LATEST NEWS  |  Foundation Announces Changes in Social Change Fund Grantmaking

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS - The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota announced today that it will transition its Social Change Fund to multi-year funding, starting in 2009. To accomplish this, the organization’s trustees and grantmaking committee members will review best practices and issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) in fall 2008.

“We have an ethos of listening and responding: grantee feedback indicates a strong preference for multi-year funding,” said Lee Roper-Batker, president and CEO of the Women’s Foundation. “Multi-year grants enable groups to roll up their sleeves and focus on their programs and impact, rather than on securing annual funding.”

DETAILS

During this transition year of 2008, the grantmaking process for the Social Change Fund will be as follows:

1. The Foundation will extend grants for current grantees an additional six months (through June 30, 2009), pending satisfactory progress toward goals.

2. An RFP for a planning grant round will be available online at www.wfmn.org on December 1, 2008, with a deadline of January 31, 2009. Planning grants will allow organizations to develop programs and proposals for multi-year Social Change Fund grants to be awarded in 2009.

3. Ultimately, the total Social Change Fund grantmaking dollars will not decrease. And, as the Foundation finishes its $15 million endowment campaign this year, its competitive grantmaking will double within 10 years.

For questions about the Social Change Fund, contact Charlotte Flowers or Sida Ly-Xiong at 612-337-5010.

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Press Inquiries:

Mary Beth Hanson

Communications Director

612-236-1811