Overview

Philanthropedia is currently partnering with Minnesota Philanthropy Partners to conduct research to identify expert-recommended high-impact nonprofits that increase access to healthy food in Minnesota, in hopes of raising more awareness on this topic.

Did you know that two-thirds of the nation is overweight or obese? Supporting healthier eating habits and educating families and individuals about nutritious food choices are key components to fighting the obesity epidemic.

Scope of Research

In preparation for this research, we spoke with ten experts to better understand the issue area of access to healthy food in Minnesota. Their insights have helped define the scope of this research. (Thank you to those of you who offered your time and expertise!)

For this research, we are asking experts to recommend up to four nonprofits doing high-impact work across the state of Minnesota, and up to two start-up nonprofits that have the potential to do high-impact work.

In particular we are asking experts to recommend nonprofits that are:

1. Working in the emergency food system
2. Addressing geographic access problems
3. Engaging in the agricultural policy system
4. Working with school food programs
5. Supporting farmers markets

1.    Emergency food system

The emergency food system is an established system in which the government, corporations and other donors provide monetary or food donations to food banks. The donated food or purchased food then gets distributed to the food shelves, food pantries, and organizations with meal programs.

One of the largest factors that limit the emergency food system from providing food to people in need is the lack of capacity of food shelves and other partner organizations to house the food stuffs. This particularly affects fresh produce donations because their shelf lives aren’t as long as dry goods. Another issue these organizations confront is to what extent they provide ethnically specific food. Minnesota is home to large populations of Somalis, East Africans, Southeast Asians, Latinos and Eastern Europeans. Providing food that is a part of a family’s traditional diet is not only culturally sensitive, but it can reduce the amount of wasted food that comes from giving families foods with which they are unfamiliar. Food shelves and food pantries often try to provide ethnically specific food, but they must balance the desire to accommodate ethnic palettes with the increased cost of stocking such items. Recently, there has also been a growing demand for healthier food options within the emergency food system. However, food distributors often struggle to meet this demand because they are often unable to control the type of food that is donated.

2.    Geographic access

For many years, low-income urban and rural communities have faced limited opportunities to purchase healthy food. The term food desert is often used to describe areas with severely limited access to grocery stores and healthy food options. For example, some residents on reservations in Northern Minnesota live almost an hour round trip from the nearest grocery store. Often, residents in these areas rely on expensive, fatty, processed foods sold at convenience/corner stores. At times, these corner grocery stores buy produce directly from the closest available large grocery store. As a result, the cost of produce at these convenience stores is highly prohibitive and the supply is low. One means of addressing this problem is by providing corner stores access to lower cost produce in order to increase their healthy food supply. City planning can also help low income communities gain access to healthy, affordable food in the long term.

3.    Reforming the agriculture system

It is important to understand the significant role that food and agricultural policy play in ensuring access to healthy food; in many ways policy drives nutrition.  For example, federal policies heavily subsidize corn and soy production. As a result, a large majority of food in the U.S. is a by-product of corn and soy (e.g. high fructose corn syrup).  Whereas, the production of fresh fruits and vegetables and food production on small family farms get very little institutional support.

Those supporting access to healthy food work to increase support for a variety of produce items as well as advocate on behalf of local, family farms.  Without these smaller farms, healthy produce would be severely limited. Types of support for local farms might include technical support, raising awareness of what subsidies are available, and also helping farmers advocate for themselves.

4.    School food programs

Schools are both one of the largest institutions that distribute food and a great place to educate about healthy eating habits. As a result, the “farm to school” movement developed to help schools purchase fresh produce from local farmers. Additionally, several organizations have developed programs to educate students about healthy eating so children can learn new habits and also potentially influence their parents’ eating habits.

5.    Farmers markets

Minnesota has a vibrant farmer’s market community which can be a great source of healthy, fresh food. However, most vendors at these markets aren’t equipped to accept food stamps. Therefore, to align incentives, there is a new effort underway to help vendors be able to accept and process food stamps. These markets play an important part in supporting local farmers and in making healthy food an affordable option.

Additional Research Details

In addition to the five areas outlined above, we are encouraging experts to consider the following types of organizations when making their recommendations:

• Food banks, food shelves/food pantries, meal programs
• Research organizations
• Policy and advocacy organizations
• Nutrition education organizations

Participation in the Research

Therefore, if you are a nonprofit expert working in the field of access to healthy food in Minnesota, you should have received an email from us with a link to our survey. The survey will be open until mid-March, 2012. We hope you will share your perspective and insights! If for some reason we have missed you and you think you have a valuable perspective to offer, please contact Jasmine Marrow at jasmine.marrow@guidestar.org, and we would love to send the survey to you to include your insights.

Additionally, we invite your feedback and thoughts about how you might frame this type of work. For those readers less familiar with this topic, we hope you learned something new and will check in again when we have the results of this research. Thank you all for your participation!

Overview

As part of Philanthropedia’s custom research partnership with Minnesota Philanthropy Partners, we are working to identify expert-recommended high-impact nonprofits that increase access to arts and culture in Minnesota.

Minnesota has a diverse arts eco-system. The state has numerous community arts organizations and large arts institutes, as well as an established system of 11 regional arts councils to help make the arts more reflective of their communities.

Minnesota is a pioneer state in providing funding to the arts sector. In 2008, Minnesota voters passed the Legacy Amendment. The Amendment increases sales tax by three-eighths of one percent to distribute to four funds, including the Arts and Cultural Fund (ACHF)which receives 19.75% of overall Legacy funding.

Despite Minnesota’s demonstrated commitment to the arts and the existing arts infrastructure, many groups are still under-represented in the arts. Organizations across Minnesota are working to address those disparities and MN Partners has asked Philanthropedia to help identify nonprofits having the greatest impact in the field.

Scope of Research

In order to prepare for this research, we spoke with ten experts from key organizations working in the issue area of access to arts and culture in Minnesota. Their insights have helped define the scope of this research. (Thank you to those of you who offered your time and expertise!)

For this research, we are asking experts to recommend up to four nonprofits doing high-impact work across the state of Minnesota, and up to two start-up nonprofits that have the potential to do high-impact work.

In particular we are asking experts to recommend nonprofits that are:

1. 1. Increasing arts and culture opportunities for populations who don’t have access to the arts
2. 2. Directly supporting artists
3. 3. Supporting under-resourced types of arts
4. 4. Providing opportunities for non-arts people to participate in the arts

1.    Increasing arts and culture opportunities for populations who don’t have access to the arts

The populations least represented in the arts in Minnesota include communities of color, low-income communities, rural communities, immigrant and refugee communities, and people with disabilities. In Minnesota, the largest communities of color are the African American community, the Asian American community, the Native American community and the Latino community. Minnesota is also home to the largest Somali population in the United States[1] and the largest Hmong community in the world outside of Asia[2]. Unique, yet smaller immigrant communities in Minnesota include the largest group of Oromo – an ethnic group from Ethiopia – outside of that country, the second largest group of Tibetans in the U.S., and a concentration of West African refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone.

While definable barriers such as cost and geographic isolation inhibit access, there are also physiological barriers that keep under-represented communities away from arts opportunities. For example, some individuals may not feel comfortable in arts settings because the work presented is not culturally relevant to them.  In instances like this, lowering some of the more tangible barriers may not result in increasing representation.  Hence, it is important to make the arts accessible in all stages of the process including curation, creation, funding, and evaluation. An example of this kind of inclusion would be if an organization were to develop a performance about traditional Asian narratives written, directed by and featuring Asian Americans.

2.    Directly supporting artists

Traditionally, it has been difficult for artists to earn a living wage for their craft, which can reduce the quantity and quality of art being produced. For this reason, it is important to directly support artists. The McKnight Foundation, a major funder in the arts and culture sphere, has recently shifted toward this strategy to fulfill its mission. Examples of support for artists include paying artists for their work, providing technical assistance to artists as small business owners, and helping communities understand artists’ value and identifying opportunities to collaborate. Therefore, part of this movement is to frame artists as individuals with unique, critical perspectives that can be useful in many facets of community life.

3.    Supporting under-resourced types of arts

Within the arts community, some types of artistic expression are often overlooked. For example community arts or less popular arts disciplines such as political theater, performance art, electronic arts, and video art are often overlooked for funding. Therefore, we decided to include “providing support for under-resourced arts disciplines” as part of our research.

4.    Providing opportunities for non-arts people to participate in the arts

The art world can be intimidating and, at times, exclusive. Many community members may feel that the arts are only accessible to artists or people with a specific arts talent. The experts with whom we spoke believe there is value in connecting people of all skill levels to the arts. And in fact, there is a growing movement to remove this particular stigma from this sector. One example of how one might invite widespread participation is to host a production in which all people who are interested are invited to be part of the show. Another example is to engage individuals as decision makers, empowering audiences and board members to choose what works they would like to see.

Additional Research Details

In addition to the four areas outlined above, we are encouraging experts to consider the following types of organizations when making their recommendations:

• Traditional arts and culture organizations: theatre, dance, music, visual arts, television, media, and film organizations
• Funders: organizations that fund nonprofit organizations or artists themselves
• Policy and advocacy organizations: groups that organize people to support arts in the public policy space
• Non-arts nonprofits: social service organizations that have an arts component but aren’t primarily arts organizations
• Units of community education: schools or organizations that teach arts

Additionally, experts are encouraged to consider the following kinds of arts disciplines:

• Design and architecture
• Literary arts (comics, literature, poetry)
• Media arts (Film/Video, new media, interactive computer based virtual art)
• Performing arts (dance, opera, theatre)
• Visual arts (ceramics, design, fashion, multi-media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, 3D, 2D, fiber arts)
• Music (blues, classical, country, electronic, folk, hip hop, international, jazz, rock/pop)

Learn more about arts, culture and access in Minnesota:

The Legacy Amendment

In 2011, Minnesota Philanthropy Partners commissioned Philanthropedia to conduct custom research to identify expert-recommended high-impact nonprofits in Minnesota focused on the environment and workforce development. The results for the environment research were published in November 2011 in their flagship publication, MNSights, and MN Partners will be featuring the workforce development results in the spring issue of MNSights (April 2012).

We are pleased to announce that we are partnering with MN Partners once again to identify expert-recommended high-impact nonprofits working in Minnesota. In this round of research, we will explore two new issue areas: access to healthy food and access to arts and culture.

Our custom research program gives community foundations, like MN Partners, and other organizations the opportunity to uncover nonprofits in their community making a significant impact on the issues local community members care about. Philanthropedia’s high quality research can be shared with donors to encourage them to fund the organizations doing the most outstanding work in their community.

If you’re interested in learning more, please contact Jasmine Marrow, at jasmine.marrow@guidestar.org or 650-200-3705.

February 2, 2012 is my last day with Philanthropedia (at GuideStar). I will be leaving my position as Manager of Philanthropedia Research and return home to Hong Kong (where I grew up) to spend time with my parents and then work in the microfinance sector in China.

I have been with Philanthropedia since the idea of crowd-sourcing expert opinions to identify top nonprofits started. We were all still in school at that time and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience post-graduation. The process of getting incorporated, getting funding and backing from the Hewlett Foundation, proving our methodology, getting thousands of experts to participate in our research, and finally being acquired by the nonprofit data-provider, GuideStar, has truly been incredible. I am extremely grateful for all the experts who have shared their time and knowledge with me, the interns who have helped us out with our research, and my colleagues who have provided me with the strongest mentorship and support.

My replacement is Jasmine Marrow. She has a masters degree in Public Policy and have previously worked at Great Oakland Public Schools (an education advocacy nonprofit), and San Francisco Parks Trust (an urban greening nonprofit). I am confident she will continue with the high quality research Philanthropedia has delivered and continue to expand into more issue areas.

Thank you for everyone who I’ve interviewed, spoke, or worked with. It really has been a pleasure!

All the best,

Dawn

Of course, there are more than just 8 organizations making a major impact on International Water, Sanitation and Hygiene issues. Here is some more information about the great work and impact top expert-identified nonprofits #9-16 are making.

#9 Water.org

Most experts mention one of Water.org’s strengths is their micro-finance program, Water Credit. Water Credit  allows households to obtain loans for water and sanitations services that they are willing to pay for, but can’t afford to purchase up front. Their projects are focused on long-term sustainability and are innovative and well researched. They also have a great public presence. Read more about them here.

#10 IDE (International Development Enterprises)

IDE uses technology and business in their development work. They refine a pro-poor technology, develops a market for that technology, supports business development to provide the technology, and then backs out to let the market drive the availability of the technology. Their approach has facilitated led to value chain development that leads to systemic change. In addition, a large number of people are reported to use their product.  Read more about them here.

#11 WASH Advocacy Initiative

WASH Advocacy Initiative came out of Water Advocates, which was an organization established for the years 2005-2010 to advocate with the U.S. government on behalf of robust commitment to and funding for global water, sanitation and hygiene programs in countries of greatest need. Water Advocates ceased to exist in Dec 31, 2011, and a transition organization, WASH Advocacy Initiatives continued on with this work in 2011. Most experts applauded WASH Advocacy Initiative for their strong advocacy work and are actively helping to change policy. One expert even cited that they are the only independent NGO that is dedicated solely to advocacy on behalf of WASH. They have an excellent reputation among WASH professionals. They are very open and collaborative with other organizations. They are not dependent on donor decisions and are mission focused. They are ultimately a connector rather than an implemented, and have built a strong network and connections with all the organizations working on water, sanitation, and hygiene globally. Read more about them here.

#12 Plan International

Plan International is extremely active in Community-Led Total Sanitation and have been successful in the sanitation space. Read more about them here.

#13 Save the Children

Most experts mentioned that Save the Children is a large, well established organization. Their main target is to serve vulnerable children, and their WASH programs at schools have been great.  Read more about them here.

#14 World Vision International

Experts mention that World Vision International has a high presence and impact in Africa. They have large-scale projects that reach the poorest of the poor and impacts many communities. Read more about them here.

#15 Practical Action

A couple of experts recommended Practical Action because of their strong research ,and publication. They also have a deep commitment to working in partnership with local organizations and building local capacity to ensure sustainability of programs.  Read more about them here.

And there’s so much more! View our entire list of expert-identified nonprofits for International Water, Sanitation & Hygiene here: http://www.myphilanthropedia.org/top-nonprofits/international/water-sanitation-hygiene and dig deeper to review what experts had to say about each organization. These organizations are doing important work in the field of International Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, so please consider donating to them to show your support. You can feel confident that your donation is going to support an outstanding group of nonprofits making a real impact on International Water, Sanitation & Hygiene.

Today we honor the #1 expert-identified nonprofit for International Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, WaterAid. They do excellent work on advocacy to create systemic change in the Water/Sanitation/hygiene sectors at the national levels in multiple countries. Read an example here:

Forty year old mother of six Suzanna Tuwan lives in Takkas, in Nigeria’s mountainous Plateau state.  WaterAid and local partner organization COWAN have helped her community to dig a well fitted with a handpump, construct latrines and learn about good hygiene.

Previously, Suzanna and the other women of Takkas had to collect water from a river nearly an hour’s walk away. In the dry season, they would have to dig into the riverbed to find water.  Between water collection and caring for children frequently sick with diarrhea, life was tough.

Suzanna appreciates WaterAid’s approach of providing water, sanitation and hygiene, as she described:

“Before we had the well it used to take at least two hours just to collect water from the river. Now it takes less than 30 minutes to fetch water.”

“Since we received hygiene education I make sure that we always wash our hands before and after we eat and after we defecate. I make sure the children clean themselves properly and that the house and grounds are swept. Before this diarrhea was common with the children, now we almost never see it.”

“With the extra time I have and the money we save now that we are not always having to buy medicine for the children, I felt able to take advantage of a small business loan from COWAN. I used the money to buy cement to start building latrine slabs for people in the village. I built the slab for our own latrine.”

“I would like to see everyone in the village get a latrine, because it is so much better to use a latrine than to go to the bush. That is the main reason I decided to learn to build slabs and get our own latrine – to stop my children using the bush. It is not healthy.”

(Read more here: http://www.wateraidamerica.org/what_we_do/how_we_work/water_sanitation_and_hygiene/default.aspx)

WaterAid effective water and sanitation programs and advocacy has raised awareness among local governments about the importance of clean water and sanitation. They use evidence-based data to guide their work and is a leader in publishing their field research and advocacy papers. They have also helped tens of millions of people gain access to clean water and sanitation facilities. Read more expert reviews here about WaterAid

Our #2 nonprofit, Water for People, They have evidence based programming and long-term engagement with beneficiary populations. Read the following material about their opinions and actions:

Water For People helps people in developing countries improve quality of life by supporting the development of locally sustainable drinking water resources, sanitation facilities, and hygiene education programs.

Around the world, 884 million people do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion are without adequate sanitation facilities. Every day, nearly 6,000 people who share our planet die from water-related illnesses, and the vast majority are children.

But the real failures are all the broken pumps, filled latrines, and solutions that aren’t. We want to change all that. The solution? Programs that last and examine entire districts and regions rather than purely households and villages. Create solutions that last, and not only do people benefit for a long period, but organizations don’t have to expend time and energy going back again and again to the same location.

Our vision is a world where all people have access to safe drinking water and sanitation, a world where no one suffers or dies from a water- or sanitation-related disease. That vision is within reach and we hope you’ll join us.

(Read more here: http://www.waterforpeople.org/about/)

Most experts applaud Water for People’s commitment to sustainability, monitoring and evaluation. WFP have pushed the sector forward on sustainability and evidence over the long term, where many experts have described as lacking in the WASH sector. Many experts specifically mentioned the success of their FLOW project, which is a platform for monitoring ongoing operation of water systems throughout the developing world. Their staff collects data and evaluates their program on a regular basis, and their impact is global, in which they work in multiple countries, often in difficult areas. They are a leading organization in the sector. To learn more about Water for People, read more expert reviews here.

Today we honor the #3 expert-identified nonprofits: UNICEF. The UNICEF network, which not only touches nearly every international NGO working in water, reaches across cumbersome UN agencies, provides emergency aid and knows how to work on the ground within complex political systems. Read the following story as an example of their influences:

BADIN DISTRICT, SINDH, Pakistan (October 8, 2011) — Lado Shero holds her 3-year-old granddaughter Shama tenderly to her body as she sits on the ground in a makeshift roadside shelter in the severely flood-affected Badin District, in southern Sindh Province.

Shama has contracted diarrhea and has been vomiting, said Lado, looking worriedly at her young granddaughter. A relief agency provided medicine for the diarrhea, which is helping, but her family’s situation along with thousands of others remains dire.

Following the Pakistani Government’s recent invite to the UN to provide humanitarian assistance, UNICEF has provided a local drinking water supply for children and their families at the camp. A 1,500 liter water bladder has been set up just down the road, which is filled by water tanker twice daily. The clean water supply will make a positive difference in the health of children at the camp.

(Read more here: http://www.irc.nl/page/45378)

All experts who recommended UNICEF mentioned its global reach and impact. The UNICEF network touches nearly every international NGO working in water. For example they are placing household water treatment as a key strategy for increasing access to safe drinking water–and because of their credibility, other international NGO are including household water treatment in their strategy. Read more expert reviews here about them

Today we honor the #4 expert-identified nonprofits for International Water Sanitation & Hygiene: IRC (International Water and Sanitation Centre). IRC leverages impact through its innovation and action research, which provides clearer insights into the challenges and solutions around sustainable delivery of WASH services. Read the following story about their impacts:

Bridging the knowledge gap for improved water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and joint learning and sharing knowledge on innovative topics by IRC and partners have been the red thread in 40 years of IRC. Together we have influenced sector policy on innovative topics. Combining global and local knowledge and skills since 1968 as a WHO international reference centre we also published thousands of newsletter articles, hundreds of books, manuals and videos. Some of them were translated in local languages for use in local WASH programmes. We assisted more than 50 local partners and international networks develop into autonomous organisations.

In 2007 and 2008 our cost recovery and finance work, our partner network, our knowledge on effective approaches and our web site helped bringing in the largest ever project for IRC and four partners. The 10 million-euro WASHCost action research project started on 1 February 2008 and will finish in 2012. It will collect and collate information relating to the real disaggregated costs in the life-cycle of water, sanitation and hygiene service delivery to poor people in rural and peri-urban areas.

(Read more here: http://www.irc.nl/page/45378)

IRC is innovative in its research and approach. They are focused on sustainability, for example sustainable delivery of WASH services. They are sensitive to local needs, for example their website is highly credible and comprehensive and is catered towards developing countries, and they partner with regional entities to understand local problems. read more expert reviews here about them.

CARE International, ranking #5, has an extensive experience in the wash sector that span over 50 years in Africa, Latin America countries, Asia and Eastern Europe. Read about the ways they used to achieve their goals:

For more than five decades, CARE has recognized the link between poverty and the lack of access to water. The strategic goal of our program is to enhance the livelihood security of poor communities through equitable access, efficient use and sustainable management of limited and dwindling water resources.

Our first water and sanitation project started in 1957. The program has expanded to include health and hygiene education and sanitation through the provision of latrines. Our drinking water, small-scale irrigation, and integrated conservation projects are world renowned. We place great emphasis on people making decisions about their own water and sanitation systems and water management by changing the ways governments do business when it comes to water and sanitation on a local, municipal and state level, particularly for the most vulnerable and marginalized populations.

Impoverished women are disproportionately excluded from decisions regarding water’s allocation and management. CARE provides women with equal decision-making power by including them in discussions on water and sanitation on the local, municipal and state levels. Women have more time for income-generating projects and school when they aren’t spending hours each day hauling water. Access to safe water also results in women spending less time caring for family members who would otherwise fall sick due to unsafe water. Also, improved sanitation can keep a girl in school by making facilities available to her when she reaches puberty.

CARE has 115 projects in 44 countries with water or water-related activities.

(Read more here: http://www.care.org/careswork/whatwedo/health/water.asp)

Many experts mention that CARE has extensive experience in the WASH sector. They draw on their experiences and continuously improve their programs. They have strong programs and evaluation metrics. Their programs are sustainable in which many of their systems are still working after 15+ years. They have strong partnerships with different constituents including universities, nonprofit organizations, and local governments. They are dedicated to serve underserved people, including rural areas, and places that are often dangerous and where the needs are greatest. Experts also applaud their scalable and sustainable model and integrated approach to solving poverty.  Read more reviews from experts here to learn more about CARE International.