Mortenson Family Foundation is guided by its mission to build partnerships to strengthen community-driven approaches that advance equity, opportunity, and sustainable systems. In this time of change and uncertainty, we’ve heard the magnitude of concerns and challenges from our grant partners, and in response, plan to hold steady in our work. This means for this year, our grant programs will hold application processes in the ways we communicated they would, our grant guidelines will remain the same, and our grant partners programming will continue to be enhanced based on the feedback we have received.
As the world continues to evolve, we recognize that we also need to be responsive to our grant partners and our community in relevant ways. The Foundation team has been tracking information, talking to partners, and collaborating with peers to understand how to best support our partners and communities above and beyond our regular commitments. Our focus is on being responsive to urgent issues in the short term and strategic in addressing long term issues that impact the wellbeing of our environment and our shared communities.
We encourage you to check out these resources on how to navigate uncertainty, shared by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, and this tracker updated by the National Council of Nonprofits to stay informed on the latest executive orders.
Throughout history, many of our communities have been dehumanized in the name of greed and power and yet here we are, still standing. Our ancestors have prepared us for these challenges, our communities are resilient, and we are not alone. Still, this work is hard. We need to remind each other to take deep collective breaths, take care of ourselves and each other, and create space for rest and joy. This is how we can recharge and let all of the emergent strategies unfold as we collectively work towards a world in which our human rights are not violated and our humanity is not questioned. We’re in this together, and it will take all of us to build a more equitable and just world.
