Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The Winona Community Foundation is focused on building philanthropy in the greater Winona area. We accomplish this by offering a variety of fund types to individuals, businesses, groups of individuals, and organizations, collaborating with nonprofit organizations, and partnering with professional advisors. A key objective is to grow the Foundation's permanent assets to provide a consistent and permanent stream of charitable dollars to invest back into the community. These dollars enable to the Foundation to infuse the community's nonprofits with needed operating funds, allow it to invest in solving difficult problems, and take advantage of opportunities that will help the community thrive.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Donor Advised Grants
Winona Community Foundation holds many donor advised funds. These funds may or may not be endowed. Donor advisors may direct funds to public charities for use within their specifications. Although most donor advisors will benefit state or local charities, they may direct anywhere within the United States.
Community Grants
Applications are received from the Winona Community and reviewed by the grant committee for awards
Winona Nonprofit Alliance
The Winona Nonprofit Alliance is a collective o nonprofits in the Winona area. Its purpose is to allow space for nonprofit leaders and staff to share opportunities, challenges, learn, and exchange ideas to strengthen the nonprofit community. The Winona Community Foundation facilitates the group.
Ready Set School
Ready Set School is a vital program of the Winona Community Foundation. It ensures all eligible K-12 students who attend school in Winona County have the basic and necessary supplies and clothing for school.
Ready Set School is funded by private, public, and business donations. Contributions are distributed directly to families via vouchers to select, local retailers allowing them to decide whether to purchase supplies, clothing, or a combination of both. Donated school supplies are distributed to classrooms in need and to new students entering throughout the school year.
Ready Set School distributed 949 vouchers worth over $66,000 to local students in 2022!
Goodfellows
The Winona Goodfellows Fund has been in existence for more than 100 years, providing countless Winona-area children with warm winter clothing and footwear. Originally a program of the local newspaper, Goodfellows is now volunteer-led and is a program of the Winona Community Foundation. It runs fully on donations from individuals and organizations across the community.
The program provides vouchers for between 700 and 800 income-eligible children in grades preschool through eight enrolled in Winona County schools. Our partners are all of the public and private schools in the Winona community. We extend our program into Winona County through partnerships with Project FINE and the St. Charles Resource Center.
Where we work
Accreditations
Community Foundation National Standards Board 2021
Community Foundation National Standards Board 2015
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of donor-advised funds
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Donor Advised Grants
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Active-grant making from DAFSs is an important vehicle for directing philanthropy into the community and beyond. Fees generated support the community grant program.
Total dollar amount of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Community Grants
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
The Winona Community Foundation Community Grant Program. It does not include funds granted out from other funds or programs.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
The Winona Community Foundation seeks to expand its ability to invest back into the community by growing its assets under management and unrestricted endowment, increasing the number and diversity of funds it holds, and increasing the dollars granted back into the community. It does so with the goal of building and strengthening the community.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
This will be accomplished by educating the public about philanthropy, connecting people with needs, and collaborating with other charitable organizations, working with professional advisors to increase their comfort level with talking to their clients about philanthropy.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
In 2018, the board of directors more than doubled the dollars available for its community grant program. In order to continue growth, it is essential the staff, in collaboration with the board, will increase giving directly to the Foundation's permanent funds, as well as increase the number and diversity of funds held by the Foundation. This will be accomplished through personal contacts and diverse communication channels as outlined in the strategic plan.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In 2021, the Foundation grew its assets under management by more than $2 million while simultaneously increasing its community grants to more than $130,000 and overall grants to more than $1.7 million.
The Foundation is leading a collaboration among the Winona-area nonprofits to build a workplace giving initiative that will allow employees to contribute to their preferred charities via payroll deduction.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
We serve Winona County and those within a 15-mile radius of Winona. We serve those who live, work, or visit.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
Surveyed the nonprofit community to determine maximum grant awards given changes in our asset base. Reduced the award amount to allow more organizations to receive funding
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
WINONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC
Board of directorsas of 03/15/2023
Amanda Hedlund
Habitat for Humanity Serving Winona County
Term: 2022 -
Kathleen Peterson
Community Leader
Term: 2022 -
Denise McDowell
Winona State University
Jerry Papenfuss
Community Leader
Aaron Young
Great River Shakespeare Festival
Kevin O'Reilly
Peerless Chain
Genelle Groh Beck
RTP Company
Ann Gibson
Community Leader
Angela Lallemont
Lallemont Law Office
Corey Hancock
Benchmark Electronics
Andrew Guzzo
Merchants Bank
Jolene Vaselaar
Altra Federal Credit Union
Jackie Czaplewski
WinCraft
Maurella Cunningham
La Crosse County
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/30/2019GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.