September 8, 2021 | Read Time: 3 minutes
Direct giving often entails many people pooling small gifts to support neighbors in need. But some donors are going big.
Two longtime Minneapolis donors try to give away all of their considerable income each year. The couple, a real-estate developer and his wife who are in their 80s and asked to remain anonymous, generate about $2 million annually from their properties. They divide that money among roughly 80 nonprofits — what he calls “routine nonprofits,” like the Greater Twin Cities United Way and the Hospitality House Boys & Girls Club, as well as smaller community-based organizations that operate on a smaller budget.
But for the past decade, they’ve been doing an increasing amount of giving “where we let our heart take over and help certain individuals,” he said. In recent years, that’s taken the form of gifts to the nonprofit MicroGrants, which provides cash support of around $1,000 to low-income residents in need. The couple also supports individuals directly.
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About 15 years ago, the real-estate developer befriended an addiction counselor with deep ties in North Minneapolis neighborhoods that have faced disinvestment. The counselor connected the donor couple with people who needed help covering one-time expenses like the cost of a car repair or a replacement cellphone. When the addiction counselor became ill, the couple wanted to do even more giving in his honor.
Low-Cost Homes
Ever since the Great Recession, the developer has been buying properties in Minneapolis and Phoenix — where the couple lives part of the year. He then sells them at an affordable price to local families who otherwise would not have been able to buy a home. The families don’t pay closing costs or a down payment, and the couple provides an unusually low mortgage rate: zero interest for five years, and then 2.5 percent for 10 years. He has now purchased nine homes this way.
Both kinds of gifts are meaningful, he says. “I have a lot of good feelings about the nonprofits we give to.” But the person-to-person giving has allowed him to be in closer touch with the families he supports directly, sharing the occasional meal and providing guidance on the basics of home ownership.
“I’ve just been delighted with the people I’ve met and the outcomes,” he says. “I’ve built relationships, and that’s been very satisfying.”
