To the editor,

On Oct. 31, Ashley Johnson, director of donor engagement at the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, sent an email to donors.

“Will you help?” it essentially asked.

Facing the potential for increased food insecurity due to the expected decrease in SNAP funding, Ashley invited donor-advised funds to partner to meet the need: NMF would match 1-to-1 any DAF grant made to a food shelf, food bank or backpack program in northwest Minnesota. NMF authorized up to $25,000 in emergency disaster funds for the initiative and ended up releasing an additional $4,000 to match one last gift. In partnership with our DAFs, we've now released $58,000 to support programs throughout northwest Minnesota.

Earlier this fall, NMF opened its annual training and education grants, designed to support no

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