Winter 2008
Giving Stories
3M's Environmental Commitment is Companywide
3M's environmental philanthropy is aligned with one of the company's values — respecting the social and physical environment. "In addition to 3M's Pollution Prevention Pays program for internal practices, we also look to make meaningful contributions to the sustainability of the Earth's ecosystems," said Cindy Kleven, contributions manager, community affairs for 3M. "We do that by investing in programs that preserve biodiversity and mitigate climate change."
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3M volunteers at Ordway Prairie in Pope County, Minnesota.
Photo courtesy of 3M
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Kleven notes that the 3M's two primary nonprofit environmental conservation partners to date are The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International. A recent $1.5-million grant to The Nature Conservancy will be used to protect 6,000 acres of the Manitou Forest Preserve along Lake Superior from development. In addition to protecting migration zones, wildlife habitat and indigenous plant life, forest preserves can offset atmospheric carbon dioxide by storing or absorbing it in trees and soil.
Other 3M grants to The Nature Conservancy, which the company has supported for 25 years, have assisted projects in Brazil and Mexico. 3M has also sponsored environmental projects in Texas, New Jersey and Alabama, as well as a $3-million, multi-year relationship with Conservation International for a reforestation program in the mountains of Southwest China.
In addition to 3M's environment-focused grantmaking, approximately 40 percent of its employees and retirees volunteer on projects that include such environmental efforts as restoring natural sites, preserving habitats and cleaning up open water areas in their communities. Employees select volunteer projects of interest to them and generally volunteer on their own time. The company provides incentives to volunteer in the form of a 3M Volunteer Match, which provides a $200 grant to a qualified nonprofit charity if an employee or retiree volunteers 25 hours or more for the organization in a calendar year.
As one local example of the company's environmental volunteerism in action, 3M's Cottage Grove facility partners with Friends of the Mississippi River to preserve and restore 30 acres of oak savanna and 170 surrounding acres on the facility's site. Volunteers from both 3M and Friends of the Mississippi River have removed buckthorn and other invasive plants, collected seeds, planted native plants and performed a controlled burn.
Next Generation Helps Spur Butler Foundation's Environmental Focus
Environmental philanthropy is a relatively new priority for the Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation in St. Paul. According to foundation director Kerrie Blevins, the foundation added a focus on the environment to its grantmaking strategy in the mid-1990s for two key reasons: The foundation was beginning to bring in new energy on the board through the third generation of family members, who were interested in funding environmental causes. Also, the foundation was planning for a significant increase of assets due to a bequest from the estate of its founder, Aimee Mott Butler, which provided enough financial resources to add a new focus area.
The Butler Family Foundation, which was established in 1951, now has four core areas of grantmaking, and environmental nonprofits receive about 15-20 percent of its total grant dollars each year. Through its responsive grantmaking program, the foundation supports programs or projects that operate in Minnesota to positively impact environmental quality and encourage citizen participation in environmental issues.
Butler has long-term relationships with a core group of about 14 nonprofits that support several environmental issues: water quality of the Upper Mississippi watershed, environmental education (with a preference for programs providing in-depth learning experiences), and land preservation and use.
"We're proud to maintain strong, long-term relationships with several environmental organizations that are making lasting contributions to environmental quality in Minnesota," said Blevins. "Many of them, such as Friends of the Mississippi River and Minnesota Waters, were one- or two-person organizations that have grown and are really contributing to environmental sustainability."
In addition to providing general operating support to environmental nonprofits, Butler has made several capital grants to environmental organizations in Minnesota and Washington State for land protection.
"The Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, a reclamation of a commercial site on the east side of St. Paul, is a project that we're proud to have been a part of," said Blevins. "We're also glad to have been able to partner with The Trust for Public Land to protect land that was vulnerable to rapid housing development in the South Metro area."
IBM Technology Helps Protect World's Largest Rivers
IBM is using its technology to conserve rivers. The company is teaming up with The Nature Conservancy to create a computer framework that will use simulations to determine how different decisions by key stakeholders can affect river behavior and quality.
The Nature Conservancy's Great Rivers Partnership helps preserve and protect the world's largest rivers through study and information-sharing. The project uses simulations, three-dimensional visualization and scenario-forecasting tools to allow researchers to study how river quality is affected by such factors as rainfall, vegetation, sediment loads, flow levels and biodiversity, as well as to examine the impact on rivers of potential changes such as development or forest depletion.
The idea is to allow people who have the potential to affect the river systems — farmers and government officials, for example — to see how their own actions make an impact on river quality, both locally and globally. IBM will store, manage and analyze the data to help develop solutions for freshwater management.
The partnership's first study will focus on the Paraguay and Parana rivers in Brazil, identifying important issues for that river system and the costs and benefits of actions that would affect the rivers. Those decisions will then be applied to the Mississippi River and China's Yangtze River.
"The lack of suitable water for people and for nature is a growing international crisis, especially within impoverished communities," said Steve McCormick, president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. "Our partnership with IBM represents the kind of innovation and creativity necessary to preserve freshwater systems at scales that can really make a difference."
© Copyright 2008 Minnesota Council on Foundations
Reproduction in any form without the written permission of the publisher
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