Students in the certified nursing assistant training program at the International Institute of Minnesota, a grantee of The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota, practice their hands-on skills.

Read the winter issue of Giving Forum – online and in your mail now – to learn more about what Minnesota grantmakers and their nonprofit partners are doing in the tough fight against poverty in our state.

Grantmakers play a variety of roles from meeting basic human needs, to creating systemic change around poverty’s root causes, to engaging the community in identifying and solving problems, to taking policy stands on matters affecting low-income residents. Whatever role foundations have chosen to play, they are working to create a brighter future for all Minnesotans.

Read this issue’s feature article to learn more about how The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota is partnering to train individuals for jobs that pay a living wage and how Greater Twin Cities United Way is improving access to health care for those who need it most. And read about how the Northwest Area Foundation funded an initiative to drive payday lenders from Montana and how The Minneapolis Foundation is working to level the playing field for all residents of the city.

- Susan Stehling, MCF communications associate

A study released by the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development in February 2011, found:

• for every $1 invested in a school-based early education program, $11 is returned to society over the children’s lifetimes
• there is an 18 percent annual return on investment in early education programs (a far greater rate of return than any other common public investments)

The coalition will leverage its unique perspective as early childhood funders to advance public policy and community support for affordable, accessible, high quality care and education in Minnesota so that all children have a strong and healthy start and are prepared to contribute to Minnesota’s vitality.

The Start Early Funders Coalition currently represents more than 20 organizations that are a part of Minnesota’s philanthropic community, many of whom are MCF members.

The coalition provides critical leadership, funding, research, program development, public policy and grant making to improve early childhood efforts in Minnesota.

Together, the coalition represents:

• Statewide leadership on early childhood issues
• The voice of Minnesota’s philanthropic community
• A credible and unique perspective as funders
• A commitment to shared learning
• Dedication to capacity building
• A long-term comprehensive vision for children and our state

In the past year, significant progress has been made across the state to enhance Minnesota’s approach to early childhood care and education. However, half of Minnesota’s children remain inadequately prepared for school, and Minnesota’s achievement gap, currently among the widest in the country, must be addressed.

The Start Early Funders Coalition will work to combat these types of issues and others faced in Minnesota by uniting philanthropic and policy efforts with research and shared learning.

The group represents the merger of the School Readiness Funders Coalition and the Early Childhood Funders Network.

For more information, visit their new website.

1. Pet Peeves from Program Officers – How to steer clear of some common annoyances in the grantmaker/grantee relationship.
2. Program Evaluation or Research and Development? – We need both! Six principles for engaging in sound research & development.
3. Grantmaking at Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies – Minnesota’s largest grantmaker gears up and starts granting.
4. Blandin Foundation Names New CEO – We welcome Kathleen Annette to her new role.
5. What Does It Take to Lead in Diversity and Inclusivity? – Excerpts from an interview with Headwaters Foundation for Justice program director David Nicholson.
6. High Praise from Program Officers – The flip side of pet peeves: how to make that relationship a good one!
7. Youthprise Launches to Champion Learning Beyond the Classroom – A new grantmaker and MCF member hits the scene.
8. Five Critical Ways to Address the Education Gap – Recommendations from the Minnesota African American Leadership Forum.
9. We All Lose: Impact of Deep Cuts to NEA – Thoughts on arts-related cuts passed in Congress earlier this year.
10. Native Americans in Philanthropy Giving Research Shows Inequities – Some bad news (national funding to Native Americans is low), and some good (Minnesota-based grantees receive the largest share of grant dollars targeting Native Americans in the nation).
11. Teaching Kids to Share, Save and Spend – Some lessons from Teach Your Kids to Share Day, presented by MCF member Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Join the conversation: What were your favorite blog posts of 2011?

Minnesota will receive $45 million – $20 million of which is targeted to high-poverty areas in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Itasca County and on the White Earth Reservation. The rest is designated for oversight and accountability, including a new ratings system to help parents find quality child care providers.

In recent (and not so recent) years, Minnesota seems to have had more bad than good education news. And this grant is GREAT news! I say that because it will put money toward what we know works.

When kids enter school ready to learn, learn to read in 1st and 2nd grade, and read to learn by 3rd, they have a much better shot at success in school and life.

And we know how to get kids ready to learn. According to The Minneapolis Foundation, an MCF member, the Minneapolis Public Schools have seen a 13 percent increase in the number of children entering kindergarten ready to learn after just 3 years of funding. There are lots of other examples out there too.

Art Rolnick summarized it quite nicely in his post yesterday on mpr.org:

While many of us think of Minnesota as the education state, roughly half of our children do not start school healthy and ready to learn. And research shows that when kids start school far behind they don’t catch up. Many of those kids drop out of high school and are much more likely to struggle in our society. Indeed, criminologists claim that they can predict the need for prisons in the future by the number of children who are not proficient in reading by the third grade.

That last sentence astounds me!

So Minnesota, let’s match the federal money. Let’s really start investing in every resident of our state and fund early education sufficiently, so every child has access to preschool and all-day kindergarten. And every child truly has the opportunity to become a productive citizen.

Would anyone out there really rather fund prisons?

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

Photo: cc woodleywonderworks

• The Nonprofit Research Collaborative has released its Summer/Early Fall 2011 fundraising survey. It found that 44 percent of responding charities reported increases in funds raised. Fifty percent of human service organizations saw an increase in funds raised.
• Giving USA found total estimated charitable giving in the United States rose 3.8% in 2010. Total charitable giving for 2010 is estimated to be $290.89 billion. This was the first increase since 2007.
• Giving in Numbers 2011 Edition, produced by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, found that the 183 responding companies gave an average of $22.1 million in 2010. 94% of these companies offered at least one matching gift program.
• Preparing our children for school success is possible. According to MCF member The Minneapolis Foundation, Minneapolis has seen a 13% increase in the number of children entering kindergarten ready to learn in the past three years.
• In the Annie E. Casey Foundation 2011 KIDS COUNT Data Book, Minnesota ranked second in the country in child well-being, after only New Hampshire.
• A report from another member, The McKnight Foundation, found that since 2004, public-private partnership Heading Home Minnesota has obtained funding for 3,146 new housing opportunities for families and individuals. That’s an increase of 79 percent in the past four years.

Join the conversation: What pieces of good news are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Photo cc Robleto

• MN’s unemployment rate is 6.9% – 205,000 of our residents are out of work.
• Veterans’ unemployment is higher at 9.4%.
• Poverty in MN is almost 12% – twice the rate of a decade ago.
• More than half of Minneapolis’ children of color live in poverty.

But, instead of being overwhelmed by bad news, how about if each of us did a little bit to help create some good news? By not closing our eyes to the hurt and misfortune of others – by opening our eyes and our checkbooks to make things better.

I like to think of Minnesota as a place of unparalleled generosity instead of a place with an unparalleled racial achievement gap. Turns out we’re both. Let’s do what we can to grow the generosity and shrink the gap.

This is the week to do it. Wednesday, Nov. 16 is “Give to the Max Day,” and Friday, Nov. 18 is “National Philanthropy Day.”

“Give to the Max Day,” now in its third year and sponsored by MCF members like the Minnesota Community Foundation, The Mosaic Company and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, has made it very easy for each one of us to be a philanthropist. Simply, “Click. Contribute. Change your world.”

There are more than 21,000 nonprofit organizations  listed on GiveMN.org this year. Each is working to make something in our state better. Whether your preferred cause is hunger, education, animal welfare or many more, many worthy organizations are out there to support. You can search or browse the GiveMN.org site to see them all. You can also narrow your search to see organizations with matching grants, so your dollar goes further.

What if Minnesota shocked the nation by spending more on this week’s ”Give to the Max Day” than on next week’s “Black Friday”? Now that’s news I’d like to see. I’ll do my part to make things better. What about you?

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

Photo: cc opensourceway

The WCA Foundation, founded by 20 women in 1866, is Minnesota’s oldest benevolent nonprofit organization.

Today WCA Foundation is a private independent foundation, run by female volunteers who disburse human services grants of more than $500,000 annually throughout Minnesota. Two-thirds of their grants go to programs that help women achieve and sustain independence.

The group’s first project was soliciting clothing for freed slaves. By the 1920s, residences owned and operated by the organization housed approximately 1,000 of Minneapolis’s 18,000 female boarders. Then in the 1970s, they decided they could be more effective if they used their assets to support existing programs rather than run their own. Their residences were sold and proceeds were invested in three endowment funds from which grants are made today.

In this picture, WCA board members (left and right) hear from MicroGrants founder, Joe Selvaggio, and MicroGrants business owner, Mai’sah Blanton. In May 2011, WCA Foundation awarded $12,000 to MicroGrants.

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

Margaret Cargill

Read the fall issue of Giving Forum for an update on what’s happening at Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, where grantmaking has started in the areas of Environment; Relief, Recovery and Development; and Arts and Cultures.

• Environment: Grants made in June focus on land-use solutions in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska and neighboring Great Bear Rainforest in Canada; also Micronesia, to support efforts to preserve coral reefs and land-based resources. The next grants likely will be made in Asia, focused on marine- and land-use in Indonesia and Cambodia. Watch for a local subprogram focus on connecting youth with the outdoors.
  Email: environment@macphil.org
• Relief, Recovery and Development: First “rapid response” grants made in September 2011 to Midwest community foundations, to help residents affected by flooding and tornadoes.
  Email: reliefrecoverydevelopment@macphil.org
• Arts and Cultures – Native Arts, Teacher Education, and Folk Art: Organizations working on Native Arts in the Pacific Northwest are now being invited to apply for grants from the Native Arts program. Those doing similar work on Native Arts in the upper Midwest, including Minnesota, will soon be invited to apply.
  Email: artsandcultures@macphil.org

Other program areas that the organization will address are under development. They will include: Aging services; children and families; animal welfare; and planned health.

Most, if not all, of these areas will include a component of local giving. Terry Meersman, vice president of programs for Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, explains:

“We’re clear about our program areas, and we’re clear there will be local giving. As much as possible, we’d like to be consistent in the areas we’re defining for national and global giving, but until we have things laid out completely, it’s hard to say that there will be an exact parallel structure locally.”

Read the Giving Forum article for much more information.

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

New “Reading By Third Grade” grant opportunities announced today by MCF member Greater Twin Cities United Way (GTCUW) address this important issue.

A few details about what they’re seeking:

• Demonstrable capacity to implement proven and/or promising practices to support early grade literacy.
• Organizations and programs that provide services to children and families living at 200% of poverty or below within GTCUW nine-county area.
• Two or more sustainable funding sources in addition to GTCUW funds that do not include in-kind or contributed services.
• Formal partnership between the program and the public school(s) and/or district served by the program.
• Minimum funding request of $75,000 per year for up to 3 years.

See the full RFP on the GTCUW website.

There are training sessions on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 that will provide applicants an overview of the direction of the GTCUW strategic plan, the RFP content and process, annual reporting required by grantees and the Reading By Third Grade technical assistance and evaluation.

Attendance at one of these sessions is mandatory for those who wish to submit an application. Interested parties can RSVP on Eventbrite.

To learn more and to get fired up about Youthprise’s mission, have a look at the rousing YouTube video they posted to introduce themselves:

Be sure to follow Youthprise on Facebook and Twitter, and to sign up for email updates on their website.

8/29/11 Update: MCF is also now proud to welcome Youthprise as a new member!