Bremer Grant Will Aid Community Foundation

Barbara Arnold |

Donors and grant requesters to the Eau Claire Community Foundation will be able to navigate the system more easily thanks to an $18,746 technology grant from the Otto Bremer Trust. The grant will enable the foundation to invest in new integrated community software which will simplify donor communications and acknowledgement processes as well as grant requesting and grant making, including improving the online evaluation process for ECCF grant reviewers. “The ECCF is moving from the analog space to the digital space with this new software,” said Mike McHorney, executive director of the Children’s Museum of Eau Claire, a recipient of ECCF funds. Obtaining the software will involve a huge two- to three-month conversion of data as well as training for anyone who receives a grant from the ECCF so they know how to use the new software, according to Sue Bornick, the foundation’s executive director. The ECCF’s information will be stored in a secure cloud, available to ECCF’s constituents 24/7 rather than having to wait until the office is open during the day. The software will allow donors to give directly online and be automatically incorporated into the ECCF’s financial reporting system. The software will also automate dozens of now-manual processes at ECCF, which will enable it to maintain its current staffing level while providing the maximum funding for organizations in Eau Claire. Based in St. Paul, the Otto Bremer Trust is one of the country’s largest charitable trusts, and serves communities in the Upper Midwest. With more than $1 billion in assets, the trust makes approximately $50 million in grants annually in Minnesota, North Dakota, and western Wisconsin. Learn more at eccommunityfoundation.org or ottobremer.org