Building on a Legacy of Giving

For Adam Braun and his wife, Kim Sauvageot, a contribution to the OneMPLS Fund fit well with their overall strategy for charitable giving in response to COVID-19.

Adam and Kim have always been very consistent with their giving. That’s by design: They want the organizations they care about to be able to count on their support, year after year. Some of the grants they make through their Donor Advised Fund are to nonprofits that were important to Adam’s grandfather, who established the family’s relationship with The Minneapolis Foundation many years ago. Typically, they do most of their giving around the holidays, and they make a point of including their two grade-school children in the conversation about which causes to support. (Their daughter loves animals, so the Animal Humane Society is on their list. Their son’s special choice is Solid Ground, a nonprofit in White Bear Lake that helps families break the cycle of homelessness.)

When the pandemic hit, the family knew they wanted to keep helping the organizations they’ve always supported. Since needs are skyrocketing in the community, they decided to get their annual checks out the door this spring instead of waiting until the end of the year.

They also wanted to increase their giving to help address the economic fallout of the pandemic. To accomplish that goal, they recommended the largest single grant they’ve ever made to The Minneapolis Foundation’s OneMPLS Fund.

So far, the OneMPLS Fund has distributed more than $1.5 million to more than 100 local organizations that work with communities that are disproportionately affected by the economic impact of COVID-19, including seniors, youth, and vulnerable segments of the workforce such as students and gig workers.

“We just know that The Minneapolis Foundation has such a handle on how to best use these funds to meet a need like the pandemic,” Kim said. “We just figured it would make more sense to put the money there versus our trying to figure all of that out.”