Building Healthy Communities Dialogue

In an effort to bring together the nonprofit community in the St. Cloud and surrounding area for a discussion about building healthy communities, Bremer co-hosted a “Building Healthy Communities Dialogue” event on Dec. 2, 2008 with the Otto Bremer Foundation and the two largest Minnesota private foundations, the McKnight Foundation and the Bush Foundation. This event was organized in partnership with the Central Minnesota Community Foundation and the Initiative Foundation to explore ways in which we can address opportunities to create stronger communities in St. Cloud and the surrounding area. The primary purpose was to engage in a dialogue and interchange of ideas between local experts in the nonprofit sector and Foundation representatives who work in multiple cities across Minnesota to create workable solutions to pressing issues facing our communities.

The day began with Jon Pratt from the Minnesota Council on Nonprofits, who provided an overview of the nonprofit sector in Minnesota followed by a panel of five nonprofit leaders, who shared information about the nonprofit economy locally.

Overall, there has been a recent decrease in the number of nonprofits in our state and more to come due to the decline in resources available to support the services. There is a government mandate to address our states deficit and it will likely come from the health and human services sector. This comes at a time when the demand for services has increased significantly. There were statistics and many stories shared during the nonprofit panel presentation which was moderated by Jon Pratt of the Minnesota Council on Nonprofits and an overview of the state’s nonprofit sector that he provided.

The information was very sobering as we heard the impact of the financial crisis on families and individuals in our communities. The morning then turned to resources available in the state of Minnesota to help address these needs..

Minnesota overall is very fortunate to have such a responsive environment from corporate, foundation, and individual giving. To present on the Minnesota giving trends was Bill King, executive director of the Minnesota Council on Foundations. Giving in Minnesota totaled $5.2 billion in 2006 with nine percent from corporations. Corporate giving nationally is 4.3 percent of the national total which is $295.02 billion, which illustrates the strength of corporate giving in Minnesota.

Unfortunately, with the economic decline, 70 percent of foundations cited a change in the value of foundation assets as a reason for a change in their grantmaking with 40 percent planning for decreased giving in 2009 according to MCF's recent outlook survey. Many foundations will be focusing on basic needs and existing programming rather than new efforts.

Steve Joul from the Community Foundation moderated a panel discussion with our Foundation Panelists from the Otto Bremer Foundation, the Bush Foundation and the McKnight Foundation.
Some recommendations were provided from the panel in terms of addressing the issues in Central Minnesota to include increased collaboration and ways to decrease costs through combined back-room operations.

A dialogue ensued, facilitated by Teresa Biss of Bremer that resulted in solutions pertaining to collaborations, public policy and advocacy efforts, streamlining processes, and much more. Once this information is compiled, it will be available, along with the presentations on the Initiative Foundation site.

Posted by Kathy Grochow, NRS, St. Cloud