Coming from the business side at Monsanto Company, Al Mitchell had experience telling people they can’t invest in things because the return on investment was not high enough. When he took over as president of Monsanto Fund, the company’s philanthropic arm, last year, suddenly he was not considering investments in products or processes, but rather in social service organizations, many of them serving youth.
“If you save one child, that’s a high enough return,” Mitchell said.
He was addressing a very unique group at Monsanto’s corporate headquarters in St. Louis County on a recent Friday afternoon. They were representatives – mostly very senior, often the chief executive – of 30-some organizations that Monsanto Fund has invested in. The range was wide. There were representatives of universities, a public school foundation, a public school district, charter schools, youth development agencies, a boys and girls club, a group that feeds the hungry, community gardeners, arts organizations, civic-minded tech startups, a chess club and a magic house.
Mitchell told them that Monsanto Fund had invested in “a large number of non-profits in St. Louis, with everyone striving to attain some goal, improve someone’s life.” He subjected that to a simple business principle: “I have been wondering how we might start leveraging these assets, these investments we have made and are going to make.”
He had pulled the numbers. In 2016, Monsanto Fund had granted this group of 30-plus organizations a total of $1.1 million. Their programs collectively had touched 74,000 adults and 187,000 children.
“You change lives,” Mitchell said. “But I started to wonder how we might leverage the great work you’re doing with each other.”
He had the idea of putting them all in a room, giving each one minute to describe the organization’s mission and what they were looking for, and then break out into three-minute speed networking meetings. And that is what he had brought them out to Creve Coeur to do.
Everyone introduced themselves and described their organizations and the work they are doing. It was an impressive parade of services being poured into our community, mostly where they are needed most. Not everyone mentioned anything in particular they were looking for by attending, but the needs that were presented covered a wide range.
Matt Menietti, executive director of Global Hack, which uses technology to solve civic and social problems, was looking for pilot schools for its coding programs.
Christie Huck, executive director of City Garden Montessori School, said they were looking for help in “addressing how segregated our region’s schools are and how to make them more racially and socioeconomically integrated.”
Matt Schindler, executive director of Gateway Greening, said they were looking for three or four acres of good earth in the city to consolidate their scattered operations.
Then they all went through a structured cycle of speed networking, trying to match needs to resources, or at least start conversations about future collaborations.
“I enjoyed hearing from each community partner during the one-minute speed networking time,” said Michael Whitley, development director for the St. Louis Public School Foundation . “Although more time was needed to share or connect more with others in the room, it was helpful to understand the needs of so many.”
Afterwards, Mitchell said he was “hopeful this meeting helped spark relationships” that will enable Monsanto Fund to reach even more people in need with its future investments.
“Our goal was to provide a venue for these organizations to meet one another and find common ground,” Mitchell said. “If one connection was made that helps reach more students in the region, then I feel the event was a success. Looking around the room and seeing all the positive interaction that took place, and hearing some of the feedback, I’m very encouraged.”
