Light the Legacy
Educate Empower Inspire
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Too often family members who cannot speak for themselves due to illness or accident, and find themselves approaching End of Life healthcare rely on relatives to make important end-of-life decisions for them. Yet, well in advance of the end-of-life situation, family conversations and resulting legal documents to pursue such decisions, leave a void. The family member, or agent, who is charged with making end-of-life healthcare decisions for her/his loved one is at a loss to know what this loved one would want. And therein lies fear, anxiety, and the most distraught emotions. People want to do the right thing for the people they love, but they must know what the person they love would want in end-of-life healthcare. Therefore, Light the Legacy helps families and professional healthcare staff - through education - navigate the process of from having and supporting difficult, yet necessary conversations to completing appropriate documents, and the procedure that follows.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Training Adults and Healthcare Staff
Light the Legacy conducts Advance Care Planning Facilitator classes (ACP) for medical staff, other professionals, and adult family members wishing to learn about End-of-Life Healthcare planning. Training is also arranged for Physician's Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) facilitators. During the pandemic, Light the Legacy conducts virtual ACP classes every month through the Whitney Senior Center. Partnerships and donors' financial support make these classes for the public and medical staff possible.
We encourage adults 18 and over to prepare an Advanced Healthcare Directive. Light the Legacy classes navigate the way.
Where we work
External reviews
Goals & Strategy
Learn 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?
Light the Legacy seeks to reach families in central Minnesota with education about completing Advanced Healthcare directives well in advance of being needed for decision-making. Such preparation decreases anxiety, fear, and the emotions surrounding decisions about end-of-life healthcare for loved ones.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Light the Legacy reaches out to community members through Health Fairs (prior to Covid 2020), Zoom classes for community members, professional healthcare staff, and for Seniors and family members twice a month at Whitney Senior Center in St. Cloud. An evening class will be added in 2021. Prior to Covid, Light the Legacy's Executive Director, and assisting professional medical staff provided classes for civic groups, churches, and other organizations by request. There is a website: https://www.lightthelegacy.org to visit to gain free materials and information. Light the Legacy sned out, via email, a monthly newsletter. We are also present on Facebook. Getting the word out!
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
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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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 identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), 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, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
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.
Light the Legacy
Board of directorsas of 02/23/2023
Mary Ellen Wells
C-Suite Resources
Term: 2021 - 2023
Jerry McCarter
Clifton Larson
Term: 2023 - 2025
Patricia Bresser
St. Cloud State Univ. - Retired
Joy Hornung
Clifton Larson Allen
Merryn Jolkovsky, M.D.
St. Cloud Hospital - Retired
Sangeeta Jha
St. Cloud Technical College
Richard Shank
United Hospital St. Paul - Retired
Stephen Pareja
Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud
Sarah Schmidt
Country Manor
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? Not applicable -
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? Yes
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
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/17/2023GuideStar 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 ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- 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.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.