St. Cloud, Minn. – The Central Minnesota Community Foundation (CMCF) Board of Directors is pleased to announce that they, in partnership with CommunityGiving, have recently approved the “Commitment to Our Community” resolution. The “Commitment to Our Community” resolution was a collaborative effort between CommunityGiving and its partner foundations’ boards of directors and will be used as an organization-wide guiding principle as the situation continues to evolve with the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery.
The Resolution has been approved by CommunityGiving, the Alexandria Area Community Foundation, Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation, Central Minnesota Community Foundation, and Willmar Area Community Foundation.
Caryl Turnow, Executive Director of the CMCF, stated, “It is not a time to do business as usual. Our family, friends, neighbors and fellow community partners are all hurting right now. As the community foundation, our role as a connector and philanthropic leader is more important than ever and this Commitment is our way of telling the community that we see the needs, we see those who want to help and we are dedicated to making our community stronger by connecting resources with the needs during this difficult time.”
Commitment to Our Community
What unites us as community foundations is a commitment to our local COMMUNITIES and a commitment to GIVING. In order to address the acute effects of the National COVID-19 Crisis upon the local people of the communities we serve, we hereby adopt the following commitment to our communities.
This Crisis is a test of the imagination of our caring for others. This is not a time for business as usual. This Crisis will have lasting detrimental effects on families in our communities that are close to impossible for many to understand. What many CAN comprehend is that those who are “fortunate” and those in a position of privilege are now called upon to act.
Our CommunityGiving Strategic Intent of Empowering Community Foundations everywhere compels us as a “community of community foundations” to be Leaders. If we don’t aggressively lead now in this Crisis, when will we?
To all our constituents we say Dream it. Begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. During these challenging times of COVID-19, we as a community of community foundations commit ourselves to the following:
As a community foundation serving the St. Cloud area during this time of unprecedented crisis, we are committed to:
- Increasing our payouts from unrestricted and discretionary resources.
- Engaging, supporting and encouraging donor advisors to do the same and to give generously from their funds to support both immediate needs and long term needs of our community.
- Connecting our donor advisors with needs in our community.
- Connecting our nonprofit organizations with local, state and national resources to support their important work and long term viability.
- Simplifying the grant application process for those applying for new resources.
- Being flexible, nimble and understanding with grantees with outstanding grants.
- Collaborating with other funders and nonprofit organization to support our community.
- Being proactive to infuse diversity, equity and inclusion in the grantmaking process while also standing against any type of hate speech or racism deriving from the COVID-19 crisis.
- Considering grant applications seeking support for operating costs for nonprofits who have missed fund-raising events and incurred other revenue shrinkage in the crisis.
- Soliciting local nonprofit information/data regarding impact of the crisis both short term and long term and sharing with our donors and boards.
- Encouraging the support and commitment to local businesses and employers while respecting the need for responsible social distancing.
The Central Minnesota Community Foundation (CMCF) attracts and administers charitable funds for the benefit of the local community. Since 1985, CMCF has grown to over $110.1 million in assets and awarded over $111.9 million in grants to non-profits. The CMCF is governed by a local board of directors and is a partner of CommunityGiving, which is a collaborative of community foundations united under a single framework to create efficiencies that maximize the impact of our donors. Collectively, CommunityGiving administers nearly 850 funds totaling more than $150 million. Learn more at CommunityGiving.org/CentralMN