up to support communities in need.  The foundation, winner of the 2009 Minnesota Nonprofit Award for Responsive Philanthropy, established a $20 million Economic Crisis Initiative last spring.

In the video below, which was shown at the awards presentation at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and Minnesota Council on Foundations Joint Conference Nov. 5-6, Jim Pohlad, Pohlad Foundation board member, says, “We took a big chunk of principle and decided that it’s more important to spend it now.”

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Nominations Open for Facing Race 2010 Ambassador Award

October 29, 2009

The Saint Paul Foundation is currently seeking nominations for the fourth annual Ambassador Award. This award was established to honor local leaders who are building a sense of community in the East Metro that is respectful, safe, and inclusive. The Ambassador Award will be conferred at an April 19, 2010 ceremony.

The award recipient will be presented with a cash award of $10,000 which she or he may donate to a nonprofit or other public organization that furthers the work of creating a more equitable community in Dakota, Ramsey and/or Washington counties.

If you would like to nominate an individual for the Ambassador Award, you may find complete guidelines, selection criteria and a downloadable application at www.FacingRace.org. All nominations must be postmarked by Friday, December 11, 2009.

The winner of the 2009 Ambassador Award is Dr. Ghafar Lakanwal, whose work to encourage tolerance and share diversity was profiled recently in the Twin Cities Daily Planet.

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Headwaters Foundation Wins Community Leadership Award

September 16, 2009

Headwaters Foundation for Justice is a winner of this year’s Effies Awards for effectively leading its community in implementing initiatives that address a pressing community opportunity or problem. The Effies are awarded by Effective Communities, LLC, an organization focused on promoting pathways to progress towards racial and social justice.

The award recognizes the work of Headwaters Foundation in response to the disenfranchisement of voters in the 2000 Presidential elections. To address the concerns of the community, four Minnesota philanthropic leaders, Otto Bremer Foundation, Headwaters Foundation for Justice, The Minneapolis Foundation, and the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, banded together to form the Democracy! Fund.

The goal of the fund was simple: “to increase participation and political power of disenfranchised groups.”  By working strategically to address this issue and by providing financial and technical assistance to grantees, the Democracy! Fund was able to increase civic engagement in Minnesota.

To learn more about the Democracy! Fund and the other winners of this year’s Effies, visit the Effective Communities website at JustPhilanthropy.org.

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