This spring marks five years since the Phillips Family Foundation made one of the most significant transitions in our 82-year history.
In 2021, we entered into a strategic operating partnership with the Minneapolis Foundation, setting a few important goals as we did so.
What we’ve built together over the past five years has exceeded all of those objectives.
Like many independent foundations facing generational and geographic changes, ours was contemplating the challenges of sustaining our family’s engagement and deepening our impact in North Minneapolis, the community we primarily serve.
Recognizing the opportunity to streamline administration, increase efficiencies, and direct more of our resources to community grantmaking, we elected to partner with an organization whose scale, resources, and deep expertise across grantmaking, communications, finance, and strategic planning would be the envy of any philanthropic enterprise.
Five years since partnering with the Minneapolis Foundation, those early hopes and expectations have been realized – and then some.
The tangible benefits of our partnership span a wide spectrum. Our grantees now use a more user-friendly application system. Compliance, oversight, and meeting structures have improved. With strong guidance from senior staff at the Minneapolis Foundation, we completed the $10 million restoration of the 927 Broadway building that serves as our headquarters. Today, our foundation operates better than ever for both trustees and our community.
1Much of this is what we anticipated. But the depth of the partnership in the details, the strategies, and – most of all – the relationships, has been the most pleasant and transformative surprise.
We knew the Minneapolis Foundation was an effective community convener. We didn’t expect that when their team helped us host a celebration for a new scholarship program, it would include not only thoughtful planning and beautiful presentation, but also personal touches like incredible homemade cakes made by a member of their staff. That spirit – professional excellence paired with genuine care – has defined this partnership and thrilled our stakeholders.
We also expected strong financial stewardship. While we continue to work with our longtime independent asset manager, having the Minneapolis Foundation’s finance leaders at the table has strengthened our oversight. Their deep expertise, collaborative spirit, and comparative insights from across the field of philanthropy have enhanced – not replaced – our existing relationships.
Photos courtesy of Cookie Cart and Juxtapositions Arts
Most important, our shared commitment to strengthening this community has deepened and expanded our work, while allowing us to embrace new ideas and perspectives.
Education is an area in which we have found particularly powerful and complementary alignment. While the Minneapolis Foundation invests heavily in schools themselves, Phillips supports the ecosystem of nonprofits that surround students with after-school programs, mentorship programming, and other critical support. Different lanes, same direction.
The Minneapolis Foundation is also an unparalleled ally in times of crisis. During and since Operation Metro Surge, both foundations mobilized quickly to support affected families and businesses. Because of our close relationship, we were able to act quickly and in concert, leveraging each other’s knowledge and connections. When the ICE surge began, the Phillips Family Foundation made several emergency grants to local organizations we have supported for years – and offered counsel to the Minneapolis Foundation’s team as they distributed resources on the Northside. We were also early supporters of the Economic Response Fund, which the Minneapolis Foundation launched to muster support for small businesses.
That is what partnership looks like at its best.
Dean Phillips, Lester Royal (Tri Construction), Calvin Littlejohn (Tri Construction), and family at the grand opening of the 927 Building in October, 2022.
From the very beginning, our board has focused on honoring the legacy of our founders, Jay and Rose Phillips, preserving our independence, and investing in the communities that have shaped six generations of our family. Collaborating with the Minneapolis Foundation has allowed us to amplify this work in meaningful and innovative ways while preserving our philanthropic traditions.
It also reflects our family’s entrepreneurial spirit. From Phillips Distilling and Belvedere and Prairie Vodka to Talenti Gelato, our family’s businesses have always been built on forward thinking, using the lessons of the past as a foundation for creating products for the future. We bring that same mindset to our philanthropy. The foundation my great-grandparents started in 1944 was far simpler and smaller than the one that exists today. What began as a charitable checkbook for Jay and Rose Phillips had evolved by the 1990s into a staffed, independent organization that was taking on much more complex challenges.
Our decision five years ago to partner with the exceptional professionals at the Minneapolis Foundation has realized our hopes for greater efficiency and deeper impact. We are grateful to them and excited for the future of our community and this remarkable collaboration. Onward!
Dean Phillips is Board Co-Chair of the Jay & Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota.
