Diversity Matters

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Spring 2001

Diversity Matters
How Minnesota Grantmakers are Supporting Diversity

by Sylvia Lindman

Let's say a grantmaker decides to purchase office supplies from a minority vendor. It's a small act, but over time it has a big impact. The grantmaker's regular business enhances the vendor's credibility and profitability. The vendor expands and hires more employees, some of whom are minorities and perhaps go on to start their own companies. With a stable company and a network of business contacts, the vendor secures influence in the community and serves as a role model to young people.

That is one example of how a grantmaker's commitment to diversity can ripple throughout the community. As Minnesota's population changes, foundations that accommodate and support diversity are leading by example.

Grotto Foundation staff meet with some of their vendors at Native American-owned Black Bear Crossing. (Clockwise from front left: Peg Thomas, executive director, Grotto; Gordon Regguinti, Grotto; Stephen Lu, Asian Media Access; David Glass (standing), owner, Black Bear Crossing; Kim Laviano, Grotto; Kirsten Wedes (standing), graphic designer; Allene Ross, At Your Fingertips Office Products; Sonja Tanner, Native Tours and T&T Travel.)

Changing racial and ethnic demographics are the most visible form of cultural diversity, and often these changes prompt people to think about the issue. But diversity is much broader than that, according to Bill King, president of the Minnesota Council on Foundations. "People of different ages, genders, sexual orientations, physical abilities, religions, incomes, educational levels and occupations all contribute to a community's diversity and character, increase its tolerance and improve the quality of life for everyone," King says.

The Council has been working for 10 years to create a climate of inclusivity in the grantmaking field and to work to address and eliminate racism in philanthropy. One of the Council's eight Principles for Minnesota Grantmakers states that foundations and corporate grantmakers will "recognize the increasing cultural diversity of the communities we serve and within the limits of our charter seek to reflect this diversity in our grantmaking and in the membership of our board and/or among our staff or advisors."

Last September, the Council issued a diversity report based on a survey of its members. Sixty grantmakers — 42 percent — responded. Results were compared with another survey taken five years earlier.

The survey brought some good news. Grantmakers are thinking more about what diversity means for them than they were five years ago. They are seeking to reflect their communities better in hiring, appointing board members and advisers, making grants and developing community initiatives. The sample of Minnesota grantmaking board, staff, advisory committees and consultants, though primarily white, was more racially and ethnically diverse than the state as a whole.

Later this year, the Council will publish a toolkit to help foundations and corporate giving programs build inclusivity into their daily business. As the toolkit says, "an inclusive grantmaking organization is more effective and successful in every way." Called "Building a Better Foundation: A Starter Toolkit for Creating an Inclusive Organization," the document is a joint effort of the Minnesota Council on Foundations and three other regional associations of grantmakers.

The toolkit is based in large part on the Minnesota Diversity Framework developed by the Council several years ago. The framework identifies four key roles in which grantmakers can support diversity:

As funders: supporting organizations that reflect the diversity of the communities they fund.
As employers: recruiting a diverse staff, board, committees and consultants.
As economic entities: investing with and purchasing from diverse vendors.
As community citizens: becoming engaged in and responsive to their communities.

The following profiles highlight how four grantmakers in Minnesota are addressing diversity issues through these four roles. Although each grantmaker was chosen to illustrate just one role, their stories clearly show that each organization is practicing diversity in many different ways throughout their organizations.

As Funders: Southwest Minnesota Foundation

Over the last decade, newcomers from Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa have moved into the 18 rural counties covered by the Southwest Minnesota Foundation (SWMF), bringing change to the region's mostly northern European, aging population. Change could be positive or negative, depending on how the established community responds. On the one hand, the newcomers are infusing new life into rural areas and are willing to work hard even at low-wage jobs. On the other, most newcomers have little money; some have few job skills; housing is in short supply; and schools strain to accommodate non-English speakers.

SWMF, a regional community foundation, has taken the lead in directing change. Through its People of Color Initiative, launched in 1999, it is helping integrate people of color into southwest Minnesota communities, funding diversity celebrations and forums and forming partnerships to leverage its efforts with those of other organizations. For example, SWMF works with the Page Education Foundation to help students of color attend post-secondary schools in southwest Minnesota.

SWMF staff began the People of Color Initiative by first taking the time to build relationships with newcomers as well as the established community. They then matched newcomers' needs with existing resources. For example, in 2000, SWMF gave Minnesota West Community & Technical College $20,000 to teach basic Spanish skills to law-enforcement officers, medical and dental personnel, day-care providers and others who communicate with Hispanic/Latino newcomers. The foundation is also helping the school design a poultry-specific Spanish-language course to help managers communicate with Spanish-speaking employees at Gold'n Plump, a chicken processor in Luverne. Other grants help newcomers obtain basic services.

The foundation also recognized that unless leaders emerged from communities of color, those communities would never achieve full participation in southwest Minnesota. Thus, SWMF teamed with the Blandin Community Leadership Program to identify and train leaders from minority populations and communities. SWMF helps recruit participants and funds scholarships to cover expenses and, if necessary, wage reimbursements so people of color can attend the well-known Blandin program. In 2000, 10 people from communities of color in southwest Minnesota attended. Using their collective strength, they have already made a difference. For example, when the state threatened to cut funds for televised GED classes, several local Blandin leadership trainees convinced legislators to continue the program, explaining that many Spanish- speaking people relied on the classes for their education.

Diversity has also altered the Southwest Minnesota Foundation's operations. For example, accommodating diversity may mean overlooking language flaws in a proposal from someone who is not a native English speaker, says Karen Jacobson, community initiative director for the foundation. Or the proposal may lack some required element. "We try to be flexible in how we gather that information so we can provide funds," she says. "We want to be accessible for everyone."

Sometimes, a foundation provides leadership simply by going on the record. SWMF's grant guidelines spell out its interest in helping people of color become involved in the community. That statement, Jacobson says, ensures that the foundation is seen not just as a source of funds but also as a catalyst for diversity. "When people write proposals to us, they will often mention that they are addressing areas of concern to people of color," Jacobson says. "It may not be a People of Color Initiative, but it's a very integrated project, and those are the ones that really excite us."

As Employers: The Saint Paul Foundation

Ten years ago, the board of The Saint Paul Foundation voted to accelerate its efforts to ensure that its composition better reflected the changing community the foundation serves. The 15-member body added five members and, as terms ended, sought increased representation from a diversity of ethnic and cultural communities. "Our board made the conscious decision that, as the demographics of the community we serve were changing, The Saint Paul Foundation also needed to change if it was to continue to be relevant to the community as a whole," says John Couchman, vice president of grants and programs for the foundation.

That launched an effort to speed up the evolution of The Saint Paul Foundation's structure and operations and its approach to community problem-solving. Today, more than a third of the foundation's 20 board members are people of color, including African Americans, Latinos, American Indians and Asian and Pacific Islanders.

Changing the board was deliberate and proactive. With a matching grant from the Ford Foundation and the advice of a broad base of community advisors, The Saint Paul Foundation retained a consultant to interview an ethnically diverse pool of potential candidates for the board. Board members got to know the candidates and developed relationships they had never had before. "There was a clear realization that it was extremely important for the foundation to be a stronger, healthier, more connected organization, to include more people of color and cultural diversity," Couchman says. "It was a very clear business decision to make the foundation a stronger institution by becoming more representative of the community it serves."

This provided new opportunities for the foundation — as well as new challenges. "Working with people whose life experiences are different requires patience and a willingness to be open to new ways of understanding," Couchman says. "But it's an opportunity for everybody to learn and move forward in a healthy way, and it reflects the way our community must operate in the future."

At about the same time, The Saint Paul Foundation approved a diversity plan for its staff. Today, 20 percent of the foundation's staff of 50 come from communities of color. The foundation also identifies consultants and advisory committee members who represent diverse parts of the community. They are involved from the outset in project development to ensure that all participants have a clear stake in the major project decisions.

An important outcome of the foundation's commitment to diversity are the four Diversity Endowment Funds operated by the foundation in partnership with cultural communities. Funds are raised for permanent endowments and grants are authorized to address issues identified by the communities based on the advice of Asian Pacific, Pan African, American Indian and Latino advisory committees. The work of the Diversity Endowment Funds has affected the foundation in larger ways, Couchman says, "providing a means to develop relationships, impacting how we relate to cultural communities in grantmaking, and encouraging the organization to diversify its board and staff." Some advisory committee members have joined the foundation's board or staff — including Ramsey and Hennepin County court referee Luz Maria Frias, who was involved with the Latino fund, El Fondo de Nuestra Comunidad, and is now on the board; Jo-Anne Stately, who was involved with the American Indian fund, the Two Feathers Fund, and is now a senior program officer; and Ruby Lee, who was also involved with El Fondo de Nuestra Comunidad and is now a program officer.

Couchman is quick to point out that diversity "is more than just adding people of color to the board and staff. It's about changing internal processes in an organization and developing relationships throughout the community." Over time, the organization changes. "As you get more people with different life experience and different knowledge of different parts of the community," Couchman says, "the cumulative effect on decision-making about grants is impacted in a very positive way."

As Economic Entities: Grotto Foundation

"People say it isn't easy to find minority vendors," says Peg Thomas, executive director of the Grotto Foundation, which has found minority vendors to paint its walls, make travel arrangements and cater food for meetings. "I don't think it really has taken a lot of extra time and energy to find the vendors who can give you an excellent product at a good price and who work for their communities," Thomas says.

The Grotto Foundation, a private foundation in St. Paul, found its office supplies and commercial furniture dealer, At Your Fingertips Office Products, by perusing the ads in the newsletter of the Minnesota American Indian Chamber of Commerce. The same publication brought T-&-T Travel and Native Tours, an American Indian-owned travel agency, to the foundation's attention. Besides ethnic newspapers, other sources of good referrals for Grotto have been the Neighborhood Development Center, in St. Paul, which works with individual entrepreneurs; the Mercado, which publishes a directory of Hispanic Businesses in the Twin Cities; and Asian Media Access in Minneapolis, which through its AMAConnect program develops technology for nonprofits.

In terms of its commitment to diversity, the Grotto Foundation has an impact way beyond its size. The foundation's full-time staff of just 6.5 includes white and American Indian, male and female, gay, lesbian and bisexual. With assets of $34 million, the foundation made $1.1 million in grants in 2000 and accepts proposals in Spanish. One of its major funding initiatives is an Native American language revitalization program — "not because of any romantic notion of old timey-ness but because kids who learn their heritage language do better academically," Thomas says.

Grotto also seeks ways to use its economic clout to benefit the diverse communities it serves. "We're trying to find ways of leveraging opportunity that are not strictly involved with grantmaking," Thomas says.

So, for example, Black Bear Crossing, an American Indian caterer, often provides the food for board and staff meetings, and its restaurant serves as the site of community meetings. Grotto has held meetings at public schools and the offices of nonprofit organizations, including Little Earth Housing Project. One of its investment consultants, Eugene Sit, is Chinese American. It has bought books and art from Mimi's African Art Gallery and Boutique in Minneapolis, supporting a woman who has been active in Somali and pan-African organizations. "We find ways to support her business," Thomas says. "That leverages her ability to volunteer in the community."

Diversity at Grotto extends beyond ethnic and racial makeup. Grotto's graphics designer, Kristin Wedes, and human resources consultant, Bernadette Christiansen, operate woman-owned businesses. The painter hired to paint the foundation's walls was a female proprietor and graduate of Neighborhood Development Center, a Grotto grantee.

Thomas cites her predecessor, A.A. Heckman, for starting Grotto Foundation on its path to diversity. He was dedicated to patronizing minority businesses. Grotto founder Louis W. Hill Jr. was also a passionate supporter of diverse businesses, and gained a reputation supporting individual Japanese artists and printmakers. As a state legislator for 15 years in the Selby-Dale area in St. Paul, Hill got his hair cut each week in the Rondo district so he could catch up with African American business owners who went to the same barber.

Thomas doesn't see a great distinction between a grant to a nonprofit and support of a small business owner. "There is a fine line between a community entrepreneur and a community nonprofit," she says. "A businessperson putting together a small organization to benefit families and communities is just as important to the fabric of the community as nonprofits are."

As Community Citizens: General Mills Foundation

Once a month at 7:30 a.m., 60 people, on average — sometimes as many as 100 — gather for coffee and serious conversation in the Fairview Park community center in north Minneapolis. Known as the Hawthorne Huddle, the meetings were organized by the General Mills Foundation three years ago to fight crime and deterioration in the Hawthorne neighborhood. At the time, The New York Times had dubbed Minneapolis "Murderapolis," and local residents were hungry for more than the lofty goals and plans of civic leaders.

"It seemed to us that there was an opportunity to focus in on a very specific part of the community and to engage people in a way that would have demonstrable success and impact," says David Nasby, vice president of the General Mills Foundation, a corporate grantmaker with a long history of community involvement.

Three years later, crime in the neighborhood has indeed gone down. Although the community meetings don't take credit for the decline, they certainly have done some good.

As a neutral party with strong credibility and a long history in the community, General Mills, like other foundations, is well positioned to facilitate collaboration. General Mills could have given grants and left the problem solving to others, but instead its staff rolled up their sleeves and went to work. Foundation president Reatha Clark King has attended every Hawthorne Huddle meeting, along with a diverse cross-section representing the neighborhood: ministers, police, block club members, staff of human service organizations, businesspeople and elected officials. "It's brought everybody out of their silo," Nasby says. "It's a very diverse group of people who come together trying to seek a solution and not just complaining."

The Huddle's first task was to draw up a set of community standards describing behavior that won't be tolerated. The standards were widely distributed, and now, when people move to the neighborhood, they receive a copy along with a welcome bag of household goods and General Mills products. Huddle participants also used their collective influence to persuade the Minneapolis school board to locate a new school in the middle of the neighborhood rather than near the edge of it, as the school board had planned.

Because of its immersion in the neighborhood, General Mills saw firsthand the need for affordable housing and committed $3 million over five years to build housing in Hawthorne. "We are applying target resources, and we're able to do that in a totally apolitical way because it's [foundation] money," Nasby says. The first $1.5 million has already leveraged $2 million in public and private support.

The Huddle's success attracted the envy of the nearby Jordan neighborhood, which has organized its own version, the Jordan Jam, also facilitated by the General Mills Foundation.

General Mills has been an economic presence in north Minneapolis, too. Four years ago, it invested in Siyeza, a Minneapolis processor of frozen soul food. When the market dried up, threatening Siyeza's future, General Mills put conventional business practices aside and provided expertise and a no-interest loan to make sure the company got another chance. Now Siyeza processes soul food meals for Meals on Wheels and the Veterans Hospital, among others, and employs close to 200 people from the neighborhood.

Nasby is enthusiastic about the role foundations can play through community involvement. "When you make grants to a whole metro area and 22 other locations around the country, it's pretty hard to see the impact of what you're doing," he says. "When you focus resources on a neighborhood of 3,000 households, you can see what your money is doing."

More Information

Working Toward Diversity II Report
View highlights of the Council's 2000 report on how Minnesota grantmakers are addressing issues of diversity in their organizations, or download the complete report.

Minnesota Diversity Framework
View the Council's Minnesota Diversity Framework, which outlines ways for grantmakers to address diversity issues in the four roles they play in society.