President Jerry Faletti called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. Ed Coleman led the members in singing “God Bless America” with Doug Hartford at the ivories. Special note: Dr. Bob Jones has donated his keyboard for the club to use now that the hotel has given up their piano. Those looking to build their resume in piano moving (60 lb only!) are asked to help move the keyboard to and from meeting locations within the hotel.
Jon Cieslak offered an inspirational minute (timed to the second!)
Bo Aylin introduced visiting Rotarians and guests.
Thanks to our today’s greeters: Linda Mulhern and Scott Van, and today’s scribe, Michael-jon Pease.
Susan O’Neil, St. Paul Fire Foundation, will be Thursday’s Fellowship speaker at the Boy Scout Office.
Please note these upcoming dates: The “Old Timer’s Dinner” (for those in Rotary 20+ years) will be Aug 23 and the Past President’s Dinner will be Sept 13. More information is available on our website.
Elyssa Weber, who declined the agenda’s suggested promotion to the US Dept of Education, introduced new member Dr. Meagan Johansen (all are encouraged to call her Meg despite what her nametag says). Meg is a licensed psychologist in private practice working in forensic psychology. Although born in Minneapolis, she and her husband Kaj (pronounced “Kai” for all you non-Danes), love the capital city and make their home in Saint Paul (insert widespread cheers). In addition to outdoor adventures, backpacking and archeology, her hobbies include croquet. She currently serves with club member Michael-jon Pease on the Varsity Blues Croquet team of the University Club of Saint Paul and is captain of the 1006 Society team (the 1006 Society supports the preservation of the Governor’s Mansion).
Linda Mulhern introduced outbound youth exchange student Violet Baker, headed to Nagasaki this week for our 43rd year of youth exchange with our sister city and sister Rotary Club. Violet lives in Minneapolis and goes to the lake every day with her dogs Asterix and Appollo (Greek history, anyone?). Born in Alaska, Violet has lived in several US states and loves travel. She volunteers for environmental causes and will carry our club banners proudly to clubs in Japan.
Jay Pfaender promoted next week’s program: Steve Osman speaking on Fort Snelling’s Civil War history and his new book, which will be available for sale and signature.
Ed Coleman encouraged all to attend Rotary night at the Lynx next Tuesday, with music and pre-party at Wilde Thymes across from Park Square Theatre.
Valdi Stefanson gave a shout out for our next generation of Rotarians, our vibrant Rotaract Clubs. Twin Cities Rotaract raised $3,000. With our club as official sponsor, they were able to secure an additional $2,131 in order to purchase 854 books that will be distributed to seven neighborhood sites in the Northside Achievement Zone. These materials will help educate 325 young scholars from local families!
The David Fesler Award for volunteer leadership in Saint Paul was presented by BJ Fesler, Jerry Miegs, Nancy McKillips and Jay Pfaender to a surprised and honored Valdi Stefanson. The award presents a $1,000 Paul Harris fellowship in the recipient’s name. BJ spoke about how her late husband David was “born, bred and breathed” Saint Paul. His daily two mile walks (even in record snowstorms, during which he stopped to help the public works department) are more than matched by Valdi’s one way drive of 30 miles to attend our club from Stacy, MN.
Program: The Role of Foundations in Creating Communities
Nancy Brady introduced today’s speaker, Dr. Eric Jolly, President of MN Philanthropy Partners and former CEO of the Science Museum.
Dr. Jolly opened with the traditional greeting for youth from his native Cherokee culture. The phrase means “Hello, are you full of joy?” Upon receiving a less than enthusiastic answer, it is the adult questioners job to help that youth find a moment of joy. This outlook defines Dr. Jolly’s work as a professional nonprofit leader and the work of foundations such as those under the MN Philanthropy Partners umbrella (The St Paul Foundation, the MN Foundation, the F.R. Bigelow Foundation, the Mardag Foundation, 1,700 individual donor advised funds and 17 community endowments).
MN Philanthropy Partners is also home to GiveMN, the “most annoying day in email” that helps raise $20 million for Minnesota charities in just one day. That amount is equal to 40% of the combined operating budgets of the small and mid-sized organizations who participate (with budgets from $500k to $1m).
Asking New Questions
In addition to asking grant applicants who benefits from their work and the projected impact/outcomes, MN Philanthropy Partners now asks “who informs the work (sets the agenda)?” and “who forms the work (decides the method or approach)? These questions are vital to advancing the Foundation’s goals for advancing equity and building a healthy community. One powerful example is the statewide reading test administered for local fourth graders but developed by someone from outside the community who did not understand that we are home to the world’s largest Hmong population. A standard multiple choice question asks students to choose the word that is a “real word” versus a nonsense syllable. Currently, all of the non-English syllables are actually words in the Hmong language!
The Role of MN Philanthropy Partners
Dr. Jolly defined the collective role of the foundations in several ways:
- To build coalitions.
- To both “plant seeds” and “prepare the soil” for community development and change
- To invest in the agencies and projects that move the community toward foundation goals.
A great example of long term coalition building was MPP’s work on the Green Line Coalition. By bringing together stakeholders across the community, light rail was installed to University Avenue and 99% of the small family owned businesses open before the four years of construction were still open upon its completion. In addition to nonprofit grants, MPP also offered loans and training, helping small businesses create 300 new jobs.
In response to the community unrest after the shooting of Philando Castile, MPP helped train members of the Black Lives Matter movement in best practices for political organizing and peaceful protest (“planting seeds”) and worked with law enforcement on managing expectations and safety (“preparing the soil”).
After a brief Q&A, President Faletti adjourned the meeting with a recitation of the Four Way Test.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael-jon Pease