January 25, 2001 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Master of Creative Philanthropy: The Story of Russell V. Ewald
by Jim Storm and Michael Vitt
Russell V. Ewald, the authors say, was a man who always kept “the good of his community foremost in mind.”
In this chronicle of Mr. Ewald’s life and work as long-time director of Minnesota’s McKnight Foundation, Jim Storm and Michael Vitt present a man whom they hold up as a model for anyone hoping to help those less fortunate than themselves. The book is based on discussions with Mr. Ewald’s associates and family members, videotapes of his many seminars and conferences, press coverage of his work, and conversations with Mr. Ewald before his death in March 2000.
When Mr. Ewald joined the McKnight Foundation in 1974, the authors explain, he was its first employee. Hired by Virginia McKnight Binger, who is now the foundation’s honorary chair, Mr. Ewald was a minister who immediately drew on the listening techniques he had learned in the clergy to communicate with the people the McKnight Foundation tried to help.
As Ms. Binger remembers, Mr. Ewald strived to be “as down-to-earth and useful” as possible to the people of the community. He wanted, she says, “to hear from the people directly about their needs before coming up with a program for them.”
Such an approach, say the authors, allowed him to develop innovative projects like the Minnesota Initiative Funds and the Family Housing Fund. They also attribute Mr. Ewald’s accomplishments to his creative risk taking and “gentle but firm leadership.” Those qualities, they insist, are what guided Mr. Ewald as he “directed hundreds of millions of willingly offered dollars into effective efforts to make the state, region, and nation better places for all.”
Mr. Storm is an organizational-development consultant and Mr. Vitt is a communications-strategy consultant. Both live and work in Minneapolis.
Publisher: McKnight Foundation, 600 TCF Tower, 121 South Eighth Street, Minneapolis, Minn. 55402; (612) 333-4220, fax (612) 332-3833; info@mcknight.org; http://www.mcknight.org; 143 pages; free.
