Convergence — The Five Trends Reshaping the Social Sector

April 1, 2010

To paraphrase the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “Nothing stays the same but change.” Those working in the social sector right now can attest to this statement. New economic, social, and technological trends are intersecting to remake the work of nonprofits, and in turn the work of the grantmaking institutions that support them.

This confluence is the theme of a recent report published by The James Irvine Foundation entitled Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector (pdf), and an upcoming MCF Philanthropy Leadership Series program happening on April 23.

Based on an extensive review of existing research and in-depth interviews with thought leaders and nonprofit leaders and activists, it explores the following five trends:

  • Demographic shifts and how they’re redefining participation in the social sector
  • The technological advances in communications that are compressing both time and space
  • Networks and how they are enabling work to be organized in new ways
  • The rising interest in civic engagement and volunteerism
  • Sector boundaries and the blurring of nonprofit and for-profit work

The report provides insights on ways nonprofits are successfully navigating these changes by highlighting organizations who have created strategies to address these trends. You can download a pdf copy of the report here (pdf) at The James Irvine Foundation website.

Members of the Minnesota Council on Foundations are invited to register for our upcoming program on the report’s findings. The full day program, entitled “Five Key Trends that are Converging to Reshape the Social Sector,” will be held on April 23 at the Children’s Home Society and Family Services main office in St. Paul. It will consist of two sessions conducted by Heather Gowdy, lead author of the report, and senior associate at La Piana Consulting, a national firm dedicated to strengthening nonprofits and foundations.

The morning session will include an overview of the trends, followed by a peer panel discussion of their implications, and finally a small group action planning session. In the afternoon Gowdy and attendees will delve more deeply into one of the outgrowths of the new economic reality, namely the need among many nonprofits to restructure. Recommendations on how successful restructuring can be transacted, and how grantmakers can properly assist in the process will be shared through an examination of a number of national case studies. Members can learn more and register for the program at mcf.org. Unsure if you’re an MCF member grantmaker? View our list of MCF members here.

This program is the inaugural event in a new Philanthropy Leadership Series, launched by MCF for members who wish to engage in a high-level dialogue about broader sector and societal trends, and how Minnesota grantmakers and philanthropists can proactively meet the future needs of the sector, the nation, and the world.

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Put On Those Thinking Caps — The Minnesota Idea Open Starts Today!

March 18, 2010

Time to put your thinking caps on people, Minnesota Idea Open is officially open for business!

Today is the premiere day for a new venture launched by The Minnesota Community Foundation with the purpose to get Minnesotans involved in solving the growing problem of obesity in the state. The winning idea will receive a $15,000 grant to make idea into reality and the person submitting it will get $500.

So here’s what you do: Think of an idea that would get people in your community to move more and eat better. Be creative in your thinking. Make the idea feasible and adoptable by other communities. Go to the website and submit your idea.

You can submit your idea for Minnesota Idea Open: How do we get people to eat smart and be active? from today till April 9th. Judges will select the two or three best ideas. Beginning May 3rd you’ll be able to put in your vote for the winning idea. The winning idea will be implemented within the following 12 months by an organization which will act as a fiscal agent for the grant. If the project brings positive outcomes the plan is that it will be able to be duplicated in other communities.

So, get your Think on and get people moving! If you want a chance to scope out the “competition”, check out this hysterical promotional video that the team at Minnesota Idea Open has put together. For ongoing updates, follow them on twitter @MNIdeaOpen!

- Annette Lennartsson, MCF administrative assistant

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Funding Insight Directly From Funders

February 23, 2010

Everyone is talking about the “new reality,” but what exactly is this, and what could it mean for nonprofits, funders and the relationship between the two?

How is this new reality affecting funding and grantseeking? How can nonprofits access insight directly from those who review grant applications and make funding decisions?

Drawing on its connections with grantmakers who account for nearly $900 million in grants each year in Minnesota, the Minnesota Council on Foundations has encapsulated grantmaker knowledge and insight into its Grantseeking for Beginners seminars to help nonprofits learn what makes a proposal rise to the top, get noticed and get funded in an era of intense competition for extremely tight resources.

A group of corporate grantmakers and family, private and community foundations recently shared these nuggets of advice for grantseekers:

  • “Those who are able to convey their message the best will win out in a tighter grant reality.  Poorly written applications will not get noticed, and grant funders may no longer be as accessible to work with groups to help them improve their application.”
  • “I would encourage collaboration and research to avoid duplication.  In a tighter funding reality, grantmakers will be looking closely at the amount of collaboration between organizations and seek to ensure that there is as little duplication of efforts as possible in the grants that they award.”
  • “Don’t assume ‘same as last year’ when it comes to a foundation’s contact information, focus or funding guidelines. Many foundations have made internal changes, tightened budgets and changed processes.”
  • “Prepare and educate yourselves on the funder. Visit websites first; don’t call with questions on information that can be found online.  Use that information to your benefit to show you have educated yourself. Organizations need to do homework.”

If you’d like to learn more directly from funders, attend one of MCF’s Grantseeking for Beginners one-day seminars – we’re offering four this year, including some in greater Minnesota.

First up is 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 3 in St. Paul. Sign up by February 25 to save $30 off the registration fee.

At this session, learn all the basics – from researching relevant funding sources to developing strong and effective grant applications. See the proposal review and decision-making process from grantmakers’ points of view during a grantmaker panel discussion featuring:

If you can’t make the seminar, but want to learn more about a resource that can help you do your grantseeking homework on funders, check out Minnesota Grantmakers Online, MCF’s searchable database of funders and grants.

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Posted by Chris Noonan

Bringing to Life the Buzzword “Leverage”

February 15, 2010

Over the past year, as I’ve been writing for various publications of the Minnesota Council on Foundations and reading extensively on philanthropy, the word that’s rising to the top more and more is “leverage.”

Dictionary.com defines the word several ways, but the most relevant to philanthropy are:

  • The power or ability to act or to influence people, events, decisions, etc.; sway.
  • The use of a small initial investment, credit or borrowed funds to gain a very high return in relation to one’s investment, to control a much larger investment, or to reduce one’s own liability for any loss.

Kevin Walker, president and CEO of Northwest Area Foundation, has described “leverage” the most vividly. At MCF’s 2010 Outlook Program for Minnesota Grantmakers and Nonprofits on Jan. 29, as part of the panel discussion, he said leveraging is “making sure our dollar pushes other dollars in a direction in pursuit of our mission.”

As part of my research for our spring issue of Giving Forum, which will focus on innovation in philanthropy, I am reading the annual reports of several MCF members. The 2009 report of West Central Initiative (WCI) was filled with stories of how it is leveraging its funding in the nine counties and 83 communities the foundation serves in west central Minnesota.

Among the highlights:

  • WCI’s Community Organizing and Visioning Grant was joined with a variety of public and private funding to energize stewards in Bemidji, Alexandria and Fergus Falls to create “destiny statements” envisioning the future of their communities and measurable goals to achieve.
  • WCI is acting as fiscal host, grant writer and coordinator of the Early Childhood Dental Network, which has grown into a regional effort to combat a deficiency in access to oral health care.
  • Gap financing – such as that provided to local entrepreneurs, including TFC Poultry in Ashby – is supporting job creation and business establishment and expansion in rural Minnesota.
  • WCI used its expertise to help community organizers map out a fundraising effort and create the Pelican Rapids School Fund to raise and administer funds when the school levy referendum failed and the school district faced dire cutbacks.

These are energizing, motivating and inspirational ways WCI is bringing to life the concept of “leveraging” – using its resources to push other resources as WCI pursues its mission in greater Minnesota.

– Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Grantmaking in Minnesota Estimated to Decline Slightly in 2010

January 7, 2010

MCF 2010 Outlook ReportThe Minnesota Council on Foundations (MCF) releases its 2010 Outlook Report today, which finds that overall giving is estimated to decline for the second year in a row. Some indicators, however, signal that grantmakers are less pessimistic about their giving in 2010 than they were at this time last year.

  • Giving by grantmakers in Minnesota is estimated to decrease by approximately 1 percent in 2010 compared to 2009;  a year ago, grantmaking was estimated to decline by 4 percent in 2009 from 2008.
  • Thirty percent of grantmakers expect to give less in 2010, while 25 percent expect to give more. This is an improvement over expectations captured last year, in MCF’s 2009 Outlook Report, when 40 percent expected decreases and only 15 percent expected increases.
  • Of those grantmakers with assets, 58 percent expect them to increase in 2010, and 8 percent anticipate a decrease. A year ago, just 13 percent of grantmakers expected their assets to increase in 2009, while 52 percent anticipated a decrease.

“2009 was such a tumultuous and uncertain year for nonprofits and grantmakers, so these subtle yet positive changes are encouraging,” notes Bill King, MCF president. “But these indicators really reflect less pessimism rather than true optimism for the coming year. The outlook for grantmakers and the nonprofit community remains challenging.”

Other key findings in the report:

  • Twenty percent of grantmakers expect to decrease the number of grants they make in 2010, and 10 percent expect to decrease the sizes of grants awarded.
  • Among all types of grantmakers, corporate foundations and giving programs are most likely to expect their 2010 giving to remain the same as 2009.
  • Seventy percent of grantmakers report they currently are providing some kind of assistance to those affected by the economic downturn. Basic needs – food, housing and jobs – are the areas these grantmakers are mostly likely to support.
  • Grantmakers express concern about the well-being of their nonprofit partners, which are under significant programmatic and financial strains resulting from increased demands for services and decreased resources.

To explore what these findings mean for the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors in the coming year, MCF will host “2010 Funding Outlook for Minnesota Grantmakers and Nonprofits” on Friday, Jan. 29, 8:45 to 11:45 am, at Neighborhood House at Wellstone Center, St. Paul.

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Helping Individuals and Families Navigate Crisis: Interim Report on the Bremer Emergency Fund

December 8, 2009

Not unlike many other foundations, the Otto Bremer Foundation responded quickly last winter when the economy started its free fall with no end in sight.

The Bremer Emergency Fund (BEF) was a joint response – with foundation grant dollars supplemented by donations from the Bremer banks. In January, the fund gave 81 grants totaling $4.2 million to community organizations in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin to provide emergency financial assistance to families and individuals struggling to provide basics such as food, warm and stable housing, health care and reliable transportation.

“We recognize that timely financial assistance can sometimes make the difference between instability and security, enabling families and individuals to meet emergency needs and retain housing or jobs,” William Lipschultz, foundation trustee, said last January. “Once people are able to meet their basic needs and avert a crisis situation, they are in a better position to access community programs that can help them achieve long-term economic stability.”

Halfway through the one-year grant period, the foundation surveyed its grantees. The results of their responses were released today in an interim report.

“The Resources Available Have Not Kept Pace With the Need”

According to the report summary: “Three-quarters of BEF grantees are seeing more unmet needs than they expected, and many are expending funds much more quickly than they anticipated. Applicants for assistance are in deeper crisis than expected, with broader needs. More people are affected by job loss, and job searches are taking longer than in the past. Homeowners as well as renters are in need of support. Areas with high poverty rates have been especially hard hit.”

Measuring Impact

Grantees are measuring the impact of the BEF grants in a variety of ways, including:

  • Increase in number of requests for emergency assistance to which the agency can now respond.
  • Increase in amount of assistance the agency can provide to each individual/family.
  • Percent of clients’ needs agency could meet.
  • Ability to keep clients in their homes, with heating and lighting, and prevent homelessness.
  • Ability to provide access to food, assistance for transportation emergencies, help with medical expenses such as purchase of prescription drugs, shelter for homeless clients, assistance in budgeting.
  • Ability to help clients retain or find new employment.
  • Ability to help clients who have been turned away from all other forms of assistance.
  • Ability to help clients meet their goals, resolve the current crisis, prevent future emergency needs, improve family stability, and/or connect to long-term solutions.
  • Indirect impacts, which include preventing child abuse/neglect and domestic violence and ensuring school continuation for children.

Sharing What’s Been Learned

Grantees overwhelmingly expressed an interest in learning from each other and sharing resources. Foundation staff are planning to follow up by:

  • Facilitating learning among BEF grantees by helping them share information, tools and questions.
  • Conducting a final grantee survey in early 2010, the end of the funding period, to explore outcomes, impact and lessons of the grant-supported initiatives and the program as a whole.
  • Developing a final learning report on the BEF, including information about the creation, operation, impact and lessons of the program.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Leading Through Change – At This Week’s MCN/MCF Joint Annual Conference

November 2, 2009

Any nonprofit that wasn’t feeling stretched and stressed before the recession most certainly has since the “R” word became a reality. While the outlook is still uncertain, the Joint Annual Conference of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and the Minnesota Council on Foundations will provide essential tools and knowledge to weather the storm.

Titled Transforming Our Work: From Challenging Times to Hopeful Futures, the conference will run this Thursday and Friday, Nov. 5 and 6.

One of the featured speakers will be Susan Gross, cofounder of Management Assistance Group and author of Seven Turning Points: Leading Through Pivotal Transitions in Organizational Life, published last spring by Fieldstone Alliance.

According to the book synopsis: “Gross defines turning points as critical junctures at which organizations must adjust their leadership, management, structure, governance, and operating style to fit their changed circumstances…Organizations will know they’ve reached a turning point when the structure, management approach, leadership style, and organizational culture that once worked just fine begin to sow a host of new tensions and problems…Organizations do not always evolve in an orderly fashion, graduating from one life cycle to the next. ”

Here are Gross’ seven turning points as outlined in her book.  Some food for thought:

  • Turning Point 1: Do we need to get organized?
  • Turning Point 2: Do we need infrastructure?
  • Turning Point 3: Do we need to let go?
  • Turning Point 4: Do we need to focus?
  • Turning Point 5: Do we need to decentralize power?
  • Turning Point 6: Do we need to recapture our core?
  • Turning Point 7: How do we move on?

For insight on the causes, symptoms and how to guide organizations through these turning points and achieve greater effectiveness, impact and staying power, check out Gross’ breakout session at the MCN/MCF Joint Annual Conference, Thursday, Nov. 5, 1 to 4:30 p.m. Gross is also the keynote speaker at the conference’s CEO/Trustee Dinner, Thursday at 6 p.m., when she’ll discuss “Leading in a Time of Uncertainty and Change.”

– Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Local Nonprofit Allies Are Valuable Assets During Tough Economic Times

July 31, 2009

Our grantmaker members have been requesting the opportunity to learn more about resources available to local nonprofits looking to build capacity and support their infrastructure, especially in the current economic environment.

MCF hosted “Getting to Know Your Nonprofit Allies” on July 21 as part of its Economic Roundtable Series for MCF members. A few choice highlights from the event follow. MCF members can download a full report of the event, as well as pdf versions of the PowerPoint presentations given on our Economy and Philanthropy page.

Representatives from three locally based nonprofit assistance organizations discussed accountability, collaboration, mergers, technical assistance, financial expertise, organizational development and capacity building.

Charities Review Council (CRC) executive director Rich Cowles quoted former Star Tribune reporter Bob Franklin as saying that the CRC is morphing from a sector watchdog into a guide dog. CRC’s Accountability Wizard tool is one reason why.

Cowles explained that engaging in the process to complete the Accountability Wizard gives nonprofits the opportunity to strengthen their policies and procedures and make sure they are aligned with accepted and sound practices. It also lets prospective and current donors know that the organization is paying attention to accountability/transparency issues. A recent survey showed that donors who have higher trust in an organization tend to give more.

Organizations that meet all the accountability standards earn a fundraising “seal,” which can set them apart in the field, which is especially important in this economy.

Fieldstone Alliance works with nonprofits, philanthropic organizations and academia, looking at all the pieces that contribute to strengthening the nonprofit sector.  Carol Lukas, president, cited examples of Fieldstone’s work in research, publication of learning resources, capacity-building initiatives and partnerships, training and consulting.

In lean times, Lukas pointed out that many nonprofits tend to look only at expenses, but developing a strategy for revenues is also important.

The ”Free Resources” section of Fieldstone’s website provides the most recent economic resources, as well as practical, downloadable research reports, e-newsletters and tools. Several assessment products also are detailed on the website, including resources to help define and measure sustainability and answer the question, “How do you tell if an organization is sustainable?”

MAP for Nonprofits’ Project ReDesign’s director Renae Oswald-Anderson explained that mergers and other forms of realignment should not just be a response in difficult times, but part of an examination of how organizations can best serve and advance their missions. Contrary to for-profit mergers, mission advancement is the top priority in nonprofit mergers.

Merging is not the end of a mission, but the rebirth of a mission and requires full, intentional integration of board, programs, services and funders. The guts of the work focus on reaching common understandings on the “Big 3”: Organization name and mission (how do we preserve history, create change and move forward?); governing structure (what does this look like and how do we do this?); staffing and management (who will be the leaders?).

Program transfer, in which service sustainability is the key, is another form of realignment.

The presenters discussed grantmakers’ important role in making sure capacity-building progress is maintained by nonprofits:

  • Capacity building is not a one-time event, but a long-term investment.
  • Change is a two-to-three year process.
  • Leadership changes affect capacity building.
  • Keys are to follow-up, fund capacity building over time, and support leadership over time.
  • Nonprofit organizations can’t survive in the current model with decreased government and private funding, increased need, clients/users of services who cannot pay. We need to experiment with different funding models and discuss how grantmakers can best support grantees. Sustainability is an issue.  Where does an organization go to get money for operations? Boards and trustees may want to consider investing more in organizations than projects.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

Photo CC Lucas Towne Designs

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