What We Heard From You: 2024 Member Survey

This April, MCF staff conducted an all-member survey to learn what’s on your mind about MCF and philanthropy in Minnesota. We asked you to share your thoughts about our programs and services as well as the state of philanthropy in Minnesota.

Thanks to everyone who shared insights. Your responses have given MCF staff lots to consider as we create new programs, carry out current strategies, and imagine what’s next for MCF in the future.

Here are highlights of what we heard from MCF members:

1. You value opportunities to gather and learn with peers. The three most-valued programs and services were:
   • Member briefings and issue-focused webinars
   • Trainings and workshops
   • Peer networks and network meetings

We heard that you want even more opportunities to connect with peers working in the same roles, in the same foundation-types, and in the same issue areas. As one of you wrote, “Help keep us grounded in our local peer community.”

1. You want MCF to be a leader. Among the most important things you’d like MCF to do in the next three years: influence the philanthropic sector to work toward greater community engagement, increased power sharing, higher standards for professionalism, and more values-based strategies focused on DEI and the Principles for Philanthropy. One respondent wants MCF to “push foundations to be more inclusive in their giving and investment practices.”
2. You want to see more collaborations and connections. You named the value of working with other grantmakers on joint strategies, public policy goals, and collaborative funding. You also highlighted a desire to work better with nonprofits and government agencies. One of you said, “Continue to be an educator, connector, and spokes-organization between and among different segments of the Minnesota community – foundations, nonprofits, government funders, NGOs, folks with a variety of different lived experiences, urban and rural. The more we are all in dialogue, the more we can understand and have empathy for each other.”
3. You think of MCF as a connector. Among all the words you could choose to describe MCF, your most popular choice was connector/connection. The second most popular choice was a three-way tie between: helpful, resource, and valuable.

MCF staff have named over a dozen individual member suggestions that we will start to implement, continue to explore, and begin to change. These actions range from considering how we engage Greater Minnesota and how we plan network meetings to expanding our outreach around the Common Grant and expanding our efforts to communicate with you, our members. 

If you have questions about our member survey results, please reach out to Paul Masiarchin, Vice President for Member Services, pmasiarchin@mcf.org. Thank you.