Hugh J. Andersen Foundation: quiet philanthropy bucks trends and credit

Created in 1962 “to better people's lives and strengthen communities”, the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation does pretty much the opposite of what many foundations do.

“The Hugh J. Andersen Foundation is not about making a huge, immediate impact and leveraging big dollars; we’re about doing many small, good things in our area,” says program director Brad Kruse. “We do a lot of general operating support; we also pay for capacity-building activities for nonprofits and feasibility studies for capital campaigns. It’s not the sexiest thing in the world, but we fill a niche that nobody else does.”

Dedicated to place

Created by Andersen Family members, founders and owners of the Bayport, Minnesota-based Andersen Corporation, the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation's primary geographic area of focus is the St. Croix Valley, a mix of rural, suburban and urban communities that span the Minnesota/Wisconsin border just east of the Twin Cities. The Foundation primarily supports nonprofits in Washington County in Minnesota, and Pierce, Polk and St. Croix Counties in Wisconsin.

“The upper mid-west region has a unique regional history of philanthropy; there’s an expectation of high net-worth families, especially leading employer-owned companies like the Andersen Corporation, that giving back is of community value,” explains Brad. “It’s also an expressed family value. The Andersen family members very much value the distinctive regional area that we are, and want to make sure that it lasts long-term.”

Hugh J. Andersen Foundation’s mission is “to give back to our community through focused efforts that foster inclusivity, promote equality, and lead to increased human independence, self-sufficiency and dignity.” One of the ways the Foundation achieves its mission is to provide on-going financial support to a large number of small, community-based non-profit organizations and groups.

Patient, steady capital

“Many foundations support new initiatives and start-up programs with grants of $100,000 for a short period of time. We’re at the other end of the spectrum,” explains Brad. “We give a lot of $10,000-$20,000 grants, year-in and year-out. In some ways, we operate more like a community foundation. We’ve selected a group of non-profits that are really vital to our geographic area, and we’ve partnered with them to provide unrestricted operating support as our number one area of giving.”

Hugh Andersen, his wife Jane and his sister Mary Hulings were the original Foundation board members. The Hugh J. Andersen Foundation is one of five Andersen Related Foundations with connections back to the company and the family.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation operated like many small charities of the time, with Andersen family members involved in the day-to-day operations of the Andersen Corporation and the Foundation. Between 1977 and 1981, all three founding board members passed away or left the board.

“There was a change and shift in 1982, when the [next] generation moved into leading the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation, some of whom were still college students,” explains Brad. “They were thrust into philanthropy and grantmaking with no prior training or background at all. Luckily, one thing that Hugh and Jane instilled in their children was that they were extremely open to change. Hugh and Jane were very forward-thinking and progressive.”

Two of Hugh’s daughters, Sarah and Christine serve on the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation board today, with Sarah as president. In 1996, the sisters created SRI (formerly Scenic River, Inc.), an organization that provides philanthropic services for foundations, corporations and individuals.

Bringing attention to unmet needs -- rather than themselves

The Hugh J. Andersen Foundation prefers to lead by example, notes Brad, adding that the Andersen family is not interested in notoriety or recognition. “The family is known for its quiet philanthropy and generally declines naming opportunities. There are only two facilities in the St. Croix Valley that have the Andersen name on them, neither of which was named with the family’s initial input.”

Many Hugh J. Andersen Foundation grantees, including The East Metro Women’s Council, a transitional housing program located on the border of suburban Washington County and Ramsey County, have received funding for decades.

“We gave [The East Metro Women’s Council] a sizable start-up grant in 1988 because people said, ‘It’s the suburbs, there isn’t any need for transitional housing; there aren’t any homeless families here,’ which completely isn’t true,” notes Brad.

“We’ve continued to make capital grants to them as needed as they’ve expanded, and they now have two facilities. We also make annual general operating grants to them, and we’ve done some capacity-building work, and helped them with strategic planning, and fund-raising.”

Personally invested

Sarah’s personal involvement with Twin Cities’ Habitat for Humanity perfectly illustrates this generation’s commitment to offer leadership and inspiration, as well as money, to its chosen grantees.

Instead of throwing a lavish party to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2003, the Andersen Corporation commemorated the milestone with the ‘100 Years/100 Homes’ project. All five Andersen Related Foundations, and over 250 corporate employees, collectively helped Habitat for Humanity build 100 family homes across the U.S. between 2003 and 2007. The Andersen Corporation and the Andersen Related Foundations contributed $5 million.

“Sarah did at least one day of building on almost every single home. She brought her own hammer and was cutting and nailing two-by-fours,” says Brad.

The Hugh J. Andersen Foundation has supported Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity for more than 20 years, and was instrumental for the success and growth of its WomenBuild program. Since 2006, the program has grown from an “8-week build” to its current year-round, multi-program approach.

“Their support of our organization has had an enormous impact,” says Nancy Brady, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s vice-president of resource development and community relations. “Sarah is rather uniquely committed to the community, and is all about helping other people grow. She’s very strategic, and we greatly appreciate her thoughtful, enlightening feedback. She doesn’t always give you the answer you want, but she’s clear about it. It’s extraordinarily valuable.”

Staying current:  responding to the downturn

Community groups especially appreciate the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation’s thoughtful, proactive approach in the midst of an economic downturn.

“More than ever before, we’re seeing foundation people sit down with agency people to collectively come up with answers: Where do we need direct dollars? What’s at risk at your organization? Who’s going to pay the price if that’s lost? That’s the kind of thing that has always gone on with the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation I feel like I can really trust them to take that information and make very responsible decisions.” notes Arba-Della Beck, president of FamilyMeans, a multi-service agency in Washington County that provides counseling, education and support to families. 
 
Hugh J. Andersen Foundation, like many family foundations dealing with the economic downturn, has had to reduce the number and size of grants it makes, notes Brad Kruse. "For groups that we gave $15,000 to last year, maybe we’ll give $10,000 this year. Sometimes the reductions have been more focused on the larger groups, who we think might have more capacity."

Brad adds that geography also plays a big role in the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation’s current grant-making decisions. “There’s a big border split for our region here: in western Wisconsin, there are very few foundation resources. A lot of the Minnesota funders don’t cross the border, even though it’s only 45 minutes away from downtown Minneapolis. So we’re a bigger percentage of groups’ budgets in Western Wisconsin.”

Being well-informed about community issues also differentiates the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation from other foundations.

Of and for the community

“They’re right on target; they understand what needs to change and what needs to be done. I greatly respect any advice or direction or thoughts that come from this foundation.”

In 1993, the Hugh J. Foundation helped FamilyMeans launch the Community Organizing Project in Landfall, MN, a mobile home community of 700 people.

“It’s one of the poorest communities in the state, and we were asked to come in because there were lots of concerns around children not having enough to do and getting into a lot of trouble with the police,” recalls Arba-Della. Through youth programs for elementary-aged students, a teen center and a shop where kids learned how to fix bicycles, FamilyMeans is credited with reducing the crime rate by over 55%.

In 2008, the organization ventured into Stillwater, another community in need, to replicate the successful Landfall model. “We couldn’t take those chances if we didn’t have sustainable funding from foundations like the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation; you just can’t start over every January, trying to raise $200,000 for a program and hope you find new sources every year,” says Arba-Della.

The Hugh J. Andersen Foundation also assisted FamilyMeans in offering schoolchildren access to mental health services in local schools. “It’s about taking mental health out of the clinic setting and into the community. [The foundation] really understood the value of doing this,” recalls Arba-Della, adding that prevention work is notoriously difficult to fund.

“Having a source of funding that is sustainable, year after year after year, is critically important to our ability to commit to doing some of these programs.”

The Hugh J. Andersen Foundation strongly believes in pooling resources, and often collaborates with the St. Croix Valley Community Foundation, adds Brad. “Sarah was one of the founding board members. Recently we formed a capacity building partnership that the two of us do collectively. They’ve set aside $10,000 twice a year, and we’ve matched that. We’ve doubled the amount of capacity building money here, and also enabled non-profits to apply once and have access to two pools of money.”

Brad concludes that Hugh J. Andersen Foundation’s secret to success is a crystal clear mission:  “I don’t care if you’re giving away $100,000 or $3 million; you need to know what you do and what you don’t do,” says Brad.

“The Hugh J. Andersen Foundation board decided ‘These are the four counties that we care most about right now. We are going to do grantmaking in an unrestricted way and support most, but not all non-profits in our area’. We hope that the small, steady dollars over time is a stabilizing influence. It’s valuable for these organizations to say, ‘We can count on the Hugh J. Andersen Foundation for support every year’; it may not be world-changing, but it’s important.”

Wendy Helfenbaum is a Montreal-based writer and television producer.