Last Monday Leah and I presented a session on community engagement at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits’ Leadership Conference. MNCN was very successful at putting together this extremely well-attended event aimed at bringing tools and training on Network Leadership - Connecting Individuals, Organizations and Communities to nonprofit leaders.

After visiting with our session participants I saw a great deal of enthusiasm around acting upon lessons learned that day coupled with a concern for how they could fund the changes that would help them to improve their outreach. This reminded me of that long-standing need for grants for capacity building and organizational effectiveness. I decided the best funder to highlight is one that has been an institution in Saint Paul and who really seems to know what the non-profits need to keep progressing with their missions.

Today’s Pick: The Otto Bremer Foundation founded in 1944 has a great interest in allowing all people opportunities to participate within their communities for the improvement of those communities. The Foundation has a number of funding categories but the area I am focusing on today is their Organizational Effectiveness Program (OEP). The Foundation accepts proposals for Organizational Effectiveness throughout the year and funds the following:

• Assessment and self-assessment tools
• Board development/governance
• Long-term strategic planning
• Human resources, including staff training and development; volunteer support and retention;
• and/or personal sytems development
• Financial planning and management of financial/accounting systems
• Organizational restructuring
• Program evaluation/measuring results
• Utilization of technology (Does not include the purchase of computers and related hardware or software.)

Proposals may be in the format of your choice. The amount to request is also open keeping in mind The Otto Bremer Foundation prefers making a number of smaller grants. More details on what to include in your application can be found on the OEP page of their website.