Fluff Free Fundraising From Access Philanthropy October 2021 Intersections “Intersectionality” is a new word for me (and most everyone over 50). For grants people, it’s an increasingly abundant word. When I was growing up, the only intersectionality between arts and mental health was the Pennsylvania Polka in which “everybody has a mania to do the polka from Pennsylvania” (I’ll sing it for you sometime). Obviously, things have changed, and in Access Philanthropy’s report, “Mental Health Funding Trends in Minnesota,” we found arts and culture is one of the top ten funding areas in mental health. See below.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Jamie Dimon Comes to Franklin Avenue National Funders Workshop Stays Virtual How to Develop Your Intended Impact and Theory of Change Mental Health Funding In Minnesota The 2021 Survey on High Net Wealth Donors Funding Notes, and other interesting stuff

On Your Calendar – November 18 NATIONAL FUNDER WORKSHOP The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits is once again hosting AP’s annual National Funders workshop on the morning of November 18. MCN will be putting out some information and registration links soon. Get it on your calendar now.  The funding world has changed, and AP is helping you keep up with it. Find out which funders are no longer working in Minnesota (WHYFU? (Fundraiser lingo: “Why have you forsaken us?”), which funders have increased their investments in Minnesota, and why are there so many funders from ND and SD. What are corporate funders doing in Minnesota? Who are all these small family foundations who love Minnesota, but don’t live here? Perhaps most importantly, get the book, the PowerPoint, and access to our database.

Funding Notes The Saint Paul Foundation’s Management Improvement Fund is a low-profile, but standout, funding opportunity for smaller groups needing …, management improvement. Key criteria: East Metro-based, and meeting general program criteria of the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation Operating budget of $5 million or less Serve a significant number of low-income persons Strong need for technical assistance, and motivated to get help through consultation Not likely to undertake the effort without financial assistance from the Fund Time and staff capabilities to commit to the consultation and to implement changes Environment is conducive to working with a consultant, including stable leadership, board consensus on desired outcomes and the absence of imminent organizational crises. Call or email the foundation before applying: 651.325.4286 or mif@spmcf.org Annie E. Casey Foundation in MD is making a huge new commitment to fund foster care kids and the systems that work in foster care. Are you looking for that? Minnesota Department Of Employment And Economic Development (Deed) has a nice website, A Guide For Navigating Funding Available For Business Growth, that provides lots of funding opportunities related to business grants, loans, and investments. Most are intended for for-profit businesses, but there is a healthy section for nonprofit lenders/CDFIs/CDCs.

30-Minute Chats AP Staff are participating and enjoying the 30 minutes chats we’re having with nonprofit folks who need a little advice, some information, or fundraising feedback. Our writers have a combined 100 years of grants experience. Our consultants have … well, more than 100 years of fundraising and grantmaking experience. Drop a note to gail@accessphilanthropy.com to schedule a time. .

More Funding Notes The new NBA Foundation awarded its third round of grants to 22 organizations nationwide. Locally, Summit Academy OIC and the Sanneh Foundation were the only Minnesota grantees. In addition to moving to downtown Minneapolis, there are also changes in Deluxe Foundation’s giving picture. First, the Foundation’s national footprint is shrinking to focus on the Twin Cities, Atlanta, and Kansas City. Its literacy funding is now shifting toward financial literacy. The two other interest areas – “Community” and “Education, Entrepreneurship & Empowerment” – have pancaked a bit, providing a lot more latitude in interpreting priorities.   Wilder Foundation’s research arm is giving away pro bono research for organizations serving culturally specific communities. Three to four groups will be selected. Deadline is October 15. Propel Nonprofits is offering its Nonprofit Infrastructure Grant Program (NIGP) aimed at supporting the missions of small, culturally led organizations by strengthening their infrastructure. Increasing the capacity of small organizations that work with historically underserved cultural communities helps position these organizations for greater impact in their community. Thirty-five to forty-five grants to small organizations (<$500,000 generally). Applications open October 4th.  In its second quarter grants round, Northwest Area Foundation awarded 25 grantees a total of more than $5.7 million. An old AP friend, African Economic Development Solutions, received $375,000.  Liberated Capital,  Decolonizing Wealth Project’s donor community and funding vehicle focused on providing resources to Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color, officially announced its inaugural cohort of 23 grantees who will each receive funding to support local, regional, and national movement-building and advocacy efforts to advance reparations in the United States. Grantees include Minnesota’s Tiwahe Foundation. State Farm Insurance has re-emerged in the Twin Cities from somewhere south of Minnesota, announcing a new funding round of Good Neighbor Citizen Grants for Safety, Education and Community Development. Deadline is October 31.

GO BACK GO BACK!! AP always tells it clients to go back to funders who have denied their requests for funds. Sometimes you get valuable information about ways to improve your request, sometimes you just make friends. One of our clients was turned down by a Hennepin County office. The client struggled to go back. It’s hard to when you’ve been turned down. But they went back, and two weeks later the County miraculously found extra money to award our client their contract. This won’t happen to everyone, but it does happen.

Are We Important, Or What!?   Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase (also known as “America’s banker”), visited the JPMorgan Chase branch bank on the corner of East Franklin Avenue and 11th Street. America’s most powerful financier was a couple blocks from the American Indian Center, Project for Pride in Living, and All My Relations Gallery. Unfortunately, he didn’t stop to say hello to those folks (he could have picked up some beautiful art at All My Relations). But he did have two big reasons to visit Minnesota:   Visiting branch banks in BIPOC communities is all the rage for CEO bankers these days. At a Congressional hearing, Senator Elizabeth Warren asked CEO bankers whether they were familiar with the lives and loves of communities of color. Gotta be there.  Just as important, Minnesota is becoming a hot bed of banking competition. Eleven new out-of-state banks have “officed up” in the Twin Cities That means there’s money here, and that means, banks are out to get a piece of that local action. But, to do so, banks MUST have a visible presence in the community via sponsorships, grants, loans, and other investments. That means banks are opening their grant and loan pockets to local communities, if for no other reason, to get investments from wealthy folks who live down the street from the American Indian Center. Gotta be there. Take, for example, Bank of America’s $1 million dollar gift to Juxtaposition Arts on the Northside of Minneapolis. Not a lot of investors near there. But lots of readers saw the Star Tribune news on the generous gift. How does Jamie Dimon’s visit to a Twin Cities branch of JPMorgan Chase affect your work? Jamie, how does Bank of America’s million-dollar gift affect yours?

‌ Mental Health Funding In MN

Several interesting points to note in our Mental Health Funding Trends in Minnesota report, including the largest mental health funders in Greater Minnesota, the Seven County Metro Area, and Minneapolis St Paul; the most favored interest areas; the top grant recipients: and some of the best small family funders in mental health. Four big things: There are now many new mid-sized and smaller family foundations with a serious commitment to mental health funding, such as Luther, Alkire, Marbrook, Beverly, and Edwards Memorial  The Bremer Trust awarded more than 20% of its 2018-2019 total giving for mental health, in both amount dollars awarded and number of grants. Do you think of OBT as a mental health funder? Addiction services is a top funding area, but not among the top mental health funders. Really. Greater Minnesota is still a desert for mental health funding. Bremer, Blandin, and Duluth Superior Community Foundation are among the biggest funders, but it drops off dramatically after that. Read the report, ask our researcher Laura Wilson (laura@accessphilanthropy.com) about her findings, or give us some feedback from your experience. One reader told us she wasn’t surprised about the Greater Minnesota desert but noted that neighborhood mental health services in the Twin Cities also need funding.

Do You Need A Theory Of Change Template? When you go national, funders expects you to have a detailed Intended Impact and Theory of Change. Many of our clients do, but sometimes they just don’t know they have the basics of one, or they don’t know how to write it. Bridgespan, the international consulting firm (and Mackenzie Scott’s grants office) has a document and template: How to Develop Your Intended Impact and Theory of Change. See if this helps. It’s very detailed, but it works. If not, call AP, as we’ve done this for ourselves and for clients.

One Of The Things We’re Going To Cover at the November 18th NATIONAL FUNDER WORKSHOP: “Who Are These Guys?”

You may have noticed that there are hundreds of new funders out there during the last couple of years. Many (if not most) of these funders have a different way of using philanthropy or working with grantees. Some are Donor Advised Funds, some are re-grantors, some are funding contests. Many began from The racial and social justice movement  The climate/environmental movement Efforts to organize/unify/support wealthy donors  Traditional foundations wishing to operate more loosely in tax areas. It’s an interesting new philanthropy movement and new group of funders. Many of them are not really interested in you. But many are looking for ways to tap new social energies and new innovative ideas. Watch for them. They’re new, operate differently, and are often under the radar. We call them “Who Are These Guys?” They include groups like Minneapolis-based Borealis, Bezos’ Day One Fund, HIP Power, Mackenzie Scott, Emerson Collective, Tides, and Lever for Change. We’ll talk about who these new guys are and how to do business with them.

Family Wealth Offices Are you familiar with family wealth offices? They’re those places where extended high net wealth families pool their resources and funds to manage personal investments and multiple family foundations. Folks like the Daytons, the Gages, and the Rauenhorsts establish their own wealth offices or work with Wells Fargo, RBC, US Bank, and other financial advisors to get started. Often these offices manage and execute grantmaking for a family’s fund(s).  JPMorgan Chase, BMO, and PNC have all opened family wealth offices in the Twin Cities during the past couple of months. Here’s an example from LinkedIn: the Hillspire Office for the Eric Schmidt (Google) family. These offices and their officers are becoming more influential, and the foundations they operate are becoming wealthier and more influential. Let’s get to know these folks.

Other Interesting Stuff

McKnight’s new CEO, Tonya Allen, is doing an online seminar (CEO Chat) for the Minnesota Council of Foundations on Thursday, October 7, 2021, 10:00. It’s free, but you must register. The Otto Bremer Trust trial has started and former program officers are testifying. Wow. I see a reality tv show emerging, even as we speak. One of Minnesota’s favorite foundation executives, Patrick Troska, retired from Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation, but popped up in a great new place. Patrick is (for the time being) the interim Executive Director at Outfront Minnesota.

Bill Gates on Space Exploration:  “Space? We have a lot to do here on Earth. I don't know - I've become obsessed with things like Malaria and HIV and getting rid of those diseases, and I probably bore people at cocktail parties talking about diseases." (Livemint.com) Who’d be more interesting at a dinner party? Bill, Jeff, or Elon?

Bukata Hayes was named board chair of Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Minnesota, and the Foundation announced more than $3.2million to 27 nonprofits. San Francisco-based Levi Strauss Foundation (perhaps the best corporate foundation ever), named Fatima Angeles as their new CEO. Fatima has twenty years of experience in health funding and now is responsible for one of the best poverty-fighting corporate funders in America.

The Center for Effective Philanthropy published Persevering Through Crisis: The State of Nonprofits, a report mostly on funding for nonprofits during the first year of Covid-19. Most findings were unsurprising, but we found two interesting nuggets: Compared to organizations led by men, woman-led nonprofits (68 % of respondents) were less likely to hear from funders about future funding or allowing the goals of their existing grants to shift. Among nonprofits who primarily serve Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, or Native American communities, most reported that no foundations provided new funding in 2020.

According to the 2020 Council on Foundations–Commonfund Study of Investment of Endowments for Private and Community Foundations, private and community foundations’ short term investment portfolios both declined in 2020, by an average of six points each. Also, according to the report, giving by private foundations rose slightly to 5.6% of pre-tax earnings, while giving by community foundations declined slightly. Last time it dipped like this, MN lost millions in grants.

Our devoted family-friend-business buddy, Zoom now has an online Donate Button you can flash at people before, during or after your Zoom call. TechSoup is offering up to 10 licenses of Microsoft 360 and Enterprise Mobility for free.  Need some quick demographics data about changes in racial and ethnic population growth in your Metro Area community? The StarTribune recently did a little piece with an interactive growth map. How Much Do Local Sponsorships Cost? One of the nonprofit barriers to developing a local sponsorship has always been lack of information about how to do sponsorships, and how much can you expect to raise from a sponsorship campaign. The Zipsprout folks put together a sample cost range for sponsorship levels. Not very deep, but it’s a start on getting some perspective. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the University of Wisconsin published a very detailed dashboard of health indicators by county. If you need health data for your proposal, all 87 MN counties are here from Koochiching to Mower County. Check the profile.

The 2021 Survey on High Net Wealth Donors The 2021 Bank of America Study of Philanthropy: Charitable Giving by Affluent Households – with the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana/Purdue University, reports on how high net worth families/individuals (worth more than $1 million, not including their primary home) donate and volunteer for charities. Lots of interesting stuff, including giving to political campaigns, by race/ethnicity, and even the type of giving instruments (such as an IRA). Some of the relevant points:  The vast majority (88.1%) of affluent households gave to charity in 2020, and nearly a third (30.4%) of affluent individuals volunteered their time (down significantly from 47.8 % in 2017), despite the COVID-19 pandemic.  On average, affluent donor households gave $43,195 to charity in 2020. By comparison, donor households in the general population gave $2,581.10 Issue-based philanthropy is becoming increasingly important to affluent households; practically the same proportion indicated that issues most drive their giving decisions and/or strategies (43.6 %), compared to organizations (44.5 %). Support for social and racial justice: more affluent households in 2020 (8.7 %) rated this issue as important compared to affluent households in 2017 (5.8 %). Also, more affluent households reported making donations to support Black/African American causes and/or organizations in 2020 (11.4 %) compared to 2017 (6.5 %). Making a difference: nearly half of donors (45.1 %) give when they believe their gift can make a difference. Likewise, nearly two-thirds (62.2 %) of volunteers indicate that believing they can make a difference is one of their top motivations for volunteering.  Volunteering: In 2020, on average, affluent individuals who volunteered gave more than twice as much ($20,838) as those who did not volunteer ($9,047). Gender Preferences: A sample of giving preferences among affluent households by gender:

"Among My Top 3 Giving Causes": Women% | Men%

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Animal Rights: W: 22% | M: 15.7% Climate Change: W: 17.2% | M: 23% Economy/Federal Deficit: W: 5% | M: 13% Education W: 33.4% | M: 25.4% Reproductive Rights W: 8.2% | M:4.4% Tax Policy W: 3% | M: 9% Womens/Girls Issues W: 12.6% | M: 5.5%

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Three Fluff Free Fundraising Take-Aways:

FIRST, organizations need individual donations to really grow. Wealthy donors give much more than the general population, so they’re probably more attractive to you. If you’re not already involved in a real individual donor campaign, you probably will be someday. Think about it sooner, rather than later.

SECOND, issues are becoming more important. It used to be that donors, especially wealthy donors, focused their giving on organizations. But now, issues are just as important as the organizations requesting support. You need to be crystal clear and straightforward about your issue.

THIRD, giving to social and racial justice remains a priority for less than 10% of wealthy donors. This is consistent with Access Philanthropy’s small survey of small family foundations (December 2020) that showed these are moving toward justice issues but are far from making race and social justice a major priority, at least not yet. Keep the faith and keep the relationships developing. We’re not there yet.

GETTING TOGETHER…MAYBE I’m not sure how you feel about socially getting together again. I’ve mixed feelings. But I know if I was completely convinced there were no risks, I’d be tempted to hit up the Muenster (IN) Polka Festival and Oktoberfest (in Heritage Park, of course). Music by the Raised Right Men and the Lederhosen Junkies, Northwest Indiana’s equivalents of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Everybody has a mania … Need to talk fundraising? Need a monthly injection of Fluff Free Fundraising? gail@accessphilanthropy.com Steve at 651-295-4684

‌ Steve Paprocki President Access Philanthropy 651-295-4684 www.accessphilanthropy.com

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