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Fluff Free Fundraising
From Access Philanthropy
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MAY 2022
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--Laura Wilson’s Report on Cryptocurrency and Philanthropy--
--Lots of job changes and trends in local and national foundations--
LILLÖRDAG

Our heads are filled with stuff. All of it can be too much to get to the weekend. But Minnesota’s Nordic culture offers us a traditional scheme for the 5-day overload.

Swedes observe ‘Little Saturday’ or Lillördag, a Nordic tradition in which Wednesdays are regarded as opportunities for little weekend-like celebrations.

Scandinavians believe that Lillördag is a way to infuse a bit of relief into the mundanity of another day at work. Sweden’s Harpo Adolfsson tells the BBC,, “Having a moderate view on work-life balance creates a stabler sense of what happiness means. Some extra time to treat ourselves to Little Saturdays is a good start to looking forward with optimism.”

So when you’re lifting a glass or taking a deep breath, observe Lillördag rather than waiting for the weekend. A little Lillördag may make you healthier and your work more effective. 
In This Issue of Fluff Free Fundraising

Yes, it's a long one this time. In fact, your email be truncated. If that happens, be sure to select   "View the Entire Message" at the bottom.

  • Cryptocurrency and Philanthropy
  • Small Family Foundations Webinar 6/28/22
  • Funding Notes
  • Interesting Reading in Philanthropy
  • Survey Says... Fundraising Event Experience
  • Philanthropy Trends
  • Fundraising Toolbox: Tips and Links
  • Job Opportunities in Philanthropy
  • RAISE A GLASS!
OUR BIG STORY – CRYPTOCURRENCY AND PHILANTHROPY
During the past few months, stories about cryptocurrency are showing up in business journals, consumer magazines, daily newspapers, and nonprofit publications. In March, some funders acknowledged one of the only ways to get relief money into Ukraine was via cryptocurrency.

We sent AP Researcher Laura Wilson to find out more. She looped in folks from Spare Key and Alight to talk about implications of Bitcoin donations for nonprofits. 
CHAT WITH US
THIRTY MINUTES FREE WITH ACCESS PHILANTHROPY TEAM 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
TUESDAY, JUNE 28th @ 1PM
Includes the online event with complementary book, downloadable Powerpoint presentation, and limited access to the AP database of funder profiles
FUNDING NOTES
Target Foundation Funding Opportunity: Racial Equity Grants. This opportunity is up to $200,000 in general operating support, with an opportunity to request support over two years for BIPOC-led organizations. Four priorities:
  • Entrepreneurship and Small Business
  • Workforce Development
  • Housing
  • Asset Building 

The Foundation supports organizations that improve the asset building opportunities available to traditionally marginalized communities, especially those that are engaged in work to increase financial inclusion, wealth building and overall financial health.  
Mortenson Family Foundation is making three key changes to its grantmaking process:
  • Schedule a 30 minute call with Community Relationship Officer Ambar Hanson (for Expanding Opportunities for Children and Families grants) or Danyelle O’Hara (for Sustaining Environmental Systems grants).

  • Share updates on the outcomes you stated you want to accomplish in your 2021 application. No more budget reports.

  • If you have an annual report that includes last year’s outcomes, the foundation can use that report.[1] 

  • We applaud the Mortensons for streamlining grantseeking for nonprofits.

This may confuse some applicants- there is a different process/contact depending on grant.
See: mortensonfamily.org/explore-partnership/
US Agency for International Development recently announced plans to invest $50 million in global childcare infrastructure. USAID will invest $50 million in the World Bank’s Childcare Incentive Fund to expand global access to quality childcare and early learning programs.
Huntington Bancshares (which merged with TCF) announced it wants to be the largest SBA funder in the Twin Cities market. No small feat, since climbing to #1 in SBA loans means creating A LOT of general banking business – both consumer and corporate lines. In turn, this means a lot more presence in the Twin Cities and lots more community investments, including Community Reinvestment funds. Consequently, more funding for community causes. Watch these folks, especially, Marcio Thompson, Community Development Relationship Manager.
Groundbreak Coalition – You’ll be hearing about these folks and the $2 billion they’re investing in thousands of BIPOC homeowners, businesses, rental units, and commercial developments in the neighborhoods most affected by the George Floyd protests. Th effort is led by representatives of major regional and national foundations, including the McKnight, Minneapolis, and Bush Foundations, our Twin Cities Mayors, several banks (PNC, Sunrise, Wells Fargo, US Bank, JPMorgan, and others), Chambers of Commerce, the Center for Economic Inclusion, Hennepin and Ramsey counties, and several private businesses.
Our Favorite Dysfunctional Financial Corporation – Our friends at Otto Bremer Trust are getting things together with the help of Ramsey County District Judge Robert Awsumb. Two big things:
 
  • The judge removed trustee Brian Lipschultz from the OBT board of trustees. Read the Star Trib article here.

  • The judge said the trustees could still move forward with the proposed sale of Bremer Bank, one of the things that started the relationship meltdown between the trustees and the bank official.

Lots of questions about the remaining trustees’ ongoing interest in selling the bank. But there’s no question that someone would be willing to pay big bucks for it, its presence in four states and its great relations with local (rural and urban) communities.

One of the top current bidders is Huntington Bank (the new TCF). Would Huntington keep up OBT’s community grants and outreach programs? They don’t have a history in their own banking practices, but maybe.

Meantime, the trust’s grantmaking operation remains remarkable, one of the best, if not the best, in Minnesota. April announcement of $7.3 million to 96 organizations.
James R. Thorpe Foundation, one of our favorite local funders, offers funding twice a year, once for youth and once for seniors. Youth requests are due June 15. Most grants are in the $6,000 to $12,000 range.
 
Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council  -- This is the voter-approved State of Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Fund, one of four funds created by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment. Deadline May 27, 2022.
McKnight Foundation needs an Arts and Culture Program Officer. Great program, good people.
 
G4GC’s Black Girl Freedom Fund (BGFF) is part of the Grantmakers for Girls of Color network. In only its second round of grants, BGFF awarded $4 million to 68 groups nationwide

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation issued its first Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Progress Report. Will such reports become a standard annual thing for major foundations? We hope so.
Minneapolis Foundation – has three news items on grants made or grants to come:




Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation – another tried and true Metro area family foundation, the Butler Family Foundation continues to grow in financials and in wisdom. Although we aren’t crazy about the closed Invited Grants program, we understand this is a generations old family fund with its own family traditions. See the latest round of grants.
 
A Few Other National Opportunities:


  • Clif Family Foundation (Clif Bar) Operational Support grants for smaller groups – health, food, environment (no in-kind donations!)

People on the Move:
We welcome CEDRICK BAKER, the McKnight Foundation’s new Chief of Staff, who recently served as Chief of Staff for Saint Paul Public Schools. NA ENG, previously Communications Director at the McKnight Foundation, has been named new Chief Communications Officer at People for the American Way (PFAW).
INTERESTING....
Rural Philanthropy
Rural Health Information Hub has some good insights in its new report, Challenges Rural Organizations May Face in Seeking Philanthropy Support.
Funder Affinity Groups
Funder affinity groups are ongoing open-facing collaborations of grantmakers interested in a specific area of grantmaking (health, environment, K-12 education, for example). Inside Philanthropy explains Affinity Groups:

A group or network of funders that come together around a shared interest.
Circles where funders can interact, and often collaborate, to maximize impact.
There is a funder affinity group for about every community or issue imaginable.
Most affinity groups are hosted by a larger organization, such as the Minnesota Council of Foundations. We thought we would jump on the wagon and provide a couple links for affinity groups sponsored by the national Council of Foundations and Minnesota Council of Foundations:


Implications for Grantseekers:

  • As a prospecting resource, lists of affinity group foundation members are a good way to find out which funders are interested in K-12 funding or homelessness.

  • Also as a prospecting tool, sometimes affinity groups will list the names of program officers who represent the foundation at the affinity group table. Good to know which program officers are serious about health issues.

  • Often affinity groups will talk about upcoming conferences or webinars. It’s good to know what issues are in the forefront of climate change funders and what kind of language and terms funders are using.
The power and promise of feminist movements
Bridgespan recently released a report on the “power and promise of feminist movements"
-Lighting the Way, including history, interviews, and recommendations for philanthropy.

Notably, feminist movements have achieved their successes with minimal philanthropic support. In 2017, less than 1 percent of total foundation giving was directed to women’s rights organizations.

Recommendations for funders:

  • Understand power structures that shape our homes, communities, and systems.

  • Re-examine risk. Recognize the greatest risk is not investing in the feminist leaders and organizations that are actively tackling systemic injustice—and facing well-funded opposition.

Support feminist funds.

  • Shift your practices. Expand your sourcing beyond your close-in network, and ensure your diligence practices aren’t screening out feminist movements. Fund across the ecosystem and provide long-term general operating support.

  • Measure what matters to movements. The multifaceted work of movements requires a range of measures. Work with grantees to define success—and allow them to pivot as needed.
Simplifying Grantseeking
The Chronicle of Philanthropy took a look at ways to simplify the grant application process. Minnesota’s own Kari Aanestad (MN Council of Nonprofits) reported on grantseeker perceptions: 

  • Topping the list of application complaints was funders who require a grant seeker to complete an application without letting them see it beforehand.

  • Lengthy applications in relation to the small amount of cash being provided.

  • Repetitive questions.

  • Character limits on response.

Solutions from the growing practice of “Trust-Based Philanthropy” include shorter applications, a shift toward more general operating funds, and flexibility in how foundation grant money can be use.
SURVEY SAYS…

Classy, a leading online fundraising platform and thought leader, highlighted donors’ 2022 Fundraising Event Experience in a survey of 1,000 event attendees:

  • 26% attended live events, while 36% went virtual because there was no live event or because they preferred a virtual experience

  • In-person and virtual attendees gave roughly the same dollar amounts (beyond ticket sales). 20% of virtual attendees gave $500+ and 22% of live attendees gave over $500.

  • 96% of virtual attendees rated the event excellent or good, while only 87% of live attendees thought the event was excellent or good.

Top Five Favorite Virtual and Live Events:
VIRTUAL ATTENDEES
  • Endurance Events (32%)
  • Performance (31%)
  • Auction (31%)
  • Galas (26%)
  • Competitions (24%)
LIVE ATTENDEES
  • Endurance Events (43%)
  • Performance (38%)
  • Auction (36%)
  • Galas (36%)
  • Competitions (29%)
PHILANTHROPY TRENDS

Grantmakers’ Declinations
Foundations are talking about the best way to tell a grantseeker their request has been declined. It’s a good move forward in creating more transparent philanthropic partnerships.

  • Some foundations are making sure the board/trustees give a specific reason for why the request was declined. This opens up the possibility for grantseekers to believe if they fix that one thing, they’re assured funding in the next round.

  • Foundations are offering “declination grants” of up to $2,500 for grantseekers who didn’t receive a larger grant. Large funders, like the Ford and Gates Foundations, who receive a tremendous number of requests, would run out of funds just on declination grants.

  • Others are offering $1,000-$1,500 declination grants to grantseekers who make it past the first Letter of Inquiry (LOI) stage.

  • Some funders host a “let your hair down” happy hour after the funding cycle for grantees and declining grantseekers together. The Minneapolis Foundation has offered these events in the past.

  • Program officers are signing up for the online newsletters of organizations who were declined, but show promise for future grant cycles.

  • Many funders now offer/guarantee each applicant 15-minute phone calls with program officers to listen and to provide feedback.
 
Chiefs of Staff and Strategy Officers
During the last few months we’ve seen a new class of foundation executive positions known as Chief of Staff and/or Chief Strategy Officers arise. Some have had these positions in place for years, but recently, funders such as Conrad Hilton Foundation, Joyce Foundation, Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, and McKnight Foundation have hired for these key roles.
 
According to those in the industry, Chiefs of Staff and Strategy Officers are responsible for keeping their ears to the ground for community rumbles and ideas and for creating new programs and policies that address both foundation and community needs

Nonprofit Employee Union Organizing
One of the more interesting trends in the last year has been employee union organizing in nonprofit organizations. The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, Beacon Housing and MinnPost are now union shops. Plenty of others are in process. Since you may not see the union perspective as often in the daily media, read the article from the Union Advocate.
 
Philanthropy, Plutocracy, and Democracy
In his classic The Prince and other works, Niccolò Machiavelli frequently wrote that philanthropy had no real community value, especially in fostering democracy and empowerment. Five centuries later, it’s still a hot topic, one that Emma Saunders-Hastings revisits in her new book -- Private Virtues, Public Vices: Philanthropy and Democratic Equality.

In a review for Candid, Kyoko Uchida writes that the book focuses on two objections to philanthropy with regard to democracy: “philanthropy can be an exercise of plutocratic power, and it can be objectionably paternalistic. Despite calls for reform, elite philanthropy continues to enjoy both social deference, which limits comparative evaluations of philanthropic donations, and institutional and legal deference, in the form of tax benefits, facilitation of foundation creation, weak oversight, and protection of donor intent.”
Changes to In-Kind Contributions Reporting
We’ve been chatting about in-kind contributions in the last few editions of FFF. Now comes news that there are changes to the way nonprofits report their in-kind contributions income. According to Blue Avocado, nonprofits will now:

  • Need to present contributed nonfinancial assets as separate line items in the statement activities.

  • Need to provide additional disclosures about contributions of nonfinancial assets. June 30, 2022 is the effective data for the new financial statement requirements.

Five Ways to Personalize Your Direct Mail Solicitation. The Philanthropy Daily offers a quick review of how to personalize direct mail
This is a free job board that AP puts together. Our interest is getting good Minnesota nonprofit folks into good local and national foundation jobs. With few exceptions, we only include foundations, corporate giving programs, and related grantmakers.

Visit the Minnesota Council of Foundations Jobs Board and others for lots of good local jobs this month. The resource of the month is the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
  • NEEDMOR FOUNDATION needs a new Executive Director (apply ASAP). Great social justice and democracy funders based in Ohio.
  • JUSTFUND – is an intermediary that larger funders use to remove traditional barriers in philanthropy and to simplify the grants application process for organizations working at the forefront of social change. They’re looking for a Donor Engagement Coordinator, not for fundraising, but to facilitate the grantseeking process between funders and smaller social justice groups.
  • JOHN AND LILLIAN MILES LEWIS FOUNDATION (JLMLF) is seeking a founding Executive Director of the new Atlanta-based foundation from one of our heroes, the late Representative John Lewis.
  • WILBURFORCE FOUNDATION  needs a Grant Administrator for its Seattle-based conservation and environment grantmaking work.
  • RAIKES FOUNDATION – This Microsoft family needs a Director of Communications for their Seattle based foundation interested in Education, Homeless Youth and Impact-Driven Philanthropy.
  • VAN AMERINGEN FOUNDATION – This seventy-year old NYC-based foundation needs an Executive Director for its strong involvement in mental health and advocacy in New York and Philadelphia.
  • FOUNDATION FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT needs a new President and CEO. One of the most respected foundations in the field of child development and early education is based in NYC but has a national funding footprint.
  • JAMES S. MCDONNELL FOUNDATION (from McDonnell Douglas Corporation) needs a new President for its St. Louis, Missouri operation primarily interested in higher and graduate level education, as well as other education, and health, science, and arts interests.
  • DAVID ROCKEFELLER FUND needs a Chief Executive Officer. Part of the extended Rockefeller family foundations, DRF has a strong social justice framework.
  • ARTHUR M. BLANK FOUNDATION wants a Senior Strategy Officer for its Atlanta office. Interested in youth, environment and democracy and other interests of the founder.
  • FRECHETTE FAMILY FOUNDATION needs an Executive Director for its Winter Park, Florida operations. A Christian-motivated funder with a connection to Minnesota’s Patterson Company, the foundation is interested in healing for grieving families.
  • POHLAD FAMILY FOUNDATION needs a Community and Engagement Officer. One of the great Minnesota foundations with a special interest in homelessness. Great staff and board!
  • SOUTHWEST INITIATIVE FOUNDATION – needs a Community Engagement Specialist at its Hutchinson, MN office.
  • BLANDIN FOUNDATION needs a Research Officer at the Grand Rapids, Minnesota office. One of Minnesota’s top foundations and truly one of the very best rural funders across the U.S.
  • INITIATIVE FOUNDATION – another of the McKnight Foundation supported regional funds needs a Program Manager. Based in Little Falls, Minnesota, this fund needs someone to manage relationships with staff and partners across its region.
  • MINNEAPOLIS FOUNDATION needs a Director of Business Development.
  • WOMEN’S FOUNDATION OF MINNESOTA – needs a Communications Manager.
  • FIDUCIARY COUNSELLING, SAINT PAUL – An interesting opportunity from an organization that is not primarily in the grantmaking business, but works with smaller foundations. They need a Charitable Service Coordinator who will act as Grants Manager and provide support for the trustees, investment advisors and financial advisors.
  • And of course, many of the mega-foundations such as FORD FOUNDATION, BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION, ANNIE E. CASEY FOUNDATION, OAK FOUNDATION, and DAVID & LUCILE PACKARD FOUNDATION almost always have Career sections with new job notices on their websites.

If none of these opportunities interest you or you’re just done with office work, check out this nonprofit offering from Youthprise, who’s looking for a FOOD PRODUCTION COOK and an EXECUTIVE CHEF. (Sometimes, at the end of the day these jobs look especially interesting!)
RAISE A GLASS!
RAISE A GLASS – This month, no matter what day or what time, when you’re with friends, raise a glass to the folks who are working to protect a woman’s right to choose. FULL STOP.

Best to you.
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