March 12, 2010
I couldn’t help thinking about work as I leafed through the program at a Minnesota Orchestra concert last night.
MCF members’ logos were prominently displayed throughout . . . General Mills, Target, 3M, United Health, U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo and more. Some of these organizations rank at the top for arts funding in Minnesota.
But they also rank high in another subject area on which we report in our annual Giving in Minnesota research: Education. For instance, Target and General Mills top the list of education funders in Minnesota.
So, are these discrete funding areas for these corporations, or do arts and education grantmaking intersect?
To find the answer I only needed to turn back a few pages in the program to a story on “Music in our Schools.” The Minnesota Orchestra is connecting with students in every school in Minneapolis and St. Paul as part of “UPbeat Metro” and “Kinder Konzerts on the Road.” Here’s what Aura Wharton-Beck, principal at Jenny Lind Elementary in North Minneapolis, has to say about the music education programs:
“This was a great example of integrating the arts into the curriculum, with the students thoroughly enjoying hands-on learning about music theory in the Sound Factory and interactions with ‘real live’ musicians. Our Jenny Lind students also learned that practice and perseverance are essential elements in the development of musicians. This early involvement opens new doors for students.”
Hmmmm. In the field of philanthropy, there’s great debate about whether “enough” (how does one define that?) grant funds benefit our diverse minority communities. Funding of major arts institutions is often held up as an example of the “elite funding the elite.” Here, though, is a specific example of the complexity of the “who benefits” question: More than 90% of the students at Jenny Lind school are children of color, and nearly that many are eligible for free and reduced lunches (an indicator of poverty). So, in what light should one view grantmaking to the Minnesota Orchestra?
The answer is not easy. And it illustrates the challenges of producing accurate, complete grantmaking research. Who benefits is often not “either/or.” It’s “both/and.” So we need to capture those exacting beneficiary details in order to understand the current grantmaking landscape . . . and begin to map out future directions and goals.
Join the Conversation: MCF is focused this year on improving collection of grants data. At your nonprofit, do you track demographic data about those you serve and report it back to your corporate and foundation supporters? At your foundation, do you ask nonprofits to report information about the constituencies they serve?
– Wendy Wehr, MCF V.P. of Communications and Information Services
1 Comment | 
arts, diversity, evaluation, research | 
Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster
February 25, 2010
Duchess Harris, author and Associate Professor of American Studies at Macalester College, will be lecturing on black feminist politics in the age of Obama at the next installment of the UPstart Lecture Series on March 17 at the YWCA Midtown in Minneapolis.
The mission of the series is to bring diverse women leaders and world views to our community. Presented by the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, an MCF member, in partnership with the YWCA Minneapolis, the lectures are free and lunch is provided to those who RSVP in advance.
To learn more about the series, and to listen to previously recorded lectures, visit the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota website. To register for the lecture, email nicole@wfmn.org by Monday, March 15.
Leave a Comment » | diversity | Tagged: Duchess Harris, UPstart Lecture Series, Women's Foundation of Minnesota, YWCA Minneapolis | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster
February 8, 2010
Tawanna Black, MCF diversity fellow
MCF announces today the appointment of Tawanna Black as diversity fellow to support inclusivity initiatives of the grantmaker association and its members.
Tawanna has a unique blend of for-profit and nonprofit leadership, public policy and communications experience that will serve MCF and its members well during her nine-month fellowship. She is the former and first director of diversity for Cox Communications in Omaha, Nebraska. While at Cox she advised senior management in setting high standards for business growth, innovation and stakeholder return by ensuring that the corporation understood and acted upon the needs of diverse communities.
Prior to joining Cox, Tawanna served as the first executive director for Destination Midtown, leading a public-private community redevelopment strategy in Omaha. Tawanna has also served on numerous nonprofit boards of directors, including several philanthropic organizations.
Outside of her part-time appointment with MCF, Tawanna leads consulting firm Innovations By Design. In this capacity, she provides organizational development, capacity building, and diversity and inclusion services to nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
During her fellowship, Tawanna will work with MCF and its members to:
- Increase MCF’s capacity to serve staff and members’ diversity and inclusivity educational needs.
- Enrich existing MCF programs and services by integrating diversity content and applying an inclusion and equity lens across the full spectrum of grantmakers’ work, as exemplified in the MCF Diversity Framework.
- Build MCF member and staff awareness and use of diversity and inclusion knowledge, resources, tools and best practices.
- Foster stronger member commitments to the MCF Diversity Principle and create momentum for additional inclusivity initiatives.
- Create a body of work that can be modeled by others who strive to advance philanthropy by enhancing diversity and inclusivity in the field.
To learn more about the Diversity Fellowship, contact Wendy Wehr or Tawanna Black at MCF.
- Wendy Wehr, MCF VP of communications and information services
2 Comments | diversity, leadership, mcf | Tagged: Destination Midtown, Diversity Fellow, Tawanna Black | Permalink
Posted by Wendy Wehr
December 16, 2009
Resources from the recent conference held by the Facilitating Racial Equality Collaborative (FREC) are now online! The conference, entitled Overcoming Racism Why IS it So Hard, was held on November 6th and 7th in St. Paul and featured prominent speakers from the field including Zeus Leonardo, Victor Lewis and Heather Hackman.
Many of the speakers and presenters have made their PowerPoint slides, handouts and other resources from the conference available for download. To access those resources, please visit the FREC website.
In addition to these resources, you may also want to check out the upcoming programming opportunities that FREC has announced on their website. The next FREC Community of Practice meeting is on January 13. These bi-monthly meetings are opportunities for anyone interested in learning more about incorporating cultural competence, anti-racism, and organizational transformation into his or her business, foundation, or nonprofit organization.
The FREC has also announced the launch of ASDIC Anti-racism Study Dialogue sessions beginning in February. The registration fee for this unique, 12-week course is $150 (scholarships are available). Those who successfully complete the series can apply for continuing education credits. For complete details, download this flyer (pdf).
Leave a Comment » | diversity, leadership, social justice | Tagged: Facilitating Racial Equality Collaborative, FREC, Heather Hackma, Overcoming Racism Why IS it So Hard, Victor Lewis, Zeus Leonardo | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster
September 29, 2009
Over the past year, Funders for LGBTQ Issues (formerly Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues) partnered with the LGBT Funders Network of the Minnesota Council on Foundations to take a look at foundation giving to Minnesota’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community.
The recently released report, “State of Funding: LGBTQ Grantmaking in Minnesota,” provides a benchmark that measures and describes this giving.
Among the key findings:
- In 2007, 29 Minnesota foundations awarded $1.1 million across 88 grants to 33 LGBTQ organizations and programs in Minnesota. In comparison, nationally 293 foundations granted $77.2 million in 3,206 grants.
- Private foundations accounted for 72 percent of Minnesota grantmaking dollars to LGBTQ issues in 2007. The five foundations that awarded the most dollars were: Kevin J. Mossier Foundation; Bush Foundation; The Jay & Rose Phillips Family Foundation; AHS Foundation; Otto Bremer Foundation. The five foundations that awarded the most grants were: PFund Foundation; Kevin J. Mossier Foundation; U.S. Bancorp Foundation; John Larsen Foundation; Headwaters Foundation for Justice.
- The study lists the top five LGBTQ strategies supported by Minnesota grantmakers as: 1) Advocacy; 2) Direct Service; 3) Organizational capacity building; 4) Litigation; 5) Community Organizing.
- The top five issues supported in 2007 were: 1) Community building/empowerment; 2) Civil rights; 3) Philanthropic infrastructure; 4) Strengthening families; 5) Health.
Robert Espinoza, director of research and communications for Funders for LGBTQ Issues, presented the findings at a convening of the LGBT Funders Network on Sept. 25 in Minneapolis. A copy of the full report (pdf) is located on the MCF website. A report on funding trends at the national level is also available at the Funders for LGBTQ Issues website.
- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate
Leave a Comment » | diversity, economy, private foundations, research | Tagged: AHS Foundation, bisexual, Bush Foundation, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, gay, grantmaking, Headwaters Foundation for Justice, John Larsen Foundation, Kevin J. Mossier Foundation, lesbian, LGBT Funders Network of the Minnesota Council on Foundations, minnesota, Otto Bremer Foundation, PFund Foundation, queer, Robert Espinoza, State of Funding: LGBTQ Grantmaking in Minnesota, The Jay & Rose Phillips Family Foundation, transgender, U.S. Bancorp Foundation | Permalink
Posted by Chris Noonan
September 25, 2009
An article I saw today in the Daily Planet on Dr. Ghafar Lakanwal, a native of Afghanistan who won The Saint Paul Foundation’s Facing Race Ambassador Award, got me thinking about the wealth of resources there are on creating diversity for grantmakers.
MCF, in fact, did some groundbreaking work in the area of grantmaker diversity and inclusion. Our free, downloadable resources can be found on our website here.
The Saint Paul Foundation, The Foundation Center and many others have also put together tools and research reports for grantmakers which we have also aggregated for you on our site.
If you’re looking for folks who are doing programming around creating diversity in Minnesota, The Saint Paul Foundation offers a tool and program called New Dialogues About White Privilege. The Foundation offers both sessions for the general public and in-house facilitation.
Similarly, Dr. Lakanwal’s organization, the Multi Cultural Development Center (MCDC) offers programming for individuals and groups that cover a range of topics related to diversity.
In addition to the workshops listed above, The Facilitating Racial Equality Collaborative is hosting a conference November 6 – 7 in St. Paul entitled, “Overcoming Racism: Why IS It So Hard? A Conference for Advancing Antiracism Leadership and Practice.” The are currently accepting proposals for workshops through October 1. Learn more and register at their website.
Join the Conversation: If you have a resource to share or know of other opportunities to convene around the topic of diversity and inclusion, please share them by commenting on this post.
-Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate
Leave a Comment » | diversity | Tagged: anti-racism, diversity, Dr. Ghafar Lakanwal, Facing Race Ambassador Award, foundation diversity, grantmakers, inclusion, MCDC, Multi Cultural Development Center, racism, The Daily Planet, The Facilitating Racial Equality Collaborative, The Saint Paul Foundation | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster
