Even as the high human, economic, environmental, and planetary costs of climate change come into sharper focus, global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, tightening the timeframe for a transition to a low-carbon future. Climate change exacerbates growing pressures on life-sustaining resources, including freshwater, soil, and biodiversity. We all have a stake in efforts to …
River Alliance works to advocate for the protection, enhancement, and restoration of Wisconsin’s rivers and watersheds. Hatched in the 1990s by a university professor and his graduate student, along with a motley mix of trout anglers, paddlers and conservationists, the River Alliance of Wisconsin has grown into one of Wisconsin’s leading conservation groups. By encouraging …
What Happened During the In-Between Time in our DEI Work The neutral zone, as defined by William Bridges, is an in-between time. Bridges, a leading authority on change management, explains that transitions require letting go of what was, navigating a time of uncertainty in between, and accepting a new beginning. Think of a trapeze artist. …
Stephanie has been a passionate customer of Prepare + Prosper (P+P) for four years. She first learned about the organization by calling United Way 2-1-1. As a teacher’s assistant and single mom, Stephanie has a lot on her plate and tax time helps her to make it manageable. Free and expert help with taxes and …
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report confirms what communities around the globe, including here in the Midwest, have known for decades: climate change is affecting the lives of billions of people around the world—creating dangerous disruptions that hit under-resourced communities hardest. Too often, these same communities are left out of conversations about …
Bluestem Communications works in regions throughout the country building creative communication campaigns aiming to protect North America’s most precious land and water resources. They advance public awareness and understanding on select environmental issues and build widespread commitment to addressing those issues through individual actions and policies. The organization’s primary task is to meaningfully engage people …
Flying Foot Forum is a vibrant and bold performance company that fuses percussion and percussive dances with many other forms of music, dance, and theater. The group seeks to re-imagine the potential of all forms of percussive dance and percussion and to explore their full range of dramatic and musical possibilities. A recent production of …
Rain Taxi is a literary organization that champions literary culture through programs and publications that foster engagement with innovative writing. Their main vehicle is the award-wining print quarterly, Rain Taxi Review of Books, with coverage of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, graphic novels, and more. The publication aims to connect readers to books of merit that …
Within the United States, the Midwest is one of the largest emitters of carbon pollution. To reduce carbon pollution at scale at the speed necessary, we must act collectively. For that reason, the McKnight Foundation supports bold action on the climate crisis, recognizing that economy-wide decarbonization requires transforming our energy system. It also calls for …
Reflections on 27 Years of Funding The McKnight Foundation’s board of directors has sustained an impressive 27-year commitment to protecting the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. That commitment was a recognition of the river’s extraordinary history as a focus of community, culture, food production, and transportation for millennia. The river has been, and …