Donor Circle

It is our mission to connect people with causes they care about while making a significant impact in our community. The CMCF Donor Circle is a new opportunity for donors to explore programs, pool their resources and make a greater difference.

The Central Minnesota Community Foundation has been your trusted partner for over 34 years, acting as a convener and catalyst to help our community meet its most pressing needs. We believe these programs will be change agents in the lives of many – Together we can make a difference.

Deadline to participate is December 31, 2019.

Minimum contribution – $500

HOW DO I BECOME A CMCF DONOR CIRCLE PARTNER?

Click here to make a gift through our online system.

Click here to make a gift through your donor advised fund.

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CMCF Donor Circle Programs

GRCM-Horiz-CMYK.png GOAL – $20,000

The Great River Children’s Museum is a non-profit organization that aspires to use the power of play to spark children’s learning, strengthen families, and build community connections. The dynamic, interactive environments and experiences of the proposed museum will be a gateway to the world and its people for children and families of all backgrounds. The group received the gift of the downtown Liberty Bank building in December 2018. GRCM has been working with Vergeront Museum Planners and JLG Architects to create a Master Museum Plan and a building design to transform the bank building into a children’s museum.The goals of the museum are to become:

  • A dynamic regional asset where children and adults of all backgrounds engage and connect with each other and with the museum in meaningful ways.
  • An accessible, welcoming community anchor that brings people together to champion children, play and intercultural openness.
  • An active learning organization valued for enriching formal education and recognized for its work with higher education.
  • A supportive and knowledgeable resource for parents and caregivers engaging with their children, at the museum, at home, in the community.

GRCM will be initiating a Capital Campaign during fall 2019 to raise funds to remodel the building and create exhibits that reflect our community and our aspirations of Opening Worlds to the children and families in our region.

The GRCM is beginning a community engagement initiative, “GRCM Opening Doors Project” this fall that will include Six Roundtable discussion sessions with community partners and stakeholders and eight Play and Explore Learning Labs with parents and children that represent the diverse families in our region. These events will be held in the South part of our building that has been updated to meet city requirements for small groups. The Central Minnesota Community Foundation has funded the Roundtable activities. GRCM will submit a grant proposal for the PEL labs to the Morgan Family Foundation and are requesting funds from the Donor’s Circle to fund learning materials (e.g., KEVA blocks, ZYX sticks, chutes) and furniture (e.g., workbenches) that will be used for the PEL lab activities, other community outreach events and eventually be used in the remodeled museum building in our maker spaces.

YesNetwork_Logos-01.png GOAL – $50,000

The Yes Network, which began eight years ago, provided over 87,000 meals for kids in low-income neighborhoods last summer. While access to food is desperately needed by many families when school is out, the meals have provided an avenue for a much broader focus on child health and wellness that has become the essence of the Yes Network’s mission. In conjunction with the food, outdoor games, enrichment activities, and art/music sessions are organized in nineteen neighborhoods. Together, these three components – bringing the children together each day for a meal, followed by opportunities for play and for engaging in the arts – encourages good nutrition, summer learning, physical health, and social emotional well-being.

The program builds community in many ways – bringing together families with diverse cultures and life experiences, including 70 neighborhood youth in building leadership and work readiness skills while they help serve meals and organize activities, engaging 35 school district teachers and university students in learning about the challenges of poverty as they work in the neighborhoods each day, and building intercultural harmony among a racially diverse group of Central Minnesota and Saint Cloud high school students as they train for their summer jobs with the Yes Network. The Yes Network, now among the top five Minnesota non-profits in the number of meals served, partners with other non-profits, school districts, and community youth projects. The Yes Network is seeking funds to continue its expansion into new neighborhoods in Saint Cloud and Central Minnesota communities to create vibrant, loving, prosperous communities.

CENTRAL MINNESOTA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION COMMUNITY IMPACT FUND

GOAL – $40,500

The Community Impact Fund is an endowment designed to address emerging needs in the Greater St. Cloud community now and in years to come. Proceeds from the Community Impact Fund provide resources for the annual Difference Maker grants. These grants are focused on programs or services that bring about a lasting, positive change in Stearns, Benton and Sherburne counties. Last year $110,000 in Difference Maker grants were awarded in partnership with the Norman C. Skalicky Foundation. We invite our Donor Circle Partners to support the Community Impact Fund with a gift to the 2020 Difference Maker grant round.