Philanthropy Trends

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— 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.

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After the murder of George Floyd, Corporate America jumped on confronting systemic racism bandwagon, Collectively, the 50 biggest corporations pledged $49.5 billion. Of that amount about $4.2 billion was awarded in grants/donations. What happened to the $4.5 billion? The Washington Post just did the story with lots of facts, figures, and names.

The Children’s Funding Project recently released its Covid Relief Funding for Kids Crash Course collection of articles and “guidance” on Federal Recovery Funding Resources. Covid Related Relief Funding Tools and Resources. It’s a start, not well-curated, but a good place to begin getting organized and finding info.

“Corporate sponsorships are back. Well, they never left; in Minnesota, most major corporations still have some form of sponsorship program. But, now, corporations are using sponsorships for several creative purposes with several types of organizations. Our research team of Laura Wilson, Mary Anne Welch, and Jana Simmons looked a few local sponsors. See below for profiles of 12 top corporate sponsorship programs.

ALSo NOTE: there’s this new group, Zipsprout.com, that provides lists of hyper-local (love that word) sponsors. You can search by zip code for sponsors. Here’s the thing, though. Most of the sponsors Zipsprout has found are NOT business corporations, but nonprofits and government agencies who need to reach out to your constituents, such as US Post Office, Rotary Clubs, and Turkey Day 5K.

The 12 top corporate sponsorship programs:

— Cargill
— Medtronic Communities
— Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
— General Mills
— Andersen Corporate
— Wells Fargo
— CHS
— Ecolab
— 3M
— Land O’Lakes
— Toro
— Target

General Information

— Sponsorship information is generally found on the corporation’s website under “Corporate Responsibility,” and is separate from the corporation’s foundation
— There’s likely to be less information available about corporate sponsorships than about corporate foundations
— Many sponsorships are by invitation only (with many corporations, they’re vaguely blended with foundation grants). This means that to get invited to a corporate sponsorship you either have to:

— Have insider information to make the right contact
— Really make your organization well-known in the community, have a sizable impact, and then reach out to a corporate VIP
— Be doing something unique enough to be featured in the news media, and that the corporation can use as public relations

— Many corporations refer to sponsorships as “partnerships”
— Overall, the sponsorships process is far more ambiguous than applying for grants
— The person who handles corporate sponsorship is often separate from the foundation
— MOST IMPORTANTLY – DO NOT RELY ON THIS INFORMATION ALONE. Connect with the corporation’s representatives to verify the process and specific details.

Cargill

Sponsor?

— Yes
— Focus areas are mainly sustainable agriculture, food scarcity, and food access, but they also fund general wellness and education programs

Process?

— Applications sent by invitation only
— No useful contact info

Resources

— General: https://www.cargill.com/about/community/corporate-giving
— Current partners: https://www.cargill.com/about/community/community-partners

Medtronic Communities

Sponsor?

— Yes
— Focus areas consist of medical advancement, education, and physician and surgeon training

Process?

— Online application – same one for grants and sponsorships? (This is unclear. The foundation has a separate website but no grant application is published there, but the information on the application on the main website is grant-focused)
— Organizations seeking support for conferences also need to go through the Conference Vetting System

Resources

— General: https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/about/corporate-governance/medtronic-charitable-donations.html
— Donation records include sponsorships and grants: https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/about/corporate-governance/medtronic-charitable-donations/donations-registry.html

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

Sponsor?

— Yes
— Primarily through the Center for Prevention (CFP) arm
— Some opportunities are directly through Blue Cross itself, though these are very limited
— Focus areas are generally wellness-related (community gardens, bike rental programs, walks for diseases, etc.)

Process?

— For the Center for Prevention: “For further questions about funding, please contact us via email at [email protected] or call toll-free at 1-800-760-0052.”
— Also for CFP Christian Knights, Strategic Communications Manager, Center for Prevention, 651-662-4058, [email protected]

Resources

— General, current partners in Blue Cross: https://www.bluecrossmn.com/about-us/corporate-social-responsibility
— Current initiatives for CFP: https://www.centerforpreventionmn.com/initiatives/
— Giving FAQs for CFP (types of giving, projects that receive funding, etc.): https://www.centerforpreventionmn.com/who-we-are/frequently-asked-questions/
— Contact people in Blue Cross: https://www.bluecrossmn.com/about-us/newsroom/media-contacts

General Mills

Sponsor?

— Yes
— Focus areas: increasing food security, regenerative agriculture, and environmentalism as it relates to food growth (improving soil, etc.)

Process?

— By invitation only? No published process. Grants from the foundation are invitation only.
— No useful contact information on their website

Resources

— General giving profile and current partnerships: https://www.generalmills.com/en/Responsibility/Community
— Some more featured partnerships: https://www.generalmills.com/en/Responsibility/Community/programs-and-partnerships
— Minneapolis grant program: https://www.generalmills.com/en/Responsibility/general-mills-foundation/Minneapolis-Grants

Andersen Corporate

Sponsor?

— Yes (partners with organizations and donates product)
— Focus areas: housing, education, and basic needs in places connected to the company

Process?

— Invitation only.
— General email: [email protected]

Resources

— Giving profile (corporation and foundation): https://www.andersenwindows.com/about/community/

Wells Fargo

Sponsor?

— Yes
— Very limited and few approvals for fundraising sponsorships
— Focus areas: financial health, housing affordability, small business growth, sustainability, and environmental justice

Process?

— Invitation only (need code to access online application)
— “To be considered, please apply online at least 90 days prior to the event. Priority is given to organizations that support our major focus areas.”
— To obtain invitation, contact local or national contact from list
— MN: Patty Pannkuk, [email protected]
— National (by focus area):

— [email protected]
— [email protected]
— [email protected]
— [email protected]

Resources

— Contacts: https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/corporate-responsibility/community-giving/local/
— Focus areas and national contacts: https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/corporate-responsibility/community-giving/national/
— General guidelines: https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/corporate-responsibility/community-giving/
— Specific grant process: https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/corporate-responsibility/community-giving/grant-process/
— Giving FAQs (info on sponsorships): https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/corporate-responsibility/community-giving/giving-faqs/

CHS

Sponsor?</>

— Yes
— Focus areas: agriculture (cooperative, or industry-related)

Process?

— Online application on giving guidelines page
— General email: [email protected]

Resources

— Giving Guidelines and applications: https://www.chsinc.com/stewardship/giving-guidelines
— General: https://www.chsinc.com/stewardship

Ecolab

Sponsor?

— Yes (suggested that their partnerships are funded through the foundation)
— Focus areas: youth education, civic and community development, arts and culture, environment, and conservation
— Sponsorships mainly in conservation (specifically, water, food, and sustainability)

Process?

— Online application
— No useful contact information

Resources

— Applications and information: https://www.ecolab.com/corporate-responsibility/social/community-involvement
— Current water partnerships: https://www.ecolab.com/corporate-responsibility/environment/water-stewardship
— Sustainability partnerships: https://www.ecolab.com/corporate-responsibility/environment/global-sustainability-partnerships
— Climate partnerships (includes food, health, and general climate): https://www.ecolab.com/expertise-and-innovation/climate

3M

Sponsor?

— Yes (termed as “partners”)
— Focus areas: education (boost equitable student achievement in STEM) and environment (conservation, air, and water quality, and student conservation learning)

Process?

— Invitation only
— No useful contact information

Resources

— General: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/gives-us/corporate-giving/
— Guidelines: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/gives-us/corporate-giving/grant-guidelines/
— Environmental initiatives: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/gives-us/environment/
— Education initiatives: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/gives-us/education/

Land O’Lakes

Sponsor?

— Yes
— Focus areas: hunger relief, education (high school and college, relating to agriculture and food security), and community

Process?

— Invitation only, or driven by employees
— General email for NGOs proposing volunteer opportunities for their employees: [email protected]

Resources

— Grant guidelines: https://foundation.landolakesinc.com/Home#GRANT-DONATION-GUIDELINES
— General info: https://foundation.landolakesinc.com/Home

Toro

Sponsor?

— Yes
— Focus areas: environment (water, parks, turfgrass research, and golf sustainability), education (turf management and agricultural education support), access (student access to sports)

Process?

— Possible online application, not updated since 2019, primarily for Greenspace Initiative, but also implied it is for use in partnerships
— General contact email: [email protected]

Resources

— Focus areas and current partners: https://www.toro.com/en/about/corporate-responsibility/community/industry-support
— Greenspace Initiative: https://www.toro.com/en/about/corporate-responsibility/community/land-water-thrive/our-communities
— Contact info: https://www.thetorocompany.com/contact-us

Target

Sponsor?

— Yes
— Focus areas: hometown, national, and global. Current partnerships include: military, hunger, sustainability, and general local non-profits

Process?

— Invitation only
— General email: [email protected]

Resources

— General corporate giving: https://corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility/philanthropy/corporate-giving

Corporate giving FAQs: https://corporate.target.com/corporate-responsibility/philanthropy/grants-faqs

Research and writing by Laura Wilson, AP Researcher“

The personal changes in the Gates family have prompted a lot of analyses of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). There’s lots of speculation about changes in governance, spin-offs, and the endowment. Most of all, there’s been new scrutiny of the BMGF’s overall grantmaking effectiveness and their treatment of beneficiaries.

First off, BMGF is a great organization. In a few short years, they vibrantly transformed institutional philanthropy, re-invented philanthropic collaborations, and offered a much better model for funders to become proactive. These changes dramatically altered 21st-century institutional philanthropy.

HOWEVER…

since the Foundation’s inception in the early 90s, scholars, funders, and grantseekers have voiced concerns about its handling of educators, parents, and students; malaria/measles victims; and farmers touched by BMGF’s African Green Revolution.

Like many things philanthropic, Minnesota played a quiet, but noteworthy, role in this BMGF “ultimate beneficiary” analysis. Three years ago, a young researcher from University of Minnesota studied how BMGF’s African Green Revolution treated African farmer-beneficiaries.

Since Dr. Rachel Shurman’s publication of this work in World Development in 2018, many scholars worldwide have affirmed her conclusions about how BMGF treat African farmer and have suggested the beneficiary treatment patterns that Dr. Schurman found could also be seen in other Gates projects, and in fact, in several other mega funders’ grantmaking work.

These are three of the beneficiary-treatment patterns that concerned Dr. Schurman and other researchers about Gates and other mega funders

The “culture of smartness” that characterizes the BMGF distances and insulates its staff from the field
BMGF treats farmers as passive objects of development rather than as complex social actors
Through its norms, interactions, and demands, BMGF shapes other development organizations’ priorities and practices.

Sound familiar? These very smart and very well-meaning mega funders need to better track the impact of their work on the ultimate beneficiaries.

The Fluff-Free Point: While Dr. Schurman wasn’t focused on changes in philanthropy, many of the recent challenges to grantmakers for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion are constructed on Dr. Shurman’s work. We thank her.

AND REALLY… Have Melinda & Bill considered just unplugging and rebooting?

Guess who is also back? Mid-level donors. In fact, they never really left. We just sort of stopped asking for gifts from folks who make personal gifts between $1,000 and $5,000.

But the pandemic shifted fundraising methods and targets. According to Sea Change Strategies, several major national nonprofits re-engaged with mid-level donors and found huge retention rates in both the first year and for several years afterward.

Besides greater retention, mid-level donors are now much easier to solicit and engage ONLINE. That’s a big shift for many donors who average more than $1,000 per gift.

But most mid-level donors still like old-fashioned solicitations. For example, they still like:

Personal engagement
Individualized emails
Telephone calls
Handwritten notes.
If you need help thinking through how you might develop a mid-level donor campaign, talk to one of AP’s senior advisors. Call Gail ([email protected]) to arrange a time.

RELATED – A LITTLE MORE THAN MID-LEVEL DONORS

A study of high net wealth philanthropy says REALLY rich millionaires give a larger % of their income to charity than anyone. BUT the study also reports that:

People who have an income between $200,000 and $500,000 proportionally give more than people with greater income — ranging between $500,000 and $2 million.
People with annual income of less than $200,000 but with liquid assets of more than $1 million give more than either of the $200,000+ donor groups.

BY THE WAY…

According to several small family foundation owners/staff people, attractive, handwritten postcards are still one of the most effective ways to be remembered.