General Mills, Inc.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
 
Bestowed 1999

General Mills, Inc. has been supporting the arts since 1954, when the General Mills Foundation was created to support excellence and creativity in the arts, promote artistic diversity, encourage community and employee participation in the arts, and provide hands-on arts education opportunities. Believing that the staffs and boards of arts organizations are best suited to make decisions about how a grant is used, unrestricted grants continue to be the foundation's major focus. In 1998, the foundation allocated 24% of its total philanthropic contributions to the arts in its headquarters community and operating areas.

General Mills has benefited the arts, business and the community by:

• Encouraging new ideas, fostering innovation and stimulating creativity among employees through The General Mills Art Collection. Established in 1958, the collection includes more than 1,100 works that are displayed throughout the company's headquarters and research facilities, and loaned to museums for special exhibitions. In 1987, the company established an outdoor sculpture garden that includes 11 commissioned site-specific works.
• Giving a $1.5 million leadership gift for the construction of the Science Museum of Minnesota, a new science museum being built in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
• Providing $1.5 million since 1991, and committing an additional $500,000 through 2001, to the New Beginnings Campaign of The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, to support a computerized information program. This learning system offers the institute's 500,000 annual visitors access to touch-screen terminals that provide educational information about the collections. Additionally, the company provided $635,144 in annual operating support during the same time period.
• Granting $300,000 to the Minnesota Opera Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota, for an initiative designed to reduce expenses by sharing scenery and costumes with opera companies in other cities.
• Making a $400,000 capital grant in 1996 to the Minnesota Orchestral Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as part of a $2 million commitment to the orchestra. In addition to the capital grant, General Mills has supported the orchestra with additional operating grants since 1994.
• Providing grants through the General Mills Foundation since 1995 to public radio and television organizations including: Public Radio International, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Community Communication, Inc., Orlando, Florida; and Twin Cities Public Television and Minnesota Public Radio, Inc., both of Saint Paul, Minnesota.
• Underwriting the educational initiatives of many of the projects it supports. For example, in 1993 it funded the educational programs of “The Africa Exhibit,” an exhibition seen by more than 250,000 schoolchildren in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois. In 1995, it supported the educational programs for the exhibition “Patrick Desjarlait and the Ojibwa Tradition” in the Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
• Sponsoring arts-related activities for company employees, retirees and family members through the Art Club division of the General Mills Employee Club. Activities included tours of the company's art collection, lunchtime talks by artists, trips to museums and local galleries, and architectural tours of the Twin Cities. Additionally, the Performing Arts Committee of the General Mills Employee Club subsidizes more than 1,800 tickets to approximately 30 arts events each year for employees and their families.
• Creating and supporting the Request for Proposals program from 1991-1994, an initiative designed to spark innovative ways to increase access to the arts among underserved segments of the population. Through this initiative, 32 grants totaling $1.5 million were awarded to arts organizations. Recipients included the Minnesota Orchestral Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota, for research and development of artistic products geared to reach new and non-traditional audiences; the Toledo Orchestra Association, Toledo, Ohio, for music lessons for 75 children living in low-income housing; the Paramount Arts Center, Aurora, Illinois, for artists' fees and tickets for students; the Great Falls Symphony, Great Falls, Montana, for performances in rural communities; and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago, Illinois, for performances and demonstrations in five inner-city Chicago schools. While this initiative was formally completed in 1994, the company continues to support projects with similar goals.
• Matching employee gifts on a two to one basis for the first $100, and on a one-to-one basis thereafter through the Arts and Culture Gift Matching Program. In FY98, 302 organizations received a total of $603,000, resulting from 1,609 gifts. The company also encourages its employees to serve as volunteers on the boards of arts organizations throughout the country.