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Summer 2006
Giving Stories
New Philanthropy Sparks New Funds,
New Programs and New Ways of Giving
Minnesota Dream Fund Focuses on Systemic Barriers
The Minnesota Dream Fund is a collaborative initiative to support efforts to ensure equal opportunity for achievement. Established by Minnesota foundations in early 2005, the fund responded to a Ford Foundation matching challenge grant to help regional groups end the need for affirmative action by the year 2030. The first effort of the Minnesota Dream Fund is focusing on eradicating racism, gender inequities and other systemic barriers to educational achievement by women, people of color and tribal communities.
Minnesota foundation partners have committed $525,000 to be matched with $500,000 from the Ford Foundation's national "Fulfilling the Dream Fund Challenge." This base fund of $1,025,000 will be distributed to Minnesota organizations within the next three years. Minnesota Dream Fund Steering Committee funders are Grotto Foundation, Headwaters Foundation for Justice, Otto Bremer Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation, The Saint Paul Foundation, the Women's Foundation of Minnesota and Robins Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. Public Foundation for Education, Public Health and Social Justice.
St. Croix Valley Foundation Starts Future Initiative
Starting its second decade, the St. Croix Valley Community Foundation launched a $1 million dollar challenge match designed to enhance the financial viability of St. Croix Valley nonprofit organizations. The goal of this three-year "Partners for Future Initiative" is to inspire valley nonprofits to secure their future by establishing or adding to long-term funds in their names.
SCVCF will match dollar-for-dollar money raised by nonprofits selected through a Matching Challenge Grants application process. The St. Croix Foundation has begun raising the challenge match pool, more than half of which has already been contributed by the Otto Bremer Foundation, the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation and SCVCF. Partners for the Future builds on the foundation's ongoing Nonprofit Management Assistance Program, which provides training and grants to nonprofit leaders to strengthen their governance and internal operations.
The Minneapolis Foundation Hosts China Orphans Fund
Four years ago, University of Minnesota medical resident Dr. Steven Wang read a disturbing article about the AIDS dilemma in central China that was leaving hundreds of thousands of children as orphans. A whole generation of adults in Henan Province with small children were dying after HIV-infected blood contaminated the blood donor system.
Dr. Wang wanted to help the Chinese orphans stay in school, because without an education, he understood poverty would doom them. One of his patients suggested he contact The Minneapolis Foundation to start a fund. New to the Twin Cities, the young doctor had no assets and knew nothing about raising money, but by recruiting new friends, he gained commitments for $10,000 to start the China Aid to Orphans Fund to cover necessary school costs for orphans. The fund gained a great deal of attention, and contributions from all over the country have totaled more than $150,000. The Minneapolis Foundation helped identify appropriate NGO partners on the ground to use the funds effectively.
Latino Center Builds Economic Sustainability
The Latino Economic Development Center of Minnesota, headed by Ramon Leon, provides strategies, structure and tools to help remove systemic barriers and promote sustainable communities. Together with the Neighborhood Development Center, LEDC has been instrumental in developing the Midtown Global Market in the former Sears building on Lake Street in Minneapolis, which offers 62 permanent ethnic food, crafts and related small businesses.
Earlier, LEDC had nurtured Minneapolis Mercado Central, providing business training to mostly immigrant vendors. Many Midtown Global Market vendors have graduated from Mercado Central and other incubator programs. About half the vendors are such second-level entrepreneurs, who have three to five years of experience in business. This business ladder model allows vendors to progress to larger spaces, broader customer bases and stronger management practices as they become more experienced.
Across the state, LEDC offers micro-entrepreneur training courses to learn the basics of business planning and management to prepare loan packages for business financing. In addition, the LEDC Latino Scholarship Fund, a fund of The Saint Paul Foundation, provides $1,500-$3,000 college scholarships to aspiring Latino students.
WINGS Supports Women and Children in Northfield
A group of five women came together six years ago to create a circle of women dedicated to increasing their involvement in philanthropy. The resulting giving circle, Women in Northfield Giving Support (WINGS), counters the tendency of women to underestimate their ability to give and to make changes in society. WINGS is affiliated with the Northfield Area Foundation Family of Funds of the Minnesota Community Foundation.
WINGS has moved beyond the $1,000-a-year member commitment by 20 women to a focus on expanding the pool of givers to support the needs of Northfield women and children. Two funds have been created: an annual fund allows members to work with short-term contributions, and an endowment fund serves donors who prefer to have their dollars work over time.
The women's giving circle in Northfield likes to fund small, innovative projects that can make an impact. WINGS has funded a program to encourage conversation about healthy sexuality and a pilot after-school project for middle school students managed by the local school system.
Northwest Area Foundation to Present Poverty Program
The Northwest Area Foundation, which has invested approximately $150 million in community-based poverty-reduction programs since 1999, will host its second national poverty conference Sept. 16-19, "Grassroots & Groundwork: What Communities are Doing to Get Out and Stay Out of Poverty" will examine tested models that communities are using and the successes they are achieving to reduce poverty long term.
Keynote speakers include former Labor Secretary Robert Reich; Beth Shulman, author of The Betrayal of Work: How Low Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans; Elouise Cobell, member of the Blackfeet Indian Tribe of Montana, executive director of the Native American Community Development Corporation, and widely recognized for her work on the Individual Indian Monies Trust Correction and Recovery Act; and Dr. Mae Jamison, the nation's first African-American astronaut. Go to grassrootsandgroundwork.nwaf.org for more information.
HIP Funders' Collaborative Spans Borders
The Funders' Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities is a project of Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP), designed to strengthen the Latino civil sector, people and organizations that work within the social space between the market economy and government.
The collaborative is a funder-driven initiative, pooling dollars from foundations, corporations, government and individual donors and re-granting these philanthropic resources to organizations operating at the local level in the U.S. and Latin America. The funds build the organizational capacity and leadership of grassroots, Latino-led nonprofit organizations, critical resources for communities experiencing demographic change.
As of March 2006, the Collaborative has raised over $29 million from 148 donors in 18 sites and made grants to 348 Latino-led nonprofits across the U.S. and Latin America. The Upper Midwest is a multi-state collaborative site. Upper Midwest donors include Bush Foundation, Otto Bremer Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, Northwest Area Foundation and The Saint Paul Foundation.
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Information from the
Summer 2006 Edition of Giving Forum
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Thank you to the sponsors of this issue of Giving Forum:
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| $5,000 Sponsor |
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| $5,000 Sponsor |
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| $1,000 Supporter |
West Central Initiative |
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© Copyright 2006 Minnesota Council on
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