Dear Friends,

Last June, I drove through my first disaster zone.

Houses were leveled, businesses assaulted, trees exploded, gravestones toppled, community and school buildings devastated. Unless you’ve seen it, you can’t grasp it. Every scene
took my breath away.

A significant portion of the City ofWadena and parts of bothWadena and Otter Tail Counties endured an F4 tornado on June 17, 2010. The terrible episode, which disappeared as suddenly as it arrived, impacted hundreds of families who are still struggling to recover.

Later on, I couldn’t help but draw parallels to the economic recession—little warning, massive impact, persistent aftermath.

But I saw something else on my drive that day—hundreds of local residents and volunteers doing back-breaking work and sharing their time and talents to help others. The tornado, although unquestionably better if it never happened, brought with it a oncein-a-lifetime chance to rethink and rebuild an entire community.

Did the recession bring us a similar opportunity?

When it comes to central Minnesota’s vibrant nonprofit community, the answer seems to be yes. Charities have been on the front lines of economic hardship and recovery. They have provided inspirational leadership, cushioned the hardest falls, kept a keen eye on causes as well as symptoms, streamlined response systems, innovated solutions, persevered through months of fatigue, and done it all with a fraction of past resources.

We thought that story deserved a magazine, one that spotlighted nonprofit impacts and challenges, and one that elevated nonprofit leaders to a level commensurate with their importance to our communities.

Just like our foundation has the privilege of helping Wadena, we’ve also had the honor of investing in the effectiveness of central Minnesota’s nonprofit organizations for the past ten years. My husband, Neal, and I traveled back toWadena to participate in an ecumenical prayer service in recognition of a miracle—the tornado caused no loss of life or even severe injury.

This issue of IQ is also dedicated to miracles, brought to us every day by our
nonprofits.

Enjoy the magazine!






Kathy Gaalswyk, President
Initiative Foundation