Doing Good, Together

By Chas Kennedy

At Fourth Generation, we believe that everyone deserves a real opportunity to do good in their community. Every year the members of this giving circle come together to learn about a local issue, listen to organizations working in our community to address that issue, decide together which organizations we’re excited about supporting, and pool our resources to give out grants.

Fourth Generation wrapped up our most recent grantmaking cycle by awarding $38,000 to three organizations run by youth and empowering youth in the Twin Cities. As the group’s current Grantmaking Chair, I’m excited to share that our 2025-2026 topic will be “Food Insecurity: Filling Every Bowl.”

While our grantmaking topic changes every year, the constant is our focus on creating a meaningful place where people can gather, learn, and make a tangible contribution to our community. That’s what this giving circle is all about—and it’s a big reason many of our members come back year after year.

Fourth Generation members Chas Kennedy and John Wulterkens at the group’s 2024 kick-off event.

Fourth Generation’s approach to giving is anchored by three guiding principles. While we have other practices to keep us on track, these are the three we look to when shaping our work:

1. Give people a real chance to do good (and feel good!).
2. Foster skill-building and network development for donors who put equity and community first.
3. Ensure everyone can join, learn, and have a voice.

These principles do more than guide our giving—they challenge us to look critically at how philanthropy has traditionally worked, and to imagine something better, together.

A common thread I’ve found among Fourth Generation members is that we all want to rethink how philanthropy works. In fact, at the start of every session we take some time to ask ourselves what philanthropy means to us. Invariably, many members bristle at the very word “philanthropy.” For some, it feels like a word reserved for the most affluent or powerful. Others just don’t like the word and can’t exactly say why.

We want to reimagine what it means to give money, and we want to shift outdated power dynamics between funders and the grant partners who are on the ground driving positive change. In recent years, Fourth Generation has made intentional changes to our grantmaking process to support these goals:

• We removed any expectation of a site visit before making grant decisions.
• We simplified our application process to a few open-ended questions.
• We’re sharing our scoring rubric with applicants, so they know exactly how they’ll be assessed.

We’re also serious about learning from others. Fourth Generation often invites community leaders to join our meetings as guest speakers—and I have seen firsthand how their insights shape our work. This year, for example, when Clare Eisenberg joined us to share a model for youth leadership, our members quickly adopted her language and ideas into our conversations and decisions.

This openness to adjusting our grantmaking process and our own thinking is central to our approach and the Fourth Generation experience.

The work isn’t always easy, mentally or emotionally, but doing it together is what turns that hard work into something magical. Having the support of the Minneapolis Foundation, and especially staff members like Sara Lueben, means we have sounding boards and expert guidance when we need it most. More importantly, though, we have each other.

A Fourth Generation meeting brings together curious people, all eager to learn, grow, and make a difference for our community. Frankly, I love the opportunity to surround myself with my fellow members. As someone who thrives on collaboration and learning from others, these moments remind me why community-driven work is so powerful. It’s deeply reassuring to see us all showing up and committing to making a difference.

In our most recent cycle, we learned about Youth-Led Initiatives and awarded $38,000 to three amazing organizations:

• Believe In What’s Possible empowers youth to lead in Minnesota politics through art, education, and events, envisioning a future where young voices are at the forefront of change.
• Bridgemakers cultivates young leaders to transform youth-serving systems, fostering purpose and prosperity through leadership development.
• Good Trouble is an intergenerational movement elevating school culture and providing young people with real work and a sense of belonging.

Photo courtesy of Bridgemakers

Our 2025-2026 grantmaking cycle will start in the fall. We’re excited to focus on hunger and food insecurity, learn together, grow as individuals and as a group, and—once again—get the chance to do good.

If you’re looking for a place to make a difference, build connections with like-minded people, and learn more about local issues and organizations, we invite you to join us! Our fall kickoff is on September 17—a perfect time to get involved. Register now and subscribe for updates from Fourth Generation. We hope to see you soon!

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Chas Kennedy
Fourth Generation Member