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2025 Lookback

We've pulled together the key changes in People, Top News stories, and Reports from last year. Here is what happened with People in Philanthropy. Watch for the other two recaps in the coming days.

Six Small Family Foundation Heroes We Lost

Fred Sewell of the Frederic And Ann Sewell Family Foundation $162K

Casey Albert O'neil of the Casey Albert T o'neil Foundation $688K

Bob Buuck of the Buuck Family Foundation $1M

Noel Fedje of the Noel & Judith Fedje Foundation $286K

Ted Collins of the Warren Foundation $130K

Orville Hognander Jr. of the Hognander Foundation $139K

(Total giving in most recent 990)

LEADERSHIP CHANGES

Changes in Minnesota Foundations

New Target Corporation CEO Michael Fiddelke takes over in February 2026

Michael is a 20-year Target veteran. He currently serves as COO. As CEO, he will chair Target Foundation, Minnesota’s largest corporate foundation, and direct strategies for other Target communities and relationships. (Kiera Fernandez is the current Executive Vice President and Chief Community and Stakeholder Engagement Officer.) Nationwide, the Foundation awards around $27.5 million annually, the majority to Minnesota nonprofits.

There's no indication, yet, on how Fiddelke's leadership will effect the Foundation. A few things about him:

• He started at Target as an intern.
• He bills himself as a change agent, with a mandate to get Target out of the current slump.
• There were mixed reactions to the CEO announcement: Employees seem happy, but Target stock declined 6%. 
• He served nine years on the board of the MN Children’s Museum and remains involved. This is his only nonprofit experience. His only political gifts are small donations to the Target PAC.
• He is married and lives in Edina.

Current Email: michael.fiddelke@target.com 

The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation announced President & CEO, Eric J. Jolly, Ph.D., will retire after nearly a decade of leadership. Chanda Smith Baker was named as his successor.

Chanda joins the Foundation from Smith Baker; the organization she founded to cultivate leadership and drive transformative change across businesses and communities. She previously served as Chief Impact Officer at the Minneapolis Foundation and as Chief Executive Officer of Pillsbury United Communities. In these roles, she forged expansive partnerships with donors and community leaders to expand pathways to opportunity.

The Minnesota Council of Foundations named Michelle Tran Marynsas as the new Executive Director, taking over for Donna Dalton who was tapped as Interim President when Susie Brown stepped down. (Dalton had worked with the Saint Paul and Mortenson Foundation.)

Michelle previously served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, where she helped develop the State Department’s first mobile app—early proof of her ability to bring innovation into complex systems. She later founded We Sparkle Co., a Techstars-backed public-benefit company designed to help women- and BIPOC-owned small businesses grow and thrive with accessible digital tools.”

--Some people say the philanthropy community in Minnesota is really just a tiny town. Susie Brown now works at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.

Migdalia Loyola Meléndez was named as the new Headwaters Foundation for Justice Co-Executive Director.

Loyola will join current Co-Executive Director Bilal Alkatout in leading Headwaters. According to the Foundation, “Previously, Loyola led multi-state teams and grantmaking initiatives at Planned Parenthood North Central States and Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Center for Prevention, driving forward work rooted in health equity, reproductive justice, and community engagement.

Chris Nelson was named President of the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota. Former President, Anne Cullen Miller served for 17 years. Since its inception in 1992, the foundation has distributed over $288 million through direct gifts and donor-advised funds. You don’t need to be Catholic, though two-thirds of its 2024 funding went to parochial schools and churches. But also to Tthe United Jewish Fund, Augsburg College, and the Guthrie Theater. About $15 million went to social causes, such as child care, Boys and Girls Clubs, and the Division of Indian Work. The board meets in March, May, August, and September.

Start your fundraising year off right with a free, 30-minute call with Access Philanthropy

Every new year, we reach out to local, national, and state groups to help them start the year off with new prospecting, messaging, connecting, and writing support.  4info@accessphilanthropy.com

Changes in Minnesota Foundations cont.

Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation announced Benya Kraus as next President

Kevin Donovan is the new Director of the White Bear Lake Community Foundation.

Amanda Raisanen was named Executive Director of the Paynesville Area Community Foundation

Andrea Nettles is the new Manager of Wilson Foundation Minnesota

Mary Jo Newbauer is retiring from the Chisholm Community Foundation after 22 years as Executive Director.

ECMC Foundation Brings in New Rural Program Staff and Impact VP

California and Minnesota-based ECMC Foundation recently hired Julia Cunningham as the new Rural Development Program Officer (formerly, Director of Rural Engagement at the US Dept. of Education) and Nikki Edgecombe, PhD, as Foundation VP Impact (formerly, Senior Research Scholar at the Community College Research Center). Both are big moves for the ECMC Foundation. The foundation has awarded over 150 grants in Minnesota during the last few years, primarily for education and youth/family-related human services. 

Emily Mattheisen is the new Advocate for equitable food systems change at the McKnight Foundation. She was formerly at FIAN International

Promotions at Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundations:

• Hailey Alexander – Director of People & Culture
• April Brewer – Philanthropic Associate
• Shannon Gahagan – Family Philanthropy Manager
• Jenny Perona – Associate Vice President of Operations
• Tsega Tamene – Associate Vice President of Community Impact 

Minnesota Funders’ New Board Members and Trustees

• At Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation, Steve Mau and Don Hales joined the Board, and Rene Millner, Lisa Haberman, and Jim Kraft are leaving.
• At Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, Mary Athey, Ann Staloch, Greg Schieber, and Kim Nelson are new Board Trustees.
• Five new Board members at Minneapolis Foundation: Juliana Batista from General Mills, Laura Bohlander (educator), Brenda J. Child (U of MN), Kate Kelly (PND Bank), and Tim Palmer (PMA Asset Management)

Changes at National Foundations

Ford Foundation Heather Gerken to Succeed Darren Walker.

Heather Gerken is the Dean of Yale University Law and a former Obama adviser. She is a nationally recognized author and local government advocate, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She will join the Ford Foundation this November.

In Chronicle of Philanthropy article: "$2 Billion Later, Ford Scraps Its Institution-Building Program," the author includes Heather's first statement since coming on board: “During the coming years, we will muster even more of our financial and human capital to fiercely protect the rule of law. This is a moment for reflection, retooling, and renewal.”

The Indian Land Tenure Foundation appoints interim leader as it searches for new president. Howard D. Valandra has been appointed as the interim president, while ILTF searches for a new President following the retirement of Cris Stainbrook, who led the organization for 23 years. 

The Henry Luce Foundation appointed Jonathan Holloway as President and CEO. The foundation has awarded 18 grants to MN groups during the past five years, mostly to colleges, museums, immigrant service groups, Native American organizations, and other cultural groups. 

Stephanie Cornell to Leave Walton Family Foundation at the End of the Year. She was appointed Executive Director of the Walton Family Foundation in July 2023, announced in that she will be stepping down at the end of 2025. She’s the fourth leader to depart the foundation since Buddy Philpot left in 2015 (the ED for 15 years). Cornell stated her departure was a "personal decision" driven by a desire to spend more time with her family. Four directors in nine years. That’s a lot for a mega funder.

Will Miller, who’s been the Wallace Foundation president for 14 years, is stepping down. The foundation (funded by Reader's Digest money) was one of the early major funders of Minnesota’s Macalester College. The foundation focuses on the arts and K-12 leadership. In Minnesota, only 12 grants have been awarded in the last few years, primarily for arts education and youth programs

The Matriarch of LGBTQ+ Foundations, the Gill Foundation, Gets a New CEO.

Over thirty years ago, tech-genius Tim Gill established the Gill Foundation and based it in Denver, CO. Since its inception, the Foundation has invested more than $459 million in programs and nonprofit organizations nationwide. The foundation has also nurtured hundreds of LGBTQ+ funders and donors, creating the pathway for PRIDE funds, PFUNDs, and lots of community-based LGBTQ+ giving institutions. Now the foundation has a new CEO. Kate Kendell, who was formerly Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (now the National Center for LGBTQ Rights). She took over in May; we look forward to watching her grow the foundation.

Gunjan Kedia was selected to succeed Andy Cecere as CEO of U.S. Bancorp. She serves/served on the boards of the American Red Cross, PBS, and the Carnegie Mellon Business School.

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation president Harvey Fineberg is retiring this summer after ten years at the helm. Before his time at the Moore Foundation, Dr. Fineberg was Provost of Harvard University. Betty and Gordon passed on during the last 18 months, but the couple’s son, Kenneth Moore, now chairs the foundation's board. The foundation has recently shifted priorities from health science to science research in general, especially innovations and inventions. 

Brian Eule will return to the Heising-Simons Foundation as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2026. The Foundation supports journalism as a critical element of a healthy and multicultural democracy.  

Remember Lois Quam, a Minnesota native who worked for UnitedHealth, Piper Jaffray, and the State of Minnesota (she helped create MinnesotaCare)? She also worked for Hillary Clinton’s health commission, Obama’s health care work, and the Nature Conservancy. She’s now the CEO of California Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation. 

At a Glance

• The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation announced Samra Haider has been appointed as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, effective June 23, 2025
• Stacie Bloom Named Alfred P. Sloan Foundation President. She will start as president of the Sloan Foundation on January 7, 2026.
• The Wallace Foundation announced Jean S. Desravines as the new president
• John Templeton Foundation appointed Dr. Timothy Dalrymple as President. He was previously CEO of Christianity Today
• RBF President and CEO Stephen Heintz announced plans to retire in 2026
• Maria Torres-Springer Appointed President of the Charles H. Revson Foundation 
• These people will co-lead while the Foundation for a Just Society searches for a CEO: Lisa North (COO) and Maitri Morarji (VP of Programs and Strategy)
• Sara Aviel is the new president and CEO of the Inter-American Foundation, an independent U.S. government agency that funds community-led development initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Larry Kramer, who used to run the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, took over as president of the London School of Economics (where my daughter teaches).
• Connie Chung Joe just began her tenure as President and CEO of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, the association of Asian American grantmakers.

Other Positions:

• Jessica Paxton joined Gilead for Good as Senior Manager, Corporate Giving - Public Affairs.
• Chevron Corporation's Laura Lane has been named Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
• Bria Graham was appointed to Senior Program Associate at the Surdna Foundation

Coming in February

Top National Funders in Minnesota

Discover some of the most interesting national funders investing in Minnesota.

The Access Philanthropy team will lead a dynamic session spotlighting mega-funders, corporate foundations, and family philanthropies eager to support missions like yours.

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