Minneapolis media arts nonprofit Pollen Midwest to close

Pollen Midwest, a Minneapolis media arts nonprofit well-known for hosting events and providing content and design work to help other nonprofits tell their stories, is closing after 14 years.

The organization announced the decision this week on its website, saying it will wind down operations this spring.

Melanie Walby, Pollen’s creative director, said the closure is due to financial difficulties. The organization started as a resource for nonprofit employees to find jobs, and became a convener with panels on topics such as racial justice. It had invested in growing its staff to meet the demand for its storytelling and design services.

But revenue didn’t keep pace, she said.

“We needed more people but when we brought in more people, there wasn’t enough revenue to cover payroll,” Walby said. “It’s really hard and it’s really sad, and it’s a huge loss. But it’s also full of gratitude for what it was.”

Pollen was formed in 2009 following the Great Recession as an e-mail newsletter with job postings by Lars Leafblad, who later co-founded the St. Paul-based executive search firm Ballinger Leafblad. In 2018, Pollen launched its creative agency, Pollen Studio. Walby said the organization was an advocate for artists and writers who were hired to do design, illustration and writing work.

“There’s a lot of artists in this community who had a lot of work through Pollen,” she said. “It’s kind of been this catalyst for people’s careers.”

While Pollen was a small nonprofit, with only a dozen employees and annual revenue of about $1 million, it was well-known for its job board, community events and storytelling. It was also seen as a leader in modeling new ways of doing business, Leafblad said, like paying artists for their work before that was commonplace.

Pollen offered its employees progressive benefits, including closing the office for extra time off for the whole staff and half-day Fridays during the summer. It advocated for salary transparency, requiring postings on its job board to list pay as part of a broader movement toward equity.

Pollen’s community events, which also drew revenue, shifted to virtual platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought in less revenue and became more difficult to fundraise on, said board chair Lolyann Gochicoa.

Pollen shifted from relying on grants and events for most of its revenue to client work, but as a result it took longer to bring back in-person events, Walby said.

“It takes time to shift when you have changed the business model,” she added.

The nonprofit, which recorded deficits in 2021 and 2022 according to its tax filings, launched a fundraising campaign in 2023 to raise $50,000. In the last year, it implemented several layoffs and reduced the staff from a dozen employees to one: Walby, who worked there for more than six years.

Along with the COVID revenue challenges, the organization received fewer foundation grants in recent years and struggled after its longtime executive director Jamie Millard, one of its founders, left in 2022, Gochicoa said.

“It was a perfect storm of all things happening all at once,” she said. “We’ve had a good run to try to stay afloat.”

Millard said the closure was “heartbreaking,” but added: “Sometimes there’s a false perception that organizations need to last forever, and I’m really proud of them for knowing that it was time for Pollen to not keep spinning its wheels.”

Gochicoa said Pollen’s closing leaves a void in the nonprofit sector of connecting the community through events. “I don’t think there are other organizations that feed the soul the way that Pollen does,” she added.

Walby said she hoped Pollen’s collaboration with so many artists, writers and nonprofit leaders over the years will inspire them to make its work to live on.

“There are a lot of people in community who will continue this type of work moving forward,” she said. “Pollen has really spread and grown.”