Giving

Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) has been a pillar in the Twin Cities Latino community for 27 years, offering mental health care, employment assistance, and English as a second language classes. It serves 6,500 clients annually, has a budget of $4.7 million, and takes advantage of 9,000 volunteer hours each year. In 2007, Hispanic Business Magazine cited CLUES as one of the top 25 Hispanic nonprofit agencies in the United States.

CLUES also proves that Minnesota’s rich tradition of philanthropy extends to its communities of color. Whether it’s through a formal nonprofit, a giving circle, or a religious institution, the way people of color give back in Minnesota is as diverse as the state’s population.

“Minnesota puts a high value on giving and volunteerism and the quality of life for all people. Those values have a vibrancy in our communities,” says CLUES President Jesse Bethke Gomez.

Despite a time-honored custom of giving in the Latino community and other communities of color, discussions and images surrounding charitable giving typically perpetuate the perception that philanthropy comes from wealthy white residents to help poor minorities. Yet you don’t have to look far to discover that philanthropy—through volunteering, fundraising, or giving financially—is a strongly held ideal in all of Minnesota’s minority communities.

“Oftentimes when we see images or think of philanthropy, we think of people from the majority color giving to the less fortunate,” says Marsha Pitts Phillips, public relations manager for Greater Twin Cities United Way, who is African American. “It gets back to who we perceive as the less fortunate. Images that come to mind are persons of color who live in urban populations. But when we look across the nine-county metro area served by United Way, the needs are broad-based and not just concentrated on one particular ethnic group.”

A Different Way to Give

Philanthropy in minority communities often gets overlooked because it frequently entails money-free giving. Bill King, president of the Minnesota Council on Foundations, tells the story of research presented when the National Conference on Black Philanthropy held its national meeting here in 2005. A researcher was interviewing African Americans about philanthropy when a survey subject kept denying that she was a philanthropist. Yet their interview was continually interrupted by the doorbell, at which point the woman would go to the basement and come back with a container of food for her neighbor.

“It’s a beautiful illustration of the understanding that people give back in very different ways, and it’s not just about dollars and cents and the checks that get written,” King says.

In the African American community, philanthropy occurs largely through churches and service organizations. The local chapter of The Links has operated in the Twin Cities for 35 years, working primarily on behalf of youth, community needs, and the arts. The Links offers scholarships, conducts programs for high school girls, and supports organizations like the YMCA, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Penumbra Theatre, and Vocal Essence.

Personally, Pitts Phillips prefers to give back to the organizations that helped open doors for her when she was young. Organizations like the Urban League and her church provided scholarships and helped prepare her for a career. “When someone offers you a hand, it is only natural to extend that hand,” she says.