Shouldn’t Everyone Have a Place to Call Home?

February 6, 2012

The Edina Realty Foundation believes that everyone should have a place to call home, so it extends  financial support to organizations that provide housing and related services to homeless children, families and individuals.

While home sales are down from their record levels of a few years ago,  participation in the Edina Realty Foundation has remained steady. In fact, more than 75 percent of the company’s agents continue to donate a portion of their sales commissions.

Is there an Edina Realty office in your neighborhood? If so, you’ll want to read the winter issue of Giving Forum to learn more about what Edina Realty Foundation is doing to make the 60 neighborhoods where they are located better places to live and work.

- Susan Stehling, MCF communications associate

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Thoughts on Effective Foundations & Nonprofits

November 15, 2011

Jim Hoolihan

In the fall issue of Giving Forum, Jim Hoolihan, outgoing CEO of Blandin Foundation, shares his thoughts on what he believes makes foundations and nonprofits effective.

It’s a revealing read written as he sifted through 19 years of files, memos and other materials from his years of involvement at the foundation.

Look for his thoughts on these topics and more:

  • What matters most in an effective organization are the people. When the right people are in place, the rest falls into place.
  • Money, by itself, is useless.
  • Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
  • Relationships and persistence are needed to make verifiable progress.

Read his Commentary online or in the printed version of Giving Forum which is likely in your mailbox now!

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

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Funding Women’s Independence

November 9, 2011

Read the fall issue of Giving Forum if your nonprofit helps women achieve independence. The issue contains a Giving Story on the WCA Foundation, an MCF member, which funds programs designed to benefit economically disadvantaged persons, especially women.

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

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Grantmaking at Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies

October 26, 2011

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

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Strengthening Reservation-based Native Businesses

October 17, 2011
Northwest Area Foundation, an MCF member, has launched a Native American Social Entrepreneurship Initiative in an effort to increase the number and strength of reservation-based Native businesses.

Supported by $1.59 million in grants, this two-year undertaking aims to bolster Native financial institutions. Native social entrepreneurship uses business principles to build wealth and formulate solutions to social issues.

“Historically, less than one-half of one percent of philanthropic dollars is invested in Native American programs, and studies indicate that number is decreasing. This initiative seeks to invest in Native communities’ ability to reduce poverty and build prosperity,” says Kevin Walker, president and CEO of Northwest Area Foundation.

To learn more about this innovative effort, use the links below and watch for a Q&A with Martin Jennings, Northwest Area Foundation program director, in the fall issue of Giving Forum - in your mailbox soon.

Oregon Native American Business and Entrepreneurial Network (ONABEN) will lead the initiative and support an educational cohort in which the participating organizations will meet regularly to learn and share best practices.

Six additional grants have been awarded to nonprofits participating in the cohort.

  • Four Bands Community Fund Inc. will create a green business development curriculum. Four Bands will work in partnership with Cheyenne River Tribal Ventures.
  • Hunkpati Investments Inc. will receive a grant for its Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), which seeks to stimulate economic growth on the Crow Creek Sioux Indian reservation.
  • Lakota Funds will support a pilot project for a children’s matched savings program known as Children’s Development Accounts (CDA).
  • Northwest Native Development Fund (NNDF) will implement its Growing into Our Footprint project to expand business training, outreach, tax preparation assistance and access to loans.
  • Taala Fund of Taholah, Wash. will receive funding for the Quinault Asset Building initiative, which introduces youth to financial management and business principles, paving pathways to future prosperity.
  • Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation – Business Service Center will provide business and financial education as early as elementary school.

- Susan Stehling, MCF communications associate

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More Advice from Program Officers

July 15, 2011

Because the theme of our Summer issue of Giving Forum is the “Nuts and Bolts of Effective Grantmaking and Grantseeking”), I asked Minnesota grantmaking staff questions that grantseekers really want to know. Their insights follow.

This is the last in a three-part series of insights from program officers. Find “Pet Peeves from Program Officers” and “High Praise from Program Officers” here.

Other advice to nonprofits on making their case:

  • Don’t waste time using writing gymnastics when your proposal doesn’t really fit a funder’s guidelines. Instead, develop proposals for funders whose guidelines align with your project or program.
  • Your proposal should reflect how your organization’s goals align with the grantmaker’s guidelines. Be thoughtful, clear and succinct.
  • If you’re not sure how much to ask for, read the funder’s previous year’s IRS 990, annual report or website. And ask. Many grantmakers will candidly provide insight about grant amounts.
  • After reading your proposal, grant reviewers should not have to ask, “What do they want to do, and how are they going to use our funds?” General information about your organization, its history and the critical issue being addressed is helpful background, but it should not outweigh answers to these essential questions.
  • Make sure your anticipated outcomes align with your program goals.
  • Marry story with data. Data can tell the funder how many people are served and what results are achieved, but then illustrate the numbers through a personal story.
  • Describe how you’re anticipating the future. In the words of hockey great Wayne Gretsky: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it’s been.”
  • If a foundation welcomes calls, take advantage of this. Ask questions, seek advice and discuss ideas with program officers. But, if you don’t like what you hear, don’t shop for a different program officer to get another assessment or submit a proposal that disregards the recommendations.
  • Be proactive and transparent about how you’re addressing challenges.
  • Whether you are a nonprofit staff member or freelance grantwriting consultant, convey passion, investment and commitment.

Thanks to the many grantmakers who responded to my query for pet peeves and tips for grantees.

For more insight, check out the Summer issue of Giving Forum. In addition to “Pet Peeves,” you’ll find tips on how to conduct effective evaluations, what grantmakers look for when reviewing applications, and how an application becomes a grant.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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