Dear Grantee Partners,
COVID-19 has quickly upended our world. The disruptions to school, work, business, and daily life that we are all now experiencing are unprecedented and their duration is unknown. But this pandemic has not ended our work, and we hope that it will not stop the essential efforts of you, our grantee partners. To this end, The Foundation wants to offer as much flexibility and support to our grantees as we can.
Here is the commitment of The Jay & Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota to you, our grantee partners:
- We encourage you to use awarded Foundation funds to meet the pressing needs of your organization and its constituents, regardless of whether this aligns with your original proposal or grant agreement.
- We are open to shortening or lengthening grant periods of existing grants based on your needs. If shortened, this would give you the chance to utilize grant funds more quickly than anticipated and reapply for continued support from us. If the grant period is lengthened, you would have more time to accomplish the work originally funded by the Foundation.
- We can change the payment schedule for a current, multiyear grant or can expedite a payment if that would be helpful. We will consider these requests on a case by case basis.
- We are ready to support grantees in ways that go beyond our grants. Can we pre-purchase goods or services from your organization? Can we help amplify your communications and fundraising efforts? Can we help with advocacy efforts? If there are other ways we can be helpful, please ask.
Within the next week, staff will be in touch with all current grantees to understand how COVID-19 has impacted your organization and those you support. We look forward to learning from you and commit to working our hardest to help you during these challenging days. If you’d like to proactively connect, please send an email to your program officer and we’ll connect as quickly as we can. Although we are working remotely, we are still available to you in any way that we can.
Finally, we want to recognize that the challenges created by COVID-19 only highlight the many, ongoing injustices that so many of you have been fighting for years. Many of the folks in our community do not have access to the very tools that allow for safety and care during an outbreak such as this. They lack basic health care, access to paid sick and leave time, and the financial resources to shelter in place. These injustices cannot go unnoticed. At the Foundation, we are committed to joining the conversations and movements that change these systems so that all members of our community have equitable access to the resources they need to live healthy and prosperous lives.
Stay safe, take care of yourselves, and keep pushing forward.
Patrick Troska, 612-623-1655, ptroska@phillipsfamil1.wpenginepowered.com
Joel Luedtke, 612-623-1651, jluedtke@phillipsfamil1.wpenginepowered.com
Tracy Lamparty, 612-623-1656, tlamparty@phillipsfamil1.wpenginepowered.com
Coco, 612-623, 1652, ecoco@phillipsfamil1.wpenginepowered.com
