Yes, We DO Know: Minnesotans Are Generous!

November 16, 2011

Give to the Max Day seems like the perfect time for the Star Tribune’s Guide to Giving Back to hit the streets. This special feature includes MCF research on where Minnesota’s charitable giving comes from. It also features highlights from our donor toolkit on ways to give, whether that means giving directly, through the workplace, through a community foundation, or though planned giving.

And don’t miss the What Gives, Minnesota? feature, reflecting on why Minnesotans rank near the top of national charts on giving their time and money. Reporter Jean Hopfensperger reflects that a reputation for giving goes back to some of the early pioneering Minnesotans, like William McKnight, an early leader of 3M who went on to found The McKnight Foundation, and George Dayton, who founded what would become Target Corporation and the Target Foundation. The McKnight Foundation and Target Foundation, both MCF members, are now two of the largest foundations in the state.

Be sure to look for the section on giving in today’s edition of the Star Tribune! You can also find all of the articles on their website.

-Chris Oien, web communications associate

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

OneMinneapolis Report Shines a Light on Inequities

October 5, 2011

A new OneMinneapolis report commissioned by MCF member The Minneapolis Foundation contains a lot of new information on racial and ethnic disparities within the city of Minneapolis. Through the use of Community Indicators, the report highlights areas of highest risk as well as some bright spots.

Among the report’s top notes of concern:

  • Only 29% of children who speak Spanish at home were ready for kindergarten, compared to 70% of students overall.
  • Hispanic, multiracial, and Black low-income households in Minneapolis are the least likely to have affordable
    housing, with fewer than 2 in 10 paying housing costs considered reasonable.
  • More than half of all the American Indian, Asian, and Black children living in Minneapolis are in
    poverty.
  • Minority groups make up 40% of Minneapolis’s population but only 17% of its workforce.

While we reflect on these large disparities and how to address them, it is also worth noting the more positive indicators. Some good news:

  • 76% of children speaking Somali at home were ready for kindergarten, above the city average.
  • Hispanic and African students in Minneapolis Public Schools are most likely to report that their teachers make them want to learn.
  • Parent satisfaction with their children’s schools was high across all racial and ethnic groups, ranging from 71% of American Indian parents to 84% of Hispanic parents.

The full report is available on The Minneapolis Foundation website. It has also been picked up by Minnesota Public Radio and the Star Tribune.

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Posted by MCF Webmaster

Knight News Challenge – How’s It Working Out?

June 28, 2011

The Knight News Challenge — a five-year media innovation contest designed to reward new ideas for gathering, sharing and using local news and information — was launched in late 2006.

It’s a time that seems much longer ago than five years. In 2006:

  • The iPhone was a rumor,
  • Twitter was used only for internal communications at a company called ODEO,
  • RSS was the future of Internet distribution,
  • Netflix had 5.6 million customers (compared to 24 million today).

A lot has happened since then, and the news industry has remained in great flux.

In a search for bold local news and media experiments, Knight Foundation has so far pledged almost $22 million to four sets of contest winners. Recently they also commissioned and published an independent, interim assessment of the first and second year’s winners. The early years were selected, as it was decided that enough time had elapsed since those grants were awarded for early measures of effectiveness and impact to be evaluated.

The report (PDF) details:

  • grantee outcomes and effectiveness,
  • challenges grantees have faced and key areas of learning regarding media innovation,
  • an analysis of each winner’s progress to date (in many cases, individual projects are still evolving as they continue to impact their targeted field and communities).

The assessment contains insights that the Knight Foundation (an MCF member) hopes funders, organizations, and individuals working on the future of news and information will find valuable.

- Susan Stehling, MCF

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Philanthropy’s Promise

June 13, 2011

More than 60 leading grantmakers from across the country have signed on to a new National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy initiative called “Philanthropy’s Promise.”

These grantmakers have voluntarily committed to:

  • allocate at least 50 percent of their grant dollars to address the unique needs of the poor, elderly, disabled and other underserved populations,
  • and at least 25 percent towards supporting advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement to address the root causes of social problems.

Seven Minnesota Grantmakers, all MCF members, have signed on:

  • General Mills Foundation
  • Headwaters Foundation for Justice
  • The McKnight Foundation
  • The Minneapolis Foundation
  • Northwest Area Foundation
  • The Saint Paul Foundation
  • Women’s Foundation of Minnesota

Kate Wolford, president, The McKnight Foundation, explains their participation this way,

“With limited resources, McKnight’s programs seek to provide support where we believe we can have the greatest impact. In many cases, this requires that we attend to underserved communities. … Additionally, McKnight’s board has long recognized the power of pursuing lasting, systemic change through advocacy, community organizing, and civic engagement.”

To learn more about the background and goals of “Philanthropy’s Promise,” watch this three-minute video.

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- Susan Stehling, MCF

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Hats Off to These Award-Winning Minnesota Grantmakers

December 10, 2010

OK, it may be too cold here in Minnesota right now to literally take our hats off, but let’s salute these award-winning Minnesota grantmakers nonetheless:

Best Buy and Cargill, both MCF members, were honored by the U.S. Chamber with 2010 Corporate Citizenship awards.  The annual awards program, hosted by the U.S. Chamber Business Civic Leadership Center, honors companies’ social and civic commitments.

Best Buy won in the Corporate Stewardship category as a nod to its overall culture, its operational practices, and for creating shared value benefiting both the company and society.

Cargill received the International Community Service award for social involvement in countries, including Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, and Vietnam, contributing to increased economic opportunity for local communities and their residents.

The 11th annual Corporate Citizenship Awards Dinner and presentation took place in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 30.

***

Former MCF board member Gloria Contreras Edin has been selected by Century College, White Bear Lake, as one of four Women of Distinction for 2010.

Contreras Edin provides immigration law assistance to help families with many issues. Her office location on Payne Avenue in St. Paul is accommodating to the Latino, Hmong and Middle-Eastern communities. Edin is the past executive director of Centro Legal Inc., a nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants. She serves on many philanthropic boards and is a national speaker on immigration policy and how it affects women and children.

Century’s sixth annual awards ceremony was Dec. 9.

***

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is included in Good Magazine’s list of  “30 Places We Want to Work,” published in its Oct. 21, 2010, issue.

“Investing $400 million with 1,000 partners to advance journalistic excellence in the digital age, Knight runs on the belief that information is ‘a core community need,’ and that access to it enables democracies to thrive,” writes the magazine.

Among the 10 criteria used to determine the list are: 1) It exists at the intersection of creativity and impact; 2) It cares as much about people and the planet as it does about profit (or in the case of nonprofits, efficacy); 3) It values transparency; 4) People talk about it; 5) It loves its employees; 6) People love it, viscerally; 7) It plays well with others; 8) It uses smart technology smartly; 9) It’s appropriately located; and 10) Design is important.

***

In its 13th annual “NPT Power & Influence Top 50,” Nonprofit Times celebrates some of the sector’s top executives and thinkers. These executives were selected for the impact they have now and for the innovative plans they are putting in place to evolve the charitable sector. These leaders of MCF grantmakers are among the 50:

Bill Gates, co-founder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle,Wash.: Writes the Nonprofit Times, “He who pays the piper calls the tune and so is the case with Gates and the foundation. If you can call throwing billions of dollars at something ‘targeted giving,’ Gates literally irradiates problems with the foundation’s checkbook and focuses the sector on issues that need to be addressed by more than money.”

Sterling Speirn, president & CEO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, Mich.: “Speirn started the Center for Venture Philanthropy in 1999 and has been funding social entrepreneurs ever since,” according to the Nonprofit Times. “He reshaped the foundation’s processes and is spending millions on non-traditional grants. Says Speirn, ‘We have to do more than just catch people when they’re falling … You build a strong base and then people will be resilient.’”

Laysha Ward, president, Community Relations & Target Foundation, Minneapolis, Minn.: “Ward is the epitome of a corporate foundation executive. Forget that the foundation gives away millions every week. She is out in the field making sure the dollars have an impact and is not shy about providing advice to CEOs of both small and name-brand charities. Her strategic funding has made a difference in sector policy and national service issues,” says the Nonprofit Times.

Congrats to these philanthropic leaders. Join me in a big round of “Thank you!”

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Posted by Chris Noonan

Small Foundations Pay Out Big, Study Finds

July 6, 2010

As Foundation Source processed grants last year and analyzed data collected from Form 990PF filings of nearly 500 of its small and mid-size private foundation clients, it tracked the pay outs and compiled what it found. Its just-released study concludes that, in 2009, 83 percent of these small to mid-sized foundations paid out more than they were required to by the IRS. (The IRS requires that private foundations distribute at least 5 percent of average investment assets annually for charitable purposes.)

In fact, the study says that 58 percent exceeded the minimum distribution requirement by at least 5 percent of their average investment assets.

The larger payouts are continuing into 2010, the Foundation Source also notes, reporting in May that it was seeing a 15 percent increase in grantmaking among its clients.

“Ninety-nine percent of all family foundations are under $100 million,” says Foundation Source President Andrew Bangser. “These generous foundations represent more than half of all foundation giving in the US, nearly $16 billion in 2007. … The data shows that most family foundations have not limited their giving to the minimum amount required by the IRS. And small and midsize family foundations stepped up dramatically in this tough economy to assist a wide variety of people, organizations and causes.”

Foundation Source provides support services for more than 900 private foundations across the U.S. representing $4 billion in foundation assets.

To learn more about the study, view it online on the Foundation Source’s website, or read about it in the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

-Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Posted by Chris Noonan

The Art of the Steal: A Lesson in Ethics and the Public Trust

March 22, 2010

This week, some of MCF’s staff went to see The Art of the Steal, a film documenting the fight over The Barnes Foundation and its $25 billion collection of post-Impressionist and early Modernist art.  This private collection includes seminal works by Cézanne, Picasso, Renoir, Degas, Manet, Monet and Van Gogh, but this isn’t a movie about art.

It’s about governance, transparency, donor intent and the interpretation of these principles by people who are entrusted to act in the best interest of the foundation.

Over his lifetime, Dr. Albert Barnes amassed an incredible collection of art at his foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, unrivaled by many of the large, prestigious art museums in the United States, including the nearby Philadelphia Museum of Art.  But Barnes did not amass this collection to be viewed extensively by the general public; he established the foundation to “promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts.”

First and foremost, Barnes thought of his foundation as a school for artists, a place where sincere students could view important and influential works of art away from the tourism of art museums.  Henri Matisse said the Barnes Foundation is “the only sane place to see art in America.”   Barnes was explicit in his trust documents that the collection should not be sold, moved, or loaned for any purpose, unless those demands became unreasonable or impossible due to unforeseen circumstances.

Therein lies the crux of the struggle to control the Barnes collection.  While Barnes loyalists say that to remove the collection at all would be a direct contradiction to Barnes’ original intent, several powerful people and institutions in Philadelphia, including the former Governor of Pennsylvania, several well-known philanthropists, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, have vied to move the collection to Philadelphia, where it would be more accessible to the general public (and a huge tourist attraction for the city.) They claim that The Barnes Foundation is financially unstable and has no other choice but to move the collection.  The film chronicles this fight, leading up to the dramatic decision as to the future of the foundation.

The Art of the Steal is definitely a movie with an agenda and a point of view (read this New York Times article for a full review of the film).  Funded and produced by several former students and teachers of the Barnes, the film is one-sided and paints the other side in an unflattering light.  Many of the people that the film accuses refused to participate in the movie, but some have made statements in response to the movie, including the Pew Charitable Trusts and Bernard Watson, chairman of the Barnes Foundation board of trustees.

No matter on which side of this argument you fall, The Art of the Steal provides an excellent case study on the topic of ethics.  Whether you have heard of this controversy before or not, you will walk away from the movie questioning how people can ensure that foundations and nonprofits maintain accountability with the public and whether a controversy like this could have been avoided.

At the Minnesota Council on Foundations, our members created, endorsed, and do their work by the Principles for Grantmakers & Practice Options for Philanthropic Organizations to prevent situations like this from happening.  Updated in 2009, the Principles are a how-to of principled philanthropy. Not only do they outline what philanthropic organizations are legally required to do, the Principles are also aspirational, encouraging foundations to reach for more than what the law says is necessary.  All MCF members are required to subscribe to the Principles.  In the preamble of the Principles, it reads:

“We acknowledge the fundamental roles and responsibilities of engaged individuals and the public, private and nonprofit sectors in a just and equitable society.  As a community of grantmakers, we embrace philanthropy’s role in a civil society.”

It is controversies like the one depicted in The Art of the Steal that remind those of us in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors that we must work daily to uphold the public trust.  We must take responsibility for the privilege of sustaining a just and equitable society.  We must respect and honor the people who turn to our organizations in search of support and guidance.  And we must appreciate the opportunity to assess ourselves against written and unwritten standards of ethical principles and practice, and value the chance to reach for a higher standard.

The Art of the Steal is playing now at the Landmark Edina Cinema.

- Stephanie Jacobs, MCF member services manager

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