Welcome to the MCF Online Resource Library

Get philanthropy insights, learn best practices and research documents that help you further your impact. Begin your search by typing a keyword in the "Search" bar below, or search by "Resource Type" by selecting the section(s) in the right-hand panel. Next, scroll to the bottom of the page to view search results. Have a resource to add? Email us at info@mcf.org.
 

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Aligning Banking and Organizational Values

Published: 
November 2021
During MCF’s fall 2021 Impact Investing Network meeting, members discussed aligning banking practices with organizational values. Aligning values could include choosing a bank based on the diversity of its ownership or leadership, on the geographic area where the bank focuses its investments, on the locations of the bank branches, or various other factors. Network members discussed two ways to align banking and values: (1) use values-based criteria to select a new bank or (2) actively express your values to your current bank in order to inform institutional change. Attached are two sample...

Principles for Philanthropy: Introductory Presentation

Published: 
October 2021
MCF offers this PowerPoint deck as a tool for educating your colleagues, staff, board or community members about the Principles for Philanthropy. Ideas for using this PowerPoint deck: Use the whole deck to introduce all of the principles at a staff or board meeting. Focus on one slide – one of the 8 principles – for 15 minutes at the start of a meeting. Use the questions at the end of the deck to engage your team in discussing one principle – or the entire set of principles: What principles / concepts resonate most with your foundation? What principles / concepts do you think will feel...

Corporate Benchmarking Survey Fall 2021

Published: 
October 2021
In October 2021, MCF conducted a survey of corporate community affairs programs and corporate foundations. The survey questions are posed by your peers - professionals working in Minnesota's corporate giving programs. The survey responses are meant to inform your work and the work of your corporate giving peers. Questions in this survey focus on a wide range of issues including overall giving structure, the relationship between corporate giving and DEI, foundation governance, employee volunteer programs and program forecasts for the near future.

Compensation Benchmarking Resources from Nonprofit Sources

Published: 
September 2021
The following resources provide compensation benchmarking, often for both salaries and benefits, for various nonprofit staff positions. Each resource fills a unique niche that may help you set competitive wages and benefits for your organization’s team. Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, Salary and Benefits Survey : The survey gives a page-by-page review of the top 77 jobs in nonprofit organizations. The report presents the results by 6 budget categories, 7 geographic regions, and 12 activity areas so you can compare your organization's compensation to similar organizations...
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Resource type 
BenchmarksHuman Resources

Trust in Civil Society

Published: 
July 2021
Public trust is the currency of the nonprofit sector. The public’s belief that nonprofits will “do the right thing” is one of the central reasons the sector exists. Communities have relied upon nonprofits to provide trusted sources of information, life-sustaining services, environmental stewardship, and places of refuge for centuries. In today’s highly polarized environment, understanding and managing trust has never been more important for organizations to own their license to operate, lead, and succeed. Given the outsized importance of trust, it is imperative to assess the status of that...
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Resource type 
Public Policy

Power Moves: Your Essential Philanthropy Assessment Guide for Equity and Justice

Taking time out for self-assessment and learning is an important part of the organizational cycle of planning, action and reflection. It helps ensure that your strategies make sense given your goals, and that those strategies are having the impact you seek for the communities you care about. Other factors may prompt introspection, such as internal leadership changes or external events. The philanthropic sector’s growing urgency to tackle inequities also offers strong motivation to take stock. Today, it is still all too easy to predict advantage or disadvantage based on race, ethnicity, gender...
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Resource type 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Financial Due Diligence: Assessing Risk for Your Next Program Related Investment

Published: 
May 2021
View a video of an educational workshop (recorded May 3, 2021) on the ins and outs of financial due diligence. This video takes away the mystery of conducting due diligence. Aspects of the session describe due diligence of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs); and the principles of due diligence can be applied more broadly, as well. Presenters and facilitators: Paige Chapel, President & CEO, Aeris Susan Hammel, Impact Investing Executive in Residence, Minnesota Council on Foundations Eric Muschler, Program Officer, McKnight Foundation Jeff Ochs, President & CEO, Venn...
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Resource type 
Impact Investing

Shifting the Evaluation Paradigm: The Equitable Evaluation Framework

Published: 
April 2021
The Equitable Evaluation Initiative (EEI) believes that evaluation has the ability to contribute to equity and that it must embrace definitions of rigor and validity that reflect the complexity of the work in which many are engaged. We are imagining what might be possible if evaluation were conceptualized, implemented and utilized in a manner in which equity is core and validity reflects 21st-century contexts and identities. The Equitable Evaluation Framework™ (EEF) is co-crafted and co-led by partners in philanthropy, evaluation and nonprofits, and it facilitates ways to engage institutions...

2020 State of Philanthropy Tech: A Survey of Foundations in North America

Published: 
October 2020
In August 2020, the Technology Association of Grantmakers (TAG) conducted a survey to better understand the technology environment, practices, and perceptions of TAG members and their peers throughout North America. This year’s survey builds on past surveys, which explored IT tools; management; security; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); integration between IT and program teams; and how many IT staff/consultants are typically employed at foundations. TAG has also added questions about COVID-19 and how emerging societal challenges are affecting how foundations are supporting grantees and...
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Resource type 
Communications

Talent Justice Toolkit

The resources in the Talent Justice Toolkit can be used by nonprofits and funders to increase their investments in talent justice at all stages of the nonprofit career lifecycle. This toolkit presents easy-to-use resources to help nonprofits and funders take action to advance talent justice. The tools can be used by both nonprofits and funders to increase their investments in talent justice at all stages of the nonprofit career lifecycle. The toolkit outlines specific strategies for investing in talent and advancing workforce equity to help nonprofit organizations and funders do the following...
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Resource type 
Human Resources

Getting to the Heart of Community: Creating a Culturally Responsive Evaluation Framework

Published: 
February 2020
Evaluation is about documenting a legacy that perpetuates generations from now and the intent of this report is to present a process for communities or organizations wanting to design an evaluation framework that prioritizes their own values and objectives. The steps within this report are not intended to fit all communities or organizations, but to illustrate how one community did it (and are still doing it). Ultimately, this is both a celebration of how the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project reclaims evaluation methodologies and a specific case to share knowledge. The third part of this report...
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Resource type 
Evaluation

Mastering Foundation Law: The Council on Foundations Compendium of Legal Resources

The Council on Foundations's Compendium of Legal Resources is a comprehensive guide to foundation law for the non-lawyer. It is easy to use, self-directed, and regularly updated. The Council developed the Compendium in direct response to requests from our members to publish new legal desktop guides. Rather than update old materials that could quickly turn into unusable books on a shelf whenever the law was changed, the Council created a series of chapters covering various legal topics that can be acccessed electronically.
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Resource type 
Finance and Legal

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