technology « Minnesota Council on Foundations Blog

Member Post: Grantmaking Transparency in the Age of YouTube

January 12, 2012

One of MCF’s Principles for Grantmakers is to be transparent in communications with the public, applicants, grantees and donors. Many foundations are now using video and social media to do just that. Naomi Pesky, director of marketing and communications at Minnesota Philanthropy Partners, shares here a recent example she’s been working on.

When planning the launch of Minnesota Philanthropy Partners, we knew creating a video about our grantmaking work was an important component. As we unveiled a new name for our network of 1,600 funds, foundations and organizations, we wanted to reassure nonprofits that the grantmaking for three of our anchor foundations, The Saint Paul Foundation, F. R. Bigelow Foundation and Mardag Foundation, remained the same.

Video is also a great way to make our grantmaking processes more transparent. We hope that an insider peek into our practices will help nonprofits be more informed when working with us, which would then result in more powerful collaborations. Our program team wants to work closely with nonprofits. We welcome conversations with organizations to learn about their work and understand if their programs and objectives fit with our funding priorities and commitments.

Ultimately, this new grantmaking video, along with other communication efforts like our Nonprofits to Know^TMvideo series and MNSights magazine, is intended to help strengthen philanthropy in Minnesota. We hope the outcome of the new video is that more great programs find our foundations and that our community is the better for it. Have a look and let us know what you think!

Leave a Comment » | communication, community foundations, principles for grantmakers, promotion of philanthropy, technology | Tagged: Minnesota Philanthropy Partners, YouTube | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Promoting Philanthropy: The Minnesota/Ukraine Connection

October 31, 2011

: Valerie Halverson Pace, center

If you don’t think philanthropy in Minnesota and the Ukraine have much in common, think again.

On October 20-21, I attended MCF’s conference in St. Paul, The Evolution of Corporate Philanthropy: Building Value and Creating Change, where discussion revolved around truly integrating corporate citizenship and philanthropy within a company’s business strategy.

The previous week in Mykolajiv, Ukraine, the Ukrainian Philanthropists Forum, in conjunction with the Center for Social Programs RUSAL, East Europe Foundation, held Ukraine’s first international conference on corporate volunteering.

Both groups heard from Valerie Halverson Pace, west region manager, Corporate Citizenship, at IBM in Rochester, Minnesota, and an MCF member. She spoke of the change that she’s seen in the past 15 years at IBM, a company cited here and halfway around the world for doing things right and pushing the boundaries of corporate citizenship.

According to Pace, IBM is working across business units in 170 countries on pressing issues including the environment, economic development, education, health, literacy, language and culture.

IBM is applying their technology and the talent of their employees to solve problems, rather than simply making cash donations. They provide leadership and insist on excellence. And, whether it’s using voice recognition technology to help children learn to read or cloud computing to make disaster relief tools instantly available to recovery workers, they collaborate with qualified partners and fully expect to effect widespread positive change.

IBM’s efforts include: the Smarter Cities Challenge, a competitive grant program awarding $50 million worth of IBM expertise over three years to 100 cities around the globe; Service Jam and more.

Turns out MCF and the Ukrainian Philanthropists Forum are both members of WINGS, a global network of 145 grantmaker associations. And Bill King, MCF president and a WINGS board member, is responsible for facilitating the Ukraine-Minnesota philanthropy connection.

It’s a great example of one way that MCF is working to promote and strengthen philanthropy in Minnesota and far beyond the borders of our state.

- Susan Stehling, communications associate

Comments Off | civic engagement, collaboration, conference, corporate, Greater Minnesota, international, leadership, mcf, promotion of philanthropy, technology, volunteers | Tagged: IBM, Ukraine | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

New Bush Foundation Web Site

June 24, 2011

The Bush Foundation has just rolled out a new website. The website introduces a new look and provides tools to help the foundation better connect with their partners and the communities they serve, including:

A new blog where others can join the discussion.
Stories about the work of their partners and fellows.
Timely updates about news, opportunities, events, resources and media coverage.
New ways to interact with the Foundation via Twitter, Facebook and RSS.

Test your knowledge of Native Nations on the four-question quiz on the Bush Foundation Native Nation Building page. I’ve lived in Minnesota for 25 years, but I only got two of the four questions correct!

Find all this and lots more at the new BushFoundation.org.

- Susan Stehling, MCF

Comments Off | communication, Greater Minnesota, private foundations, technology | Tagged: Bush Foundation | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Creative, Strategic Use of Social Media

June 3, 2011

Everyone is using social media these days, but how do you ensure that your use of it is both creative and strategic?

Here’s a challenge and suggestions to meet it from a recent meeting of the MCF ComMotion Network: “Keep it Creative: Producing Out-of-the-Box Ideas for Run-of-the-Mill Communications Issues.” There’s also a related “lived scenario” from West Central Initiative.

Challenge:
Your foundation wants to host an event, competition, award program or something similar. You know social media can play a part. Now you must create a strategy that uses social media to its best potential.

Tools:

Develop a social media core team.
Use email, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Web, and Flickr to help plan the event and generate new ideas.
Use Twitter and blogging at event sessions.
Facilitate networking before, during and after the event through profile development or use of an interactive web forum.
Offer an incentive, e.g., for every “like” or post, the foundation will donate $1 to x.
Use polls to increase interactivity.

Takeaways:

Ensure that social media is a part of your bigger strategy.
Know your audience, what you want to communicate and what you want to accomplish with your communications.
Answer, “What do you want your audience to do?”

A Lived Scenario from West Central Initiative

Challenge:
Last year the foundation decided to hold a photo/video contest with entrants visually and verbally (entries would include a 100-word essay) illustrating: “Creating a better tomorrow for west central Minnesota.”

Goals:

Define the area’s regional identity. We hoped entries would shed light on how residents perceive west central Minnesota.
Collect 100 images for use in materials celebrating the foundation’s upcoming 25th anniversary.
Jumpstart and promote the foundation’s social media marketing.

Tools:

After searching for an online photo/video contest tool, we chose Strutta, as it allowed us to host a contest for photos and videos, have judges select winners and let viewers vote for popular choices.
Strutta also allowed the foundation and entrants to promote entries using Facebook and Twitter. (I used Facebook and Twitter [foundation and personal pages] to increase entries, “Your photos are great. Enter them in our contest!”)

Results:

We received 87 entries, including many lovely photos and thoughtful essays.
We learned that creating a better tomorrow means, “caring for our children and for our natural resources in the best way we can.”

This is the last in a series of posts from MCF’s recent ComMotion meeting. However, watch for an update to May 27th’s “Creatively Redesigning a Marketing Strategy” post soon.

Image West Central Initiative

- Sheri Booms Holm, West Central Initiative

1 Comment | civic engagement, communication, community foundations, nonprofits, technology | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Grants for New News Entrepreneurs

February 3, 2011

Do you provide news to your community in new ways, perhaps taking over part of a role played by a traditional news outlet of days past?

If the answer is yes, and you’re looking for funding for your efforts, be sure to check out the Knight Community Information Challenge.

Sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (an MCF member), the challenge encourages news entrepreneurs to partner with community or place-based foundations in order to receive a grant from Knight. This year’s deadline for applications is Monday, March 7.

Since your foundation partner will be the official applicant to Knight and because they must match Knight’s funding, finding a partner is step one. So how do you go about partnering with a foundation in your area?

A good starting point is this blog post on Knight’s site, which contains advice from past winners and details three good tips for news entrepreneurs seeking foundation support. Tips include:

Don’t be surprised if a foundation doesn’t immediately embrace journalism
Do your homework about the mission of the foundation
Think ahead: A plan for sustainability is critical

Be sure to check out the entire Knight Community Information Challenge site, where you’ll find contest rules, profiles of past winners (watch interviews with Round III winners below), and much more.

The Knight Community Information Challenge is a five-year, $24 million initiative to help community and place-based foundations to play leading roles in meeting the information needs of their communities. The challenge has three simple rules:

Applicants must be U.S. community or place-based foundations (though community partners are welcome);
projects have to meet a local information need;
and foundations must match Knight’s investment.

- Susan Stehling, MCF

1 Comment | awards, communication, community foundations, technology | Tagged: John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Knight Community Information Challenge | Permalink
Posted by sstehling

Nonprofits to Know: Building Capacity with Online Video

October 18, 2010

In this post, guest author Jeff D. Achen of the Minnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation shares an innovative strategy that the foundations have unleashed to help grantees connect with donors and the community effectively.

As foundations, our core business–to put it succinctly–is nonprofit capacity building. Grantmaking is the main way that we do this, but we believe that marketing can also help build capacity. Our new web video series, Nonprofits to Know^TM, is an exciting new way we’re doing this.

Each Nonprofits to Know^TM video focuses on a nonprofit that is doing extraordinary work in Minnesota. Our Grants and Program, Development, and Marketing and Communications teams collaborate to identify the nonprofits we will feature.

We’ve invested in a tripod, camera, wireless microphone and a computer and editing software. The cost, when compared to hiring a video production company on a per project basis, has been well worth the investment.

To help nonprofits share the videos, we have developed an FAQ about ways to market the video using social media, email and the nonprofit’s website. We also help to distribute the video–posting it on our YouTube channel, creating links on our website and via social media, and e-mailing links to interested people via our donor relations, program officers and gift planners. We’re also proud to be posting these videos complete with closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

Clearly, the nonprofits benefit from the video series–many of which have wanted to create videos but had been budget constrained to do so. But we believe that our foundations also benefit from this initiative. The Nonprofits to Know^TM series help us demonstrate our community expertise, and we believe the videos help us create partnerships with donors, nonprofits and community leaders who want to do innovative and extraordinary work.

- Jeff D. Achen, Minnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation interactive media strategist

Want to see a great example of the the videos that Minnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation are creating for their grantees?

Check out the video below created for the Peta Wakan Tipi’s Dream of Wild Health Program. Peta Wakan is a non-profit that promotes the social, economic, physical and cultural health of American Indian people through programs like Dream of Wild Health.

2 Comments | communication, community foundations, nonprofits, technology | Tagged: Minnesota Community Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation, Nonprofits to Know | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Give-to-the-Kids Challenge – Innovation in Action

October 4, 2010

After last year’s record-breaking response to Give to the Max Day, Randi Roth of the Otto Bremer Foundation asked how they could continue the momentum and do something to ensure their grantees fully leverage the power of technology. That idea grew into the Bremer Give-to-the-Kids Challenge now featured on GiveMN.

The challenge calls on Minnesotans to support 50 nonprofits serving youth in greater Minnesota. The foundation is providing $300,000 in matching funds to double donations and incent giving. Each nonprofit will receive a one-to-one match for the first $6,000 it raises on GiveMN.org during the campaign, which runs through Tuesday, October 5, 2010. That’s tomorrow, so there is still time to donate!

The innovative leadership of the Otto Bremer Foundation is exactly what we need to keep Minnesota communities thriving. Follow their lead and help these organizations reach their goals. More than $200,000 in matching funds remains on the table. Your donations will be doubled until 4 pm tomorrow. So, take the challenge today and encourage your friends to do the same!

Background
The Otto Bremer Foundation recognized that matching funds could encourage organizations in greater Minnesota to use technology to grow their resources, and they ensured the organizations had the support and tools to successfully run an online giving campaign — a first for most of the nonprofits.

Foundation staff coordinated with Bremer Banks to convene trainings in St. Cloud, Willmar and Alexandria. Nonprofits from across the state came to learn about trends in online fundraising. They strategized about how to encourage donors to “click” instead of write a check.

The organizations are stretching to do something new — moving from “the way things have always been done” to “the way we need to do things to be relevant in the future.” They are working with donors who are unsure about making a donation on a computer. And they are marketing to new donors who love the ease and convenience of giving online. They are changing donor behavior one click at a time. And the dollars are trickling in.

This is fundraising and grantmaking in 2010. This is foundation and community collaboration in 2010.

The Otto Bremer Foundation has a long history of supporting nonprofits that serve youth throughout Bremer communities. The Otto Bremer Foundation, GiveMN and the participating organizations are proud to take part in this campaign to help youth in greater Minnesota.

- Dana Nelson, GiveMN executive director

Comments Off | individual giving, technology, collaboration, fundraising, youth, children, Greater Minnesota, civic engagement | Tagged: Otto Bremer Foundation, Bremer Give-to-the-Kids Challenge | Permalink
Posted by MCF Webmaster

Minnesota Council on Foundations Blog – Philanthropy Potluck

Member Post: Grantmaking Transparency in the Age of YouTube

Promoting Philanthropy: The Minnesota/Ukraine Connection

New Bush Foundation Web Site

Creative, Strategic Use of Social Media

Image West Central Initiative

Grants for New News Entrepreneurs

Nonprofits to Know: Building Capacity with Online Video

Give-to-the-Kids Challenge – Innovation in Action

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