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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S’Mores and iPhone Apps: Family Philanthropy Conversations

August 17, 2010

Some of our best family discussions happen around the camp fire. In between licking s’mores off our fingers, we share school experiences, summer wishes, and funny stories.

The next time you're around the campfire, why not talk about family giving?

Last weekend, we brought out our TableTopics cube of conversation starters and enjoyed the summer air while listening to each other answer questions such as  “Would you rather meet your great grandparents or your great grandchildren?” “What is your family known for?” and “Is it more fun to be a parent or a child?”

When I came back to work on Monday and dove into creating content for our fall issue of Giving Forum, which will focus on family philanthropy, I thought of a few of my own family philanthropy conversation starters I could pull out next time we’re sitting around the campfire:

  • If you had $1,000 dollars (which sounds like all the money in the world to a young child), and you could use it to change someone’s life, what would you do with it?
  • Do you think it’s better to give the entire $1,000 to one person and make a really big difference or give $100 to 10 people and make less of a difference but affect more people?
  • What is one problem now that you hope doesn’t exist in 10 years? 50 years?
  • If you could make a movie about how to make the world a better place, what would your movie be like?
  • When you do something really great, how important is it that others know what you did?
  • If you could invent something that would make the world a better place, what would you invent?

West Central Initiative, an MCF member, brings the thought-provoking discussion from the camp fire to the kitchen table in its recent issue of FOCUS on the Region, a quarterly publication. Here’s an excerpt of Sheri Holm’s article:

Kitchen table philanthropy involving the whole family

The next time your family comes together for a day at the lake or a barbeque in the backyard, why not take an hour to discuss  how your family can make an impact on the things that are most meaningful to all of you.

Some questions to pose to your ‘kitchen table philanthropists”:

1. First, let your family know that including charitable giving in your estate does not mean leaving out the children, grandchildren and other family members. Including charities in your planning can actually enhance what your loved ones will inherit. Because your family is important to you, their input into how those charitable dollars are spent and what organizations they will support is also important to you.

2.Encourage your family to talk about the charitable organizations they currently support. Ask each about the most satisfying charitable gift that they have made. Other questions could include:

  • Do you see your family as a family who “gives back”? How do you feel about that?
  • Are local issues and organizations more important to your family than national or international organizations?
  • Are there projects or organizations you would like the family’s name linked with?
  • What would the family like to see accomplished through charitable giving?

Including your loved ones in these discussions can provide multiple benefits. It gives them a role in your decision making. They will understand what you want to do and how you want to do it. It should also ensure that there will be no surprises for the family at the time your estate is settled.

If you’d like your conversation spurred on by techie gadgets, guess what? There’s an iPhone app that might just be up your alley. My colleague here at MCF, Cary Walski, found Picture Your Legacy, which guides you toward articulating what you’d like your legacy to be – in business, philanthropy or life – by selecting and sorting images that reflect what you want to accomplish in the world. “What does a dancer leaping across the stage, a redwood tree or a lighthouse beacon say about the funder you aspire to be?” reads the promotional text on the app’s website.

Once you go through the app’s exercises, you can email them to yourself and other family members for further reflection and discussion. So, if sitting around a campfire or the kitchen table together isn’t in the cards, now you can still share your philanthropy philosophy by way of the virtual kitchen table.

Join the conversation: What questions could you ask your kids to find out how they see themselves changing the world? What questions might help guide them to think philanthropically? Have you tried any kind of conversation starters to spark discussion about your family’s philanthropy? How will iPhone apps and other tech devices influence how families discuss their philanthropy and make decisions in lieu of sitting around the camp fire or the kitchen table?

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Capacity, Culture, Commitment and Comfort: Finding Public Policy Strategies That Fit Your Foundation

July 20, 2010

How much change can a foundation catalyze by simply – albeit generously – writing checks? Not as much as it could if it also engaged in public policy activities. In fact, public policy work should be viewed as an essential part of a foundation’s efforts, say several members of the Minnesota Council on Foundations.

In our Summer issue of Giving Forum, “Public Policy and Philanthropy: Many Roads Lead to the Same Destination – Change,” John Larsen, trustee and administrator of the John Larsen Foundation, says, “Ultimately, the work of our foundation is about creating real, systemic change, and that can only happen when we start talking to government. Whether you’re a small family foundation like us, or a very large foundation, we all need shifts in public policy in order to achieve really significant lasting social change.”

The challenge is that working to achieve shifts in public policy is often equated with lobbying. And the thought of walking up the steps of the Capitol or testifying before a legislative committee is more than many funders can fathom.

Lobbying, however, is not the sole avenue to influencing public decision making and advocating for causes. Although it is the most recognized public policy engagement tactic, it is only one of 18 distinct policy strategies that Julia Coffman outlines in “A User’s Guide to Advocacy Evaluation Planning,” published by the Harvard Family Research Project.

A “Framework of Public Policy Activities,” which we include in Giving Forum, also includes using electronic outreach and social media, coalition and network building, grassroots organizing, briefings and presentations, polling, pilot projects, research investigating issues and identifying solutions and policymaker education, among others – all of which can impact public decision making, which ultimately shapes policy development, approval and implementation.

A foundation can engage anywhere along the continuum, pursuing those activities that fit its capacity, culture, commitment and comfort levels. A public policy activity that feels right for one foundation may not fit another.

Many foundations choose a combination of strategies, leveraging their resources to: raise awareness of where the public stands on particular issues; bring together divergent points of view to first converse then collaborate; empower community members to advocate on their own behalf by providing technical assistance; increase the capacity of nonprofits to mobilize others; identify messages that resonate with policymakers and the public; determine what would happen if the status quo was allowed to prevail; aggregate what is known already about an issue and put that to work to further discussion; or identify possible solutions and best practices.

These MCF members have each chosen distinct strategies to impact public decision making that fit their capacity, culture, commitment and comfort level. Read more about their work in our just-published Giving Forum:

Lead article:

Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation: An outgrowth of its grantmaking and programmatic activities, community dialogues and business loan work, SMIF’s public policy activities, including building coalition and networks and partnering with the media to draw attention to the issues and how public policy could impact the success the foundation seeks.

The Minneapolis Foundation: As part of the School Readiness Funders Coalition, a group of funders with diverse strengths and abilities in advocacy work, The Minneapolis Foundation brings to the group its ability to lobby and testify at legislative hearings to advocate for the coalitions “Agenda to Achieve Learning Readiness by 2020.”

John Larsen Foundation: When awarding grants supporting work toward LGBT equality, the foundation  considers if educating policymakers is an end goal of the nonprofit’s work and if the organization has a research plan and a track record of communicating those findings to policymakers.

Indian Land Tenure Foundation: Striving to ensure that lands within the original boundaries of reservations is acquired, owned and managed by Indians, the foundation views education about land issues a priority, as well as identification then pursuit of strategies for achieving legal reform.

Women’s Foundation of Minnesota: The explosion of social media has created a new landscape for the foundation to leverage its expertise to educate, engage and broaden its reach to shift attitudes, behaviors and institutions that limit equality for women and girls.

Voices of Philanthropy articles:

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: Identifying partners best qualified to successfully implement strategies and measuring what’s important to guide future initiatives drive the foundation’s advocacy work.

Initiative Foundation: Based on the belief that local people are the key to strengthening communities, the foundation increases civic engagement by providing training, technical assistance, resource referral and grants to help citizen-based teams develop and carry out strategic plans.

While these efforts are diverse, the common thread amongst them is the recognition by these foundations that strategically developing goals to influence public decision making and intentionally engaging in public policy activities and advocacy work can move systems change forward.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Don’t Close the Achievement Gap, Prevent It

June 29, 2010

In recent years, I’ve heard a lot about efforts to close the achievement gap, a national embarrassment that is especially evident in Minnesota.

Last week I attended “Window of Opportunity: Babies Can’t Wait, The 4th Annual Nancy Latimer Convening for Children and Youth” co-sponsored by the Minnesota Early Childhood Funders Network and the Minnesota Council on Foundations. Evidence presented there was clear – poor children (and their families) need services and intervention, long before the children enter school, to ensure an achievement gap doesn’t start.

Dr. Richard Chase of Wilder Research puts it this way, “We have to stop talking about how to close the achievement gap. We have to think about how to prevent the achievement gap.”

Chase talked about the necessity of multiple, coordinated services to achieve this and defined three essentials that very young children need to thrive:

  • A caring and responsive caregiver
  • A language-rich environment
  • Opportunities to safely explore

In our state, 15 to 20 percent of our babies are vulnerable. Their families live in poverty, increasing the risk that they simply won’t get what they need to succeed. In 2008, 60 percent of American Indian babies in Minnesota were born into poverty, 42 percent of African American, 33 percent of Hispanic, 10 percent of Asian, and 8 percent of white babies. Low-income children of color make up a growing portion of Minnesota’s babies today and of Minnesota’s students and workforce tomorrow. Their success matters.

Dr. Megan Gunnar, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development also spoke. She introduced the theory of “serve and return,” a continual process of the child “serving something out” and how, in a responsive environment, their “serve is returned.”

This high stakes game doesn’t happen on a tennis court. Instead, imagine a baby smiling and cooing at mom and then waiting for a smile or encouraging word to come back. If she doesn’t get a response, she tries less and less often, and ultimately her brain development slows. An unresponsive environment just doesn’t provide what a child needs.

Why the lack of response? Caregivers in low-income families are depressed or emotionally stressed 15 to 20 percent of the time, rendering them ineffective at the all important “serve and return.” Lack of access to affordable mental health care and other services exacerbates the problem.

For both speakers, the answer is clear. Increase funding for the whole child, the whole family and the whole community and do it now.

Chase summarized, “Close the gap between what science is telling us and what we do. Investing in early childhood gives us the biggest bang for our buck. It’s certainly a better investment than stadiums or airlines.”

Awards Presented
This year’s “Nancy” awards, presented in honor of Nancy Latimer, went to Jane Kretzmann, senior program officer at the Minnesota Community Foundation (an MCF member) for her work promoting the healthy development of young children, including development of the Project for Babies, and Arthur J. Rolnick, economist, senior vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis for showing the link between early childhood education and healthy communities and economies.

- Susan Stehling, MCF

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Thank You to the “Unorganized” Philanthropists

June 14, 2010

Last Friday wrapped up another school year in the life of the Noonans.

As I reflected back on all the opportunities afforded my children over the past nine months, I thought I’d write this blog as a sort of thank-you blast to all the very generous donors who made these opportunities a reality.

The Lions, Rotary clubs, VFW posts, restaurants, shops, businesses, cities, sheriff/police/fire departments gave cash, gift certificates, discounts, products, time, expertise and more that were put to work in the classroom or were used by teachers and schools to purchase needed music and physical education equipment, updated technology and resource books; fund field trip transportation and visiting artists; reward students’ achievements; given as silent auction items and carnival prizes at fundraisers; and more.

At an end-of-year program last week, I marveled at the community and business support of our schools. Thank you for responding to what I’m sure feels like an overwhelming number of requests for support.

While I work in the field of organized philanthropy and often read about the great work being done by both large and small foundations, I wanted to take time today to give a shout-out to those small, local organizations and businesses that give because they receive a letter from a neighbor or take the time to listen to a random person who walks through their door.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Making Visible the Invisible: Homeless Children and Youth in the Twin Cities

June 10, 2010

In Minnesota, shelter capacity for youth is relatively unchanged since 2003.Earlier this week, I attended the Visible Child Funders’ Briefing titled How are the Children? A Deeper Look at Families that are Homeless in the Twin Cities.  The Visible Child Initiative was launched by the Family Housing Fund in partnership with the Supportive Housing Provider Group and the Family Supportive Housing Center in 2005 in order to raise the visibility of children and families in the community.

This briefing, organized by Amy Crawford from the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation and Colleen O’Keefe from Sauer Children’s Renew Foundation, gathered funders from across the Twin Cities metro concerned with homeless children and families to learn about the latest research and hear from practitioners working in the field.

Since 1991, Wilder Research has conducted an unprecedented study on homelessness in Minnesota “to better understand the causes, circumstances and effects of homelessness, and to promote efforts toward permanent, affordable housing for all Minnesotans.” Every three years, more than 1,000 volunteers conduct interviews with people living in shelters, transitional housing programs, drop-in service locations, and non-shelter locations such as encampments and abandoned buildings across the state.  In conjunction with the release of the 2006 findings, Wilder Research also produced an Emmy-nominated documentary called Homeless Youth: Finding Home. These videos explore the circumstances that lead youth to become homeless, the challenges they face when they are homeless, and the services available to them.

The statistics from the 2009 report are shocking.   For the Visible Child Funders’ Briefing, Greg Owen and Ellen Shelton from Wilder Research did further analysis of the findings to focus on children and families.   Since the 2006 study, there was a 25% increase in Minnesota’s homeless population, mostly associated with the downturn in the economy.  Of the homeless population interviewed for this study, 47% were under the age of 22.  Of the children with parents or unaccompanied minors, 47% were ages 0 to 5.  Despite the dramatic increase in the number of homeless unaccompanied youth (up 57% since 2006), shelter capacity for youth is relatively unchanged since 2003 and the largest increase in shelter turnaways occurred among youth.  Especially striking is how homelessness spans generations: 34% of the homeless parents in this study report being homeless as children.

Even with the dramatic increase in the incidence of homelessness in Minnesota there are key, persistent characteristics within this population:

  • Racial disparities
  • Multiple health issues
  • Barriers to obtaining and maintaining housing
  • Domestic violence among women and children
  • History of placement or incarceration

African Americans and American Indians make up a disproportionate percentage of Minnesota’s homeless population. While African Americans make up 4% of Minnesota’s general population, they constitute 41% of the homeless adults and 43% of homeless minors (ages 12 to 17) in the state.  While this report did not include the interviews conducted on Minnesota’s reservations, 11% of the homeless adults and 20% of the homeless minors in this study were American Indian (Wilder Research plans to release a report later this year on the interviews conducted on reservations).  Racial disparities have existed in Minnesota’s homeless population for decades, which prompted the Infant Toddler Discovery Project to release a report in 2009 called Culture Matters: The Importance of Cultural Knowledge When Working with Families Who Have Experienced Homelessness (pdf).

Domestic violence is another circumstance that leads many women and children to be homeless.  Of the homeless mothers interviewed, 52% were physically or sexually abused as a child or youth. Of the 30% of mothers that reported fleeing from domestic violence, over half had children with them.  In the case of homeless minors, 38% were physically abused, 20% were sexually abused, and 27% chose to stay in an abusive situation because they had no access to other housing.

Join the conversation:

When presented with statistics like these, it is easy to be daunted by the magnitude of homelessness.  It is a systemic issue deeply tied to the legacy of institutional racism and exacerbated by health concerns, family violence, and barriers to re-housing. However, funders and practitioners continue to gather and collaborate on this topic in order to end homelessness. Amy Crawford and Colleen O’Keefe asked the participants in the room to reflect on the following questions that you can think about at your own organization or foundation:

  1. What is the new data telling you about the needs of homeless children and families?
  2. What needs to be done?
  3. What concrete action could you take today to move forward in addressing these issues within your organization?
  4. What are some possible ways that funders can work together to address these issues?

-Stephanie Jacobs, MCF member services manager

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Log In Thursday For Latest on Education Reform

June 9, 2010

The Minneapolis Foundation is hosting a special Minnesota Meeting live webcast on education reform on June 10 from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m.

Co-sponsored by the Itasca Project and the Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi Foundation for Children, the Minnesota Meeting event will feature Alex Johnston, chief executive officer of ConnCAN, widely regarded as one of the nation’s leading state-level education reform organizations.

Johnston has led ConnCAN’s effort to advocate for state policies that will ensure every Connecticut child has access to a great public school. In 2009, ConnCAN achieved three major legislative victories, including overhauling the state’s teacher certification rules.

Following Johnston’s remarks will be a panel and audience discussion of educational reform efforts in Minnesota, including a reflection on the outcomes of the recent legislative session. According to The Minneapolis Foundation, Minnesota’s long-term vitality requires an education system that is flexible and innovative, in which every child has an equal chance to succeed.

To register for the webcast, click here.  Community members can also weigh in on the state of education in Minnesota on the Minnesota Meeting blog.

The event will be broadcast live on the web from Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) and will later air on TPT’s Minnesota Channel. The webcast will also be available for download and rebroadcast later. Visit MinnesotaMeeting.com for updates.

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