Phillips Family Foundation and Minneapolis Foundation form partnership

Two prominent Minneapolis foundations are forming what leaders are calling a partnership to boost equity initiatives.

The Minneapolis Foundation announced Thursday a new "strategic operating partnership" with the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota, the longstanding north Minneapolis organization that's donated millions to the city's North Side.

The move, effective at the end of March, means the Phillips Foundation will pay the Minneapolis Foundation to run Phillips' administrative services and deliver its grants, said R.T. Rybak, president of the Minneapolis Foundation.

However, Phillips will maintain its own independent identity, fund and board, he said.

"This is one of the most significant community foundations in Minnesota and we're really honored to be partners with them, but they will remain independent," Rybak said. "It's a very significant deal for both of us. It's extraordinarily important for us to look for new ways that we can make even more impact toward the equitable community we need."

Patrick Troska, president of the Phillips Family Foundation, declined to comment.

Liquor businessman Jay Phillips and his wife, Rose Phillips, created the foundation nearly 80 years ago. Their great-grandson, U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips, who represents Minnesota's Third Congressional District, is on the foundation's board.

In 2016 the Phillips Foundation refocused on the North Side, and broke ground last year on its new headquarters off W. Broadway. Phillips gave $3.5 million in grants in 2020, including funding to support north Minneapolis schools and North News, a community news source.

Rybak said it's too soon to say whether the Phillips Foundation's four employees will be laid off or change jobs. He said that most of Phillips' programs will continue and that nonprofits and other grantees who receive money from Phillips shouldn't be affected, since most of them also get money from the Minneapolis Foundation.

"We want right now to listen closely to what Phillips has been able to do in partnership ... and continue it," Rybak said. "We're both focused on the same outcome of closing equity gaps and we both recognize we need to do even more — and we can do that side by side."

Kelly Smith • 612-673-4141