The Foundation of First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis (“the Foundation”), established in 1992, is a Minnesota nonprofit corporation recognized by the IRS under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Its goal is to be a perpetual support for the work of the First Unitarian Society and to offer benefactors an opportunity to leave an enduring legacy to ensure that the principles and programs they value thrive well into the future.
The Foundation’s board of directors are elected by the Society’s trustees to oversee the Foundation’s operations. The Foundation manages nine funds with combined assets exceeding $2 million. The Foundation makes annual disbursements to support the FUS operating budget and such programs as religious education, music, and social justice per the goals established for each fund. During the 2020 to 2021 program year, its disbursements totaled over $72,000.
Donating
Donors can write checks to Foundation of First Unitarian Society, 900 Mount Curve Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403. The Foundation encourages members and friends to make planned gifts and declare their intention to do so by completing this online form. Donors contributing $1,000 or more are recognized as Friends of the Foundation.
Grant Applications
FUS members and staff
The Foundation accepts grant applications from FUS members or staff seeking funds for projects that enhance FUS programs or improve our physical space at any time.
External non-profit organizations
The Pearson Social Concerns Fund is unique in that the Foundation accepts grant applications from third parties that are non-profit organizations. The Foundation solicits these applications in the spring and makes its grant decisions in the fall. Applicants generally apply at the invitation of an FUS member.
Grant Funds
Grants are made from ten funds. There is no application process for the annual grants made to FUS from the Endowment and Future Is Now funds.
Endowment Fund
The Endowment Fund supports the FUS operating budget.
Future is Now Fund
The Future Is Now Fund also supports the FUS operating budget but, unlike the Endowment Fund, disburses funds at an accelerated rate.
Hopp-Hendrickson Religious Education Fund
The Hopp-Hendrickson Religious Education Fund supports religious education activities above and beyond that provided in the Society’s annual operating budget.
Bill Ogren Memorial Religious Education Enrichment Fund
The Bill Ogren Memorial Religious Education Enrichment Fund, established in 2021, will make annual grants starting in 2022 to support youth activities, especially travel to the UUA General Assembly and periodic trips to Boston, and social justice projects. This fund honors the life of Bill Ogren through a generous gift from the Ogren family.
Sigmund-Safer Music Fund
The Sigmund-Safer Music Fund enhances FUS’s music program through the commissioning and performance of new music. The fund also covers such costs as rental, purchase, repair and tuning of musical instruments, and fees of composers and guest musicians.
Safer Visual Arts Fund
The Safer Visual Arts Fund supports and enhances the Visual Arts displays and activities of the Society.
Pearson Social Concerns Fund
The Kurt Pearson Social Concerns Fund provides grants annually to support non-profit organizations working for social justice. Established in 1992 in loving memory of Kurt Pearson by his parents.
Wilson Social Justice Fund
The Wilson Social Justice Fund, established by Ginger and Dodd Wilson in 2015, supports the projects of members that act on the Society’s social justice principles.
Snouffer-Hutchinson Healthy Sexuality Fund
This was established to fund projects that promote age-appropriate, healthy, scientific, and values-based education on human sexuality. These funds primarily, but not exclusively, support facilitator training and classes that utilize the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Our Whole Lives Sexuality Curriculum.
Unrestricted Fund
The Unrestricted Fund supports projects of the First Unitarian Society at the discretion of the Foundation Board and may be used for innovative projects and ideas that forward the mission of the Society.
News
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Foundation leads Fundraising Effort to Fix the Bricks
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A New Fund in the FUS Foundation
Foundation Directors
- Allan Callander – President
- Peter D’Ascoli – Vice President
- Karen Rowehl – Treasurer
- Becca Justiniano – Secretary
- Marc Johnson
- Wayne Groff
- Catherine Jordan
- Bernardine Joselyn
- Becca Justiniano
- Barb Lutz
- Karl Winthrop-Davies
- Keith Heiberg
- Joyce Riedesel