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

Seventy percent of grantmakers anticipate that their funding priorities will remain constant in 2012, which is almost a 10-point increase over what they predicted for 2011.

MCF’s 2012 Outlook Report is based on an October/November 2011 survey of 100 foundations and corporate giving programs that represent 76 percent (or about $1 billion) of all Minnesota annual grantmaking.

Subject-Area Funding
For the first time in its annual Outlook survey, MCF asked grantmakers to estimate changes in giving to the specific subject areas they support. While most respondents plan no changes to 2012 subject-area giving, one third of education funders forecast giving more to education in 2012.

Arts, culture, and humanities is the only subject area to which more grantmakers said they expect to decrease rather than increase funding. Although the respondents represent a small part of the Outlook survey sample, this finding appears to be consistent with a trend toward less arts funding as reported in MCF’s latest Giving in Minnesota report.

Learn More
To learn more about what the report findings mean for Minnesota’s nonprofit and philanthropic communities, check out the full report online and register today for one or all four of the subject-specific webinars hosted by MCF.

Webinar topics and dates are:

• Education, January 18;
• Human Services, January 24;
• Health, February 1; and
• Arts, February 7.

At each webinar, in addition to a broad overview of 2012’s giving outlook, a panel of funders will dive more deeply into subject-specific funding and answer questions like the following:

• What are the current trends in funding for education, human services, health or arts?
• Will funding for the area be up or down in 2012?
• What should nonprofits be aware of as they prepare to seek funds in 2012?

We promise you’ll come away from them more knowledgeable and informed about 2012’s funding landscape in Minnesota!

I have often said that rural Minnesota communities don’t have a dime to spare, which is why partnerships and leveraging of resources is critical to community growth and vitality. A great example of how this plays out is with local community foundations across our region.

For many years SMIF has helped establish and grow community foundations as a way to extend our resources. Currently we have 17 foundations under our umbrella, meaning we provide investment, administrative and technical assistance to the volunteer boards who oversee these foundations. Collectively over the years, these 17 communities have amassed $1.14 million in assets and have awarded more than $3.1 million in grants and programming.

Community foundations are currently the fastest growing sector in philanthropy, as they go beyond simply making grants–community foundations also identify current and emerging issues, channel resources to address their communities’ needs, and help their regions prepare for the future. In the United States, community foundations grant more than $31 billion in charitable funds in more than 700 communities and regions.

Community foundations are vitally important. Many donors want to keep their philanthropic dollars local, to better their own communities. And that’s exactly the goal of community foundations: keeping assets and resources in the community.

An example of one of our successful community foundations is the Preston Area Community Foundation. They have provided over $115,000 in grants since their inception in 1996. Their grants have included projects such as new tennis courts for the city of Preston, the schoolhouse and rail car restoration for the Preston Historical Society, a new baseball scoreboard for Fillmore Central Schools, and two grants to the National Trout Center.

As you can see, local community foundations are successful in identifying practical projects to enhance their community, and then raising the funds to complete them. Another example is the Elysian Area Community Foundation which recently donated a Jaws of Life rescue tool to the Elysian Fire Department.

In a time of tight budgets and reduced government funds, community foundations are also partnering with school districts and donating needed equipment. For instance, the Maple River Arts, Academics, and Athletics recently donated more than $11,000 in computers and other school supplies to the Maple River school district.

We are excited that the Spring Valley Area Foundation, formed just a year ago, has already raised more than $85,000 and is making small grants. With the help of an energetic board and supportive community, they are well on their way to capturing–and keeping–their community’s many assets.

Managing investment dollars for community foundations is one of the many benefits SMIF offers to area communities. Right now, we are also offering two opportunities for community foundations to capture additional SMIF dollars of up to $10,000. The first is a matching endowment challenge, which provides a $1 match for every $2 the community foundation raises up to a $5,000 match. Second, we provide a matching grant opportunity for community foundations of up to $5,000 for projects in the early childhood or entrepreneurship categories.

If you are interested in learning more about starting a foundation in your community, contact our Development Director Jennifer Nelson at 507-455-3215 or jennifern@smifoundation.org.

Many of MCF’s member community foundations have development staff who work on projects like these. Visit our member roster to find one that does work in your area or on your cause!

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

• 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

Current federal laws lead to fractured ownership of Indian land titles. As allotments of land pass down from generation to generation, they are inherited by multiple heirs, and after a few generations one parcel of land can have thousands of undivided interest owners.  Writing a will is one way for Indian landowners to prevent the diminishment of the trust land assets passed on to their heirs.

“This program will help individual Indians and tribal governments more actively and strategically manage their lands,” said Bois Forte Band Chairman Kevin Leecy, who also heads the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.  “Right now some Indian lands are divided into multiple small parcels, making them difficult to manage effectively.  This program is very much needed to straighten out some long-standing and complicated legal proceedings.”

ILTF was involved in previous will writing projects in 2003 and 2005, and found them to be an excellent use of resources. With new funding secured from the federal Administration for Native Americans, they are now able to offer this service for four Minnesota Indian nations—Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

ILTF is currently in the hiring process for an attorney and a paralegal to staff the project, which gets underway in December 2011. To read more about those positions and about the entire Minnesota Indian Estate Planning Project, visit ILTF’s website.

Valerie Halverson Pace, center

If you don’t think philanthropy in Minnesota and the Ukraine have much in common, think again.

On October 20-21, I attended MCF’s conference in St. Paul, The Evolution of Corporate Philanthropy: Building Value and Creating Change, where discussion revolved around truly integrating corporate citizenship and philanthropy within a company’s business strategy.

The previous week in Mykolajiv, Ukraine, the Ukrainian Philanthropists Forum, in conjunction with the Center for Social Programs RUSAL, East Europe Foundation, held Ukraine’s first international conference on corporate volunteering.

Both groups heard from Valerie Halverson Pace, west region manager, Corporate Citizenship, at IBM in Rochester, Minnesota, and an MCF member. She spoke of the change that she’s seen in the past 15 years at IBM, a company cited here and halfway around the world for doing things right and pushing the boundaries of corporate citizenship.

According to Pace, IBM is working across business units in 170 countries on pressing issues including the environment, economic development, education, health, literacy, language and culture.

IBM is applying their technology and the talent of their employees to solve problems, rather than simply making cash donations. They provide leadership and insist on excellence. And, whether it’s using voice recognition technology to help children learn to read or cloud computing to make disaster relief tools instantly available to recovery workers, they collaborate with qualified partners and fully expect to effect widespread positive change.

IBM’s efforts include: the Smarter Cities Challenge, a competitive grant program awarding $50 million worth of IBM expertise over three years to 100 cities around the globe; Service Jam and more.

Turns out MCF and the Ukrainian Philanthropists Forum are both members of WINGS, a global network of 145 grantmaker associations. And Bill King, MCF president and a WINGS board member, is responsible for facilitating the Ukraine-Minnesota philanthropy connection.

It’s a great example of one way that MCF is working to promote and strengthen philanthropy in Minnesota and far beyond the borders of our state.

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

New “Reading By Third Grade” grant opportunities announced today by MCF member Greater Twin Cities United Way (GTCUW) address this important issue.

A few details about what they’re seeking:

• Demonstrable capacity to implement proven and/or promising practices to support early grade literacy.
• Organizations and programs that provide services to children and families living at 200% of poverty or below within GTCUW nine-county area.
• Two or more sustainable funding sources in addition to GTCUW funds that do not include in-kind or contributed services.
• Formal partnership between the program and the public school(s) and/or district served by the program.
• Minimum funding request of $75,000 per year for up to 3 years.

See the full RFP on the GTCUW website.

There are training sessions on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 that will provide applicants an overview of the direction of the GTCUW strategic plan, the RFP content and process, annual reporting required by grantees and the Reading By Third Grade technical assistance and evaluation.

Attendance at one of these sessions is mandatory for those who wish to submit an application. Interested parties can RSVP on Eventbrite.

Outstanding Community: The City of Wadena. The city was selected because of their community development work and recovery and rebuilding efforts after a June 2010 tornado.

Outstanding Enterprise: Larson Boats of Little Falls. Founded in 1916, Larson Boats started by manufacturing small wooden boats.  It has since survived the economic recession, while retaining 170 jobs, and has established itself as an internationally-known company.

Outstanding Generosity: Jack & Betty Thomas of Hackensack. The couple started Mann Lake Ltd in 1983 and has set up a real estate gift so that proceeds will help build the first modern animal shelter and training facility in Cass County.

Outstanding Nonprofit: Stearns-Benton Employment and Training Council of St. Cloud. This organization coordinates education and training for dislocated workers while working with local employers to address critical workforce needs.

The four will be featured at the Initiative Foundation’s “inspiRED” event, scheduled for October 28 in Nisswa. Details are available on their website. Congratulations to these worthy winners!

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