Philanthropy : Featured Stories

An aggressive, and unconventional, marketing campaign to keep people coming to Central Corridor businesses during light rail construction in 2011 appears to have paid off in less business decline than expected--and a mood of cautious optimism about the future.

In a season of economic gloom and doom, the veteran business developer and partner in the CoCo coworking spaces sees a hopeful future in the bright eyes and collaborative ethics of young entrepreneurs.

"Coopetition"--cooperation among competitors or potential competitors--was a force to be reckoned with in the Twin Cities during 2011. Our politics may be gridlocked in partisanship, but the smartest entrepreneurs and civic officials locally are embracing a wider vision than the zero-sum game.

What's the purpose of meetings, meetups, networking? New ideas, new opportunities, certainly. But for Craig and Patricia Neal, face-to-face gatherings can have a deeper purpose: the transformation of consciousness and, ultimately, of the way we live and do business. Their Heartland company was founded to prove the point.

With no agenda, no speaker list, and a very relaxed schedule, Minnesota's first City Camp "unconference" brought geeks and government-heads together for a radically democratic exploration of how we might design Democracy 2.0.

Tough times and public deficits are forcing nonprofits to step up to the plate in new ways. At Social Venture Partners' national convention in Minneapolis, two keynoters let our reporter in on some of the things that smart do-gooders are learning from the pinstripe crowd.

The budget debate and state government shutdown have underlined Minnesota's needs and the difficulties of meeting them. Tristan Pollock, a young social entrepreneur and writer, visits the Engaged Philanthropy Conference and suggests what the philanthropic community needs to do in these tough days.

On The Line's first birthday, managing editor Jon Spayde takes a moment to reflect on what he's learned about his adopted hometowns in a year. Like the amazing depth of our talent pool, the spirit behind our entrepreneurial energy, and our shyness about self-promotion.

Poet, musician, diversity consultant, and reality-show star Mohammed Bilal rapped about the "real world" of race when he keynoted an awards ceremony in Saint Paul last week. The talk was about justice, and the awards went to five Minnesotans who have worked hard--and hopefully--for it in our community.

When disaster strikes and people want to help, there are always some big questions: will all of my donated money get where it's needed, or be eaten up by administrative costs? And will it really do any good? For the Twin Cities-based volunteers of Headwaters Relief, these questions are easy to answer: Headwaters has no employees and its administrative services are donated. And Headwaters volunteers travel to the disaster zones to deliver relief supplies personally and give hands-on help. Which means hard work, some danger, and a great deal of hope.

The commons is a concept that you may be hearing a lot more about in the coming months and years. According to urbanist and journalist Jay Walljasper, who's just published a new book on the subject, the commons is everything we share--from public parks to ideas, urban gathering spaces to the internet, jokes and games to the oceans. And "commons-based solutions" to our political and social problems look past the I-me-mine of the privatized perspective toward the common good, in everything from small neighborhood improvements to social policy. Walljasper sees commons-based thinking as a way past many of our current left-right dilemmas--and he thinks the Twin Cities have a head start in that direction.

A survey by the Knight Foundation and Gallup found that cities do better economically when the people in them want to stay in them.It also found that Twin Citians are held here by many things, including our arts and cultural amenities, our parks and recreational advantages, and our improving transit picture. With a new year has come a new political climate, and fiscal challenges continue at all levels of government. What does this mean for our likelihood of holding on to the things that keep people loving the Cities? Holly Dolezalek asked some experts.

Plenty of companies in the Twin Cities and around the country want to do good as well as make a buck. In order to make that easier in a time of shrinking resources, new forms of corporate structure are evolving, including the L3C--the low-profit limited liability company. At least one Twin Cities company has opted for that new status, and others are looking into it and other ways to combine the best of the for-profit and nonprofit worlds. But there are those who wonder of  these highly experimental new structures are anything more than good PR.

 What's the special sauce that makes so many bright people who come here stay here--and a lot people who go away, come back? (And what do we need to make that sauce even richer?) Some local creative types weigh in.