Reshaping
Our Approaches
Reshaping
Our Approaches
We are inspired by our partners and their unwavering commitment to communities. Their work adapts to constant challenges and an ever-changing landscape. In these moments, our shared approaches can be reshaped into new ways of being and doing. Through the following stories, you’ll learn about our partners who are fostering transformative change, from north Minneapolis to San Diego to across the globe.
Letter from the President and CEO
2022 was a year of growth and learning for Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies. We leveraged this learning to adapt as an organization, reshaping some of our approaches in pursuit of our mission.
Our founder, Margaret Cargill, believed in supporting people and the communities where they live. The growth and evolution of our grantmaking strategies, while remaining grounded in donor intent, is at the heart of who we are as an organization. This annual report shares stories and examples of what this looks like in action, through the work of our grantee partners.
Paul Busch
President & CEO
2022 was a year of growth and learning for Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP). It was also a year where we leveraged this learning to adapt as an organization, reshaping some of our approaches in pursuit of MACP’s mission.
This year also marks the halfway point of MACP’s 2025 Strategic Plan, which centers on partnering for lasting community impact. We deepened our understanding of what it will require to work with our partners towards achieving this Plan and our shared goals.
Renewed Commitments
We emerged from the challenging years of the global pandemic with a renewed dedication to continued learning and evolution, and to do so alongside our partners. The devastating effects of COVID-19 accelerated our exploration of new flexibilities with grantee partners. We heard this support was critical to our partners’ abilities to get through the pandemic and achieve their own missions. Going forward, we are finding opportunities to build greater flexibility, while reducing the burden to our grantee partners through our administrative processes.
Throughout these years of uncertainty, it has been important to stay connected to the communities we support. We transitioned to a hybrid office environment, reestablishing relationships in person that we had maintained remotely. It was also a welcome shift to be able to travel and see our partners face-to-face again and to visit communities where their work is making such a difference.
Embedding Equity
Centering diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) in MACP’s work is anchored in our values as an organization and the difference we hope to make through our partnerships. We shared our organization’s DEIJ Vision Statement publicly in 2022 and continued our efforts to identify what it means to truly live into that Vision. This included ensuring equitable practices in our recruiting, onboarding, and talent development, as well as surveying our investment asset managers to better understand the commitments to equity and diversity within their own organizations. In our grantmaking, our domains demonstrated shifts in our strategies and how we approach our work, lifting up community voices and finding opportunities to fund domestic and global partners who can provide direct support to community organizations.
In addition to our return to the office, we also resumed in-person partner and community visits, with MACP teams traveling across the state, across the country, and later in the year, across the globe as COVID-19 restrictions eased.
We made more than 340 grants for a total of $303 million in 2022. Our relationships with grantee partners continued to deepen, and we welcomed many new partnerships.
New Voices
Many new voices and perspectives contributed to our work in 2022. We celebrated the retirement of long-time MACP leader, Terry Meersman, and welcomed Kurian Thomas as our new Vice President, Programs. In all, 14 new team members joined MACP in 2022. We also expanded our governance structure, welcoming Dr. Kathy Annette and Kevin Washington to our Board Program Committees, and Antonia Hernández and Cheryl Wilson to the Akaloa Program Committee. Their insights and perspectives have been extremely valuable, not only when discussing strategy and approving grants as a committee, but also when we dig into what it means to support community-led work.
With our organization in a strong position, and in collaboration with the Board, I announced a transition of my own. In 2023, I will be retiring as President & CEO of MACP. While this decision certainly came with mixed emotions, I find reassurance in knowing MACP’s next President comes with exceptional leadership skills, sharp insights, and strong relationships with staff and partners – MACP Vice President and General Counsel, Heather Kukla. We are fortunate to have someone with her expertise move into this role, and I am excited for MACP’s future with Heather’s leadership as well as the incredible team across the organization. And I look forward to staying connected to the work of MACP through my ongoing role on our Board of Directors.
MACP remains committed to supporting our partners and to learning alongside them. Their clear message to us is that, now more than ever, this is a time to listen to communities, and to learn from them.
Our ability to convene across geographic and strategic divides, to partner alongside those deepest in community and center our efforts around their voices, their ideas, and their work – that is our most important role.
Our founder, Margaret Cargill, believed in supporting people and the communities where they live. The growth and evolution of our grantmaking strategies, while remaining grounded in donor intent, is at the heart of who we are as an organization. This annual report shares stories and examples of what this looks like in action, through the work of our grantee partners.
It has truly been a pleasure to work together these past fifteen years and experience the deep relationships I’ve had the honor to build with you all as colleagues, partners, and friends.
Warmly,
Paul Busch
President & CEO
$302.78M
Total dollars of grants paid
341
Total number
of grants paid
$8.01B
Year-end MACP assets
90+
Countries with
grant activity
Our Domains
Our funding spans seven program areas, which we call domains. These domains are connected through common approaches to achieve impact at the community level.
Animal
Welfare
Animal
Welfare
Care for Companion Animals • Empathy & Compassion for Animals • Wildlife Rehabilitation
We focus on the wellbeing of domestic animals and injured wild animals, and ways to increase empathy toward animals among children and adults.
Margaret Cargill dearly loved animals.
Her connection to the natural world brought her great joy, as did her philanthropic efforts to support the care of domestic and wild animals. Woodland Park Zoo’s innovative programming is one example of a partner that is helping ignite a similar passion and sense of empathy for animals among young people in Seattle.
$10M
Total dollars granted in 2022
8
Grantees with payments in 2022
Fostering empathy through perspective
Woodland Park Zoo hosted a hands-on photography camp, which provided an opportunity to build trust with community partners and help young people build skills and develop deeper connections with nature and empathy for wildlife.
Arts
& Cultures
Arts
& Cultures
Folk Arts & Cultures • Native Arts & Cultures
We help support folk arts, Native American art, music, tactile art, and artistically significant crafts that foster human creativity.
Artists, elders, and culture bearers are key to continuing long lines of traditional arts and cultures.
We support organizations working directly in community so that artistic skills and cultural knowledge can thrive sustainably. One recent example of this work is showcased in the award-winning series from Pioneer PBS that documented dressmaking culture within the Lakota and Dakota communities.
$28.8M
Total dollars granted in 2022
29
Grantees with payments in 2022
Capturing Lakota and Dakota dressmaking culture
The PBS documentary, Saksanica, delves into the relationship Lakota and Dakota people have with their land and how that connection to the Earth is reflected in the structure and design in dressmaking.
Disaster Relief
& Recovery
Disaster Relief
& Recovery
Relief & Recovery • Midwest Preparedness • International Preparedness
We support work in natural disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery with emphasis on communities prone to low-attention disasters.
Natural disasters often have the most devastating impact on communities that have already been marginalized and excluded from resources.
Both domestically and internationally, our partners are prioritizing local perspectives and lived experiences to reshape the future of disaster preparedness and risk reduction.
$50.8M
Total dollars granted in 2022
25
Grantees with payments in 2022
Saving lives through early action and locally-led response
More than half of humanitarian funding goes to disasters that happen with regular and predictable patterns of recurrence. However, only 1% of this funding is organized in advance – despite evidence that this is a more effective way of tackling predictable crises. With an aim to change this pattern, Start Network provides early and rapid financing solutions that often lead to impressive results.
The next generation of voices in disaster research
For decades, social scientists have documented that disaster risk is patterned in ways that reflect pre-existing social and economic inequalities. But there is far less knowledge about what works to lessen social vulnerability in disasters and advance social equity. The Bill Anderson Fund aims to close that knowledge gap.
Environment
Environment
Coastal Ecosystems • Freshwater Ecosystems • Tropical Forests • Grasslands
We support the conservation of natural resources and protection of natural habitats.
We believe that conservation led and managed by local communities is the best method for ensuring both nature and people thrive.
Our partners in Indonesia and the Brazilian Amazon are examples of supporting Indigenous community leaders to protect and sustain coastal and tropical forest ecosystems.
$52.5M
Total dollars granted in 2022
18
Grantees with payments in 2022
Protecting Indonesia’s nearshore fisheries
80% of Indonesia’s 2.4 million fishers are small-scale coastal fishers, using small boats and simple gears to fish in nearshore areas for food and income. These fishers account for over half of Indonesia’s total wild fish production. Through Rare’s scalable approaches, almost the entire Southeast Sulawesi coastline is projected to be under community management within the next few years.
The first Indigenous-led fund for the Brazilian Amazon
The Podáali Fund facilitates access to resources for Indigenous peoples, their communities, and organizations based in the Amazon. By channeling donor support to the Podáali Fund, Indigenous peoples, who are driving local solutions to build resiliency from the ground up, can access resources to manage and protect forests and natural resources.
Legacy
& Opportunity
Legacy
& Opportunity
Local Giving • Legacy Grantmaking
We provide funding for opportunities aligned with our values and philosophy and support for specific geographies of importance to Margaret Cargill, including the Upper Midwest and Southern California.
Throughout her life, Margaret Cargill had enduring connections to both Minnesota and Southern California.
Our Legacy & Opportunity funding supports 11 counties in the San Diego region, as well as the Twin Cities, rural Minnesota, and the Upper Midwest. The funding highlighted below supported local organizations and the needs of their communities, from accessible art space, quality care for older adults, and hunger relief, to scholarship opportunities for young people.
$59.2M
Total grants paid in 2022 (Legacy Grantmaking)
17
Grantees with payments in 2022
$10M
Total grants paid in 2022 (Local Giving)
Scholarships of hope for north Minneapolis graduates
In early 2022, leaders at Pillsbury United Communities envisioned a new program, the North High Scholarship Fund. This $1,000,000 fund would provide $10,000 scholarships to every graduating senior of North Community High School to help counteract the unique and extreme difficulties 2022’s graduating class faced during their high school years.
Supporting 101 food shelves across Minnesota
To support the 1 in 9 Minnesotans experiencing food insecurity every day, our Local Initiatives program identified 101 community food shelves to each receive a one-time gift of $10,000 for their food programs that support Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latine people in rural and urban communities, and college students experiencing economic poverty.
Connecting access, art, and architecture
Within California’s historic Balboa Park sits Mingei International Museum, an over 45-year-old museum that continues to connect San Diego’s multicultural community and visitors of all ages. The Museum recently undertook an extensive renovation to deepen its commitment to community and mission, which culminated in an extraordinary physical transformation of the museum.
Prioritizing quality care and career opportunities
Thousands of San Diegans, across multiple generations, have benefited from St. Paul’s Senior Services’ vision of a world where seniors have options for where and how they live. St. Paul’s continues to maintain consistent, high-quality-of-care standards across all its facilities and programs through two inaugural programs.
Quality
of Life
Quality
of Life
Aging • Family Stability • Youth Camping & Swimming • International Health
We support children, young adults, families, and older adults throughout life’s journey.
Margaret Cargill witnessed her peers and those she cared about struggle to access quality care as they aged.
This concern extended to youth and families during different phases of life. Our work seeks to remove barriers which prevent children, youth, families, and older adults from thriving. One example is our partnership with Lutheran Services in America, which lifts up voices of older adults on the joys and challenges of aging in rural communities.
$80.2M
Total grants paid in 2022
42
Grantees with payments in 2022
Aging in rural America
People who spend their aging years in rural communities can encounter joys and challenges. Shedding light on their experiences is a new video and report from Lutheran Services in America as part of its Rural Aging Action Network.
Teachers
& Students
Teachers
& Students
Teachers • Postsecondary Success
We support the teaching profession and student success.
We support both teachers and students at key gaps in the education system.
Our work with partners increases success factors for college students from rural and Native American communities. Our grantmaking also focuses on increasing the number and diversity of teachers in the profession and supporting teacher retention. Achieving the Dream is one example of a partner that collaborated with six tribal colleges and universities to better support incoming students as well as students facing challenges.
$9.1M
Total grants paid in 2022
17
Grantees with payments in 2022
Redesigning the student experience
Between the fall of 2019 and spring of 2022, through the Serving Native American Students with Holistic Student Supports project, six Tribal Colleges and Universities began redesigning the student experience through a customized and holistic student supports framework.
2022 Financials
Year-End MACP Assets:
$8,013,460,000
Total number of grants paid:
341*
Total dollars of grants paid:
$302,780,000
Program related investments:
$5,300,000 
*This excludes employee matching gifts and employee service awards
2022 Grantmaking by Domain
Program Related Investments (PRIs) allow foundations to support grantees beyond just grantmaking through below-market loans to be repaid.
In 2022, MACP supported three certified Native Community Development Financial Institutions with a total of $5,300,000 in program related investments and $2,200,00 in companion grants, which support capacity building efforts.