Nonprofit Innovations

This page contains a list of Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations that have produced, awarded, or promote innovations in Minnesota.

Academia

• Community Vitality Leadership(www.extension.umn.edu/community/leaders.html) Academic Program: Community Vitality and Public Engagement, U. of M. Extension Program provides direction to regional educators as they develop, design, deliver and evaluateleadership and civic engagement programming across the state.
• University of Minnesota, Local Government Innovation(www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/pnlc/lgi.html) The Local Government Innovation Awards program recognized outstanding cities, counties, and schools in Minnesota that demonstrate results in improving local services. The Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota partnered with the Association of MN Counties (AMC), the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC), and the MN School Boards Association (MSBA) to conduct the 2010–11 Local Government Innovation Awards. The Public Strategies Group and Ehlers provided financial support for the awards.

Articles

• Top marks for MN in elderly care(www.startribune.com/lifestyle/wellness/129424928.html) Star Tribune 9/8/11
  

Citizen Participation

• Citizens League(www.citizensleague.org/) Citizens League: CitiZing Social Networking Platform to encourage average citizens in sharing, developing and prioritizing ideas.

Foundations Top

• Initiative Foundation(www.ifound.org/) Strengthens local and regional economies by investing financial and human capital in community-focused businesses and the organizations that support them.
• Northland Foundation(www.northlandfdn.org/) Is a resource for people, businesses, and communities in Northeast Minnesota working toward prosperity through economic and social justice.
• Northwest Minnesota Foundation(www.nwmf.org/) Invests resources, creates opportunities, and promotes philanthropy and is proactive in seeking out innovation to make the region a better place to live and work.
• Southwest Initiative Foundation(www.swifoundation.org/) A catalyst, facilitating opportunities for economic and social growth by developing and challenging leaders to build on the region’s assets.
• The Minnesota Initiative Foundations(www.mcknight.org/greater mn/index.aspx) Consists of independent, nonprofit philanthropic organizations created by The McKnight Foundation in 1986—work to make the six regions outside the metropolitan area stronger and more prosperous.

History

Issue/Trend Analysis

National Resouces Top

• The National Performance Management Advisory Commission(www.pmcommission.org/) The National Performance Management Advisory Commission has released its final report titled: A Performance Management Framework for State and Local Government: From Measurement and Reporting and Management and Improving.

Partnerships Top

• Statewide Effort to Result in Precise Projections of Minnesota’s Workforce Needs(www.mnscu.edu/media/newsreleases/current/article.php5?id=255)Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU), the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced today a joint “Workforce Assessment” initiative to address the state’s growing skills gap.

Performance Management Top

Programs/Projects/Initiatives Top

• Bush Foundation InCommons(www.incommons.org/) InCommons is a community-based initiative to connect people face-to-face and online to share credible tools, knowledge and resources to solve community problems.
• Education Evolving(www.educationevolving.org) Education Evolving E|E works to convince people that the effort to improve American education should focus on motivating students and teachers, by creating radically different ways for young people to learn and for teachers to work.
• Growth & Justice(www.growthandjustice.org/) Growth and Justice combines independent, fact-based research with community engagement — involving people who share progressive economic goals but may disagree on tactics. This work creates innovative, strategic policy proposals that we communicate broadly.
• MAP for nonprofits(www.mapfornonprofits.org) Map for Nonprofits helps Twin Cities nonprofit organizations lead, strategize, govern and operate effectively and provides leadership for the effective management of the sector.
• MicroGrants(microgrants.net/) MicroGrants connects the affluent with the low-income by providing a monetary grant to low-income individuals of potential in helping them become self-sufficient.
• Minncan(www.minncan.org) The Minnesota Campaign for Achievement Now (MinnCAN) runs results-oriented advocacy campaigns through research and policy, communication and mobilization and advocacy for policy change.
• Minnesota Council of Nonprofits(www.minnesotanonprofits.org/) Provides resources, training, and information to help nonprofits do their jobs better. 2011 Innovation Award given out by Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.
• Minnesota Waste Wise(www.mnwastewise.org/) Delivers strategic environmental consulting to help businesses save money through waste reduction, resource conservation and energy efficiency.
• The Public Strategies Group(www.psg.us) Public Strategies Group fundamentally designs new ways of serving the public that are more effective and less costly. PSG helps clear the financial and bureaucratic barriers to change so that leaders can fully invest their resources and their people in meeting citizens' needs.
• United Front(unitedfrontmn.org) A United Way campaign to promote collective solutions (collective impact models) to the Twin Cities’ most pressing problems. Goal is to create efficiencies and coordination among non profit agencies so they can best support Twin Cities residents buffeted by growing poverty and the economic downturn.
• West Central Initiative(www.wcif.org/) Encouraging business and employment opportunities and providing training and support to workers and their families.

Reports Top