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Watercolor Hands Holding Minneapolis Skyline
For nonprofits, foundations, and corporate givers, the COVID-19 pandemic and protests of police brutality ended business as usual. As the need for services expanded exponentially in a matter of weeks, the nonprofit and charitable sector didn’t skip a beat, amping up efforts to address everything from hunger and homelessness to childcare and support for small businesses damaged by looters.
Nonprofit leaders, city leaders, and corporate leaders teamed up with local nonprofits to address community needs. “We’ve been called upon by government leaders,” says Jeremy Wells of the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. The foundation expanded its grantmaking and is partnering with other organizations to address problems that have expanded with the pandemic and social unrest, Wells says.
“I’ve heard from multiple nonprofits that when their donors were struggling to make gifts, it was the people that had donor-advised funds that were stepping up in meaningful ways.” —Jeremy Wells, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation
The Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation joined the effort to raise money and distribute grants for the Minnesota Disaster Recovery Fund. Established by the Minnesota Council on Foundations, Wells says, the recovery fund has raised and disbursed $11 million in five grant rounds to help Minnesota heal. The foundation also supported the city of St. Paul’s Bridge Fund to distribute $3.25 million in emergency relief to families and small businesses hurt by the pandemic.
With its connections to nonprofits statewide, the foundation has assessed needs across Minnesota since the pandemic began. “Everyone was in triage mode right away. To be honest, I think a lot of nonprofits are still in triage mode,” Wells says. “They were grateful to have some of the kind of PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) dollars that were available, and they saw a number of their donors step up.”
The foundation also loosened some restrictions, giving nonprofits more flexibility in how grant funds are used. It also saw corporations and individual donors give generously to help their neighbors.
One key to that extraordinary giving in 2020 is the number of donations that came from donor-advised funds, which give donors greater flexibility in how they spend their charitable assets. Donor-advised funds allow people to give more than the annual interest on their charitable funds, Wells says. They can, in effect, tap principal in their fund to support immediate needs and create a greater charitable effect.
“Donor-advised funds have really benefited the community this year,” Wells says. “I’ve heard that from multiple nonprofits, that when their donors were struggling to make gifts, it was the people that had donor-advised funds that were stepping up in meaningful ways.”
Advocacy and Action
Photo by Eric Miller
United Way Volunteers
Emergency relief packages from United Way, thanks to an abundance of donations
As the pandemic approached, one of the Greater Twin Cities United Way’s first actions was to gear up its 211 Resource Helpline with more call center staff. The call center answers nearly 460,000 calls for assistance each year and connects callers with organizations and resources ranging from childcare and hunger relief to housing, transportation, health care, and more.
“Those first couple of months following [the start of] COVID, we saw a 300 percent increase in calls and requests for referrals,” says John Wilgers, the Greater Twin Cities United Way’s president and CEO. “That’s a significant increase, but it was also significant because those calls provided us with a lot of information—a lot of data that helped to inform how we were engaging in the community.”
At the same time, United Way staff members were reaching out to 95 nonprofit partners to better understand how the pandemic was affecting nonprofit work and how United Way could better support them. With that input, United Way launched its Greater Twin Cities COVID-19 Response & Recovery Fund to address quickly evolving needs like access to food, housing, early childhood education, and childcare for frontline workers and others most affected by the pandemic.
“Since March, we have made four rounds of grants out of that fund, totaling nearly $2.4 million, to nonprofits working in the community,” Wilgers says.
“Donors responded quickly and generously to both our COVID and our Twin Cities Rebuild for the Future funds. ... I think people really felt the needs in the moment and felt a real responsibility to do what they could, either through the contribution of their resources or looking for opportunities to donate their time to causes.” —John Wilgers, Greater Twin Cities United Way
That investment also informed United Way’s advocacy work around policy development and access to funding for nonprofits and people in the community.
“Those advocacy efforts unlocked nearly $200 million in state and federal funding,” Wilgers says, pointing to the nearly $100 million in rental and housing assistance and $30 million in childcare, education, and funds to work on food security and related issues. “Advocacy was a really important response to COVID, as well.”
But 2020 didn’t let up. On the heels of the pandemic’s arrival, George Floyd’s death sparked civil unrest, and the charitable community stepped up again.
“All of us, all in different ways ... we’ve all experienced the murder of George Floyd,” Wilgers says. In response, United Way partnered with the Minneapolis Foundation and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation to launch the Twin Cities Rebuild for the Future Fund, aiding minority-owned small businesses damaged or destroyed in the unrest.
“We raised and granted nearly $3.3 million from that fund to nonprofits that worked directly with small businesses,” Wilgers says, noting the many competing needs. “Donors responded quickly and generously to both our COVID and our Twin Cities Rebuild for the Future funds. That’s individual donors, it’s corporate donors, it’s foundations.
“I think people really felt the needs in the moment and felt a real responsibility to do what they could, either through the contribution of their resources or looking for opportunities to donate their time to causes.”
Housing = Health Care
Photo by Scott Streble
Family Living in Aeon Housing
A family living in Aeon housing. Many Aeon families received rent support because of an abundance of donations during the pandemic.
COVID-19 will be forever remembered for the staggering number of lives lost and the economic fallout that has shuttered businesses and sent many workers onto unemployment. It is also responsible for pushing many low-income renters toward an “eviction cliff.”
“One of the things that has become so entirely evident during the pandemic is that housing is health care,” says Virginia Brown, vice president of advancement at Aeon, a nonprofit that builds and renovates affordable housing in the Twin Cities.
“The idea of every person in our community having a safe place they can call home has become even more important,” she says. “What will happen as our residents can’t pay rent?”
Housing is also a racial equity issue, Brown says. “Systemic inequality that’s been built into housing has dramatically impacted the lives of Black and brown bodies in our community.”
Aeon owns and manages 58 properties comprising 5,580 apartments or townhomes that are home to 15,000 Twin Cities area residents annually. The org is also facing a projected loss of up to $4 million in rental revenue this year.
“We’re calling it an eviction cliff,” Brown says, “and the number of people in one month’s time who are conceivably going to be out on the street looking for affordable housing, which our community is already lacking—it’s going to be bad. We need to get ahead of that.”
She describes the governmental response to a crisis of affordable housing as kicking the can down the road. Affordable housing experts fear that the Twin Cities could see its homeless population triple if stimulus or rental relief doesn’t materialize.
“Systemic inequality that’s been built into housing has dramatically impacted the lives of Black and brown bodies in our community.” —Virginia Brown, Aeon
For a family to afford a one-bedroom apartment in the Twin Cities, Brown says, they need to earn roughly $21 an hour; the current “living wage” target of $15 an hour just isn’t enough when it comes to housing.
In particular, she is concerned about renters of what is known as Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing, or NOAH. Those rental units are often revamped apartments built in the 1960s or ’70s, and they don’t qualify for the rent credits or subsidies tied to newly built units.
“That’s exactly where our lowest wage earners live. So, our NOAH properties are seeing significantly higher unpaid rent than our other properties,” Brown says.
That’s why Aeon is trying something it has rarely done before: doing direct fundraising for rental assistance.
“For most people who get evicted, it’s not because they can’t pay $1,200 or $1,400. It’s because they can’t pay like $150 or $200—or even $75,” Brown says. “They’re trying to cobble together the total rent. It’s not a complete gap. It’s a small hole to fill. These very small dollar amounts can actually mean the difference between eviction and someone keeping their home.”
Aeon’s donors have stepped up substantially this year, despite an unstable economy and prolonged pandemic.
“I think that it’s really motivating for donors to be able to contribute directly to this problem and help people stay in their homes,” Brown says. “It’s just one of the big things we’ve done that is pretty different during the pandemic.”
But the eviction cliff is real, and the problem won’t go away without more financial support. Brown, like the other philanthropy experts, says the pandemic’s financial and societal side effects will bleed into 2021 and likely beyond. But for now, they are focused on what they can do this year.
“Everyone needs to decide what kind of community they want to live in, and I think we all have a responsibility to make it that way,” Brown says. “Everybody has to decide what they will do, whether that’s a donation, volunteering, the way they interact with their neighbors. What action will they take to make the Twin Cities the community they want it to be?”
Other nonprofits stepped up efforts to meet needs in the face of this doozy of a year. Read on for more local organizations that saw a return on their investments when they took a stand.
Breaking Barriers in Health Care
After the death of George Floyd in May, Children’s Minnesota stepped up, pledging to address and eliminate systemic racism and its impact on kids’ health. That commitment meant fostering equity and opportunity by looking at policies and removing barriers to care access, says Marc Gorelick, president and CEO of Children’s Minnesota.
Taking a stand for little ones benefited charitable contributions for Children’s Minnesota Foundation, the nonprofit arm that raises funds and support for the kids’ health organization. “While we’ve seen some donors pause on making significant gifts due to economic uncertainty, others are leaning in heavily on racial justice, COVID-19, and related community needs,” says Jenny Soderholm, chief development officer and president of Children’s Minnesota Foundation.
During the uncertainty of 2020, the foundation supports kids’ and families’ every need—a heartfelt cause, “whether it is for life-saving pediatric health care or help finding resources for basic needs like housing and food or being a voice for all children in our region around issues like structural racism and health disparities,” Soderholm says. childrensmn.org
Game-Changing Giving
At the end of 2019 (when we had no idea what this year had in store), the Pinky Swear Foundation received an unexpected donation. “We’re calling that our game-changer fund,” says Josh Le, director of marketing and strategy at Pinky Swear Foundation. “Because of that gift, we are on track to give out a million dollars this year—even during the pandemic—which is more than we’ve ever had in the past.”
The gift helped about 1,000 families of children with cancer, Le estimates, and Pinky Swear was able to provide three months of basic needs support to many families instead of the usual single month. Looking ahead is a different story though. “I share the feeling with fellow philanthropists that 2021 is not going to be an easy year,” Le says. “But I think if we are committed to working together, really great things can continue to happen.” pinkyswear.org
Building Change
Normally a big shindig in April, the annual gala for the Housing First Minnesota Foundation was postponed and shifted to a virtual event in October due to—sigh—the pandemic. “We heard a lot of people are Zoomed out, but one of the items gifted for our auction was a 1985 Chevy Corvette,” says Donnie Brown, director of the Housing First Minnesota Foundation. “It was donated by a veteran to help other veterans for our project in North St. Paul.” Auctioning off the vintage ride at the virtual gala boosted the foundation 13 percent over expected budget for the year.
Housing First Minnesota Foundation partners with local builders to create housing for people in need. Funds from the annual gala, as well as ticket sales for the popular Parade of Homes and Artisan Home Tour, go toward the foundation’s work.
The foundation’s projects run the gamut, serving homeless veterans, women recovering from addiction and their children, and differently abled individuals in need of housing adaptation. “To donors, we can say, your dollar has helped us build this house for veterans or helped us renovate this housing complex for women recovering from chemical dependencies,” Brown says. “There is a tangible asset at the end of the day.” housingfirstmnfoundation.org
Pedaling for Change
As biking became the national method of heading outdoors and getting exercise during the pandemic, philanthropists took to their pedals. Great Cycle Challenge is an annual virtual fundraising initiative—virtual before that was the norm—for Children’s Cancer Research Fund, which supports finding cures and improving treatments for childhood cancer.
“In 2020, we saw a dramatic increase in participation in all 50 states,” says Daniel Gumnit, CEO of Minneapolis-based Children’s Cancer Research Fund. This year’s challenge had more than 134,000 participants—a 67 percent increase over last year’s ride, he says. And those riders overshot expectations, raising almost $14.8 million.
“They wanted to help create positive change and challenge themselves in a meaningful way,” Gumnit says. “Great Cycle Challenge provided that vehicle.” childrenscancer.org
Faithful Giving
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota jumped into action, establishing the Minnesota Catholic Relief Fund (MCRF). “We believe that many donors may have front-loaded their giving this year when the pandemic first began,” says Christopher Nelson, JD, vice president of development and donor engagement at the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota. “And many donors are prioritizing causes that will provide immediate and direct support to those who need it most.”
The MCRF funds are distributed to local parishes and schools to support operational costs, which are struggling due to COVID-19, and to families “impacted by the twin crises of the pandemic and social unrest,” says Meg Payne Nelson, vice president of impact at the Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota. Through 22 parishes in the Twin Cities, 366 households received support for needs like groceries, rent, and medical expenses. ccf-mn.org
This article originally appeared in the December 2020 issue.
