At Philanthropy Potluck we love featuring the outstanding work of our MCF members.  Here’s a recent West Central Blogger post written by Sheri Holm, West Central Initiative communications director. 

How do you create success in rural communities? A small group of foundation leaders from all over the nation have been tackling this question. They have discovered that when you combine the features of economic development, community development and philanthropy you unlock the secret to success.

Often rural community leaders struggle alone trying to build the systems that will make their community successful. Eight years ago, four community foundations all working with rural economic development were brought together as part of an Aspen Institute learning community. They discovered a common thread of activities that influenced the success of rural communities. They decided to work together to help rural communities all over the nation.

West Central Initiative, The Nebraska Community Foundation, The Humboldt Area Foundation in California, The East Tennessee Foundation, The Black Belt Community Foundation, The Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group, The Center for Rural Strategies, and North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center have formed the Rural Development Philanthropy Collaboration steering committee. They have been able to compare years of experience working with successful rural communities to collect the most effective actions that lead to success.

The Rural Development Philanthropy is no longer a secret. Now the core documents are available for anyone interested in the success of their rural community at http://www.wcif.org/?page=Publications#RDP.  Learn how your rural community or region can benefit from combining economic development, community development and philanthropy.

Grant support from the Ford Foundation, California Endowment, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the community foundations on the steering committee has helped underwrite the cost of meetings and materials to date.

Visit West Central Blogger for more regional community foundation news.

Dave says the greatest lesson he learned is that “a bureaucracy is a bureaucracy is a bureaucracy.”  Everything has a system and it takes time to change.  But Dave also believes there is nothing that can’t be fixed.  He encourages funders to be willing to take a chance.  Dave thinks that he wasn’t bold enough when he started out, and hopes that new people in the field are more willing to take risks.

Dave doesn’t think that people should think outside of the box.  He says, “Don’t believe in boxes”.  He feels the sector constrains itself in silos.  But, people don’t live in silos, and Dave sees now how the issues that funders are trying to solve are all interconnected.  That means that funders not only need to see the big picture, but also that new people in the field need to rely on their connections to their colleagues to be successful in this work.  Dave says to listen to “your head, your heart, and your gut.  Those things will get you through this.”  Thanks, Dave!

View the video of Dave Ellis on Vimeo.

View other videos in MCF’s “What I Wish I Knew . . .” series:

MCF would like to thank these members again for sharing their stories and advice.  If you have an idea for another video series featuring MCF members, please contact Stephanie Jacobs at sjacobs@mcf.org.

-Stephanie Jacobs, MCF director of member services

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

Trista says that affinity groups have been incredibly important to her professional development, as have resources from groups like GrantCraft.  But, she says one of the most important things to remember when taking a position in the field is that ” you didn’t get smarter, prettier, or funnier” when you started working for a foundation.  Trista says there are two ways to approach the work: you can either be a steward of community resources or you can act like you’ve won the lottery.  Trista encourages grantmakers to approach the work with humility and honesty for greater effectiveness.  Thanks, Trista!

View other videos in our “What I Wish I Knew . . .” series:

- Stephanie Jacobs, MCF director of member services

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

According to the report, women are shortchanged in four critical areas — economics, safety, health and leadership.  And, while all women and girls in Minnesota suffer inequalities, even greater disparities exist for women of color, rural women and older women in Minnesota.

Here are just a few of the findings:

• Economics: Because of the gender wage gap, a Minnesota woman (and her family)  earns an average of $11,000 less per year, or $1 million less over a lifetime. White, African American and Latina women earn 76, 61, and 56 cents on the dollar, respectively, compared to white men.
• Safety: By mid-life, one-third of Minnesota women have experienced a rape crime.  Violence at home is the second leading cause of homelessness among Minnesota women.
• Health: Native American women in Minnesota are 10% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than their white counterparts, but 58% more likely to die from it.  While African-American women are 8% less likely than white women to get cancer, they are 15% more likely to die from the disease.
• Leadership: Only 34% of Minnesota state legislators are women, and the number of women candidates is declining.  No women lead any of the Fortune 500 companies in the state.

What Can You Do?
The full report, “Status of Women & Girls in Minnesota,” contains much more detail, including “What You Can Do In 30 Minutes or Less” recommendations for individuals to take action to address inequities.

In releasing the report today, Lee Roper-Batker, president and CEO of the foundation,  encouraged women, girls and all community members to use the findings to jump-start social change.  She emphasized:  ”Research without action is pointless.”

Next week Women’s Foundation staff members will launch the 2010 “Road to Equality Tour,” sharing the research and obtaining community input in Warroad, Moorhead, Grand Rapids, Duluth, Willmar, St. Cloud and Rochester.

Research and writing for the report was conducted by the University of MN Humphrey Institute’s Center on Women & Public Partnership.  More than 100 experts from academia, government, nonprofit and private sectors, elected bodies and philanthropy participated in working groups to review data, identify key issues and proffer solutions.

Our next video features Claire Chang, Associate Vice President of Grants and Programs at the Minnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation.  As Claire explains, she was happily working in the nonprofit sector when two of her mentors encouraged her to consider working in the foundation field “to leverage more good.”

When she started in the field, she learned a lot about the different foundation types and took advantage of her network to grow in her position.  Claire advises new foundation staff to be aware of the power imbalance that can come with a position in philanthropy and to be honest with yourself about what you know and what you don’t know so that you can “walk with others.”  Thank you, Claire!

-Stephanie Jacobs, MCF member services manager

The $25,000 grant was awarded to Polk County Public Health for the Northwest Minnesota Health Improvement Project.

According to the Crookston Times:

The NMF Community Connections grant will supplement the work of three community health boards – Polk County Public Health, Quin Community Health Services and Norman/Mahnomen Public Health – that together applied and received funding for the Statewide Health Improvement Program (SHIP) designed by the Minnesota Department of Health to help communities address tobacco use, physical inactivity and poor nutrition.

The Community Connection Program funding will be used to build new coalitions, strengthen networks and change organizational practices and policies in eight Minnesota counties – Kittson, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake and Roseau. Overall, the project aims to institute long-term, sustainable changes addressing obesity and tobacco prevention in school, worksite, healthcare and community settings.

In the Crookston Times, Sheri Altepeter, NMF grant coordinator, explained that the groups are working together to make the healthy choice the easy choice.   “This means having access to physical activity, nutritious foods and avoiding exposure to tobacco,” she said.  “It will take time and effort to decrease costly chronic health conditions associated with obesity, inactivity and tobacco use.  The Statewide Health Improvement Program will result in longer and healthier lives and lower health care costs.”

This post is based on the Crookston Times article, “NMF awards PC Public Health $25,000 grant,” posted on May 14, 2010.

Visit the NMF website nwmf.org for more information about its grants and programs.

Our summer issue of Giving Forum will highlight other public-private partnership initiatives led by Minnesota grantmakers. Please use the “Comment” field to share your ideas!

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

“While foundations traditionally have given great attention to the 5 percent of their assets they typically pay out each year, PRIs provide us with an opportunity to think about what we do with the other 95 percent and what our role could be in working with our community partners,” suggests Kathleen Fluegel, executive director of HRK Foundation, a member of the Minnesota Council on Foundations (MCF).

The Spring 2010 issue of MCF’s Giving Forum focuses on how Minnesota grantmakers are magnifying impact and creating change through innovative philanthropic initiatives. PRIs – loans, loan guarantees, lines of credit and equity investments that earn a foundation a return on its investment of 1 to 2 percent in most cases – are playing a prevalent role in energizing the field.

Fluegel recalls that when the younger generation of HRK trustees introduced PRIs to the board as a new foundation tool, the idea was “embraced by the older generation, and it energized all of us because of new, creative possibilities,” she says.

For example, HRK offered a PRI to one of its long-time nonprofit partners who was having difficulty timing cash flow to acquire pieces for its museum. “We realized that a line of credit could give the organization more flexibility,” Fluegel explains. “Raising money for the acquisitions wasn’t an issue; it was quick turn-around that presented challenges.” With the line of credit, the museum could purchase an object and then take the time needed to raise the money and repay the loan.

In this issue of Giving Forum, we also spotlight PRI maker Sunrise Community Banks.

With its community development mission, Sunrise provides financing that other institutions might view as risky. “We’re willing to take the extra steps to make some of these projects work, because we know they will positively impact the community,” acknowledges Nikki Foster, Sunrise Community Banks’ vice president of community development.

Through its Sunrise Homeownership Alliance, an innovative, nationally recognized initiative, Sunrise Banks secured deposits from organizations such as The Minneapolis Foundation and the John Larsen Foundation. These deposits fuel lending through the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation and Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services. These nonprofits provide financing to individuals to buy homes  on a three-year contract for deed, during which time the individuals participate in credit counseling to learn how to repair their credit and set aside savings, so they’re able to refinance into a conventional mortgage. Also part of the financing mix are federal dollars from the Family Housing Fund.

In this issue’s “Giving Trends” article, MCF research manager Juliana Tillema outlines how PRIs got their start, some recent trends and the opportunities and benefits that PRIs can present for both foundations and nonprofits. She notes that, because PRIs require funders to integrate deep program knowledge with financial and legal expertise, PRIs are most often made to organizations with which a grantmaker has a well-established relationship, when a strategic investing opportunity arises with those partners, and when capital is needed to realize a shared goal.

Who are Minnesota’s PRI Makers? Tillema cites MCF research that lists 11 MCF members, about half of whom made their first PRI recently – in either 2008 or 2009. The list includes: Blandin Foundation, Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation, HRK Foundation, John Larsen Foundation, Lutheran Community Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation, Otto Bremer Foundation, Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation, and the West Central Initiative.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

In this new reality, Minnesota foundations and corporate giving programs are looking inward at their own operations and capacity, as well as outward at the communities they support, to expand their impact and turn a stiff-sounding, fuddy-duddy word like ‘philanthropy’ into a hotbed of creativity and change.

Our spring issue of Giving Forum highlights several Minnesota grantmakers engaging in innovative work.

“We view philanthropy as a community activity, rather than an individual one,” explains Trista Harris, executive director of Headwaters Foundation for Justice, a community foundation that relies on fundraising to secure resources to support its own grantmaking. Her organization has intensified its focus on donor organizing and engagement, identifying groups of people who want to make a difference and working to help them do that together.

“People connections are what sustain our major, long-time donors,” Harris says. With a small staff, Headwaters needs to be mindful of how it spends its time and energy. For instance, if its staff is making presentations standing up in front of a room of donors, is this the most effective way to help build community or is it just conveying information? “We need to figure out how we build relationships among people with similar interests and then how we enrich those relationships.”

Last fall, Headwaters invited donors and nonprofits to tour the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit Line. Harris explains that this was a tangible way to connect donors with organizations that were putting their contributions to work. Donors want to see their dollars in action moving ideas forward.

Kevin Walker, president and CEO of Northwest Area Foundation, believes that shaping public policy has the biggest leverage potential for philanthropy. “My exhortation to our sector as a whole is that we all have a responsibility to think about public policy, not just good programs on the ground,” he says. “I hope all funders ask themselves, ‘Given the issues we care about, what are the public policy dimensions, do we have an opinion about those dimensions, and are there organizations that we ought to strengthen because we think their perspective needs to be heard?”

As Northwest Area Foundation focuses on better public policy approaches to addressing poverty, it is looking to build community leadership and strengthen the capacity of advocacy organizations that can frame and push forward an agenda that helps low-income families make ends meet.

The Hugh J. Andersen Foundation family members are conscientiously and strategically working to involve younger generations in their work. The enthusiasm and commitment of the next generation is integral to the family foundation’s future.

Sarah Andersen, board president, acknowledges some of the challenges family foundations will face as they bridge generations. Perhaps the main issue is how the generations define community. “My generation defines it more geographically – where we live. Supporting the neighborhood food shelf may be important to us. The next generation is much more global. What’s important them may be on another continent,” she says.

In addition, as more family members move to other communities, “How do we as a foundation that currently defines itself geographically, focusing on the St. Croix Valley and St. Paul areas – and that emphasizes that we support ‘community’ – address the challenge of only having one or two trustees living in the area where the foundation makes its grants?” Andersen asks.

Addressing these challenges will require innovative approaches by family foundations.

Our spring issue of Giving Forum also spotlights the innovative, energizing work of Aveda Corporation, Sunrise Community Banks, HRK Foundation, Best Buy, West Central Initiative, Mark and Charlie’s Gay Lesbian Fund for Moral Values, and Minnesota Community Foundation and .The Saint Paul Foundation.

Also in the issue, Susan Taylor Batten, president and CEO of the Association of Black Foundation Executives, challenges the philanthropic field to advocate and innovate for diversity, inclusivity and equity to foster leadership reflective of the communities it serves.

To read more about how Minnesota foundations are reinventing their giving by engaging a broader range of people and organizations, increasing the participation of those currently involved, and searching for more impactful investments in community, visit mcf.org to read the spring issue of Giving Forum.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate