Nonprofit Mission Award for
Innovation
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Nonprofit
Mission Award for Innovation Criteria:
This award recognizes creative applications and
nontraditional approaches to solving community challenges.
Nominated nonprofit innovations should:
- Have
taken place within the past 12-18 months;
- Bring creative
solutions to community challenges;
- Employ a variety
of strategies in developing these solutions; and
- Collaborate with
other nonprofit organizations, businesses and
governmental agencies in their efforts.
This award is intended
to honor true innovation in the work of a nonprofit.
This award is not intended to recognize overall
organizational achievements.
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Finalists
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Read
more about the finalists:
GIVEMN, St. Paul
GiveMN has employed two main strategies
to support their vision of hosting the most dynamic giving
marketplace
in the country. Their first strategy is to build capacity
of nonprofits by raising money more efficiently and effectively.
Second, they strive to facilitate the growth of giving
through donor education and engaging nonprofits. As the
first-ever U.S. giving site focused specifically on nonprofits
in a single state, GiveMN’s launch through The Minnesota
Community Foundation in November of 2009 has connected
the philanthropic community and created new ways for the
nonprofit and philanthropic sectors to work together.
By creating a website that is both engaging
and easy to use, GiveMN has provided new tools for nonprofits
to fundraise effectively through the web. As a result,
it has become evident that donors are now looking online
as one of many ways of donating to nonprofits. Searchable
by not only nonprofit names, but specific causes as well,
donors have the ability to demand more engagement and
interaction with receiving organizations.
GiveMN continues to create and strategize
new ways the nonprofit and for-profit sector can work
together. They have partnered with the Bremer Foundation
to do a matching promotion for youth serving organizations,
and have joined with the Secretary of State’s office
to recruit volunteers to serve as election judges while
encouraging these volunteers to donate their stipend to
the nonprofit of their choice. One of GiveMN’s more
recognizable giving promotions was their annual Give to
the Max Day where they generated $14 million in donations
for nonprofits and engaged nearly 40,000 donors in this
one-day event.
 Results
for this new e-philanthropy tool can also be seen in the
benefits GiveMN has in place for both nonprofits and their
donors. Nonprofits
of all sizes now have a place to get in front of thousands
of more supporters both already existing and potentially
new. They are also able to reduce fundraising costs and
increase giving by compelling online campaigns that may
engage new and inspire current givers. On the other end,
donors also hold benefits through GiveMN’s online
platform. They can access information in an easy-to use
way, receiving information on nonprofit causes both locally
and nationally. Donors can also become more organized,
by recording their donations both online and offline.
In just six months, GiveMN as a fundraising tool has resulted
in $16 million in donations to 4000 nonprofits in Minnesota.
By harnessing the power of social media,
GiveMN has been able to support and encourage person and
peer-inspired giving while also providing an infrastructure
for innovative institutional giving strategies and promotions.
More importantly, GiveMN has motivated organizations throughout
Minnesota to try new ways of fundraising and has expanded
the legacy of generosity and culture of giving that has
been so unique in the state. With over 45,000 donors engaged,
GiveMN vision to host the most dynamic giving marketplace
continues.
Visit
GiveMN: www.givemn.org
NORTHERN
DENTAL ACCESS CENTER, Bemidji, MN
A
lack of dental access for vulnerable rural citizens throughout
the state has created shared frustration among local agencies,
employees, dentists and educators alike. By channeling
this frustration, a groundswell of passion and commitment
for critically needed dental care has emerged, resulting
in the Northern Dental Access Center. Northern Dental
Access Center has carried and maintained the community’s
dream to provide a non-competitive, nonprofit dental service
for low-income, uninsured rural Minnesotans.
Northern
Dental Access Center opened in January of 2009, after
seven years of planning. Through volunteer and contract
requests from dentists around the state, they have been
able to schedule 15 dentists that assure continuity of
care. Its target patient base includes those enrolled
in Minnesota Health Care Programs such as Medical Assistance
or MinnesotaCare. With 4,000 people that now have a dental
home and with 5,000 anticipated with 2010, Northern Dental
Access Center has been able to provide care to those in
rural Minnesota in need and without local access.
Located
in Bemidji, NDAC serves people in surrounding counties
by offering care that does not stop at fillings and root
canals. By training staff to recognize symptoms that go
beyond oral health, patient advocates work to address
concerns of assault, neglect, and mental health vulnerabilities.
This practice has ultimately helped NDAC provide their
patients with the care they need in the most pain free
way possible.
Through
multiple partnerships, Northern Dental Access Center treats
more than mouths by attending to families facing multiple
challenges. With Beltrami County public health nurses
on-site, child and teens can receive medical exams and
immunizations. Beltrami Family Service Collaborative also
provides mental health screenings for young children and
provides referrals to community mental health services.
Furthermore, Community Resource Connections provides satellite
insurance counseling and Central Minnesota Pediatric Dentists
are on-site to provide pre and post operative visits for
children in need of surgical dental care. Overall, dozens
of foundation, corporate giving and state programs have
invested more than $1 million in the successful start
of the Northern Dental Access Center.
Visit
Northern Dental Access Center: www.northerndentalacces.org
VEGA
PRODUCTIONS, INC., Owatonna, MN
With
a mission to rebuild, revitalize and enhance curriculum
for students in Minnesota public schools, Vega Productions,
Inc. has developed a goal to provide equal opportunities
in the experience of music and art education. Its large
scale music festivals, concerts, events, instrumental
drives, and CDs act as a grassroots effort to combat budget
cuts to our school districts. The net-proceeds generated
from these programs and products are used to rebuild music
and art programs in the neediest schools throughout the
state of Minnesota. Moreover, the majority of the artists
and musicians who perform at Vega’s charitable events
are born- or based-Minnesotans furthering a sense of community.
  
Vega
Productions’ supporters, artists and musicians all
take pride in knowing that their participation and attendance
in a Vega concert or CD help to provide music and art
to students who would otherwise go without. Minnesota
artists find that by participating in the organization’s
events, it helps pave the way for future artists and ensures
that a school environment will foster grown and creativity.
Vega
Productions has also implemented a number of self-sustaining
revenue generating activities that help them obtain their
mission. One well known collaboration was the production
of the Minnesota Beatle Project series of albums which
features Minnesota-born and based musicians performing
original compositions of their favorite Beatles’
song. All net proceeds are placed in a grant fund that
any public school can apply to and the grant process is
overseen by Vega project partners: Minnesota Music Educators
of Minnesota and Art Educators Minnesota. Additionally,
Vega Productions also offers the Minnesota Beatle Project
CDs to schools and booster clubs to sell as a fundraiser.
Founded
on the idea of social entrepreneurship, Vega Productions
believes the goal of providing quality music and art education
to all students can be achieved through active participation,
not just through traditional forms of fundraising and
solicitation of donations. In the past 12-18 months, Vega
has donated over $100,000 worth of instruments and has
helped rebuild music and art programs in 14 schools throughout
Minnesota. It has also been able to financially support
Minnesota artists and musicians while exposing Minnesota
citizens to the wide variety of music and visual arts
these performers have to offer. Vega’s activities
also provide revenue to many local businesses who work
within the arts industry, such as recording studios, production
facilities, music venues, records stores, etc.
Visit
Vega Productions: www.vegaproductions.org
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