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We are honored to announce that the African Development Center was recognized as one of six finalists for the Bush Prize: Minnesota!

Bush Prize: Minnesota recognizes organizations that embody transformational impact through creative problem solving and community-led solutions that strengthen equity across our state.

ADC was selected as a finalist alongside Anishinabe Legal Service, @isaiahorg , Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming, @1roofcommunityhousing , and @urbanrootsmn

Congratulations to @familytreeclinic and @fyjmn_1 for being chosen as this years honorees!

The Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation operates Bush Prize: Minnesota as a community grant partner of the @bushfoundation

To read the full grant announcement, visit the link in our bio.

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On Thursday, October 22 at The Coven St. Paul, we'll honor 26 Twin Cities neighbors who showed up for their community during Operation Metro Surge, each receiving a $1,000 award. Check out our honorees and partners who made this event possible.

@spmfoundation @unidosmn @womensfndnmn @unidosmn @chowgirlscatering @unitedwaytc @keylinadvisors @gobellbanks @lifeatmma_midwest

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We have very special news to share with you. We’ve been selected as a 2026 Bush Prize: Minnesota honoree! Bush Prize: Minnesota recognizes organizations that embody transformational impact through creative problem solving and community-led solutions that strengthen equity across our state. We’re honored to be recognized this year alongside @fyjmn_1

Six finalists were also recognized for their innovative contributions and commitment to advancing community-led solutions: African Development Center, Anishinabe Legal Services, ISAIAH, Mewinzha Ondaadiziike Wiigaming, One Roof Community Housing and Urban Roots MN.

We would like to thank @bushfoundation and @spmfoundation for awarding us with this amazing prize, which will help us continue our work toward cultivating a healthy community through comprehensive sexual health care and education. An extra special thank you must be given to Max J., Annie S., Annie V.A., Theo, Feven, and Paige. These staff members went above and beyond during the application and presentation process.

If you'd like to read the full announcement, please visit the link in our bio.

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Reflecting back on a wonderful evening at the Minnesota History Center for ‘Powering Possibility’ — a deep conversation on solidarity between “la jefa” award-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa, and the visionary President & CEO of the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, Chanda Smith Baker.

What a beautiful and powerful connection between these amazing hermanas! @maria_la_hinojosa @chandasbaker

Every time I’ve crossed paths with Maria over the years, she continues to inspire me with her values, her dedication to community, and her bold truth-telling—nunca con pelos en la lengua. #SinMiedo

Sharing space with such inspiring community leaders was a powerful reminder of the hope and transformation that unfold when we lean into authentic storytelling, shared experiences, and a collective vision.

Thank YOU to the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation and the MN Historical Society for creating space for community, powerful dialogue, and deep inspiration! ✨

#Storytelling #HispanicHeritageMonth #PoweringPossibility #Minnesota

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Our Goodnight Gala is right around the corner and it wouldn’t be possible without the support of our amazing sponsors! ⭐️

Thank you to our flexible and in-kind sponsors for this years Goodnight Gala! We are so grateful for your generosity and support towards our mission. 💛

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In a crisis, the pressure is always to move fast. 
@chandasbaker says moving fast is exactly how you do damage.
She oversees nearly $2 billion in charitable assets at the @spmfoundation , and she’s watched good intentions go wrong too many times to trust speed for its own sake.
 Watch how she draws the line in this clip...
 Her distinction is one every leader should sit with: there’s a difference between moving with urgency and moving hurriedly. Urgency is intentional. Hurried is reactive. 
And here’s the part that should stick: the reason “hurried help” does harm is proximity. People who aren’t close enough to a problem don’t actually understand it, so the “fast” solution they reach for is often the wrong one, or one that lasts about as long as their attention does. 
You can’t understand the solution without being with the people living the problem. 
That’s a hard truth for anyone who funds, leads, or “helps.” It means the instinct to swoop in and fix is often the instinct to get it wrong faster. The real work is slower: listen better, build in checks, and be honest about where you actually have the authority to act (and where you don’t)
 Urgency says this matters, so we move. Hurried says this matters, so we skip the part where we make sure we’re right. 
New episode of Proof of Impact is live. Have a listen before the new episode comes out this Friday.

Link in bio.

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Many nonprofits are terrified that their funder will find out they used AI on a grant application.

But the head of Minnesota’s largest community foundation just said, “go ahead.”

Chanda Smith Baker oversees nearly $2 billion in charitable assets at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation. Early in her tenure, someone asked her the loaded version of the question: “What will you do to nonprofits caught using AI?” (as if it were a scandal)

She’s not just tolerant of it; she’s an advocate, for a specific and important reason.

The small, scrappy nonprofits doing extraordinary work usually don’t have a five-person development office. They don’t have grant writers. They’re competing for the same dollars as organizations with far more capacity to package themselves well.

A good AI tool helps level that field. It helps a brilliant, under-resourced organization articulate what its work actually does for people, which is exactly what it should be judged on.

Her line in the sand isn’t the tool; it’s the intent. She’s all for AI that helps people tell the truth about their impact, and firmly against anything that furthers bias, discrimination, or inaccurate information.

That’s the right frame. The question was never “AI: good or bad?” It’s “How do we use this so it serves the people we’re all here for?”

New episode of Proof of Impact is live. Link in bio.

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Join MHC, @dangerboatpro and the Iron Range community for the Sketches of MN civic improv comedy tour at the @minnesotadiscoverycenter !

Register at mnhum.org/event
Date: Oct 1
Time: 5:30-8
Partners: Chisholm Community Foundation & Hibbing Foundation, hosted at @minnesotadiscoverycenter , funded by @spmfoundation
Registration is free & dinner is included!

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New episode is live! 🚨

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She oversees nearly $2 billion in charitable assets, and she’ll tell you the most important thing she does is shut up and listen.

@chandasbaker runs the @spmfoundation, the largest community foundation in the state, awarding more than 9,000 grants a year. If anyone has earned the right to walk into a room with the answers, it’s her.

Instead, she walks in curious.

On the latest episode of Proof of Impact, she told me her whole leadership posture comes down to two things: stay proximate, and stay curious. Not “I’ve seen this before, here’s the fix.” But “what’s actually happening here, and whom should I be learning from?”

That runs against almost everything we’re taught about leadership. We think authority means having the answer. We think expertise means we’ve stopped needing to ask.

Chanda’s career says the opposite. The more power she’s gained, the more deliberately she listens, because she knows that the person closest to a problem usually understands it better than the person holding the checkbook.

There’s a warning in that for all of us. The moment you decide you already understand a community, you stop being able to serve it.

Proximity isn’t a phase you graduate from; it’s the whole job.

Available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Link in bio!

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Tomorrow, we unlock the next level. 🔑

@lebrentspeed LeBrent Speed’s new book, The Transformation Code: Five Keys to Transforming Your Life and Impacting the World, is officially here.

This book is about more than inspiration—it’s about discovering the keys that can help you move with greater purpose, discipline, confidence, leadership, and intention.

Join us TOMORROW, September 11, as we celebrate the official book launch, LeBrent’s birthday, and the beginning of a powerful new chapter.

📖 The Transformation Code
🔑 Five Keys. One Transformation.
🎉 Official Book Launch | September 11

Ready to unlock your next level?

@lebrentspeed

#TheTransformationCode #LeBrentSpeed #FiveKeys #UnlockYourNextLevel #BookLaunch NewBook Transformation Leadership Purpose Minneapolis

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These seats don’t suck. Thank you @spmfoundation!

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Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation plans to invest up to $15 million in downtown St. Paul redevelopment efforts, the organization announced Tuesday.

The downtown St. Paul-based foundation said it will work in partnership with the St. Paul Downtown Development Corp., launched by the Saint Paul Downtown Alliance last year, to spur economic growth in Minnesota’s capital city.

“We are investing in downtown St. Paul because we believe in its future and in the role a strong capital city plays in the economic vitality of our state,” Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation President and CEO Chanda Smith Baker said.

Read more at the link in our bio!

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