RESOURCE Summer 2008

Northwest Minnesota Foundation ~ Developing Community Assets ~ Serving 12 Counties SUMMER 2010

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Number 52

NMF’s 2010 Regional Summit

Leadership GPS: Pathways for Great Leaders Simply put, leadership development is an effort that enhances the learner’s capacity to lead oneself, other individuals, groups and organizations. Every sector needs people with enhanced leadership skills to enable them to perform their leadership roles with greater confidence and effectiveness.

A critical skill for leaders is the ability to manage their own learning. The particular knowledge, skills and abilities that a person needs in order to lead as an individual, in an organization or a community depends on a variety of factors.

That’s why leadership development training programs were the focus of the NMF Regional Summit – Leadership GPS: Pathways for Great Leaders, held on April 27th in Bemidji. The goal was to help participants learn about what is available in Northwest Minnesota to develop great leaders and for successful leaders to share lessons learned.

There could not have been a more inspiring, compassionate and creative way to begin the day than the first keynote, Accelerate to Achievement, presented by Andy Wells, president of Wells Technology in Bemidji.

According to Wells, a leader must foremost have a trustworthy character. Qualities leaders possess include having a hopeful vision and being able to identify not only problems, but their solutions.

One of Wells’ first inventions was sparked by solving the problem of traversing swampland to reach his traps. At the age of 13, Wells fashioned a snowmobile prototype, his “airsled,” from an old airplane engine and discarded car parts. This was the beginning of inventing and innovation that has led to a $58 million industrial-tools manufacturing business. Wells Technology Manufacturing space has grown to 32,000 square feet for producing over 12,000 different types of fasteners.

His company sells industrial products in 54 countries.

While he is a respected businessman, Wells said “money is only worth so much if you don’t use it to

help your community.” He is a leader in his community through his roles on several local and state boards, community councils, economic development efforts, and as a mentor to other entrepreneurs.

Wells created the Wells Academy three years ago.

The nonprofit industrial skills apprentice program has provided job training and employment opportunities for disadvantaged youths.

In 2009, Wells received the “Small Business Person of the Year” award from the Minnesota Small Business Administration and was personally congratulated by President Obama at the White House.

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Eric Bergeson, NMF Board Chair and Andy Wells

A Message from the President Nancy Vyskocil

The Northwest Minnesota Foundation invests resources, creates opportunities and promotes philanthropy to make the region a better place to live and work.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Eric Bergeson Chair Fertile Mark Hewitt Vice-Chair Park Rapids Kim Wilson Secretary Fosston Gary Purath Treasurer Red Lake Falls Terri Anderson Ogema Robert Hager Greenbush Jody Horntvedt Baudette Dean Johnson Mahnomen Roger Malm Hallock Judy Roy Redby Laurie Wilson Crookston

The array of leadership pathways shared by our wonderful speakers at the NMF regional summit reminded me of the importance of values.

Leaders know what they value. The best leaders exhibit their values and their ethics in their leadership style and actions.

Andy Wells talked about the values he learned as a boy that have translated into his success as a leader, mentor, community builder and business executive. He demonstrated how it didn’t matter that he was born and raised in a tiny house on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

His values and work ethic led to his being honored as Small Business Person the Year by the President Obama at the White House.

Dr. Kathleen Annette was taught early on the value of education. At the summit, she said that not going to college wasn’t an option – it wasn’t a matter of IF she would attend college; the only choice her parents gave her was which college she would select. She went on to become the first female Ojibwe physician, and is now a national leader in the Indian Health Service.

Leadership ethics and values should be visible because you live them in your actions every single day. I credit my parents for demonstrating their values and teaching me

priceless leadership lessons.

Like many of you, I heard that any job worth doing is worth doing well. In my Dad’s words, spoken with extreme calm, it doesn’t matter if you run the company or are the guy out front with a sandwich sign, you have the responsibility to do the job to the best of your ability. I watched Dad remain steady and thoughtful no matter what was happening around him, his actions speaking louder than any words.

From my Mother I learned the value of being a servant leader. I watched her serve in the PTA, teach Sunday school, bring food to shut-ins, help elderly neighbors, serve at funerals, and most every other church function.

Mom taught me that responsibility overcomes aptitude, and prayer and preparation will carry you a long way.

There is a heritage of strong values in our region shared by people making a difference is ways large and small. Because of intelligent, hard-working, innovative people who value education and care about each other, we have sent great leaders out in the world. Thanks to all of you living your values and serving in Northwest Minnesota.

Emerging Leadership Program Banquet NMF Board member Jody Horntvedt, NMF President Nancy Vyskocil, along with West Central Initiative President Nancy Straw recently attended the Red River Valley Emerging Leadership Program banquet in Crookston. The recognition banquet carried on the tradition, started by the Red River Valley Winter Shows in 1961, of recognizing rural leaders for contributions to their communities, and providing an opportunity for program alumni from throughout the region to gather to encourage each other.

This event was also an opportunity to make two special announcements. The first announcement, made by Nancy Straw, was a $20,000 gift to the Emerging Leadership Endowment from WCI. This gift is being matched with a $20,000 contribution from the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, which has housed and administered the fund since 1998.

This announcement was followed by a tribute to the program recognizing that the ELP 2

would receive national recognition as a North Central Regional Award winner for Excellence in Community Programming by the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals.

Back row - Jody Horntvedt, Nancy Vyskocil, Nancy Straw, Cindy Bigger Front row: Agazziz Ambassadors for 2009 David and Janet Malone, and for 2010 Shana and Eric Klindt

2010 Regional Summit

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“It was a surprise to get the award from the Minnesota Small Business Administration but also a bigger surprise to be invited to Washington D.C.,” explained Wells. Upon arrival to the White House with small business award winners from different states, Wells was seated in front as a ‘special guest’ – a guest whom President Obama would address in his speech on the “courage and determination and daring” of great leaders, stating: “It’s what led Andy Wells, a member of the Red Lake Ojibwa Tribe to invest $1300 back in 1989 to found Wells Technology, manufacturing industrial tools and fasteners, and creating jobs near reservations in Minnesota, where he lives.”

Left to right: Jim Krile, Jane McKelvy, Okokon Udo, and Jody Hornvedt participated in one of two leadership program panels.

Audience questions were answered by the panelists and stories and examples of training outcomes were shared.

Quality of Place Award

Leadership Progam Panels

Dr. Kathleen Annette

Dr. Kathleen Annette received the Northwest Minnesota Foundation’s Quality of Place Award at the summit. Her stories about her unique journey as a woman who travelled the path from the reservation to becoming the first female Ojibwe physician were humorous and compelling.

In her career in public health for the Indian Health Service, she served as a medical officer at the Leech Lake Service Unit at Cass Lake, Minnesota. She subsequently held various positions of increasing responsibility, including Clinical Director of the Leech Lake Service Unit and Chief Medical Officer for the Bemidji Area of the IHS. Currently, Dr. Annette is the Deputy Director of Field Operations for IHS. In this position, Dr. Annette oversees all 12 IHS Area offices. She also provides operational and management information and expertise for the formulation of policies, goals, and operational strategies in

Jim Krile facilitated the leadership program panels.

Leadership training that is available right here in Northwest Minnesota, designed to build local leaders were spotlighted, representing a range of programs that fit specific needs and builds skills and knowledge.

Panelists that work with the leadership programs were led in discussion by Jim Krile.

The panels included: Malissa Bahr, Blandin Community Leadership Program and Reservation Community Leadership Program; Dave Hengel, Center for Community Stewardship; Jody Horntvedt, Red River Valley Emerging Leadership Program; and, Okokon Udo and Jane McKelvy, NMF LeaderImpact.

The focus was on what leadership pathways their programs prepared individuals for and what each program provided in the way of experiential learning, networking, and ongoing technical assistance, among other content.

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Strong leadership builds capacity within organizations, helps businesses thrive, and increases nonprofit effectiveness.

2010 Regional Summit

“Sometimes it takes a long time to get to your dreams” is a lesson Ann Bancroft likes to share with children.

continent of Antarctica on skis. These are also characteristics of successful leaders use to accomplish other major goals.

And polar explorer Ann Bancroft of Minnesota wants to use her expedition to teach children these lessons, along with technical and scientific curricula.

“Most of what transpires on the ice transpires in the world,” Bancroft said in her keynote address. She presented a dramatic slide show and “some of my thoughts from the top and bottom of the world.”

Bancroft told stories of her many expeditions to places she dreamed of visiting when she was a child. In 1986, she was an elementary school teacher who had the opportunity as the lone woman to join a National Geographic expedition of seven men, assisted by 49 male dogs, on a trip from Canada to the North Pole.

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program and resource allocations that impact on the IHS. When she was offered the promotion to national service, she insisted that she be able to remain in Bemidji and stay connected to her local community.

Upon accepting her award from NMF Board Member Judy Roy, Dr. Annette immediately recognized her staff members in the audience. The thanked them for helping to make her work successful.

Dr. Annette continues to make a difference in Northwest Minnesota through her leadership, caring and commitment to improving the lives and health of the people in the region.

Judy Roy, NMF Board Member presents a plaque and announces $1,000 grant to the Red Lake Boys and Girls Club in recognition of Dr. Annette’s Quality of Place award.

Arctic Explorer and Educator Ann Bancroft

Leadership in Times of Conflict

“It constantly makes you think in creative ways to solve problems,” she said of her experiences trekking across the frozen Arctic Ocean.

They reached the North Pole on May, 1, 1986, after 57 days, and read a statement acknowledging all the people behind the trip that made their success possible. “You never do any feat by yourself,” she said.

In 1992, she led a team of women across Greenland as a training operation for a 1993 attempted crossing of Antarctica. With that goal, Bancroft said she encountered a gender barrier; backers didn’t believe in the women’s ability and failed to fully finance the project, she said. When they reached the South Pole, she had to make the leadership decision on January 14, 1993, to call the continental crossing off and depart with the dream unfulfilled.

“Sometimes it takes a long time to get to your dreams,” she said, another lesson she offers children.

Kristine Paranica, director of the University of North Dakota Conflict Resolution Center talked about how to overcome the challenges of leading when conflicts are an issue in an organization.

Her keynote gave information about learning new or adding skills to work more effectively with conflict at work as a party to conflict, as well as a third-party mediator.

She offered suggestions about how to gain comfort in handling conflict between co-workers, supervisors, and management. Rather than ignore the conflict and hope it goes away, she encouraged participants to learn how to facilitate difficult conversations and work toward understanding and better decisions.

Ann Bancroft: No Horizon Is So Far

Preparation, creativity, perseverance – these are some of the qualities team members must use in big endeavors, such as crossing the

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Capacity Development Initiative Actions Underway The federal Compassion Capital Fund grant, for which the Northwest Minnesota Foundation is serving as intermediary, is providing a variety of benefits to the region.

The project includes a range of technical assistance opportunities along with subawards to Faith Based Organizations and Community Based Organizations.

One facet of the grant involves the efforts of Community Resource Connections (CRC). CRC is a Bemidji-based, nonprofit membership organization that worked with NMF staff to apply to the CCF fund. Using input from area organizations, dedicated CCF grant funds, and the web design expertise of TJ Design Studio, CRC developed a webbased program that is accessible to area organizations and potential volunteers to list

Ruth Sherman, CRC Exec. Director led a training session for the website.

and search available volunteer opportunities.

This program is built into the existing CRC website that supplies a directory of human services, regional transportation options, and (Continued on page 6)

NMF Awards Capacity Development Initiative Program Grants The Northwest Minnesota Foundation’s Capacity Development Initiative, made possible by an award from the Compassion Capital Fund of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, recently awarded 25 subTo Financ ial Stab grants. The complete list can be found on pages 10-11. ility A total of $216,000 was awarded to faith-based and community-based organizations, which collectively serve all twelve counties in the NMF service area.

This funding will help nonprofit and faith-based organizations strengthen their delivery of programs to the region’s unemployed, homeless, lowincome and at-risk youth and adults.

One example is a sub-award made to The Human Achievement Performance Academy (HAPA), Park Rapids, for $14,957.

HAPA is a 501(c)(3) delivering financial counseling and employment education services to underemployed, unemployed adults, financial and credit counseling, life-skills to at-risk, homeless and transitional youth and adults. HAPA serves Hubbard, Becker, Mahnomen and Beltrami Counties and one American Indian reservation.

The organization has created marketing materials to increase the number of clients served; created a revenue development plan using a consultant to increase the ability to identify funding streams and obtain funds; will create and implement a client database system for improved client record keeping system and data sorting system; upgrade to current technology in computers, software and communication systems to increased efficiency with daily operations, report generation, and communications.

Executive Director Tina Peterson said that with the grant funding, HAPA will be able to build capacity to serve clients. “Just updating the database will allow us to better track client needs and successes and a new phone system will enable clients to reach us without a wait or having to leave a message.”

The most exciting opportunity, according to Peterson, is getting their financial literacy curriculum out to more people. “The training we provide can help people achieve financial stability.”

F irst Steps

Real Life Sk

ills For Life’s

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Real People

With the help of funding through the US Department of Health and Human Services, 25 faithbased and communitybased organizations received $216,000 to help build their capacity.

Capacity Development

WantTo Volunteer.org is a new web site designed to allow interested volunteers to search for organizations that need assistance.

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nonprofit events. It is visited by over 2,500 people each month.

Agencies apply for access to the site through CRC. Once an application is complete, organizations are allowed access to the Volunteer Management Website where they can personalize their own volunteer entries. The site has options to enter relevant information, including the title of the volunteer opportunity, how many volunteers are needed, what type of work it involves, training required and any restrictions. The agency’s information can include specific dates for applying and for the time period to be covered. It is simple to edit or add new entries. These details make it easy for people seeking a volunteer opportunity to filter through entries on the site and find the right fit for their particular skills and interests.

The site WantToVolunteer.org is where people seeking opportunities will be directed.

A marketing effort to advertise the site will soon be underway. Notices will be going out to Bemidji State University, high school counselors, State and County Corrections agencies, churches and other places where volunteering is encouraged.

This volunteer management program is 2010 Regional Summit

People who attended the workshop were walked through the steps needed to fill in volunteer opportunities and descriptions for their agencies.

a direct response to the increasing need for volunteer help by organizations across the country. It is intended to help city, nonprofit, faith-based, government, and community based organizations meet growing needs with dwindling resources. The Volunteer Management program will be expanded to other parts of the NMF region in the coming year. This piece of the demonstration project has completed the development phase of this capacity building feature and is now working toward implementation.

A total of $216,000 has been awarded in subawards to 25 FBOs and CBOs from the CCF grant. They are listed in the grants section in this RESOURCE.

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Then she met Liv Arneson, a Norwegian woman who also loved meeting the challenges of polar spaces. In the fall of 2000, they set out from Cape Town, South Africa to try again to cross Antarctica. They were three weeks late into the season because polar storms kept planes from flying. They finally landed and began their trek on skis and with sail kites pulling sleds that weighed twice as much as they did.

They also set strict rules for each other, to stick close together, ski single file and turn back if they didn’t reach the South Pole by a certain date. “The day we arrived at the pole was the day we said was our drop-dead date,” Bancroft said.

When they bested their halfway point, they celebrated with a toast – Arneson with a film canister of Norwegian Aquavit and Bancroft with a shot of Scotch. She offered another life lesson. Because the final goal is so enormous,

it’s important to celebrate the smaller goals along the way.

They felt the exhilaration of closing in on success when they skied down the glacier named for the great leader and polar explorer Ernest Shackleton and saw the tips of the coastal mountains. They accomplished the longest ski trip made by women – 97 days from coast to coast – and remained friends.

Bancroft and Arneson have made subsequent expedition together in 2005 and 2007, and now, they are planning to enlarge their two-woman team. The latest project is to go back to Antarctica in 2011 in 2011 with a team of “six women from six continents on the seventh continent.”

The women will range in age from a 24-year-old to Arnesen, who will be 58 and Bancroft at 55.

Part of this article appeared in The Bemidji Pioneer – used by permission.

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2010 IDEA Winners Announced The IDEA Competition announced its five 2010 winners on Wednesday, May 5 in Bemidji at an awards banquet held on the Bemidji State University campus. The five winners are Insect Inferno, LaValley Industries LLC, Mac-Attatch Inc, sf(x) Engineering Inc, and Trophy Head Shot.

Each winner will receive $10,000 in cash to advance their business idea, plus up to an additional $10,000 of specialized technical assistance.

Insect Inferno, owned by Corey and Sue Westrum, and Jason Van’t Hul, Leonard, MN, is a mobile unit that uses heat to kill insects and their eggs. Originally designed for bedbugs, the unit can be used to eliminate other insects as well. It raises the core temperature of beds, couches, chairs and other household furniture to a temperature that will kill bugs and their eggs—without the use of harmful chemicals and without damaging furniture.

Roger LaValley, Jason LaValley and Karen White, representing sponsor 360 Manufacturing and Applied Engineering Center of Excellence, Bemidji State University.

site liability while increasing efficiency.

Mac-Attatch Inc., owned by Scott Gustafson, McIntosh, MN, has invented a chemical applicator called the Mac-Attach Articulator. They have two models—one that mounts on a three-point hitch and a smaller unit that can be used with an allterrain vehicle. The innovative design allows the unit to be used in between plants as well as in between rows. It can be used with either a pre-emergent sprayer or a postemergent sponge applicator. The units are specially designed for shelterbelt, vineyard,

Insect Inferno (left to right): Sue Westrum, Corey Westrum, Jason Vant Hul, and Nicole Kirchner, representing sponsor Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation

LaValley Industries LLC, owned by Jason and Roger LaValley, Bemidji, MN, has developed and is manufacturing an excavator attachment called the DECKHAND for the pipeline industry. The DECKHAND automates the manipulation of various types of pipe. It allows a single operator to manipulate pipe with total control, thereby minimizing labor and job-

Scott Gustafson, Mac-Attach Inc.

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The five winners of the IDEA competition each received $10,000 in cash to advance their business idea, plus up to an additional $10,000 of specialized technical assistance.

IDEA Winners

“To have winners of this caliber is very rewarding to those of us who have taken this competition from concept to reality.”

Michelle Landsverk, Project Coordinator

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custom growers, and orchard row crop applications. sf(x) Engineering, Inc., owned by Nancy Fisher and Stephen Fisher, Warroad, MN, has designed an innovative play product for children called Highway My-Way. The paper product features realistic-looking asphalt roads, complete with curves, on a self-stick, easy on/easy off paper. The paper roadways can safely be used on a number of surfaces including tables and floors. Each Highway My-Way road is designed to fit two Hot Wheels size cars, side by side.

Trophy Head Shot, owned by Tim Sargent, Ada, MN, is a new product designed for hunters who want an easier way to take a photo of a trophy game animal. The product is ideal for outfitters, guides, and hunters—anyone who wants to take a photo or shoot a video of his/ her trophy to share with clients, friends and family.

Project Coordinator Michelle Landsverk was very pleased with the results of the competition. “To have winners of this caliber is very rewarding to those of us who have

Tim Sargeant, winner for Trophy Head Shot, and Chancellor Dr. Charles Casey, University of Minnesota Crookston

taken this competition from concept to reality,” Landsverk said. “The 2010 competition may be over, but the 2011 competition opens in September of this year. We encourage Northwest Minnesota innovators to consider entering the next round of competition.” For more information, visit the IDEA website: www. ideacompetition.org.

The IDEA Competition is a project of Ingenuity Frontier, a collaboration of partners joined by a common purpose — to grow the economy of Northwest Minnesota by outfitting the next generation of homegrown innovators for success in the global marketplace. IDEA sponsors are Bremer Banks of Crookston and Warren, Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation, the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, University of Minnesota, Crookston, 360º Center for Manufacturing and Applied Engineering Center of Excellence, and the Northwest Regional Small Business Development Center.

IDEA was made possible through a generous grant from the Blandin Foundation.

Nancy Fisher, sf(x) Engineering, Inc., winner for Highway My-Way, and Doug Safar, President Bremer Bank Warren

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Fertile - Beltrami ECI Hosts “Fun”raiser Dance Party

Kids of all ages danced the evening away, getting one step closer to the goal of new playground equipment Play, Dance and Sing was the theme of the Fertile – Beltrami Early Childhood Initiative (ECI) “fun”raiser to earn money for new playground equipment. Over 60 children plus their parents attended the event, held in April. A free-will donation was requested for admission. With DJ equipment generously donated by Derek Halstad, the kids enjoyed about an hour of dancing, wiggling and singing, while the by-standers had fun just watching their children. During all the activity, everyone paused for a break with fruit juice and treats, returning with new energy for the dance floor!

ECI Co-coordinator Cathy Forgit said, “We raised $1,000 from Play, Dance and Sing, which was held at the school. The event had no overhead due to our collaboration with the school, free use of the DJ equipment, and the snacks donated

by ECFE/School Readiness program.”

She added, “A second $1,000 was provided to the project when the donors heard how much had been raised at the event and generously matched the amount.”

The new equipment purchased for the school playground by the ECI is small and appropriate for kids aged 2-5. Now, when parents come with older children there is something for all ages. The new playground will include two toddler swings, two regular swings, two slides and two sets of climbing steps, a Bumble Bee spring rider, a caterpillar climbing sculpture, a tower, and lots of fun activity panels on ground level beneath the structure.

Lin Backstrom, NMF Program Specialist for Early Childhood says that the FertileBeltrami ECI created an event that was successful on many levels. “Young children were provided with fun and appropriate play while their families had an opportunity to relax

and interact,” Backstrom said. “Meanwhile, significant funds were raised for a good project.

It was a great community happening.”

The Fertile – Beltrami ECI is a coalition of people committed to enriching the lives of children in their community aged birth to five.

Our youngest citizens are the future of the community. One dollar spent on quality early education saves taxpayers up to $12 in future services. Involvement with them pays off in lower crime rates, less need for public assistance, better public schools and better lives for families.

Everyone benefits when the youngest citizens thrive – growing into adults who can give back to their communities.

Some of the ECI’s current and future action projects include: Appreciation events for daycare providers, intergenerational events at Fair Meadow Nursing Home, Literacy Night with a character from kids’ favorite PBS cartoons, providing library cards and books to kids through the local library, Super Saturdays filled with art, music and dance, providing books for young children in the clinic waiting rooms, among many others.

Play, Dance and Sing is just one of the ways the Fertile - Beltrami Early Childhood Initiative is working to create a community where all young children can thrive. The volunteers and supporters know that the future of their community depends on it!

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“Young children were provided with fun and appropriate play while their families had an opportunity to relax and interact.”

Lin Backstrom, NMF Program Specialist Early Childhood

Grants Grants Totaling $597,623 were made from March – May 2010 Caring Communities Total: $25,000

Northwoods Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers.................................. $8,811 For NICE at Capacity

Children, Family & Elderly Component funds use interest earnings from their endowments to fund projects, programs, or for scholarships, all supporting the mission of the fund.

Rural Minnesota CEP, Inc......................... $25,000 For Increasing Workplace Skills for At Risk, Disconnected, Disadvantaged, and Disabled Youth

Peacemaker Resources............................. $13,210 For Delivery and Sustainability Development

Community Connections Total: $25,000 Polk County Public Health....................... $25,000 For Northwest Minnesota Health Improvement Program

Red Lake Homeless Shelter...................... $14,054 For Red Lake Homeless Shelter Service Center Servant Hearts........................................... $4,651 For Hospitality Initiative

Community Planning Total: $22,000

Strandquist Area Food Shelf...................... $6,677 For Commercial Refrigerator and Freezer

Headwaters Regional Development Commission....................... $22,000 For Bemidji Institute

Sunrise Center........................................... $3,731 For Technology Equipment

Economic & Community Development

The Evergreen House................................ $14,364 For Essential Technology Upgrade

Training Total: $216,000

United Churches of Akeley and Nevis......... $3,545 For Yes-You Can

Compassion Capital Fund

Bemidji Community Soup Kitchen............. $4,650 For Board Development and Computer

Warren Living at Home/Block Nurse Program........................................... $4,800 For Helping People Live Happier Healthier Lives at Home

Bemidji Food Shelf................................... $13,825 For Infrastructure Upgrade Utilizing Client Track System

White Earth ReservationHuman Service Dept................................ $13,500 For Constituent Service Data Collection System

Boys & Girls Club of the Bemidji Area....... $4,851 For Evaluate, Market, Train Calvary Lutheran Church........................... $8,780 For Gymnasium Improvement and Facility Accessibility

Component funds are established with the Northwest Minnesota Foundation for a specific purpose. A donor or group of donors helps to build a permanent endowment from which interest earning are used to fund projects, programs or activities and/or scholarships that support the mission of the fund. A local fund advisory committee recommends distribution s based on specific purposes and criteria. The NMF board, for purposes of IRS regulation, approves the advisory recommendations for grants, but the component funds are the source of the grant dollars.

Care and Share, Inc.................................... $8,885 For Crookston Emergency Food Shelf Capacity Improvement Community Resource Connections............ $4,655 For Building Capacity Through Partnership Evangelical Covenant Church of Crookston............................................ $12,542 For ECCC/Regional FBO Mental Health Service Capacity Expansion Family Advocacy Center of Northern Minnesota................................. $14,711 For Digital Record System

Component Fund Total: $282,996 Bagley Early Childhood Initiative Fund...... $2,100 For Healthy Children Healthy Families Fair

Grace Lutheran Food Shelf......................... $2,354 For Inventory Optimization Project

Bemidji Area Arts Endowment & Project Fund (6 grants) .......................... $2,459 For Spoken Word Series, First City of Arts Studio Cruise 2010, Multi-Harpsichord Concerto, Linda Chatterton Performance and Presentation, A Weekend with Billy Collins, Kevin Kling Performance

Hope House............................................... $7,520 For Improving Communications Human Achievement & Performance Academy.......................... $14,957 For Strengthening Organizational Infrastructure

Everett Wilimek Endowment for Orchestral String Studies................................ $250

Kinship of Park Rapids............................. $10,190 For Kinship Technology Upgrade

H.B. and Ina T. Roholt Family Fund for the Arts................................................... $841

Mahnomen County DAC............................. $2,500 For Computer Magic Touch

Richard and Pam Nelson Family Fund for the Visual Arts.......................................... $500

Naytahwaush Community Foundation........ $7,650 For Computer Supplies for Technology Lab

Bemidji Area Early Childhood Initiative Fund............................................ $1,300

Northwoods Habitat for Humanity........... $10,587 For ADA Requirement Compliance

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Scholarship Funds Total: $14,775

Bemidji Area Parks and Trails Fund Bemidji Community Biomes Outdoor Classroom Fund ....................................... $3,500

For Bioretention Engineering/Design

Bemidji Lumberjack Foundation Fund General Scholarship Fund (3)....................... $4,250 John F. Breen Scholarship Fund....................... $750

Bemidji Lumberjack Foundation Fund

Blackduck Area Community Fund Academic and Character Scholarship Fund.......................................... $500

Rick Lee Memorial Fund................................ $212 Tom Gardner Memorial Fund.......................... $212 First National Bank Bonspiel Fund.............. $11,110 For School Activities Equipment and Services

Clearbrook-Gonvick Education Endowment and Project Fund Mary Jo Klinger Scholarship Fund . ................. $500

Security Bank USA Lumberjack Scramble............................... $22,223 For School Activities Equipment and Services

Julie Holmquist Memorial Scholarship Fund.......................................... $250

Clearwater Health Care Fund (2 grants) .... $1,505 For Sterility Improvement Project, I Can Prevent Diabetes Program Clearwater County Emergency Services Endowment and Project Fund......................... $954

Laporte Education Endowment and Project Fund........................................... $500 Laporte-Benedict VFW Scholarship Fund.......... $250 Luther Younggren Memorial Scholarship Fund ......................................... $900

Clearwater Hospice Fund............................ $1,095

Mahnomen Education Endowment and Project Fund

Crookston Area Community Fund Crookston Arena Fund........................... $175,000 For Crookston Arena Construction Expenditures

General Ike and Major Bruce Isaacson Scholarship Fund ......................................... $250

Crookston Early Childhood Initiative Fund (3 grants)............................ $1,919 For Crookston Month of the Young Child, ECI Community Resource Directory Re-Print, Safety Town

Leslie Hanson Scholarship Fund (2)................. $700 Mahnomen Education Endowment and Project Fund (5)................................... $1,100 Mike Staples Memorial Scholarship Fund .. $1,000

Fertile-Beltrami Early Childhood Initiative Fund............................................... $500

Northwest Minnesota Women’s Fund Northwest Minnesota Women’s Scholarship Fund ......................................... $300

Fosston Area Community Fund Fosston Education Foundation Endowment and Project Fund......................... $350

Roseau Area Community Fund Charles “Nick” Peterson Memorial Fund .......... $150

Lake of the Woods Early Childhood Initiative Fund............................................ $1,200

Tonia Johannsen Memorial Fund .................. $500 Warroad Area Community Fund

LifeCare Health Care Fund Think Pink Breast Cancer Fund................. $150

Edward and Agnes Brandli Scholarship Fund.......................................... $250

Ole and Ruth Tweet Family Fund (4 grants) . ............................. $2,000 For Five Students/International Science & Engineering Fair, Two Humane Society Donations (one in Memory of Dexter and Cooper), Thief River Falls Community Arts Council Donation

Gaylord A. Gunderson Education and Scholarship Fund (2)............................ $2,000 Nick Moyer Memorial Scholarship Fund . ......... $125 Patrick O’Donnell Memorial Scholarship Fund .. $500

Park Rapids Area Community Fund Park Rapids Rotary Charitable Fund.............. $1,474 For Harlem Ambassadors

Technical Assistance Total: $11,853 Business Technical Assistance

Anderson Center Management and Business .$1,500 For McIntosh Machine, Inc: Finance Forum

Park Rapids Revolving Loan Fund............ $10,000 For Operating Expenses Hubbard Regional Economic Development

Enterprise Minnesota................................. $2,000 For “Lean Marketing System” Marketing Program

Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians Community Fund Red Lake Youth Initiative Fund................... $35,350 For Ponemah Community Event, Warrior Challenge II

Enterprise Minnesota.................................... $895 For Northland Kilns, Inc: ExporTech Enterprise Minnesota................................. $4,800 For CEO Peer Council

Ruth Edevold Endowment for Excellence... $1,000 To Red Lake Nation Boys & Girls Club for Dr. Kathleen Annette, Quality of Place Award

IceHogger, Inc............................................... $433 For Trailer Signage Design Work

Thrive Initiative Fund (3 grants) ................ $4,119 For Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference, Parent Education at Beltrami Co. Jail, Family Toybox Program

Interiors by Decorating Den.......................... $695 For Decorationg Den Conference Laughing Earth Garden & Gift......................... $30 For Garden Expo

Tonia Johannsen Memorial Fund................... $123

River Valley Ventures.................................. $1,500 For Website and Logo Design

11

In Fiscal Year 2010, NMF Component Funds have awarded more than $825,000 to benefit the region’s communities.

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. Postage PAID Bemidji, MN 56601 Permit No. 36

4225 Technology Drive NW Bemidji, MN 56601 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Contact us: 218-759-2057 • 800-659-7859 • info@nwmf.org Although our headquarters is in Bemidji, staff travels many roads to visit people and places throughout the region.

Visit the office any time or the NMF website at your convenience WWW.NWMF.ORG world at large, depends more and more on electronic means for communication and finding information.

As shown in this edition of RESOURCE, there are usually a variety of NMF events and workshops taking place in the region. Information is regularly updated on the NMF website and is your best source for new happenings, details and any changes.

The Internet provides us with the advantage of immediate and efficient ways to get information out to our friends and partners. The foundation, like the

The RESOURCE will continue to be mailed in the near future, but we are working to use e-mail more and more to save time, resources and considerable expense.

Our mailing list continues to grow, which means that we increase our carbon footprint at the same rate… it just won’t be sensible to print and mail such a large quantity going forward.

We want you to stay connected as we continue on the path to using web-based platforms to keep you informed. For this reason, we encourage you to e-mail lindel@nwmf.org at your earliest convenience with the message “Add me to your list!” in the subject line.

Let’s stay connected! Thank you.