Foundation’s New Wealth
Poses Challenges
port for some of the things she
was passionate about—
including the arts, the environment,
animal welfare, and caring for
older adults.
But some philanthropy experts say that her foundation’s
impact may be diluted if it
spreads itself too thinly. For example, Joel Fleishman, a professor at Duke University and
the author of The Foundation: A
Great American Secret, says the
Margaret A. Cargill Foundation
should consider narrowing its
focus to just a handful of priorities, rather than the six broad
grant-making program areas it
is now developing.
“They’ll have to select, and
put some flesh on the bones
of the things they really care
about,” he says. He also believes
the philanthropies should add
new trustees with varying types
of expertise to the current board
of just two people.
Continued from Page 15
Ms. Gaines says the original
trust document specifies only
two trustees, but that more can
be added if necessary. “As the
foundation’s programs are fully built out, the trustees could
decide to expand the board, but
this is not under consideration
at this time,” she says.
The foundation’s wealth is
a hot topic in its home state of
Minnesota. Ms. Morse says the
group is not planning a specific
program for Minnesota chari-
ties, but that the state’s non-
profits “will play a role in most
of our grant programs.”
Jon Pratt, director of the Min-
nesota Council of Nonprofits,
has offered to host a meeting to
introduce the foundation to the
state’s charities, which the fund
has said it will consider. Says
Mr. Pratt: “Everyone is dying to
know: What will the Margaret
A. Cargill Foundation do?”
Caroline Preston contributed
to this article.
EXPANSION PLANS
Find out how the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation plans to
handle its more than $4-billion in new assets. For details,
go to:
http://philanthropy.com/extras
2 Small Cultural Groups Stand to Receive
Big Donations as an Estate Is Settled
ceive the most support. The
Red Cross has received $8-mil-
lion from the trust in the past
three years, primarily to prevent AIDS in Siberia. Berea has
received about $2.3-million over
six years, primarily for campus
sustainability projects.
“The scalability of what the
American Red Cross can do is
hundreds of times what a Berea
College can do,” says Larry D.
Shinn, Berea’s president, “but
we’re probably dozens of times
what the American Swedish Institute can do.”
Continued from Page 15
‘Excited and Humbled’
The American Swedish Institute, founded in 1929, is a historic mansion, museum, and
cultural center. Hilma Berglund, the textile artist, was a
longtime mentor to Ms. Cargill,
and when Ms. Berglund died in
1972, she left her collection and
journals to the institute.
Ms. Cargill gave the charity
$4.2-million during her life. But
the potential support from the
Anne Ray trust is much greater.
If the trust eventually pays out
at least 5 percent of its assets
per year as planned, it is like-
ly to eventually make grants
worth $200-million or more per
year. That means the Ameri-
can Swedish Institute could see
its $2.2-million annual operat-
ing budget fully matched by the
trust, even if it receives only
about 1 percent of the trust’s
annual spending.
Manage Contacts& Develop Donors
Handle All Types of
Fundraising Activities
Track, Process &
Acknowledge Donations
Report and Analyze
Your Results
Top
Rated
*
For a FREE trial and to learn more, visit donorperfect.com/FreeDemo or call 800-220-8111
*Top Rated in N-TEN / Idealware’s "A Consumers Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems"
