It underwrote AIDS prevention in the 1980s when many funders were still leery, launched provocative ad campaigns to foster awareness of discrimination in the 1990s, raised seed money for the now-vibrant Minnesota Women's Foundation, and poured about $850 million into the Minneapolis area over the years.
Now the Minneapolis Foundation is celebrating its 100th anniversary, marking its place in history as one of the world's oldest community foundations.
On Monday, the foundation kicked off the first of several events scheduled to showcase its support for anti-poverty initiatives, the arts, health care and more. Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges was on hand at a news conference to declare "Minneapolis Foundation Century Day," speaking alongside an art project commissioned in the IDS Center courtyard depicting the Minneapolis of the future.
"To give you an idea of how far we've come in 100 years, I'd like to share these numbers," said Sandra Vargas, foundation CEO. "During the foundation's first year of operation, we distributed $25,000 in grants — a stark contrast from last year's $47 million."
In 1915, a group of five Twin Cities businessmen came up with an idea to support their fast-growing city.
Why not encourage its wealthier residents to donate to a community fund that would pool the cash, invest it, and give some of its earnings to improve Minneapolis?
The concept of a "community foundation" was new. The first one had been launched in Cincinnati a year earlier.
Minneapolis joined the fledgling philanthropic movement, which has grown to more than 1,800 community foundations across the globe.