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Spring 2005 Minnesota Grantmakers Respond Thoughtfully
by Wendy Amundson The devastating tsunami that struck south Asia on December 26, 2004, has triggered an outpouring of generosity throughout the United States, and Minnesota has been no exception. Minnesota foundations and corporations have been self-reporting their tsunami relief contributions to the Minnesota Council on Foundations Web site, and by March the total had reached nearly $20 million, including cash, in-kind contributions and employee matches. (Go to www.mcf.org/tsunami.htm for details.) Their giving was characterized by thoughtful planning, strong employee involvement and unprecedented generosity.
The dramatic images of destruction, death, homelessness and hunger coming from South Asia made it clear that both emergency and long-range relief efforts would be necessary. Many Minnesota grantmakers tackled both challenges, making modest initial grants to meet immediate needs, and then taking time to review the situation and make careful choices on where and how to make their gifts. "One of the funding community’s biggest challenges during a disaster is finding that balance between being responsive in a timely way, but also taking the time to get the facts and make sure your donations will be used appropriately," says Kris Taylor, vice president, Ecolab Foundation, which donated $1.4 million in cleaning products and waterless hand sanitizers, along with $25,000 in cash donations from the Ecolab Foundation. Ecolab employees donated an additional $70,000. "There are a finite number of people and places that can make use of your product and you want to ensure it will get to where it will make a difference." Cindy Kleven, manager, contributions, 3M Foundation and 3M Community Affairs, agrees. "One of our roles with the 3M Foundation board is to be a voice of reason and calm," she says. "When a disaster like this happens, it’s natural for people to want to do something immediately. While we do make some early gifts, we also think it’s important to communicate to our employees that we are assessing the needs and developing a response. We need to take the time to gather information from our trusted partners to help ensure that the products and dollars we provide get to where they are needed. We do not donate product unless one of the nonprofit organizations we work with advises us of their specific needs, and assures us there are means to transport and warehouse the product. We want to make sure that whatever product we donate is contributing to the relief effort — not adding to the chaos." 3M, whose global response to tsunami relief included $4.7 million in product, employee gifts and matching funds, chose three U.S. organizations as partners — the American Red Cross, CARE and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. "We knew that all three organizations already had a presence in the disaster region and could be effective immediately," says Kleven. "We’d worked with Red Cross and CARE in the past, but UNICEF was a new choice for us. We had learned what a huge impact the tsunami had on children and we wanted to choose an organization more focused on children. We selected UNICEF because of their presence in the area and their strong reputation, and because we were impressed by the work they were doing." Due Diligence The Minneapolis Foundation had a slightly different challenge: performing due diligence on tsunami relief organizations for its 100+ donor advisors. "We wanted to help our donors find the right resources as soon as possible," explains Marigrace Deters, associate vice president, community philanthropy. "Some of the things we looked at were the percentage of administrative costs. We found a number of organizations that were pledging that 100 percent of tsunami relief donations would go to direct aid, with no administrative costs. We also wanted the organizations to have a Web presence so that our donors could get more information and make donations as easily as possible." By December 30, 2004, The Minneapolis Foundation had sent a letter to its donors with information on four traditional relief organizations — American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Direct Relief International and CARE, as well as a recommended alternative, Give2Asia. "We always try to present some new options for our donors, and Give2Asia looked good to us from very early on," says Deters. "They already had strong relationships with non-government organizations (NGOs) in the area and were one of the organizations channeling 100 percent of donations to direct relief." By early February, five of The Minneapolis Foundation’s donor advisors had pledged more than $500,000 to tsunami relief efforts. "I’m sure there will be more over time," says Deters. "We’re continuing to update them as situations change. We let them know which organizations are no longer accepting tsunami relief donations, and we will also be introducing some new giving options that are longer-term — perhaps related to micro-enterprise, rebuilding or the environmental impact of the tsunami."
Minnesota’s tsunami relief efforts have also been characterized by strong involvement from employees, customers and members. Minnesota corporations with employees in the affected areas said those employees got involved immediately. "One of our salespeople in Thailand is a registered nurse who is fluent in English," says Ecolab’s Taylor. "She was scheduled to go on vacation, but instead volunteered for 10 days, helping care for people affected by the tsunami, particularly English-speaking tourists. We had other employees on the scene helping with clean-up and helping us distribute products to our hotel customers, many of which were housing people who were temporarily stranded." Land O’Lakes' man on the ground was Matt Krause, country manager for Indonesia, where Land O’Lakes administers the USDA’s school nutrition program. "Matt is involved in the weekly meetings held by all the relief organizations that are working in the area, so he has been a great resource in helping us determine the approach our company would take," says Bonnie Bassett, executive director, Land O’Lakes Foundation, and director of community relations for Land O’Lakes. "Generally, when we respond to disasters, we want to do something sustainable," says Bassett. "In Indonesia, we learned that more than 1,000 teachers had died or were missing and that more than 750 schools had been destroyed. That left 140,000 children without any school opportunities. We believe that after food, shelter and clothing needs are taken care of, helping children get back to school is one of the most important steps in beginning to achieve normalcy in a disaster area." In response, Land O’Lakes is working with UNICEF on a long-term effort to help children get back to school, including rapid teacher training, trauma counseling, and school repair and reconstruction. Land O’Lakes fundraising efforts are similarly long-term. Its employee-match program runs through December 1, 2005, and the company has sent "tool kits" to its plants with ideas for continued fundraising throughout the year. Land O’Lakes is one of many corporations that has used a matching gift program as part of the response to the tsunami disaster. Twenty-three Minnesota foundations and corporate giving programs have reported to the Minnesota Council on Foundations that they have instituted tsunami relief matching gift programs for their employees, customers and/or members. The total potential matches added up to more than $6 million by early March. Because many corporations are providing unlimited matches, the total could be considerably higher once the match programs are concluded. One of the largest matching-gift programs was sponsored by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, which matched $2.5 million in gifts made by members to Lutheran World Relief. Thrivent Financial also donated an additional $2.5 million as direct grants to Lutheran World Relief and other Lutheran church-body relief initiatives. Altogether, Thrivent Financial has contributed more than $7.5 million to tsunami disaster relief programs associated with the Lutheran community. "Part of our mission is to help our members act on the care and concern they have for others," says Jim Yagow, grants manager for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a financial services membership organization that offers insurance and other financial products. "Because of the urgency of the situation, we gave an immediate outright gift to Lutheran World Relief, but then quickly developed a member gift-matching program that would make it as easy as possible for our members to participate in the relief effort." Thrivent Financial distributed information about the gift-matching program through its chapter network of members, the national Lutheran church bodies, the media and both Thrivent Financial’s and Lutheran World Relief’s Web sites. "We have had disaster response efforts before, but mainly worked through our area chapters to raise money," says Yagow. "Because of the urgency, we wanted to generate immediate gifts quickly, so we tried a direct-to-member gift matching challenge and it’s been very successful. Our members surpassed the $2.5 million gift-matching cap within a few weeks." A streamlined process was also important to other organizations offering matching-gift programs. Ecolab brought the American Red Cross to its headquarters for a three-hour, on-site tsunami relief opportunity. Other corporations are relying on Web-based giving to help simplify the process for their employees, members or customers, as well as the designated relief organizations. Land O’Lakes employees who want to donate or get information on the company’s tsunami relief efforts use a UNICEF Web site developed specifically for Land O’Lakes. 3M’s U.S. employees use a Web site previously developed for other matching-gift programs. It streamlines the process both for employees, who use the site to register their gifts, and by the relief organizations, who can verify gifts online.
Although Minnesota grantmakers have chosen a variety of ways to contribute to tsunami disaster relief, there’s one thing on which all seem to agree: the response to the disaster within their organizations has been unprecedented. Even corporations such as 3M and Medtronic, who regularly set aside funds for disaster relief, have provided additional support by matching employee gifts and directing some discretionary funds to tsunami relief. "This is the largest response from our employees we’ve ever seen — even greater than 9/11," said 3M’s Kleven. "Certainly the magnitude of the disaster has a lot to do with it, but I also think the systems we’ve put in place in recent years — such as online giving — have made it easier for our employees to respond." There has also been an outpouring of support from The Minneapolis Foundation’s donor advisors, says Deters. "There’s been much more activity, both in the number of funds that are giving and the amounts being given, than we’ve ever observed before." In addition, The Minneapolis Foundation board approved $25,000 from discretionary funds to Give2Asia tsunami relief. It appears that most Minnesota grantmakers have either made a contribution on top of their normal giving budget or have used discretionary funds for tsunami relief, so few expect their regular grantees to be negatively affected by their contributions to tsunami relief. "The response to the tsunami disaster by the grantmakers and citizens of Minnesota has been tremendous," concludes Bill King, president of the Minnesota Council on Foundations. "When there is a major disaster, the people of Minnesota have a strong history of responding generously. Since 9/11, our members have instituted new processes and programs that make it even easier for their employees and other constituencies to act on that generosity, and that benefits everyone."
Tsunami Disaster Relief: How to Help National/International Resources
Helping in Minnesota
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