Learning Journey

After adopting a new strategic direction at the end of 2020, the Foundation selected facilitator and “Catalyst in Chief,” Amy Batiste and her team at Creative Catalysts as our trusted guides for learning and exploring the new direction. The Foundation’s goal was to “learn” into the new strategic approach by identifying and engaging with two Learning Partners. MN 350 was selected as the non-profit Learning Partner from the Twin Cities. Because of its significant work on the Wind River Indian Reservation, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition (GYC) was selected as the non-profit Learning Partner from the Lander, WY area. The Learning Partners in turn identified several Community Leaders to join the dialogue. All Partners and Leaders were selected for their deep working knowledge and lived experience in the areas of racial equity and climate change/environmental work. 

We hope that insights gained from this process will be deeply grounded in the stories and perspectives shared by those Partners and Leaders who engaged with us in an open, facilitated conversation. Through these insights, we hope to become a more respectful and responsive philanthropic partner and advocate, ‘disrupting’ our previous assumptions about how philanthropy operates. We hope to apply these insights as we re-evaluate our grantmaking and investment strategies for the next decade.

We thank all of those that engaged with us in this journey.