2011 annual report - Otto Bremer Foundation

executive director’s messageThe financial difficulties of 2008 and after have causedwaves of change in our region, affecting needs andopportunities. To some extent, we’re all aiming atmoving targets. Despite that fluidity, there are a few thingswe’re crystal clear about at the Otto Bremer Foundation.The main point of clarity is our vision for the communities weserve: we hope they will be places where basic needs aremet, mutual regard is prized and opportunities for economic,civic and social participation are within everyone’s reach. (OurMission and Meaning statement on page 12 explains thisvision in detail.)We’re also clear about our role in helping to build healthy,vital communities. We seek to support opportunities thathave the potential to move a community forward in powerfulways. This requires us to understand the region and thecommunities. We devote significant time and effort toincreasing our understanding and to capturing and sharingthat learning.clarity oStrategically Responsive Grantmaking—ourbasic workThe Foundation’s basic work is responding torequests from our communities. We are opento a broad variety of issues important to theplaces we serve. Because the requests fromcommunities, taken together, usually ask formore money than we have in our budget,the Foundation is strategic in choosing whichof the many good proposals to fund: we tryto support the work that will best move thecommunities toward the vision explained above. We assesswhat to support by looking at how grant applicants addresssix main topics. We seek to understand the community, theproposed work, the impact the work will have, the applicantorganization and its resources, the applicant’s partners in thework and what the future is likely to bring for this work. Moredetails are provided in our grant application, available on ourwebsite, ottobremer.org.10 · ottobremer.org