Ridin' the range and ropin' the headlines so you don't have to.

Your biweekly roundup of media coverage on the world of nonprofit and philanthropy (yee-ha.)

Local
Hiring, Wage Freezes Starting To Thaw
(Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal) According to a new survey, 54% of businesses report planning on “unfreezing” hiring and wage freezes within the next six months.

New Leaders Bring Fresh Focus to Area Foundations
(Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal) Five of the largest Twin Cities-based Foundations are headed by recently hired leaders, a rate of turnover rarely seen. They’ve got big plans for finding new ways to collaborate and putting into place more effective grantmaking practices.

Nonprofits Object to Minneapolis’ Streetlight Fees, Feeling ‘Death by A Thousand Cuts’
(MinnPost.com) Nonprofits are being charged more fees for city services and assessments. Troubled by the trend, nonprofit leaders recently spoke out about the issue at a public hearing.

Nonprofits Take Hit in Steele County Budget
(MinnPost.com) Some Steele county nonprofits, including providers of basic needs, are feeling the effects of budget tightening as the county commissioner cuts $100,000 in grants.

Working to Make Sure Businesses Aren’t Derailed
(Star Tribune) A coalition of grantmakers and nonprofits are working together to ensure that local businesses and communities along the University Avenue are not affected negatively by the Central Corridor light rail project.

National
Charitable Gifts to Drop 9% in 2009
(The Wall Street Journal) Charitable giving is projected to take a dip this year, as the full brunt of the economic downturn is finally reflected in the giving habits of donors.

For Executives, Study Shows Foundations Prefer to Hire From Outside
(The Chronicle of Philanthropy) Bad news for those climbing the ladder in the philanthropic world.  A new study reports that the majority of philanthropic executives are hired from outside the organization.

Giving Through Donor-Advised Funds Holds Steady, Despite Fewer Contributions
(PND) Many who use donor-advised funds to contribute to nonprofits are maintaining their giving levels despite the downturn.

U.S. Health-Care Giving Rises Only Slightly in 2008
(The Chronicle of Philanthropy) Donations to US health-care organizations rose by 2.9% in 2008 according to a report released by the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy. However, the Association notes that this bump in giving is likely the result of health-care organizations closing their books before the recession hit.

Any nonprofit that wasn’t feeling stretched and stressed before the recession most certainly has since the “R” word became a reality. While the outlook is still uncertain, the Joint Annual Conference of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and the Minnesota Council on Foundations will provide essential tools and knowledge to weather the storm.

Titled Transforming Our Work: From Challenging Times to Hopeful Futures, the conference will run this Thursday and Friday, Nov. 5 and 6.

One of the featured speakers will be Susan Gross, cofounder of Management Assistance Group and author of Seven Turning Points: Leading Through Pivotal Transitions in Organizational Life, published last spring by Fieldstone Alliance.

According to the book synopsis: “Gross defines turning points as critical junctures at which organizations must adjust their leadership, management, structure, governance, and operating style to fit their changed circumstances…Organizations will know they’ve reached a turning point when the structure, management approach, leadership style, and organizational culture that once worked just fine begin to sow a host of new tensions and problems…Organizations do not always evolve in an orderly fashion, graduating from one life cycle to the next. ”

Here are Gross’ seven turning points as outlined in her book.  Some food for thought:

• Turning Point 1: Do we need to get organized?
• Turning Point 2: Do we need infrastructure?
• Turning Point 3: Do we need to let go?
• Turning Point 4: Do we need to focus?
• Turning Point 5: Do we need to decentralize power?
• Turning Point 6: Do we need to recapture our core?
• Turning Point 7: How do we move on?

For insight on the causes, symptoms and how to guide organizations through these turning points and achieve greater effectiveness, impact and staying power, check out Gross’ breakout session at the MCN/MCF Joint Annual Conference, Thursday, Nov. 5, 1 to 4:30 p.m. Gross is also the keynote speaker at the conference’s CEO/Trustee Dinner, Thursday at 6 p.m., when she’ll discuss “Leading in a Time of Uncertainty and Change.”

– Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

Happy Halloween to all those zombies and zombettes out there who will be attending the conference next week! With my holiday themed entry today I’d like to spotlight one of the “don’t-miss” features of the MCN/MCF Joint Conference, the Ask the Experts sessions happening in the Resource Room.

The conference features a host of "heady" selections for the discerning undead.

We’ve got a great line-up of local experts from the following organizations ready to speak with attendees on a variety of topics:

• Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) – Fundraising Issues
• Charities Review Council (CRC) – Nonprofit Policies & Practices
• HandsOn Twin Cities – Volunteering/Volunteer Management
• LegalCORPS – Legal Issues
• MACC Commonwealth – Administration
• MAP for Nonprofits – Governance, Management and Technology
• Midwest International NGO Network (MINN) – International NGO Issues
• Minnesota Association for Volunteer Administration (MAVA) – Volunteering/Volunteer Management
• Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN) – Public Policy
• Nonprofits Assistance Fund – Finance
• Springboard for the Arts – Enhancing the Arts & Arts-Focused Nonprofits
• Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) – Professional Development

For a complete description of each organization’s area of expertise and when they will be available, visit the Transforming Our Work website.

While I’m talking about great things happening at the conference, I’d also like to give a shout out to the people over at the Nonprofits Assistance Fund, who have launched a fun little contest that they’ll be conducting during the conference. The challenge–write a haiku about the beauty of the balance sheet. Submit your entry online, and you will be eligible for a “very special” prize.

Have a safe and fun Halloween weekend! We’re looking forward to seeing you boys and ghouls next week.

-Cary Lenore Walski
MCF web communications associate

Photo CC S.A. Young

The Saint Paul Foundation is currently seeking nominations for the fourth annual Ambassador Award. This award was established to honor local leaders who are building a sense of community in the East Metro that is respectful, safe, and inclusive. The Ambassador Award will be conferred at an April 19, 2010 ceremony.

The award recipient will be presented with a cash award of $10,000 which she or he may donate to a nonprofit or other public organization that furthers the work of creating a more equitable community in Dakota, Ramsey and/or Washington counties.

If you would like to nominate an individual for the Ambassador Award, you may find complete guidelines, selection criteria and a downloadable application at www.FacingRace.org. All nominations must be postmarked by Friday, December 11, 2009.

The winner of the 2009 Ambassador Award is Dr. Ghafar Lakanwal, whose work to encourage tolerance and share diversity was profiled recently in the Twin Cities Daily Planet.

Target, McKnight and General Mills Rank Highest in 2008 Grants Paid

The Minnesota Council on Foundations (MCF) today released its annual rankings of the top grantmakers in Minnesota based on cash grants paid in 2008. The annual rankings lists include: Top 50 Minnesota Grantmakers overall; Top 50 Minnesota Foundations By Assets; Top 25 Minnesota Corporate Grantmakers; Top 25 Minnesota Private Foundations; and the Top 25 Community/Public Foundations.

“Cash giving by the 75 corporate, private and community/public grantmakers that comprise our three Top 25 lists totals just over $1 billion,” says Bill King, MCF president. “The contributions of these and all the approximately 1,400 Minnesota grantmakers are a significant source of support for nonprofits, especially as they strive to meet the growing challenges facing our communities.”

King adds, “Many of our corporate grantmakers also give beyond their cash contributions by donating in-kind goods and services and by volunteering. Minnesota’s philanthropic tradition, led by these top grantmakers, continues to be one of the strongest in the country.”

The effect of the economic downturn is evident in MCF’s reporting on 2008 foundation assets. King explains, “Our ranking of Top Minnesota Foundations by Assets reveals what we’ve heard anecdotally for months – assets are declining, in some cases by substantial amounts. Nonprofits will be affected, but the extent may not be known until well into 2010.”

The top five Minnesota grantmakers overall (based on cash contributions paid in 2008) are: Target Foundation and Corporation ($138.2 million); The McKnight Foundation ($99.5 million); General Mills Foundation and Corporation ($71.2 million); The Saint Paul Foundation ($64.8 million); and Cargill Foundation and Cargill Inc. ($58.2 million).

For the complete rankings, visit mcf.org.

MCF’s annual rankings are based on the amount of cash grants paid by funders with fiscal years ending June 1, 2008, through May 31, 2009. In order to ensure that grantmakers are compared consistently, in-kind or other non-cash contributions are not included.

In early November, MCF will release its annual Giving in Minnesota research report, which provides a comprehensive analysis of the trends and patterns of giving by Minnesota foundations and corporations.

Partnering in philanthropy is like one of those trends that you know may be out there, but that you don’t notice until you start working on it, and then you see that it’s everywhere.

As we pulled together content for the fall issue if Giving Forum, which focuses on partnering, it became clear that, no matter how we defined partnering or where we looked for examples, grantmakers are deeply committed to collaborating – with each other, nonprofits, the public and private sectors, individuals, international organizations – to create greater impact and tackle bigger issues.

In the article “Nonprofits and Philanthropy: Scenario I, An Interview With Kelvin Taketa and Chris Van Bergeijk,” which appeared in The Nonprofit Quarterly, Winter 2008, Van Bergeijk of the Hawai’i Community Foundation says, “The grout that glues the tiles together is where the power is. It allows us to come up with bigger approaches and bigger solutions to social issues…There’s a real price that comes from the isolation between organizations. There’s no chance to share practices or that audacious idea that you have but keep on the back burner because you know you could never do it by yourself.”

So, if we’re committed to partnering, where do we turn for “how-to’s” or do we just jump in? When I posed this question to grantmakers I interviewed for Giving Forum, as well as members of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, a variety of resources were sent my way. We’ve compiled some of them on our website. They include books, articles and online links on a variety of aspects of partnering – collaboration cultivation, program and organization mergers, case studies and more.

Join the Conversation: What resources have you consulted that have made a difference in helping you partner successfully?

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

MCN and MCF are proud to announce that Senator Amy Klobuchar will deliver the keynote address at this year’s MCN/MCF Joint Annual Conference.  Sen. Klobuchar will share her thoughts regarding President Obama’s desire to strengthen and grow public and philanthropic partnerships. The Senator will discuss opportunities for nonprofits and grantmakers to work together and share her observations on the impact of stimulus funds, the current health care debate, and what the legislative priorities might be in 2010.

Following the Senator’s remarks, Tim Delaney, president and CEO of the National Council of  Nonprofits, and Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations, will offer their observations and comments regarding the state of our sector in these challenging economic times. Our time together will end with Karen Kelley-Ariwoola, vice president of community philanthropy at The Minneapolis Foundation, moderating a discussion with the audience.

Visit transformingourwork.org to read about Senator Klobuchar’s background and to learn more about the Transforming Our Work: From Challenging Times to Hopeful Futures Conference happening November 5 & 6 at the Saint Paul RiverCentre.

In preparation for the MCN/MCF Joint Annual Conference, Christine Durand and I have been brainstorming ways of using twitter as a tool to engage our attendees during the conference. Here’s a list of some ways that you might consider using twitter at your next conference or large event. If you’re attending the conference, you’ll see some of these ideas in action on November 5 and 6.

For the sake of brevity, I’m going to assume that you already have a twitter account and a healthy list of followers, which admittedly is no mean feat. But I could devote a whole blog to the art of building a robust list of followers. So, let’s fast forward to a week or two before your event.

A Month Before Your Event:
Help your attendees identify themselves to you in advance by including your own twitter handle in your event communications. You may also consider having an option on your registration form for twitter handles.

It’s easy for chatter about your event to get lost in the endless churn of messages going out over the wire. The best way to ensure that you can find the conversations that are relevant to you is to ask your attendees to use a specific keyword or hashtag in their tweets and in their photos. Use a hashtag that is short, memorable and specific to your event.

At the Event:
Remind your users about your hashtag! Then watch the conversation unfold. You can use your account to tweet about event happenings that everyone should know about, and respond to direct user questions and concerns. Some event organizers invite people to ask questions via twitter to event speakers during Q&A sessions, in addition to the usual “walking” mic.

If you have a projector and an extra laptop, you might consider projecting a live stream of user tweets based on your event hashtag outside the event hall. I recommend using a service like twitterfountain or wiffiti to do this. Some event organizers use this method to allow audience members to ask questions of event speakers directly.

After the Event:
Communicate with attendees about event follow-ups like downloadable presentation slides or other goodies via your account. If you’re using a different account than your typical organizational twitter account use this opportunity to invite people to follow your primary account.

Finally use the hashtag, your account name and any other relevant keywords to search for and collect feedback that you received during and after the event so that you can report back to your programming folks about the success of your event logistics and speakers.

Continue the Conversation:
Have you used twitter as an engagement tool at an event, or have you been at an event where it’s been used successfully? What recommendations do you have to share for effectively leveraging twitter as an engagement tool? You can post your suggestions here, or you can send us a message @MCNandMCF.

-Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate

By working hard at working together, Minnesota grantmakers and nonprofits are taking aim at complex, core community needs.

In order for these partnership efforts to be successful, grantmakers believe a few key components must be present.

Brad Brown, executive director of Social Venture Partners, believes three of these components are: “First, a true collaboration requires real commitment of resources – dollars, staff, time, in-kind. We can’t just sit around the table and talk about what we want to do. Second, we need to understand what each partner can offer, and those skill sets need to be complementary. And, third, too often partnerships are people doing what they’ve always done, but in a piecemeal fashion. It’s not a real, effective collaboration until we integrate what we are all doing into a seamless whole.”

“Open communication also is essential, so partners feel they can discuss expectations,” says Marina Munoz Lyon, vice president of the Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation. “If we’re burdening an organization, asking them to do too much or do work that isn’t part of their normal portfolio or for which we’re not willing to pay, organization reps need to feel they can communicate this.”

For more grantmaker insight into the keys and barriers of successful partnering, check out the Fall issue of Giving Forum, MCF’s quarterly publication. This issue focuses on “The Power of Partnering: Grantmakers Use Collective Action to Amplify Impact.”

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

PRIs? MRIs?  SRIs?  L3Cs?  Have you been wondering exactly what these terms mean and whether you might want to incorporate these types of investments in your grantmaking?

There will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about all of these at the MCN/MCF Joint Conference on November 5th and 6th.  On Thursday afternoon of the conference there is a 3 1/2 hour session, specifically designed for grantmakers, that will cover all of these topics as well as the legal considerations.

Entitled Leveraging Your Resources: PRIs and Mission-Related Investing for Grantmakers, the session is being designed by Kate Barr of the Nonprofits Assistance Fund, Kathleen Fluegel of the HRK Foundation, and Karla Miller of the Northwest Area Foundation and will include a panel of people with extensive experience in these types of investments.

If you’d like to learn more about the conference, and the excellent learning opportunities that will be there for both grantmakers and nonprofits, please check out the Transforming Our Work from Challenging Times to Hopeful Futures conference website.

- Cindy Moeller, MCF director of professional development and member services