Summer 2007
Giving Stories
Volunteering
Hands On Twin Cities Teaches Engagement
Hands On Twin Cities, the venerable 88-year-old volunteer organization formerly known as Volunteer Twin Cities, keeps up with the times. In volunteerism, being up to date means understanding the needs of multiple generations of volunteers.
"Unlike the Greatest Generation, who being traditionalists might volunteer every afternoon at the same place for 10 years, Boomers are more comfortable with change and will change volunteer opportunities if they see a one where their passion, interests or skills lie," said Zeeda Magnuson, associate director of Hands On Twin Cities. "For younger Gen-X and Gen-Y generations, change is essentially what they do."
Bottom line for volunteer managers: There are fewer long-term volunteers. Volunteer opportunities need to be meaningful, with the "why we want you to do this" front and center. Service learning, where volunteers are able to serve, learn and reflect, is increasingly important.
"We are seeing more youth volunteer because of service learning opportunities," said Mark Hiemenz, executive director. "A civics class may learn about homelessness, find organizations that deal with the issue, and then, after volunteering at a selected organization, come back into the classroom to reflect on what they've accomplished and what they have learned. Fundamentally, it's building skills in civic engagement."
New Donors
Grand Rapids Alums Remember Hometown
"You never know who the next donor will be," said Wendy Roy, executive director of the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation. In her foundation's case, it was a retired couple living in Arizona who graduated from high school in Grand Rapids but never returned to live in their hometown.
It's a Horatio Alger story — a boy who lived in a tiny town 20 miles outside Grand Rapids and hitchhiked to get to football practice went on to earn a football scholarship to Indiana University. Following college, he started a career that led to becoming head of a major national company. He and his wife made significant charitable contributions around the country but they never forgot their hometown, the quality of the education they got in Grand Rapids and the dedication of the coaches who changed a young man's life.
The couple came back for reunions and gave to Grand Rapids community campaigns. Then, when the IRA Rollover was signed into law last year, they started a scholarship fund at the Grand Rapids Area Community Foundation. The first $25,000 in IRA funds came in 2006 (plus $6,000 to make two immediate scholarships) and was followed by a $100,000 rollover in 2007.
What could be more rewarding? According to Roy, the couple has given away lots of money, but they told her that this project is the most satisfying charitable giving they have ever done.
L.E.A.D. Project Cultivates Gen-X and Gen-Y
A group of young emerging professionals have found that getting together for fun can also be for a purpose. The Leadership Emergence and Development Project (L.E.A.D.) creates a culture of philanthropy among Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers by holding benefit parties for friends, and friends of friends, to raise money for a cause.
The format is simple: a few hundred young people come together at a local hot spot for drinks, food and conversation. Each L.E.A.D. event raises funds for a specific nonprofit or cause, with partygoers each paying a certain amount.
The L.E.A.D. Project was founded by a group of eight young professionals, including Ryan Burnet, Eric Dayton and Matthew Helmsley. After experiencing a more developed culture of philanthropy for young professionals in other cities, Helmsley came up with the idea a couple of years ago when he returned home to the Twin Cities.
Sustainability Amid Change
Kellogg Action Lab Helps Build Capacity
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has made a major investment in a new organizational capacity-building program, known as the Kellogg Action Lab.
All current Kellogg-funded, U.S.-based grantees are eligible for access to resources, convenings and consultations on a low-cost or no-cost basis. Specifically, the Action Lab aims to give the resources to increase community-level impact in achieving the organization's mission and to improve its prospects for long-term sustainability.
The program includes everything from knowledge resources (books, subscriptions to periodicals and memberships in local nonprofit associations) to convenings designed around specific group needs (board development, executive transitions and messaging) to complex consultations offered by highly qualified consultants (organizational assessments, strategic planning and business planning).
The Action Lab will be operated by two national partners: Fieldstone Alliance, which is known for a comprehensive array of resources, and the Nonprofit Finance Fund, which helps ensure nonprofits have sound financial planning and management.
Senior Transitions
GLBT Generations Addresses Elder Needs
GLBT Generations started a few years ago to meet the needs of an aging gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
A Twin Cities-area GLBT needs assessment survey, funded by Headwaters Foundation for Justice, showed clearly that many GLBT individuals don't have support systems in place, according to Barbara Satin, chair of the organization. "There is a great deal of isolation, and many in the community have real reservations about dealing with health and social service agencies because they are afraid of how they are going to be treated," Satin said.
GLBT Generations focuses on raising the visibility of GLBT elders and providing information about them to gain support from public and private agencies. Strategic planning, conducted with support from Philanthrofund Foundation (PFund), is also leading naturally to addressing other elder needs.
One example of a new direction: Spirit of the Lakes Church, a congregation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, and GLBT Generations are working together on a 41-unit senior housing cooperative, Spirit on Lake, with 40 percent of the units subsidized by Minneapolis, Hennepin County and the state. Powderhorn Residents Group, a nonprofit organization working on affordable housing and related services, is the developer. The housing project at the church site — called Spirit on Lake — is expected to break ground in Spring 2008 and open the following year.
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