Grotto's Commitment to Collaboration

At its 2007 Board Retreat, in updating its strategic plan, the Grotto Board of Directors placed a high priority on collaboration. Acknowledging that Grotto, as a relatively small family foundation, could not by itself address many of the issues it felt important, it encouraged the staff to enter into or create collaborations with other foundations and/or entities in an effort to effectively resolve some of the challenges confronting the community. At the 2008 retreat, which resulted in the selection of Early Childhood Development and Parenting as its new primary focus, the Board again mandated collaborating as one means of confronting the challenges of improving the nurturing, education, and well-being of our children.

Grotto is committed to collaboration and has been in productive collaborations since 1996. The following includes a representative list and brief description of some of the collaborations:

American Indian Family Empowerment Program (AIFEP) – Originally established by the Marbrook Foundation of Minneapolis, AIFEP was created to provide an opportunity for direct grantmaking to American Indian individuals and families for the purpose of empowerment, through an American Indian advisory group. In 1996, Grotto was invited to collaborate with the Marbrook Foundation in administration and staff support for the program. As the program grew, the Westcliff Foundation, of California (representing a member of the Brooks Family), joined the collaborative to assist in expanding its programming and its transition to independence.

Minnesota Dream Fund – In response to a national challenge grant, ten Minnesota foundations joined together to raise $500,000 so as to manage $1,000,000 to support grassroots efforts to create and foster racial and gender equity in K-12 education and beyond. Over the last three years, the foundation partners have been providing the funding and oversight to two major collaborative efforts (including eleven major nonprofits) to work toward educational reform in order to better serve students of color. Of the national Dream Fund effort, the Minnesota Dream Fund has been considered the model program for the country.

Hill Family Foundations Collaboration for the Transfer of the Hill Papers – When it became known that the James J. Hill Library had chosen to transfer the huge volume of Hill Family Papers representing James J. Hill, Louis and Maud Hill, and other Hill Family members, a collaboration of the Grotto Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, and the Northwest Area Foundation sought to represent the family’s interests in assuring the proper transfer to a facility that could provide the necessary care, preservation, organizing, and cataloging of the important historical documents. As a result, the collaboration played a key role in the transfer of the papers to the Minnesota Historical Society, and MHS provided a major grant to assist in the organizing, cataloging, and preservation of the Hill Papers.

Early Childhood Funders Network – As a result of Grotto’s announcement of its increased focus on Early Childhood Development and Parenting, the Grotto Foundation was invited to join the Early Childhood Funders Network. Comprised of more than 30 Minnesota foundations, the network was established to increase each other’s respective knowledge and understanding of the importance of Early Childhood Development and what the implications are if we do not focus on this area. In addition, the collaborative is seeking to develop a shared vision of how vast and comprehensive this focus is and what funding is necessary from not only the philanthropic sector, but from the governmental sector as well.

Minnesota Business Plan for Early Childhood Education – More than ten Minnesota foundations have collaborated to develop a comprehensive business plan for the logical advancement of Early Childhood Education with the key goal that foundations will have an understanding of what is necessary to achieve quality early childhood education, who can or should be doing it, and the anticipated costs to government, to philanthropy, and to families. The organization has brought a number of large foundation CEOs to the table who are participating in the deliberation of what will work, who should be at the table, and how philanthropy might help.

Cultural Survival – The Grotto Foundation is working in partnership with Cultural Survival and numerous national and grassroots organizations on a Native Language Revitalization Campaign to raise public awareness of the urgent need to revitalize American Indian languages. Cultural Survival is an organization dedicated to defending the rights of indigenous people in America and globally.

University of Minnesota–Duluth – The Grotto Foundation and the University of Minnesota–Duluth co-host an annual Minnesota Indigenous Language Symposium to promote support of Minnesota’s indigenous languages (Ojibwemowin and Dakota iapi), as well as to address the many challenges Native language revitalization efforts face in the community and educational settings.

Native Americans in Philanthropy and Headwaters Foundation – The Grotto Foundation is collaborating with Native Americans in Philanthropy and the Headwaters Foundation to co-sponsor a series of forums on “American Indian Leadership: Challenges and Opportunities in the Twenty-First Century.”

Grotto values its membership and affiliation with organizations that, though not technically collaborative, operate in the name of philanthropy, community, and social justice. Accordingly, Grotto’s Board of Directors annually approves the following memberships:

The National Center for Family Philanthropy
Minnesota Council on Foundations
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
Native Americans in Philanthropy
The National Center for Black Philanthropy, Inc.