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

Comments Off | arts, children, disasters, environment, giving forum, international, mcf, nonprofits, private foundations, youth | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Minnesota Grantmakers Respond to Famine in Somalia

August 29, 2011

Thousands of families in the Horn of Africa are suffering and in need of hunger relief because of an ongoing drought that is the region’s worst in decades. Several MCF members are responding with donations to partner organizations providing on-the-ground assistance:

  • The Mosaic Company has posted a $100,000 matching grant for the Minneapolis-based American Refugee Committee to GiveMN. Every donation to ARC will be matched by Mosaic, with transaction fees also covered, allowing donors to double their impact. Donate now through GiveMN.
  • The General Mills Foundation is donating $100,000 to the American Refugee Committee’s efforts, in the form of an initial $50,000 donation plus an offer to match donations from other Twin Cities companies up to $50,000.
  • In response to the General Mills matching offer, Best Buy is donating $50,000 and carrying the matching challenge forward, with an additional $50,000 available to be matched.
  • The Cargill Foundation has made a $100,000 donation to its longtime partners, CARE and the World Food Programme, two global organizations that fight hunger and poverty and are deeply involved in the Horn of Africa crisis.

MCF has set up a page to track grantmaker responses to the famine as we hear about them. Check back at mcf.org for further updates.

Comments Off | disasters, international | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Discover Your Fountain of Youth

February 28, 2011

Dan Buettner is an world renowned explorer, a best-selling writer and an engaging speaker. He has also, I believe, discovered the Fountain of Youth.

Buettner might take issue with that claim, as unlike a fountain that instantly restores youth to anyone who drinks from its waters, his Blue Zones — hotzones of human health and vitality — are populated by people doing the right things, day after day, every day of their long lives.

He and researchers from the National Institutes of Health and National Geographic have discovered five small populations that claim the world’s longest disability-free life spans. Residents of the zones, from Sardinia, Italy, to Okinawa, Japan, to Loma Linda, California, live to be 100 at a rate that is 10 times the rate of the general U.S. population.

Working with a second team of scientists, he has isolated the common denominators that explain the extraordinary longevity. While there is no “magic bullet,” Buettner’s Blue Zone prescription is surprisingly simple. Sorry, I’m not going to give it to you here.

Have you ever asked questions like these:

  • What is the optimal diet for making it to a healthy age 90?
  • Should you be running marathons or doing yoga?
  • What dietary supplements work?
  • Does stress really shorten your life?

If so, you don’t want to miss Buettner’s Opening Keynote Blue Zones: Secrets of a Long Life at MCF’s Community/Public Foundation Conference March 17-18, 2011, in St. Cloud.

Buettner will debunk the most common age-related quality-of-life myths and offer a science-backed blue print that the average American can use to live another 12 quality years.

Conference and hotel rates rise a week from Tuesday, so register today!

- Susan Stehling, MCF

Comments Off | community foundations, conference, health, international | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Women’s Wishes and Wealth

October 11, 2010

A co-worker recently drew my attention to a video chronicling the history of women funding women’s issues in the United States.

A Brief History of the Women’s Donor Activist Movement is a light-hearted look at the serious issue of women (and men) worldwide putting their wealth behind their wishes for themselves and the women and girls in their lives. The video was produced by womenmovingmillions.net and womensfundingnetwork.org.

The four minute history starts in 1880, when Matilda Joslyn Gage called on women of means to fund women’s rights:

  • the right to vote,
  • the right to own property,
  • basic human rights and
  • the emancipation of all enslaved women and men.

Seems the call wasn’t really answered until 1882 when Eliza Eddy pledged the first major gift by a woman to fund  the women’s movement. She did so at the conclusion of a bitter divorce when her ex moved their children to Europe. She had no rights and thus no recourse.

She hoped the donation of two-thirds of her estate would spur other women to do the same. It didn’t, and it was almost 100 years before women really began to fund causes instrumental to their success in new ways and at new levels.

Since then women’s organizations and funds have grown, and since 2000 women’s funds have proliferated worldwide. The film quickly tells the story of important donations and significant milestones in the movement, including the start of the TEWA Women’s Fund in Nepal in 2006. There women collectively donated their gold dowry bracelets to help start the fund – a striking example of wealth backing wishes.

In 2010, the Women’s Funding Network is more than 160 organizations strong, more a movement than a network the video asserts. The film concludes with the observation that in the United States, at least 51 percent of the assets are now held in women’s names. Check it out. It’s fun and informative.

If you’re wondering who does funding to support women here in our state, check out the work that the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota is doing.

- Susan Stehling, MCF

Photo CC OneEighteen

Comments Off | children, international, youth | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

World Leaders Focus on Clean Cookstoves

September 22, 2010

On a road trip earlier this week, I had the chance to listen to a lot of National Public Radio, and I was glad to hear coverage of the United Nations Millennial Development Goals (MDGs). Until earlier this year, when MCF’s Global Funders Network did a program on the goals, I hadn’t heard of them so I’m sure they can use the attention.

Why the coverage this week? The United Nations is hosting a high-level meeting of 140 government and private sector leaders to assess progress made so far toward the MDGs and to accelerate progress to reach the goals by their 2015 target date.  There are eight goals that include slashing poverty, combating disease, fighting hunger, protecting the environment and boosting education.

Complex global strategies are being launched and recommitted to, but the coverage I heard this week focused on the seemingly simple idea of clean cookstoves. Worldwide current methods of cooking over open fires, or on inefficient clay stoves, pose daily risks to hundreds of millions of women and children. In fact, health officials attribute more than 2 million deaths annually to women’s exposure to smoke and toxins from cooking fires. Smoke is also a major cause of pneumonia in infants — a leading factor in high infant-mortality rates in the world’s poorest countries.

The cookstove initiative, announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is a partnership of governments, nongovernmental groups and private companies. The idea is not to flood poor countries with a one-size-fits-all cooking alternative, but instead to consult local cooks and use local markets to develop and distribute different cookstoves for different regions and cultures. The objective: create cleaner, healthier, environmentally sound and locally adapted stoves that women will want.

The project caught my attention because it seems so simple yet so necessary. Years ago while traveling in Thailand, I stayed with a family that cooked on an open fire in their small home. A hole in the ceiling was meant to attract smoke, but the walls and ceiling were still covered with oily black soot. While cooking and tending the fire, the women also worked to ensure toddlers didn’t topple toward the flames. I believe those women and millions like them would love to make use of a solution that made cooking easier and safer for themselves and their families.

The meeting in New York ends today, but watch for updates on progress toward the MDGs on the United Nation’s site.

- Susan Stehling, MCF

Photo CC United Nations Media

2 Comments | health, international, public policy | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Disaster Philanthropy: A Long Term Role for Foundations

February 5, 2010

The aftershocks of the earthquake in Haiti will be felt for generations. What role should philanthropy play in rebuilding?

I listened in on a recent conference call organized by the partners of Katrina @ 5 about philanthropy’s response to the earthquake in Haiti.  Several speakers from government and philanthropy spoke about the current relief efforts in Haiti and the long term role for foundations in disaster response.  You can listen to a recording of the conference call here and learn more about Katrina @ 5 on their website.  Also, see how Minnesota grantmakers are providing support to Haiti on the Minnesota Responds webpage.

The panelists on the call offered advice to foundations thinking about engaging in disaster philanthropy.  Regine Webster, from Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors, emphasized these recommendations:

  1. Support organizations with long standing history of working in the affected area, especially those organizations that have solid relationships with people in the area.
  2. Support disaster risk reduction, like disaster-proof construction and other proactive efforts.
  3. Support underfunded needs in disaster recovery, like mental health and other psychosocial support.
  4. Commit multi-year funds to rebuild public goods, like schools and transportation systems.
  5. Support advocacy efforts, not only by encouraging government efforts like debt relief, but also for the creation of more sustained and coordinated disaster preparedness and response.

Rebecca Hove from the Bridgeway Foundation spoke about the importance of developing relationships with people on the ground and with organizations already working in the affected area.  She said that the Bridgeway Foundation is providing unrestricted support to local implementers in Haiti who have proven distribution and communications methods and can make sound assessments of urgent critical needs. Bridgeway Foundation has also built a local coalition called Houston Helps Haiti.  Hove said that their strong collaborations with organizations and people on the ground has prepared them to mobilize and respond more quickly than many of their colleagues.

Chris Page from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors addressed the reasons why the situation in Haiti is so different from other developing areas struck by disasters.  He believes it is because so many institutions in Haiti simply haven’t existed or haven’t been reliable.  The recovery in Haiti will be less about rebuilding the country, and more about building anew.  Page encouraged donors to look at phases of redevelopment and think about strengthening the country to protect against future losses.  Building trust in individuals and institutions creates stability that can lead to a transparent and functional democracy that is more prepared to respond to disasters in the future.

Patrick Corvington, Senior Associate of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and CEO Designate of the Corporation of National and Community Service, is a Haitian American and came to the United States as a teenager.  He talked about using his emotional and personal connection with this disaster to help the Annie E. Casey Foundation think about its response.  He talked about focusing on one area of relief and thinking through these questions:

  1. Can we act?
  2. What value can we add?
  3. How do we engage?

Corvington said that foundations that do not have relationships with Haiti, do not do disaster relief, or cannot respond as quickly should think about what they do well and how they can contribute in the long term, without getting in the way in the short term.   If a foundation can’t respond in the immediate relief effort, how can the organization play to its strengths and provide recovery support months or years after the disaster has occurred?

All of the panelists talked about the long term infrastructure for disaster philanthropy.  Here are some suggestions they offered for the foundation community to consider:

  1. Stay on mission.  Either add disaster funding to an existing mission or stay with what you know best and provide information and resources to those working in affected areas.
  2. Promote donor and philanthropic engagement with established international relief organizations.
  3. Promote more collaboration between foundations, government, and NGOs in disaster response.
  4. Instead of taking on a first-responder role, philanthropy should focus on the rebuilding and transforming phases of disaster recovery.
  5. Philanthropy can help ensure that attention is paid to the long term, ongoing issues the affected areas face after the immediacy of the situation has subsided.

With donations for Haiti slowing, this is an opportunity for foundations to step up and do what they do best: invest in extended and focused support on the needs of a community in order to have a systemic, enduring impact.

The question we should ask ourselves about Haiti should be the kind of question foundations should ask every time they consider responding to a disaster: What kind of Haiti do we want in the future?

- Stephanie Jacobs, member services manager

Comments Off | disasters, international | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Stephanie Jacobs

International Giving – Networking Around the World!

June 15, 2009

If you are an MCF member involved in international giving or considering it, you would love to have participated in a recent meeting of the Minnesota Council on Foundation’s (MCF) International Funders Network and hear from four people who recently attended an international giving conference. This meeting was hosted by the Lutheran Community Foundation (an MCF member) and moderated by Susan Hayes, director of Community Grants and Services at the Lutheran Community Foundation.

The speakers included:

I found the following points that came out during the presentations and during the Q&A especially interesting:

  • Networking and Contacts
    The networking and contacts available at these conferences were extremely valuable for everyone.  All of the presenters commented on having connected with people who know and work with one of their grantees or in the country in which they were making the grants, providing a unique opportunity to learn from others who are in the countries in which these funders are making grants.  In addition, several of the conferences included creative approaches to networking like “speed networking,” a “reciprocity web,” maps showing where each participant’s organization is providing funding, and even dots on nametags indicating the language a person speaks.
  • Selecting the “Best” Conference
    Since there is an increasing number of international giving conferences, all speakers had made a very deliberate decision about which conference to attend, taking into account several or more factors including the types of organizations that participate and the design of the conference.
  • Grant Applications – Which Language?
    One foundation is working on providing its grant application in several languages, to make sure that the content is clear to grantseekers, while requiring the grant application to be submitted in English.

Even in this two-hour program, I learned a great deal about international giving and left feeling inspired by all of the great work that is going on around the world.

If you are an MCF member interested in international giving, please consider attending the next meeting arranged by the International Funders Network.  The speaker will be Rob Buchanan, who is the managing director, International Programs, at the national Council on Foundations.  The meeting is scheduled for August 12, 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.  This meeting also is open to all MCF members.

If you are a grantmaker interested in international giving and are not a member of MCF, please contact Chuck Peterson, vice president, Member Relations and Operations, at cpeterson@mcf.org for membership information.

- Cindy Moeller, Director, Professional Development and Member Services
Minnesota Council on Foundations

Comments Off | conference, international, mcf | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by cindymoeller

« Previous Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 2,459 other followers