Who Will Fund the Local Foods Movement How Minnesota's Foundations Helped Build Our Local Food Syste

1
Who Will Fund the Local Foods Movement? How
Minnesota's Foundations Helped Build Our Local
Food System and What the Future May Hold

• Margaret Adamek, PhD
• UMN Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships
• February 5, 2009

2
Study Partners

• Alida Sorenson, RSDP Intern CFANS senior,
  nutrition major
• Denise Gamble, MA, Director of Staff Education
  and Development, University of Minnesota Library
  System
• Margaret Adamek, PhD, Research Fellow, UMN
  Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships

3
What is movement like now and what are the needs?

• Develop strong, regional supply chains
• Aggregation, post-harvest handling, distribution,
  fair prices
• More farmers/more farmland
• Increase consumer demand supply
• More market opportunities
• Locally grown served in schools, foodservices,
  and retail
• Capacity building/leadership development

4
BIG questions.

• What is the role of foundations in building local
  food systems in Minnesota in coming years?
• How can foundations individually and
  collectively - be more strategic and intentional
  about their impacts on Minnesotas local food
  systems?

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Research questions

• To what extent do the grants given by foundations
  for local foods-related work match the stated,
  long-term impacts desired by communities?
• Is there a balance in investment between rural
  and urban communities?
• Which types of programs receive funding and from
  whom?

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Study Goals

• Interpret past and present foundation priorities
  around local foods through patterns of
  investments
• Determine if these investments meet current and
  future needs associated with developing local
  food systems
• Identify emerging aggregate patterns across
  philanthropic sector
• Clarify the dimensions of Minnesotas local foods
  movement through keyword development (e.g.
  sustainable agriculture, small farmers,
  education, community gardens, farmers markets,
  indigenous food systems)

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Project Methodology

• Research by Triangulation
• MCF database searches
• Annual reports 990s via Guidestar
• Website database searches
• Emails/Phone calls to grantmakers, grantees to
  confirm and piece together greater detail
• Keyword development
• Database development from the above
• Spreadsheet analysis of key questions

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What are total dollars funded in recent years for
local foods-related work?
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Top Local Foods Funders
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How many grants are awarded with an urban focus?
A rural focus?
258 total grants
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What is the total dollars funded for urban and
rural local foods efforts?
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Top 25 Local Foods Grantees
1999 - 2006
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Top 12 Local Foods Grantees
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KEYWORDS
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Top 10 priorities by Foundations

• Cultural diversity
• Entrepreneurship
• Community gardens
• Farmers markets
• Youth development
• Sustainable farming practices
• Native foods
• Food bank/hunger/fresh produce
• Education farmer/grower/children
• Marketing

Multiple priorities for a given grant
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Top 10 priorities by Foundations

• Cultural diversity
• Entrepreneurship
• Community gardens
• Farmers markets
• Youth development
• Sustainable farming practices
• Native foods
• Food bank/hunger/fresh produce
• Education farmer/grower/children
• Marketing

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Top 10 priorities by Foundations

• Cultural diversity
• Entrepreneurship
• Community gardens
• Farmers markets
• Youth development
• Sustainable farming practices
• Native foods
• Food bank/hunger/fresh produce
• Education farmer/grower/children
• Marketing

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Top 10 priorities by Foundations

• Cultural diversity
• Entrepreneurship
• Community gardens
• Farmers markets
• Youth development
• Sustainable farming practices
• Native foods
• Food bank/hunger/fresh produce
• Education farmer/grower/children
• Marketing

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Top issues funded in urban areas
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Top issues funded in rural areas
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Of Interest

• Many small grants in Twin Cities are either not
  sought, not awarded, or not accessible to rural
  Minnesota
• Largest number of native foods grants are to Twin
  Cities-based organizations
• Very few native foods funding beyond White Earth
  Reservation in rural communities

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Of interest

• Worker rights issues are not designated as
  agriculture in MN Council on Foundations dbase,
  therefore not included
• Very few animal agriculture grants made that are
  filed as agriculture in dbase. Very few
  non-University animal agriculture grants
• Some grants that support work related to the Farm
  Bill or clean water are not shown due to
  organizational request

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Of interest

• 4 grants for distribution in 6 years
• 1 grant for food processing in 6 years
• Of the MANY entrepreneurship grants awarded, the
  vast majority were given to
• White Earth Land Recovery Project (rural)
• Youth gardening/entrepreneurship programs (urban)
• Just a few awarded to MN Project and LSP for
  farmer-related entrepreneurship

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Conclusions

• Cultural capital work has been important to
  foundations
• Youth development/addressing nature deficit
  disorder for urban kids a priority
• Hunger is related to local agriculture worker
  rights is not
• Animal agriculture is not on the radar screen of
  foundations
• No significant investment on processing, storage
  and distribution

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Conclusions

• Small organizations with strong grantsmanship are
  awarded numerous grants
• A primary role of foundations in the local foods
  movement is to address the interface between
  cultural diversity and food/agriculture
• Most infrastructure improvements are funded by
  out of state funders

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Conclusions

• Two NGO organizations serve the primary role of
  building infrastructure
• Two NGO organizations address farmland
  conservation, new farmer training, and
  distribution
• Serious underinvestment in infrastructure
  development who will fill the gap, particularly
  now that the Bush Foundation will not support it?

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Changes Over Time

• General, steady significant increase in
  investment across foundations and in overall
  total dollars
• Significant decrease in support due to change in
  Bush and Kellogg Foundation priorities

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What is movement like now and what are the needs?

• Develop strong, regional supply chains
• Aggregation, post-harvest handling, distribution,
  fair prices
• More farmers/more farmland
• Increase consumer demand supply
• More market opportunities
• Locally grown served in schools, foodservices,
  and retail
• Capacity building/leadership development

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Study Outcomes

• Share results with Minnesota foundations and
  encourage strategic, collaborative thinking
  around local food systems within philanthropic
  community
• Share results with local foods advocacy
  organizations

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Project Challenges

• Fear of grantees sharing data about their grant
  sources
• Some local foods-supportive grants dont want to
  be defined as local foods
• Land Stewardship Project Farm Bill work
• McKnight Foundation grants for clean water