MCF Listening Tour Part 1: Connecting with Rural Innovation and Impact in Southwest Minnesota

MCF President Michelle Maryns kicked off the first part our statewide Listening Tour with a week in Southwest Minnesota — connecting with members and nonprofits from Windom to Granite Falls to Worthington and in between. 

Read on for Michelle's reflections from the road to learn how local leaders are navigating everything from board recruitment to regional wealth transfer, and for a firsthand look at the community-led spaces driving civic engagement across our state. 

“ For the first leg of the Listening Tour, I headed to the Southwest region of Minnesota to participate in Nonprofit Office Days in Windom and Granite Falls. 

Hosted by Propel Nonprofits as part of their Nonprofit Office Hours and sponsored by the Southwest Initiative Foundation, Nonprofit Office Days creates space for nonprofits in the region to gain helpful industry information from Propel, and to connect with each other on potential collaborations or support. 

A diverse group of nonprofits joined us for office hours and a brown bag lunch at the YES! House in Granite Falls. Attendees ranged from an environmental conservation organization to a local church seeking grants to fund free and low-cost driving classes for the community. The YES! House originated from a project of the Department of Public Transformation, a nonprofit organization that develops creative strategies for increased community connection, civic engagement, and equitable participation in rural areas. It is a beautifully designed building where creatives can work, record their music or other audio projects, and live while they put their art installations in place or work on a book. 

The brown bag lunch focused on helping nonprofits understand best practices for nonprofit board governance and related issues. Many nonprofits named new board member recruitment as a top challenge — especially the difficulty of engaging younger generations and/or more diverse candidates. This is a similar issue that was raised during the MCF Community Foundation Network meeting at the CommunityGiving EmpowerCF 2026 gathering in April.

However, one town that I visited in Southwest Minnesota that was full of diverse young people was Worthington. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 1 in 3 people in the Worthington area is an immigrant — largely driven by job opportunities at the meat processing facility (which is similar to the town where I grew up in Kansas). Nonprofits like Minnesota Seeds of Justice work day and night providing food, rental assistance, connections, and support for many of the immigrants and other community members in the area. In the region over the weekend, The Neighborhood Project spotlighted both immigrant stories and non-immigrant stories in the finale of a 9-year project called, WILLMAR, an original verbatim play created from over 150 hours of interviews with more than 100 people in Willmar who were asked the central question: "What is it like for you living in Willmar?"  

Next up, I’m headed to the West Central region to visit a couple of radio stations in Detroit Lakes and Fergus Falls with folks from the University of Minnesota Extension and West Central Initiative to discuss transfer of wealth and the MN State Share campaign. I'm also excited to meet with nonprofits in Detroit Lakes who are cooperating on community projects together like Detroit Lakes Community & Cultural Center, Detroit Mountain Recreation Area, Becker County Museum, and Ortenstone Gardens. While I’m in the area, I’ll also be visiting The Barry Foundation and other MCF members who will be participating in an event for young students in their Philanthropy and Youth (PaY) program. I'll also be connecting with the Alexandria Area Community Foundation and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Regional Representative. To round out my time in the region, I’ll be learning about cooperative solar energy projects in Morris, Ashby, and the surrounding area--as well as attending The Great American Think-Off in New York Mills.