United By the Principles for Philanthropy & Standing Firm for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Meeting the Moment with Courage, Clarity, and Collective Action

In today’s rapidly shifting landscape, we are facing new challenges to essential services that impact the well-being of our neighbors, our families, and our shared future as Minnesotans—from funding freezes to challenges to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. We are creating space for clarity, commitment, and new possibilities by building upon our collective progress on issues we care about, while actively preparing for what lies ahead.  

Our mission remains our mission: to connect, strengthen, and mobilize the power of philanthropy to advance prosperity and equity in Minnesota.

Despite external pressures, our approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion remains firmly aligned with our mission and essential to helping philanthropy create the conditions for a Minnesota where race no longer determines outcomes or predicts success in key areas of life. Rather than stepping back, this moment calls for courage, clarity, connection, and collective action.  

We at MCF believe the Principles for Philanthropy that our community of grantmakers have embraced continue to provide the right framework for ethical, effective, and equitable work—even as external circumstances evolve.  

We are responding to current challenges in three concrete ways:

Connect – We are creating spaces for members to connect, to learn, and to strategize together through Peer Networks, Issue Briefings, Workshops, and the People of Color and LGBTQ+ Community of Practice.  

Strengthen – We are equipping our members with just-in-time resources and information about current conditions and impacts to inform action through our Resource Hub and Issue Briefings. Additionally, we’re providing leadership development and tools for rural-urban bridging and to address the narrative that conflates race with risk and limits access to capital through our new DEI Experiential Leadership Lab.

Mobilize – We are organizing collective support to meet state and sector-focused legal needs through the Minnesota Legal Fund and legal trainings. We’re also mobilizing our public voice, philanthropic resources, and cross-sector partnerships to advocate for the charitable sector and our core democratic systems through our Policy & Advocacy work, the Minnesota Census and Democracy Partnership, and Press Forward Minnesota.

The path forward isn’t retreat—it’s renewed purpose. We invite you to join us in:

• Using your individual, foundation and collective voice to amplify our shared vision for sector-wide solidarity and courage
• Supporting your grantee partners by reducing grantee burdens and increasing available grant dollars
• Participating in our upcoming peer convenings and DEI Experiential Leadership Lab to connect, to learn and to co-discover new possibilities for action  
• Contributing to the Minnesota Legal Fund to help us reach our $3+ million goal for legal resources to shore up state and sector-wide support. We’ve already secured $1.2 million and are working to raise the remaining dollars by the end of June.

Stronger together. We are at our best when we lean into our agency as Minnesota’s philanthropic community to care for one another, to learn and to solve problems collectively.

In the past weeks, MCF members have announced plans for increased payout, issued public statements on DEI, sector solidarity, and reiterated commitments to grantee partners. We have heard many stories of Minnesota grantmakers providing additional capacity support, grant extensions and flexibility, and additional resources. Behind the scenes, many are quietly organizing to prepare the coalitions and commitments needed to respond to the funding cuts and investigations of nonprofits and foundations that are coming.  

While Minnesota grantmakers have nowhere near sufficient resources to fill all the gaps and harms created by the new federal administration, Minnesota grantmakers are committed to making a meaningful difference and finding creative ways to support nonprofits and the communities they serve. Together, we can navigate these challenging times by finding unity in the Principles for Philanthropy and reinforcing our shared commitment to help create a Minnesota where opportunities exist for everyone, and race no longer determines outcomes or predicts success in key areas of life.  

The Minnesota Council on Foundations is committed to playing our part — connecting, strengthening, and mobilizing the power of Minnesota philanthropy to meet this moment.