3 Indian Bands set up charity

By Robert Franklin

Star Tribune

      A charitable endowment that could reach $50 million to $100 million was announced Monday by the state's three wealthiest Indian communities and the Minnesota Community Foundation.

      Giving by the fund would be in addition to the more than $11.5 million that the three groups donated to various causes last year. Those groups are the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, the Prairie Island Indian Community in Red Wing and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in north-central Minnesota.

      They are the closest to the Twin Cities and run the state's most successful casinos--Mystic Lake, Treasure Island and the Grand Casinos.

      They have been fighting legislation to expand gambling, including a proposal by Gov. Tim Pawlenty to establish a metro-area casino that would benefit the state and poorer bands financially.

      The endowment plan is not connected to that, and has been in talking stages for two years, Indian and foundation officials said.

      The endowment could produce $2.5 million to $5 million a year.

      It could be used for Minnesota economic and civic causes and people in need, Indian and non-Indian, urban and rural.

      The idea was floated publicly in January in a State of the Band address by Melanie Benjamin, Mille Lacs Band chief executive. "As a band, we have an obligation to share with people who do not have enough," she said then.

      "It's something we want do. We're proud of it," said Ron Johnson, vice president of the Prairie Island Tribal Council. He said doubters should not make "a political issue and try to overwhelm my heart."

      Judi Dutcher, the foundation president, said business groups increasingly have been establishing funds within community foundations, but the multi-band fund is "really historic."

      "There's nothing like it anywhere in the United States," she said. "It's a fund for the benefit of the state of Minnesota in the broadest terms."

      The foundation, which manages more than 30 community funds and nearly 400 donor funds, will manage the money and help screen possible beneficiaries. A board of band representatives will recommend beneficiaries. Who will serve on the board and how much each tribal group will contribute is yet to be decided, Dutcher said. The groups are open to other bands, vendors and businesses joining the fund, she said.

      Representatives of all three bands said the fund is a continuation of their historic giving. "We see this as an extension of what our community does," said Stanley Crooks, band chairman at Shakopee, which gave away $10.3 million last year.

      The groups have given to their neighbors, too.

      Prairie Island, which gives an average of $1 million a year, built a hockey arena for Red Wing, gave $125,000 to Kenyon for a clinic and assisted living facility, and helped the Miesville Fire Department. The Mille Lacs Band, which gave away $262,000 last year, helped build a Brainerd Lakes Welcome Center and has given to groups as far away as White Bear Lake and Sartell.

      Willie Hardacker, tribal attorney for the Shakopee Mdewakanton, said Monday that "Shakopee's charitable giving has absolutely nothing to do with legislative efforts."

      But it is not unprecedented for organizations to point to their charity in seeking help from the Legislature. In 1987, for instance, what was then Dayton Hudson Corp. used its charitable record -- donating 5 percent of pretax profits every year -- to help pass a law that prevented a hostile takeover.