New Guides to Streamline Grantmaking

March 4, 2010

Project Streamline, a collaborative initiative of eight organizations, led by the Grants Mangers Network, has released two new guides this week. These guides are a part of a series that’s intended to help increase the impact of grants by eliminating unnecessary procedures and paperwork for grantseekers and grantmakers alike.

Grantseekers report that differing grantmaker requirements for financial information represents one of the most challenging and cost-intensive components of grant seeking. The first guide, Grant Budgets and Financial Reporting pdf, provides recommendations for grantmakers to decrease the financial reporting requirements for nonprofits.

The second report, Online Applications and Reporting pdf, provides insight on technological and procedural best practices for maximizing the efficiency of a grantmaker’s online application technology. A supplemental report that assesses seven different vendors on the criteria identified in the report will be published later this month.

To learn more about Project Streamline and to sign up to receive notification of future resources like these, visit projectstreamline.org.

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Stone Soup 2.0: MAP TechWorks Shares Nerd Knowledge of the Independent Sector

January 27, 2010

MAP TechWorks is an online technology resource for people working in the independent sector. Instead of relying exclusively on static blog entries written by paid experts, it’s comprised of video interviews with individuals working within nonprofits and foundations who share their  stories of technology success (and the occasional disaster, too).

The site is the brain child of Rick Birmingham and his crew of tech experts at MAP for Nonprofits, who recognized the need for a home to share all the tech expertise within nonprofits in Minnesota. They organized the content according to organizational mission, size and budget so that viewers can find relevant perspectives.

Like the story of stone soup, the site gets richer and better the more people share. If you’ve got a tech story, whether good or bad, consider doing an interview with Ben Hanson, the videographer who’s working on the MAP TechWorks project. You can reach him over Twitter or at the MAP TechWorks website. There’s a dearth of grantmaker techies on the site, so tech solutions that are particular to foundations and corporate givers would be much appreciated.

-Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate

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Is philanthropy via TXT a fad or a revolution?

January 19, 2010

I heard a “fad vs. revolution” question posed on the radio this morning on the way to work. It was in reference to another topic, but it struck me, because I’ve been thinking this past weekend about all the various ways individuals are donating to the relief efforts in Haiti – via text messaging being the vehicle most prominently publicized.

Two men pause to send text messages on their smartphones.

Fad or future? What's your take on using SMS or texting to make donations?

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for any organization that is asking people to send in checks, but those appeals are almost nonexistent as most organizations are directing donors to their websites. A few are promoting phone numbers that take credit card donations, but these also are rare.

Is appealing for financial support via text messaging a fad or a revolution? How many more people will donate who wouldn’t have given otherwise, because it’s just a quick few punches with the thumbs and $10 is on its way? Preliminary numbers certainly point to the success of this appeal. If people give $10 via texting, but they would like to give more, will they? How?

Charitable giving is a $5.5 billion endeavor in Minnesota, according to MCF’s Giving in Minnesota, 2009 Edition research. Of this, 76 percent or $4.19 billion came from individuals. Over the past decade, charitable giving in Minnesota increased 67 percent, and the number of grantmakers in the state rose by more than 65 percent. In just a year, from 2006 to 2007, foundations and corporate giving programs increased their giving by 10.1 percent to $1.32 billion.

Has innovation or evolution in philanthropy contributed to this increase? What factors – technology, outreach strategies, messaging, donor-advised initiatives to name just a few examples – are redefining how and what we give? Which individuals and organizations are leading the way? These topics and more will be the focus of our spring issue of Giving Forum.

In the meantime, join the conversation on texting to support relief efforts in Haiti by commenting on this entry. I’m interested to hear others’ perspectives.

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

Image CC Kiwanja

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Posted by Chris Noonan

Are you ready to take it to the “Max”? GiveMN Max Day is Nov. 17!

November 11, 2009

Attention Minnesota nonprofits, this is a reminder that the GiveMN Give to the Max Day begins November 17 starting at 8 am and goes until 8 am on November 18! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to gain a portion of matching funds for every donation made to your nonprofit using the GiveMN service that day.

Bush Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation are sponsoring Give to the Max Day and are offering multiple incentives for donors to participate:

  • Transaction costs for gifts made on Give to the Max Day will be covered, so 100 percent of gifts will go straight to nonprofits.
  • Every donation made on Give to the Max Day will receive a portion of a $500,000 match. The exact amount matched per dollar donated will be determined after Give to the Max Day concludes, and the $500,000 in matching funds will be divided by the total donation amount raised over the 24-hour period.
  • Grants will be awarded to the three nonprofits that have the largest number of individuals who make donations during Give to the Max Day.

To help you promote this special opportunity, the staff at GiveMN has put together a user-friendly Tool Kit specifically about Give to the Max Day. You can find the Tool Kit at the GiveMN website.

Not signed up yet? Get started here. Are you a funder? Consider sending out a dedicated message regarding the GiveMN giving service to your grantees. All the info you need can be found at GiveMN.org.

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You say you want a revolution? GiveMN promises to change the way you donate, for good.

October 12, 2009

There’s been a lot of buzz about GiveMN.org among Minnesota’s nonprofits lately, and it’s not hard to figure out why. The site’s creators and supporters hope to do no less than revolutionize the way Minnesotans connect with and give to their favorite nonprofit organizations.

What is GiveMN, you ask, and who are the audacious folks behind it?  GiveMN is a new online donation platform that will launch on November 2. The website will serve as a sort of online marketplace that will enable Minnesotans to search for and then donate to nonprofits they’d like to support.

The sites creators, led by the Minnesota Community Foundation, include the Blandin Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation, The Saint Paul Foundation,  the United Way, and a handful of other grantmakers and nonprofits.

The project was initiated by the Minnesota Community Foundation in response to the significant amount of time and expense that Foundation leaders saw nonprofits investing in fundraising efforts. As noted in an Oct. 11 editorial about GiveMN published in the Star Tribune,

Raising $1 online costs just 7 cents, compared with 20 cents for grant writing and still more through direct-mail campaigns.

It’s the hope of GiveMN’s creators and supporters that the efficiencies created by the new giving platform will translate into more dollars and staff time being devoted to programming and operations at Minnesota nonprofits.

How You Can Get Involved in the GiveMN Revolution

If you’re a nonprofit:
Visit GiveMN.org and sign up for one of the free webinars that will show you how you can use GiveMN most effectively to raise money for your organization. You can set up a profile now at www.razoo.com. All Minnesota profiles on this national giving platform will be transferred over to the GiveMN site before it launches.

Make sure you have your profile online by November 17, Match Day. On that date beginning at 8 am, the first million dollars donated will be matched 50 cents per dollar donated. Specific details on how the Match Day will work will be forthcoming, so stay tuned to GiveMN.org.

If you’re a donor:
Go to GiveMN.org and subscribe to their enewsletter. You’ll receive a notification when the site launches. Then be sure to log in and donate after 8 am on Match Day, November 17 when the first million dollars donated that day will be matched 50 cents per dollar donated.

Be aware though, in order to increase your impact that day the Minnesotan organizations that you want to support will need to have a profile on the site already. I recommend emailing those Minnesota-based nonprofits to let them know that you’ll be looking for them at GiveMN.org on November 17.

If you’re a grantmaker:
Consider sending out a dedicated message to your Minnesota grantees about the site. Less time on their part chasing the next buck will mean more impact overall for your grant support, and that’s a revolution I think we can all get behind.

-Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate

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Help Target Target’s $3 Million

May 12, 2009

Target has used Facebook successfully before, but this week, they’ve rolled out something new. They are encouraging Facebook users to determine which charities will benefit from a $3 million donation in a campaign dubbed “Bullseye Gives.”

From May 10 to May 25, visitors to Target’s Facebook page are invited to vote for one of 10 pre-selected national charities. Target instructs visitors to “vote their heart out” and to cast a ballot once a day during the two-week election. At that point, the Target Foundation , an MCF member, will distribute the donations based on the percentage of votes each organization received. All 10 organizations will receive a piece of the pie, some slices will be larger than others.

This morning when I voted, more than 21,000 votes had already been cast. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital led the tally with 26 percent, a percentage worth $781,036. The HandsOn Network had 3 percent of the votes, which was still worth a significant $105,785.

There’s a lot of discussion taking place on the site. Many users are putting in plugs for their organization of choice, some have included photos and giving statistics. Others are thanking Target for supporting these community-based groups. Other than some people not being able to figure out how to vote, the site seems like a success.  It definitely has people talking, and visitors will likely return to the Target page on an almost daily basis for at least two weeks.

Last week, I blogged about the letter carrier’s “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive and mentioned the the hunger site, where a mouse click generates a donation of a cup of food. Target’s idea is similar. It makes me feel like I’m helping to make a difference, albiet small, with almost no effort on my part. And, although I knew Target gave 5 percent of its income to the community, I didn’t realize that their giving now equates to more than $3 million per week.

- Susan Stehling, MCF web communications associate

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