Fluff Free Fundraising

From Access Philanthropy

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February 2024
 

In this Issue:


  • People in Philanthropy
  • Grant Announcements
  • Fundraising News
  • Survey Says
  • Fundraiser's Toolbox
  • Jobs in Philanthropy
  • Raise a Glass
 

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”

― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God


Let’s hope this year answers a lot of questions - for the good.

PEOPLE IN PHILANTHROPY

A Big Addition to the Minnesota Philanthropy Scene: The Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies announced the appointment of Antonia Hernandez to its Program Committees. Antonia was President of the California Community Foundation, but before that, she was one of the founding mothers of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MLEDF), one of the early legal defense funds for women, BIPOC communities, LGBTQ+ constituents and other civil rights activists. 


~ I had the privilege of working with Ms. Hernandez and other LDEFs and I can safely say she is one of the most compassionate and brilliant civil rights leaders I have ever met. Most of the other LDEFs with whom I worked (including PRLDEF, AALEDF, and Lambda Legal) revered her for her leadership style and loving attention to her people and her peers. If you ever get a chance to meet with Antonia, take it! Welcome, Antonia. Great job, MACP!


Susan Bass Roberts was named president of the Pohlad Family Foundation. She’s been with the foundation since 2016, serving as both vice president and executive director. Bass Roberts is the first non-family member to serve in this role since the Foundation’s founding 30 years ago. The Pohlads have had great luck with finding involved and well-informed executives and program staff. Check out the staff page (with links)


Houston-based Arnold Ventures named Molly Clayton Vice President of Contraceptive Access, a newly created position.


Minnesota’s Bush Foundation named Adora Land. as the new Grantmaking Director for the Bush Fellowships.


Ford Foundation announced the appointments of Anita Khashu and Chi-hui Yang as program directors. Anita will run the operations for Ford’s U.S. Gender, Racial and Ethnic Justice Program, while Chi-hui will run the Foundation’s Creativity & Free Expression program (CFE).


Ford has also named Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg Vice President of Programs.


Minnesota-based GHR Foundation (a Rauenhorst family foundation) promoted Kevin Bennett to Program Director for their local Twin Cities work, leading the foundation’s work on racial equity with a specific focus on economic empowerment and education. 


GHR also promoted Yende Anderson to Senior Program Officer, responsible for shaping the forward direction of GHR's work with the Catholic Church on safeguarding and care.


Minnesota’s own Headwaters Foundation for Justice has a new Grants Manager, Robyn Browning, to oversee getting grants out the door.


Silicon Valley-based Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation co-founder, Betty Irene Moore, passed away at age 95. While her husband and co-founder, Gordon (Intel founder) was the science/technology wiz, Betty was the partner with compassion and smarts about environmental and health issues. Gordon died in 2023.


Troy Michigan’s Kresge Foundation has brought on three new program officers: 

Erica Browne is a Senior Program Officer with the Health Program, Alejandra Hernandez is an Associate Program Officer in their Environment Program, and Kevin Washington is the new Associate Program Officer with Kresge’s American Cities Program.


San Francisco Bay Area-based Libra Foundation’s outstanding influencer, Executive Director Crystal Hayling, is stepping down this year. Libra is one of 18 Pritzker family (including Illinois Governor) foundations and nonprofits, such as the Pritzker Family Philanthropic Fund and the JPB Foundation. The family and its foundations are very progressive and very influential in the progressive funding community. Interested in being Crystal’s replacement? Look here.


Northwest Minnesota Foundation named Dawn (Duval) Ganje as Senior Vice President of Philanthropy.


Minnesota’s own Propel Nonprofits named Henry Jiménez President and CEO. Jiménez is currently the President and CEO of the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) and will assume the position in late February. Besides basic technical assistance, Propel is also very involved in social enterprise, fiscal sponsorships, and capacity-building grants. Click here for current funding opportunities. 


New York City’s Surdna Foundation's new Program Associate with the Sustainable Environments team is Kayla Hunter. Surdna (founder John Emory “Andrus” spelled backwards) has Minnesota contacts, but most of these folks have very little to do with the foundation’s operations.


Minnesota’s own Tiwahe Foundation welcomes Liberty Greene (Red Lake, Upper Sioux Community, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation) as the new Learning and Operations Manager. Taƞyáƞ yahí. Biindigen. Welcome, Liberty.


Wells Fargo Foundation named Darlene Goins Head of Philanthropy and Community Impact and President of Wells Fargo Foundation. Darlene used to be head of Consumer, Small & Business Banking, and before that, head of the Foundation’s Financial Health Philanthropy. She will also oversee (but not manage) the Foundation’s work in Minnesota.
 
 

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Philanthropy Crew Members

Need a sounding board for your development ideas? Need promising new ideas from the philanthropic sector? Need someone to think about the big picture or the day-to-day fundraising stuff? AP crew members offer 30-minute chats for free. Drop a note to 4info@accessphilanthropy.com to set up a time to chat. Email us!
 
 
 

GRANT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Opportunities

Here are a few grant opportunities that AP has come across which may have broad interest.


U.S. Bank Community Possible Grants. The Bank works in 26 states, including Minnesota and most of the Midwest. They offer grants in three different areas: Work(Economic and workforce advancement), Home (Safe and affordable housing), and Play (Community arts and culture). Definitions are relatively broad, so check out the individual websites. Requests are accepted via online LOI with additional information asked after the LOI is accepted. NO DEADLINES ANYMORE. (BTW, we sent an email to charitableservices@usbank.com and received a helpful response in less than 24 hours)


Minnesota’s own Better Way Foundation has a new area of interest: Advancing Indigenous Early Childhood Development Grants. It is another one of the Rauenhorst (Opus Corporation) family’s eight foundations. 


The National Endowment for the Arts’ Challenge America grants are awarded in ALL artistic disciplines and for a wide variety of arts projects, including Artist Communities, Arts Education, Dance, Design, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts, Local Arts Agencies, Media Arts, Museums, Music, Musical Theater, Opera, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Arts, Theater, and Visual Arts. All grants are $10,000. Lots of folks believe this is a great introductory pathway to engaging in federal grants. Application info. April 24. 


Clif Family Foundation This is a quick and relatively easy grantseeking operation that funds daily operating costs and specific projects. Application deadlines are March 1 and August 1. Interest/Needs Areas: Address two or more of our funding priorities at the same time: 1) Strengthen our food system, 2) Enhance equitable community health outcomes, 3) Safeguard our environment and natural resources, 4) Demonstrate strong community ties, 5) Operate within viable and clearly defined plans for positive change. Application Link. The family (Gary Erickson & Kit Crawford) sold the company but kept the foundation.


Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation will develop a new program, with funding from the Bush Foundation, to support creative problem solving across the state of Minnesota. The goal of this program will be to develop, test, and spread ideas that make the region better for everyone and to inspire, equip, and connect leaders to more effectively lead equitable change. The Foundation will work in partnership with Minnesotans across the state to build this new program, which will open in late 2024 or early 2025.


Boston-based, but Minnesota-strong Boston Scientific has two interests: Education and Health. They have an online application and a great FAQ. The company awards more grants in Minnesota than in Boston. Education (applications: 1/15 - 3/15): Programs focused on improving STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), and educational opportunities and academic development for K-12 students who are economically disadvantaged. Health (applications 5/1 – 7/1): Programs that aim to improve the health of those who are economically disadvantaged, with a focus on cancer, diabetes, respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, mental wellness, gastrointestinal and urologic diseases and disorders through any one of these approaches: 1) Disease prevention, 2) Disease awareness and diagnosis, 3) Access to care, and 4) Quality of care.


Walmart Spark Good Local Grants

This is the retailer’s most recent grantmaking iteration. No more store-by-store grantseeking, but quarterly (March 1 - April 15, May 1 – July 15, Aug. 1 – Oct. 15

And Nov. 1 – Dec. 31) sessions. You can have up to 25 applications or grants at the same time.


Grants are for virtually anything that supports your local community 1) Creating Opportunity, 2) Advancing Sustainability, 3) Strengthening Community and 4) Center for Racial Equity. Grants range from $250 to a maximum of $5,000. You must have a 501c3 or school tax status.


Most importantly, now applicants must go through DEED/Spark Good Account, which is Walmart’s new grant verification and application process. It’s clunky and the company also uses it as a sales/marketing tool. So be careful how you engage. 


Applications are online through Spark Good, but you can also connect with a Walmart person through an online email tool. That’s also a little clunky, but basic grantee questions and applicant Tools and Resources are helpful (but are they sufficiently helpful for newbies?). 


Upcoming Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant opportunities:



Announcements of grantees/ grant news:

When Access Philanthropy is grant prospecting for clients, we look at organizations grantmakers have funded in the past to spot those that look/sound like our client. Here are some grant lists that will help you determine whether this grantmaker is for you.


John D & Katherine T MacArthur Foundation announced $48 million in grants to support pooled and aligned grantmaking in support of local news through its Press Forward program. Since the MacArthur announcement, the McKnight Foundation (as well as the Bush Foundation and Glen Nelson Center at American Public Media Group) has joined the party and will also be doing Press Forward Minnesota grants. The pooled fund will be housed at the MN Council of Foundations. But talk to Tim Murphy at McKnight. MacArthur is developing a national network of other state groups.


The Minneapolis Foundation is among 11 organizations selected as regional grantmakers of the EPA’s Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking program. The program is “intended to make it easier for small community-based organizations to access federal enviro justice funding.”


Headwaters Foundation for Justice announced the recipients of their four funds and Donor Advised Funds: Black Seed Fund, Fund of the Sacred Circle, Giving Project Grant, Rapid Response Grants.


Propel for Nonprofits announced two groups of grantees: Propel’s Seeding Cultural Treasures Minnesota – 12 recipients. Propel Nonprofits awarded 56 grants in its Nonprofit Infrastructure Grants Program. (See above for news about new leadership).


Minnesota-based (but MN uninvolved) Borealis Disability Inclusion Fund – 58 great recipients.


Decolonizing Wealth Project (DWP) #Case4Reparations 15 organizations collaborated to award $2.235 million in grants to 28 grassroots groups. The funders and the grantees are included in this Union of Concerned Scientists article.


Minnesota-based The Constellation Fund awarded grants to 30 Twin City organizations.


Minnesota-based The Wilson Foundation, a private foundation established in Minnesota in 2021, announced grants to nine Twin Cities nonprofit organizations.


Hollywood’s Golden Globe Foundation awarded grants to 96 organizations that help underserved communities, universities, and colleges.


NYC-based JPB Foundation (another Pritkzer family foundation) published a press release on its most recent giving and its recent programming

 

Sampling of 2023 Philanthropy Annual Reports 

Any foundation’s most recent PF 990s can be found on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer page


 

FUNDRAISING NEWS


Arabella Advisors on 2024 Philanthropy: What, Who, and How


Arabella Advisors is one of the nation’s largest grantmaker, donor and nonprofit organization advisors in the areas of giving and fundraising. So much so that recently, several ultra-conservative observers have been comparing AA with Soros, the Obama Foundation, and other progressive mega-organizations. 


Because of their size, innovative funding mechanisms, and connections with powerful progressives, Arabella has a great handle on giving and getting trends. They recently issued a report on What Gets Funded, Who Gets to Decide, and Vehicles Used for Funding in "The Giving Year Ahead: Trends in Grantmaking and Philanthropic Engagement for 2024". All interesting. Their predictions on what gets funded:

  • Democracy and civic engagement
  • Reproductive health and justice
  • Artificial intelligence and public interest technology
  • Climate change mitigation


No big surprises here. But the article provides a great and simple analysis of what to expect, and most importantly, what language to use if you’re pursuing these interests with funders.


BTW- Arabella is always looking for new people. Right now there are 10 career positions available 


Other 2024 Predictions

Philanthropy futurist Trista Harris  tells us that “traditional strategic planning is a thing of the past” because the future is too unpredictable. Here’s her list:  Trista’s 2024 Philanthropy Predictions


Here’s what The Chronicle of Philanthropy says we’ll see in the coming year: 

  • A.I. will be the future of work (and they say that doesn’t have to be bad).
  • Race-based foundation grants will be the next test of the U.S. Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision.
  • Donor-advised funds are changing philanthropy - will 2024 see new regulation?
  • Trust-based philanthropy will need to start showing impact.
  • Shorter workweeks, time off, and DEI training are helping retain workers.
  • Federal climate funds are plentiful — but nonprofits should move quickly.


Better Way Foundation Redoing Glen Taylor’s New Foundation in the Greater Mankato Area


Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx owner, Glen Taylor, is gifting assets valued at $172 million to the Taylor Family Farms Foundation, to support people in southern Minnesota and rural communities across Minnesota and Iowa. The foundation will work in partnership with three nonprofit organizations: the Mankato Area Foundation, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, and Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.


Taylor’s donation comprises parcels of farmland located in Minnesota and Iowa. Income generated by the farmland will be distributed to the three partner foundations for continuous reinvestment in the region where Taylor grew up and raised his family.

Northwest Area Foundation: “The Opposite of Poverty is Not Wealth but Justice”


Northwest Area Foundation has changed its mission to reflect a commitment to put justice at the center of its support of Native Americans, communities of color, immigrants and refugees, and people in rural areas. President Kevin Walker says thriving requires more than material prosperity and barriers cannot be overcome by focusing through only a poverty-reduction lens. “We stand alongside changemakers in our eight states and 76 native nations and fund work that leads to racial, social, and economic injustice.”

Billionaire Philanthropy News


Bezos Day One Fund has given $117 million nationwide for homelessness, including Minneapolis-based American Indian CDC.


Warren E. Buffett has given 2.4 million (Class B) shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four family foundations: The Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (1.5 million shares), The Sherwood Foundation (300,000), The Howard G. Buffett Foundation (300,000), and NoVo Foundation (300,000). The stock, which was converted from 1,600 class A shares, is worth $886 million.


Early reports suggest MacKenzie Scott’s large, unrestricted gifts have had a profound effect on the aspirations and financial viability of the organizations that received them. To get more detail, a Harvard Business school report looked at data on 1,964 recipients listed on the Yield Giving website. 

Here are a few things they learned:

  • Funds are directed to larger organizations (5x the revenue of a typical nonprofit)
  • Top causes were education and health care
  • Significant funds went toward rural states, states where incomes tend to be lower, like Georgia and New Mexico, and organizations affiliated with large national networks.


Finally, to put all this billionaire philanthropy in context, the Institute for Policy Studies just released a report, The True Cost of Billionaire Philanthropy which has great findings including:


  • Giving Pledgers (a promise by the world's wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate most of their wealth to charitable causes) promised to give their wealth away. But as a group, Giving Pledgers are now wealthier than when they made the pledge.
  • These high-end donors increasingly give to intermediaries rather than working charities.
  • Many Pledgers aren’t fulfilling their Pledges or have questionable fulfillment methods.
  • Some billionaires are blending their charitable giving with for-profit investment.


And, high-end philanthropy is subsidized by regular taxpayers:

  • $73.34 billion in tax revenue was lost to the public in 2022 due to personal and corporate charitable deductions.
  • If we include just the little data we have about charitable bequests and the investments of charities themselves, the revenue loss is up to roughly $111 billion.
  • And if we also include the capital gains revenue lost from the donation of appreciated assets, the true revenue costs of charity likely add up to several hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

More and More Money Going Through/To Donor Advised Funds (DAFs)


In a new report, The Chronicle of Philanthropy says "contributions to donor-advised funds climbed to new heights last year, albeit at a slower pace than usual".

National Philanthropic Trust (a DAF based philanthropy) issued its annual Donor-Advised Fund Report which offers lots of great details on National DAFS

Another Chronicle of Philanthropy article asks “Will DAFs Take Over for the United Way?” that looks at the trends of Donor Advised Funds developing workplace giving products.

Thanks to the 200 people who attended our national funders workshop on February 1.


So far, 19 groups and individuals have reached out for a free 30-minute chat. Feel free to drop us a line.


4info@accessphilanthropy.com

Correction

We are highlighting Penny and Bill George again, but this time we’re getting her name right. 

Philanthropy Power Couple Profiled in Star Tribune
 



SURVEY SAYS

Philanthropy Reports and Surveys


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FUNDRAISER'S TOOLBOX

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JOBS in PHILANTHROPY

This is a completely free job board. Our intent is to help great Minnesota nonprofit professionals find jobs in national and local funding organizations.


(Quick story, when I was teaching at NYU, students would ask if I came from Minneapolis-St. Louis. Thus our desire to get Minnesotans funding jobs.)


Other Philanthropic sector Job Boards: MINNESOTA COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS, FUNDERS FOR LGBTQ, EMERGING PRACTITIONERS IN PHILANTHROPY, & PEAK GRANTMAKING
JOBS IN PHILANTHROPY

RAISE A GLASS

Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston. Many people refer to her as one of the great Harlem Renaissance artists. She should really be ranked with America’s greatest culture storytellers, such as Willa Cather, Scott Fitzgerald, Dee Brown, Toni Morrison, Amy Tan, and Edith Wharton. 


Aside from her best story “Their Eyes Were Watching God '', her cultural tales, “Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo " and "Mules and Men", are truly among the very best stories in American literature. While you’re celebrating Black History Month, raise a glass to Ms. Hurston and order Barraccon.

SO, WHAT EXACTLY DOES ACCESS PHILANTHROPY

DO FOR A LIVING? 

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  • Capital Campaigns

Organizational Development

  • Strategic Planning
  • Executive Coaching
  • Program Evaluation
 

THANKS FOR SPENDING TIME WITH US.

 

Need some ideas, someone to talk to about fundraising, or just a fabulous listener/chatter?

 

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