1 survey respondents
Location: Po Box 64235, St Paul, 55164 MN
EIN: 41-6034786
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Reviewer 827 - Grant Applicant - applied in 2019
For decades the foundation was led by an amazing individual who invested time and energy into developing relationships with nonprofits in the foundation's service area. The grantmaking process was thoughtful, efficient, and struck the right balance between the foundation's information needs and the nonprofit's time/resources for completing a grant request.
That individual is unfortunately no longer at the foundation, and the transition has left nonprofits with the consequences - either unintentionally or without care/regard. On a call in early July when it was announced that the individual was leaving the foundation, current grantees of the foundation were instructed to complete a grant application for the upcoming September 1 deadline. Until at least July 29 that information was also posted at the foundation's website. Our organization did as instructed and then a few days ago received a letter from the foundation saying that they had received our request but are suspending grantmaking (rendering our request effectively moot and time/energy wasted). A crucial missing piece (some sort of follow-up communication to current grantees - even a 50-word email hastily written in 10 minutes) would have saved our organization alone hours of time.
My advice to a colleague - don't apply for the September 1 deadline.
Inadvertently exerts negative influence in the field, Doesn't "get" nonprofits and issues, Difficult to work with, Bureaucratic
Minnesota
Current or former grantee
Other
2019
Bad
Average
In any communication plan or application/reporting process you design that requires nonprofits to navigate, require at least one foundation staff member to navigate it as well so you know what you're asking of people and the impact you're having. When a funder makes a big change, doesn't follow through on thoughtful communications, or designs a bad system, it costs nonprofits more than one person's hourly rate. There's an opportunity cost for us as well - financially speaking, what other potential revenue could we have secured with that time? and mission-speaking, what other activities could we have been leading during that time that advanced our organization's mission in the community.
In July the Foundation instructed current grantees to reapply for 2019 funding for the upcoming September 1 deadline but then suspended grantmaking after the proposal had been submitted.
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