Save the Date! Grassroots & Groundwork Conference June 6-8

December 14, 2011

The Northwest Area Foundation, an MCF member, is gearing up for their annual Grassroots & Groundwork 2012 conference. It will be held June 6-8 at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake.

The conference will shine a light on practical and innovative approaches being used to help people lift themselves out of poverty for the long term.

The break-out sessions will give attendees an opportunity to examine and question these models and the presenters. The conference will also provide opportunities for participants to connect and share information to reduce poverty.

It will explore strategies involving public policy, social entrepreneurship, affordable housing and much more.

Expect to see:

  • 20+ presentations on innovative poverty reduction methods and tools
  • Site tours of exceptional poverty-reduction initiatives in the Twin Cities
  • Renowned keynote speakers
  • An optional half-day Community-Builder Institute

If you have been part of an innovative poverty-reduction initiative and would like to share it, get your proposal ready. The call for presentations will go out in December and close on January 10, 2012.

Keep checking back at the Northwest Area Foundation website for upcoming announcements about the conference, including the roll out of the conference website with new features for networking and sharing around the work of poverty reduction.




A New Agenda for Corporate Philanthropy

October 25, 2011

I had the opportunity to attend last week’s “The Evolution of Corporate Philanthropy Conference: Building Value, Creating Change,” hosted by MCF.

The day’s first speaker, Chris Pinney, project lead for the national Council on Foundations Corporate Philanthropy 2012 initiative, started things off with a few startling facts:

  • Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51% are corporations and only 49% are countries.
  • 40% of all current U.S. federal workers will retire in the next few years.
  • Governments can no longer fill all of the gaps; government debt is high worldwide, business is often more trusted than government, and social issues are becoming more of a shared responsibility.

And, then he asked a question: “What’s the impact of corporate philanthropy in Minnesota?”

The room was filled with community affairs and foundation leaders from Target, Best Buy, IBM, Medtronic, Ameriprise Financial, General Mills, Wells Fargo and elsewhere, but the room was silent. No one had an answer.

Every foundation and giving program knows what they fund, some can measure the outcomes of their own giving, but no one offered any ideas on the sum total of their efforts – past, present or future – or mentioned a good (or consistently used) way to measure results.

Pinney didn’t have an answer either, but he believes corporate philanthropy must evolve from being about the money to being about “managing the money to achieve results.”

He says corporate grantmakers must lead corporate philanthropy until it is truly and completely integrated with the business strategy.

He gave good examples of businesses that are further along than most in these efforts, including IBM, Cisco and Starbucks. See slides 33, 34 and 35 of Pinney’s presentation for examples of how they are creating and incorporating shared value into their giving and business models.

Stay tuned, I plan to blog about other interesting ideas discussed at the conference. And, if you were there, please add your own views.

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

photo cc suttonhoo


Grantmaking to the Arts Drops to Lowest Level Since 2003

September 22, 2011

Minnesota grantmaking to the arts decreased by 10 percent in 2009 from 2008 – and dropped 19 percent from 2004 levels – according to new research by the Minnesota Council on Foundations (MCF).

The research sample gave $105.7 million to the arts in 2009, the most recent time period for which complete data are available. The sample includes 100 of Minnesota’s top grantmakers and a portion of their grants that represent about two thirds of the state’s philanthropic giving for the year.

The share of Minnesota grant dollars going to the arts has decreased steadily in recent years, from 15 percent in 2004, to 11 percent in 2009. Arts grantmaking falls behind giving to education, human services, and public affairs/society benefit.

“The poor economy and changing priorities at foundations have hit arts organizations especially hard,” says Bill King, MCF President. “Many funders have reduced arts giving and prioritized human services and education giving during tough times.”

Corporate grantmakers, private foundations and community/public foundations all decreased their giving to the category of arts, culture and humanities. Corporate grantmakers, who gave just over half of the arts grant dollars in 2009, decreased their funding by 7 percent.

Private grantmakers, who gave about one-third of arts dollars, decreased their funding by 5 percent to $37.6 million. And community/public foundations reduced giving by 32 percent to $11.8 million.

Minnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation was the state’s third largest arts grantmaker in 2009.

Sharon DeMark, program officer, explains, “At our foundations, we remain committed to supporting the arts as an important part of a vibrant community.”

As in past years, in 2009 the performing arts subcategory received the largest share – just over one-third – of arts grant dollars. Grantmaking to arts, culture and humanities includes contributions to the performing arts, museums, media/communications, cultural organizations, historical societies, visual arts, humanities and arts services.

“The arts are an essential part of life for all Minnesotans,” stresses Vickie Benson, arts program director at The McKnight Foundation, Minnesota’s second largest arts funder. “Artists help us find meaning and make sense of the world around us.”

In 2009, the Minnesota Legislature appropriated approximately $93 million from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund for projects starting between July 1, 2009, and July 1, 2011. This new taxpayer-funded source of arts funding is not included in MCF’s philanthropic research.

MCF conducts Giving in Minnesota research annually to examine long-term trends in charitable giving. MCF’s complete Giving in Minnesota, 2011 Edition, will be released in October.

This year’s summaries on giving to arts, education and human services, and complete research from prior years, can be found at www.mcf.org/research/giving.

- Susan Stehling, communications associate


Minnesota: A State of Health

June 15, 2011

This spring, several health funders (all MCF members) came together for three briefings on health and wellness in Minnesota.

The George Family Foundation, the Minnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation, and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation  organized the briefings to explore how funders can more effectively impact health outcomes for Minnesotans at three levels:

  • Institutions: Social and economic factors play a large role in the health of the general population, but much of the public discourse focuses on treating the sick and the cost of doing so. Philanthropy can help shift the orientation and understanding of health care from paying for illness to promoting health.
  • Communities: Communities have the power to maintain and sustain the well-being of their members. People live integrated lives. Integrated systems serve the whole person and the community as a whole. An integrated model of health focuses on primary care and the social determinants of health.
  • Individuals: Individuals have great responsibility for their health and wellness. Health reform is not a legislative issue – it is a personal issue. Payment reform is a legislative issue. We also need to invest in caregivers, as when we do, we invest in those they care for.

Here are some key take-aways for funders interested in promoting wellness:

  • Fund community organizing as a form of prevention.
  • Broaden policy influence to include changing behaviors.
  • Review your grant investments in a cultural wellness framework. How are they aligned?
  • Invest in the infrastructure of small, new and innovative nonprofits doing interesting work.

More advice to funders is included in a summary of the briefings. You can also find the presentations from the speakers on MCF’s website, as well as links to other health related news and resources.

Image CC Olle Svensson

- Stephanie Jacobs, MCF



Download Resources from the MCF 2011 Community/Public Foundation Conference

March 21, 2011

Thanks to everyone who attended Amplifying Impact Through Innovation and Inspiration, our 2011 MCF Community/Public Foundation Conference! The two-day program in fabulous St. Cloud was a success, thanks to our attendees, speakers and sponsors.

If you’re interested in checking out and downloading some of the resources from the conference, please visit the Schedule & Resources page at mcfconference.org. Feel free to share what you find there.

Handout highlights include a deck on the Minnesota Philanthropy Tax Credit, information shedding light on Program Related Investments (PRIs), a presentation on how to use communications to develop funds for community foundations and much more.

Minnesota Council on Foundations will also be presenting two more grantmaking conferences in the summer and fall, one for corporate grantmakers and another for family and independent foundations. Stay tuned for information about these non-to-be-missed events!


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