Students in the certified nursing assistant training program at the International Institute of Minnesota, a grantee of The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota, practice their hands-on skills.

Read the winter issue of Giving Forum – online and in your mail now – to learn more about what Minnesota grantmakers and their nonprofit partners are doing in the tough fight against poverty in our state.

Grantmakers play a variety of roles from meeting basic human needs, to creating systemic change around poverty’s root causes, to engaging the community in identifying and solving problems, to taking policy stands on matters affecting low-income residents. Whatever role foundations have chosen to play, they are working to create a brighter future for all Minnesotans.

Read this issue’s feature article to learn more about how The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota is partnering to train individuals for jobs that pay a living wage and how Greater Twin Cities United Way is improving access to health care for those who need it most. And read about how the Northwest Area Foundation funded an initiative to drive payday lenders from Montana and how The Minneapolis Foundation is working to level the playing field for all residents of the city.

- Susan Stehling, MCF 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!

The program provides an opportunity for individuals to increase their capacity for and improve their practice of leadership while working with others to address big issues in their communities. It is based on four core principles needed to solve tough problems: knowing yourself first, knowing your community deeply, fostering community action, and managing conflict.

Some of the qualities the foundation looks for in Bush Fellows are:

• Commitment to making their community a better place for all
• Belief that risk, failure and conflict are not to be feared when working to find solutions to tough problems
• Passion for learning and improving their leadership skills
• An understanding that the solutions to their community’s tough problems are to be found within the collective wisdom of the community

To learn more and get started on an application, visit the Bush Foundation’s website. New in 2012, there are three deadlines over the course of the year that an application can be submitted: March 2, May 4, and July 9.

Also be sure to have a look at the 2011 Bush Fellows cohort, to see all of the great work that has been funded over the past year.

I’m thrilled to see that Minnesota Helps – North Minneapolis Recovery Fund will be awarded the “Outstanding Contribution to Philanthropy” award. It’s a well-deserved honor that comes just six months after a tornado slammed into the north side of our city. Thus far, the fund has provided $1,337,160 to assist the residents of North Minneapolis.

Shortly after the tornado hit, local foundations and the Greater Twin Cities United Way joined together to create the fund to quickly assist those directly impacted by the storm.

The effort has been led by the following partners, almost all of them members of MCF (marked with an asterisk).

• The Minneapolis Foundation*
• Greater Twin Cities United Way*
• GiveMN.org
• Best Buy Corporation*
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation*
• CenturyTel, Inc.
• Comcast*
• Cummins Foundation
• Faegre & Benson Foundation*
• George Family Foundation*
• The Grotto Foundation*
• James R. Thorpe Foundation*
• Land O’Lakes, Inc.*
• Lunds and Byerly’s
• McKnight Foundation*
• North Star Fund
• Park Nicollet Foundation*
• Pohlad Family Foundation
• The Saint Paul Foundation*
• TCF Foundation*
• US Bank – Private Client & Trust Services*
• Wells Fargo Foundation*

Many of these partners made large donations and also matched contributions from city residents and others who answered the call for assistance. GiveMN.org waived credit card fees on donations, so 100% of every donation went to help those in need.

Thanks to all of the funding partners and to those who contributed to the fund. We all make Minnesota a better place to live.

Funds Still Available
And, funds are still available for nonprofits, faith based organizations and public entities providing support and financial assistance to those most affected by this disaster. Learn more about how to apply for funds.

-Susan Stehling, communications associate

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

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

Greater Twin Cities United Way Tops Community/Public List
Revising its methodology this year, MCF added public charity grantmakers that make competitive grants to the annual rankings. Included for the first time, Greater Twin Cities United Way ranked fourth overall and first on the list of Community/Public Foundations and Public Charity Grantmakers by grants paid in 2010.

“Including the United Way creates a more inclusive picture of giving in Minnesota,” says Bill King, MCF President. “United Ways and other public charities that give competitive grants, like community foundations, receive individual and corporate contributions and make gifts to nonprofits from the funds.”

The top five Minnesota grantmakers by grants paid in 2010 are: Target Foundation and Corporation ($131.2 million); The McKnight Foundation ($96.7 million); General Mills Foundation and Corporation ($87.7 million); Greater Twin Cities United Way ($65.7 million); and Cargill and The Cargill Foundation ($61.1 million).

Of the 50 top grantmakers by grants paid in 2010, 45 also appeared on the 2009 list. Overall, grant dollars from these 45 decreased 2 percent in 2010 from 2009, but the amount given to Minnesota-based organizations increased by 1 percent. Overall assets for the 45 increased 5 percent.

“Cash giving by Minnesota’s top 50 grantmakers still totals more than $1 billion,” says King. “And the slight increase in dollars staying within our state demonstrates the stability of philanthropic support for Minnesota nonprofits.”

“Looking ahead we’re encouraged by the improvement in top grantmakers’ asset values,” he continues. “This bodes well for grantmaking levels in 2011 and beyond, as grantmakers tend to base grants paid on multi-year averages of past asset levels.”

MCF’s annual rankings are based on the amount of cash grants paid by funders with fiscal years ending June 1, 2010, through May 31, 2011. In order to ensure that grantmakers are compared consistently, in-kind or other noncash contributions are not included.

Corporations Give More than Cash
For corporate giving programs, noncash contributions such as in-kind donations of products, services or volunteer time can be a substantial part of their overall community support. Again this year, MCF invited large corporate grantmakers to self-report information about in-kind donations and other noncash contributions. This information is assembled in the Noncash Charitable Contributions by Minnesota Corporate Grantmakers list.

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

Photo cc Teosaurio

Giant Sing Along

You might have heard something on MPR about supporting journalism in the digital age. Possibly you participated in the Minnesota State Fair’s first Giant Sing Along. Or maybe you heard about a group of foundations and civic leaders working to ensure that the new Central Corridor light rail line provides opportunity for all of Saint Paul’s residents.

What do these have in common? They are all the work of MCF member John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The fall issue of Giving Forum features a Voices in Philanthropy article by Polly Talen, of Knight Foundation’s St. Paul office. Read it to learn much more about what the Knight Foundation supports and funds, including Journalism and Media Innovation; Engaged Communities; and the Arts.

And, if you work at a community foundation, don’t miss the upcoming MCF program, sponsored by  MCF members John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation and Minnesota Community Foundation, on recently released Soul of the Community research.

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

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

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