The work is part of MCN’s Red Tape Reduction Project, and now MCN is looking for your ideas about additional red tape that needs slashing.

MCN want ideas about streamlining processes and reporting requirements related to contracting, licensing or other regulatory arenas. It is particularly interested in ideas that reduce duplication, increase efficiency and conformity, and enhance accountability and transparency. Send your ideas to Jeannie Fox.

To get you thinking, here are a few of MCN’s red-tape cutting successes:

• Charitable Reporting Conformity: Brought IRS and state Attorney General financial reporting requirements in line with each other, which reduced duplication and increased financial clarity and transparency. (2011)
• More Choices for Unemployment Tax Systems: Eliminated the annual deadline for nonprofits to opt out of the state unemployment insurance fund, helping nonprofits take advantage of cost-saving opportunities to self insure or join an unemployment trust. (2010)
• Raised Threshold for Nonprofit Audits: Raised the audit threshold for nonprofits from $350,000 to $750,000, saving small organizations the expense of holding an independent audit, while still ensuring that 99 percent of donations are audited. (2009)

Grantmakers are also concerned about systems efficiency. To learn more, check out Project Streamline, a collaborative that aims to increase the impact of grants by eliminating unnecessary procedures and paperwork for grantseekers and grantmakers alike.

Photo cc: Department for Communities and Local Government

- Susan Stehling, MCF communications associate

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

Audience members had a lot to say and ask at the Session Line Up

If you’ve seen today’s headlines, you know that what I described in yesterday’s Philanthropy Potluck post as a “smoldering fire” has now burst into shooting flames at the Minnesota state capitol.

At last Friday’s 2012 Session Line Up (hosted by MCF and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN)), more than a little partisan fuel was thrown about. At one point, after some boos and pointed questions (or, rather, statements) from the audience, MCN Public Policy Director Susie Brown had to remind everyone to keep the dialogue respectful.

Politics of Constitutional Amendments

A lot of Friday’s angst-ridden comments centered on proposed constitutional amendments. Referencing amendments, one attendee implored the elected officials to “move away from the politics of exclusion to the politics of inclusion and opportunity.”

MCN representatives came out strongly against possible constitutional amendments related to the state budget. Nan Madden, director of MCN’s Minnesota Budget Project, stated that they have “never been more worried and frightened about the future of our state.”

She explained that the permanence of the constitutional amendments would limit the ability to invest in Minnesota’s future and respond to changing demographics. If the amendments passed, she predicted more gridlock and budget gimmicks, more shutdowns and more difficulties in creating a more balanced tax system. (Read more about MCN’s position on the Minnesota Budget Project website.)

Insider Tips to Influence

No matter your point of view on these or other potential constitutional amendments, you can – and should – participate in our democratic processes.

Listening between the lines of Friday’s discussion, attendees heard some good advice for successfully influencing public policy. When engaging with elected representatives:

• Repeat, repeat, repeat. Raise your point of view as often as you can with as many audiences as you can.  Insist on public discussion and testimony.
• Break out of your issue silo. Show the consequences of your issue for others in society. Find and work with allies in the nonprofit community. Don’t just protect your turf.
• If you don’t ask, you don’t get. One bold questioner invited the Governor to attend her event; he responded by asking for the date and giving the entire audience his phone number at the governor’s mansion.
• Create a report card. Rep. Thissen complimented the Organizing Apprenticeship Project for its just-released agenda for racial and economic justice. He cited the report card as a way to highlight issues, give new insights and hold legislators accountable.
• Be there and be respectful. As Governor Dayton said, have strong convictions but be able to work with others who have equally strong convictions.

No Barriers to Involvement

No matter whether you work at a nonprofit or foundation, you can get involved in shaping critical state issues. As MCF President Bill King noted in his opening remarks, grantmakers can successfully engage in a wide range of public policy activities without violating the letter or spirit of anti-lobbying laws.

And if you’re a little nervous about getting started or looking to refresh your skills, be sure to take advantage of MCN’s array of public policy trainings.

Remember, if you didn’t like the headlines in today’s newspaper, don’t throw up your hands in disgust. The more residents of Minnesota who get engaged, the better our chances of dousing the partisan flames and creating a more positive future for our state.

–Wendy Wehr, MCF vice president of communications and information services

Governor Dayton at the 2012 Session Line Up

Frustration. Anger. Resignation. Compassion. Understanding. Hope.

Speakers and audience members alike expressed a full gamut of emotions at last Friday’s 2012 Session Line Up, the annual event co-sponsored by MCF and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.

If you missed the politically charged event where the state’s top elected officials spoke to individuals from the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, here are a few highlights — shared in two blog posts.  Today’s is a brief look at what the Governor and top legislative leaders (listed in the order of their appearance) said about Minnesota’s current legislative agenda and the most critical issues affecting Minnesota’s future.

Tomorrow I’ll write about what we learned by listening between the lines, including how you can successfully participate in the process – without adding fuel to the smoldering partisan fire.

Governor Mark Dayton expressed his frustration about the difficulty of working with the Republican-controlled legislature. Never, he said, had he worked in an environment where “compromise is a weakness and intransigence is a virtue.” (For another perspective on polarization in our society, see my recent “Us vs. Them” post .)

MPR’s story on the event  picked up Dayton’s irritation, reporting on his comments about the pending confirmation hearing of Public Utilities Commission head Ellen Anderson.

Dayton also spoke out against constitutional amendments, which he described as bypassing the system of checks and balances of state government. If amendments come to the ballot, he said “the only check will be the wisdom of the people of Minnesota.”

Shifting gears in the Q&A, Dayton responded to a question about bonding and housing.  He stated he will do his best to keep housing and other public funding that will boost private employment in the bonding bills.

House Minority Leader Rep. Paul Thissen spoke to the importance of creating jobs and building a strong middle class, which is the key, he said, to building long-term prosperity in the state. He criticized Republicans for only talking about business. “Yes, businesses should be able to thrive…but businesses can’t thrive without the people of Minnesota.” Nonprofits, he said, should bring to the conversation their focus on making the people of Minnesota as strong and as successful as possible.

Representative Kurt Zellers, Speaker of the House, focused his remarks on reform – getting more of the dollars sent to St. Paul to the people who need them: to kids and families, and to businesses to hire more workers. He referenced the recently announced Reform 2.0 agenda, which is focused on excising outdated, outmoded and wasteful government spending.

Zellers also emphasized that this session’s bonding bill needs to focus on maintenance of the state’s infrastructure. An example cited was the upkeep of buildings on MNSCU campuses.

Senator John Marty spoke vociferously against proposed constitutional amendments that would “take away people’s rights.” He claimed that voter i.d. legislation would potentially deny votes to seniors, college students and the homeless, among others. He preached an agenda of “first do no more harm,” referencing “cruel and heartless” human services and medical assistance cuts.

Senate Majority Leader David Senjem emphasized that jobs and the economy are the number one goals of everyone at the legislature. Admitting that there was lack of agreement on how to tackle unemployment and economic sluggishness, he focused on the need to improve the tax and regulatory environment for businesses and invest in a skilled workforce.

Senjem noted that, although constitutional amendments will be taken up this session, he is not a “big fan” of budgeting through the constitution. (Much to his surprise, he got applause when noting his opposition to the Legacy Amendment.) He also expressed hope that the legislature could work with the Governor to work out a statutory solution to the voter i.d. issue, rather than advance a constitutional amendment.

Tomorrow’s Post: Being an Advocate, Not a Partisan

Senjem’s closing remarks about working with the Governor might allay some of the fears about constitutional amendments expressed at the opening of the event. Read tomorrow’s post for more about the amendments, partisanship and successful strategies to participate in the public policy sphere.

–Wendy Wehr, MCF vice president of communications and information services

The forums brought together more than 400 city, county and school district leaders, including elected and appointed officials, to generate ideas about ways they could collaborate across jurisdictions for better public service delivery.

At the forums, some of Minnesota’s most innovative local leaders came together to share their experiences with redesign and to explore new opportunities to work together across jurisdictions. They shared stories of what’s working in their communities, and they shared their hopes for the future.

Three critical lessons, summarized here, came out of the forums. The report provides much more detail on each.

1. Redesign is facing some barriers to change. Changing the way services are managed or delivered is never easy, and it hasn’t been for our local leaders working to redesign services in their communities.

There’s the identity issue, there’s turf, and there’s ego, and there’s the fear of change. We’ve got to get people to understand that we’ve got to change to stay alive.
— JO CARLSON, MAYOR, CITY OF WHITE BEAR LAKE

2. Leaders agree that five essential elements are needed to redesign local governments. Barriers are not permanent obstacles, and many local leaders have moved past them.

There’s definitely a willingness among local units of government to work together. At the legislature, they need to know that there are people in local government that want to work together, and I think that message needs to go out to our stakeholders at the local level, too.
— KEVIN DONOVAN, MAHTOMEDI SCHOOL BOARD

3. Minnesota’s local governments are ready to innovate. In fact, they’re already doing it.

Right now we’re working with other school districts in Itasca County and the region in Deerwood, Nashwauk-Keewatin, Floodwood, Hill City, Greenway, and Northland Community School. We’re linking via technology and together we’re sharing teachers and courses. Our students are getting electives and opportunities that a lot of large school districts in the Metro don’t offer because we’ve worked together and used technology to do more with what we have.
— JOE SILKO, SUPERINTENDENT, GRAND RAPIDS

Learn more, follow the media coverage of the report and find additional resources on local government redesign on The Bush Foundation’s Redesigning Local Government web page.

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

Greater value from government arises out of effectiveness, efficiencies, innovation and collaboration.

That was the message yesterday from Minnesota Commissioner of Administration Spencer Cronk , who spoke in St. Paul at a Coffee with Commissioners event, one of a series of dialogues with state government officials, organized by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and MCF, with support from The Minneapolis Community Foundation.

Cronk was joined by Alyssa Haugen, Director of Office of Grants Management and Matt Bailey, who recently joined the department to head up the new Office of Strategic Partnerships, which will focus on finding added value through collaborative relationships between multiple levels of government and the nonprofit, philanthropic and for-profit communities.

Cronk and his colleagues cited several examples of ways in which philanthropists, nonprofits and citizens can get engaged in creating more efficient and effective government, for the ultimate benefit of our state’s residents:

• The Bush Foundation is partnering with government in the “Southeast Minnesota Community Transformation Contract,” a concerted effort to transform human services delivery in a 10-county region. The goal is to improve value on investment, spend less money, focus on client outcomes and strengthen partnerships across government entities.
• The Office of Grants Management is all about efficiency: assuring competitive grants processes, beefing up reporting standards, and pinpointing fraud and waste.  Nonprofits receiving state government grants can contact the Office at any time for troubleshooting assistance.
• The Better Government for a Better Minnesota initiative is focused on saving money, reducing waste and making government work better for residents.  Do you have your own ideas about improving government?   Fill out the easy-to-use online form.

While the government officials shared these and other examples, attendees at the event had their own suggestions for better state government.  They strongly urged the Department of Administration to tap into the value of volunteers.  Tens of thousands of workers and retirees are eager to share their insights and expertise to create a better Minnesota for all.

Join the Conversation:  Where can you uncover hidden value in your organization?  What recommendations do you have for Commissioner Cronk and others in state government who seek to provide added value for Minnesota citizens?

-Wendy Wehr, MCF V.P. of Communications and Information Services

The program provides an opportunity for individuals to increase their capacity for and improve their practice of leadership while working with others to address big issues in their communities. It is based on four core principles needed to solve tough problems: knowing yourself first, knowing your community deeply, fostering community action, and managing conflict.

Some of the qualities the foundation looks for in Bush Fellows are:

• Commitment to making their community a better place for all
• Belief that risk, failure and conflict are not to be feared when working to find solutions to tough problems
• Passion for learning and improving their leadership skills
• An understanding that the solutions to their community’s tough problems are to be found within the collective wisdom of the community

To learn more and get started on an application, visit the Bush Foundation’s website. New in 2012, there are three deadlines over the course of the year that an application can be submitted: March 2, May 4, and July 9.

Also be sure to have a look at the 2011 Bush Fellows cohort, to see all of the great work that has been funded over the past year.

Today we welcome the perspective of Jeff Peterson, Director of Innovation & Strategy at the General Mills Foundation. He shares here the philosophy behind General Mills Foundation initiatives like Join My Village.

I recently represented Join My Village at a women’s empowerment conference hosted by Womenetics. In what would turn out to be more than coincidental, I addressed this roomful of 300+ women’s activists on the same day that the latest Betty Crocker cookbook hit the stands.  And while most audience members were fashionably nonplussed by Betty’s 90-year run and the release of her 11th edition of “Big Red,” Betty’s legacy – and ongoing utility – may have provided the most actionable lesson for all in attendance.

I paid close attention to the tenor, tone, and topics addressed by my fellow panelists. Loads of empirical – and unexpectedly unemotional – evidence was shared on the proven benefits of empowering women in developed nations and investing in women of underdeveloped ones.  “It is so obvious,” said Astrid Pregal of Feminetics, Inc., “all of the data is there. We just need to start using it.”

Indeed, as access to data has evolved, so has the dialogue on women’s issues.  Yesterday’s Gloria Steinem is today’s Muhammad Yunus.

In addition to increasing our collective consciousness, these evolutions have also increased individual empathy, which is an inarguable measure of progress; when others learn to walk a mile in the sandals of a marginalized woman, the pump of action is surely primed. Yet none of the conference attendees were ready to declare, “Mission accomplished.” In fact, the identification of empirical cost-benefit analyses and the acknowledgement of heightened global awareness seem to be causing more anxiety for advocates today than they did for similar groups yesterday.  Why?

Perhaps because we’ve created too much empathy without enough ease.

New York Times columnist David Brooks recently wrote of the false sense of accomplishment that unaccompanied empathy can provide, stating, “These days empathy has become a shortcut. It has become a way to experience delicious moral emotions without confronting the weaknesses in our nature that prevent us from actually acting upon them.”

Brooks attributes this chasm to a weakened moral state, but I have a more pedestrian hypothesis: we have empathy, but we also have errands. For while I, the father of four daughters, eagerly embraces the spiritual and socioeconomic connections between my 12-year old Alice and another 12-year old Alice halfway around the world, I’m only responsible for getting one to volleyball practice. I have empathy; I need ease.

Which brings us back to Betty’s Big Red cookbook and its relevance to last week’s room of non-culinary change makers. Over the last 90 years Betty Crocker has done less to convince the world that a home-cooked meal prepared with love is a good thing and much more to help us act on that universal – yet often unrealized - conviction.

Similarly, Join My Village is designed to do less to develop new approaches to alleviate poverty through the empowerment of women, and more to invite action in its shared theory for change.

This empathy-to-action ethos should sound familiar to fans and followers of General Mills, as it also underlies the success of Box Tops for Education and Save Lids to Save Lives. These initiatives actively engaging millions of consumer citizens in seemingly intractable social conditions through increased measures of ease, not just empathy.

Or, as Betty might say, 2 parts ease to 1 part empathy.

Photo cc Boogies with Fish

• 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

Giant Sing Along

You might have heard something on MPR about supporting journalism in the digital age. Possibly you participated in the Minnesota State Fair’s first Giant Sing Along. Or maybe you heard about a group of foundations and civic leaders working to ensure that the new Central Corridor light rail line provides opportunity for all of Saint Paul’s residents.

What do these have in common? They are all the work of MCF member John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The fall issue of Giving Forum features a Voices in Philanthropy article by Polly Talen, of Knight Foundation’s St. Paul office. Read it to learn much more about what the Knight Foundation supports and funds, including Journalism and Media Innovation; Engaged Communities; and the Arts.

And, if you work at a community foundation, don’t miss the upcoming MCF program, sponsored by  MCF members John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation and Minnesota Community Foundation, on recently released Soul of the Community research.

- Susan Stehling, communications associate