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Nonprofit Resource Connection Newsletter
Fourth Quarter 2010

Lois Schmidt2

Exploring with Minnesota Compass
Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar

Are you

        • Venturing out of the office to find out how many small businesses are in your community?
        • Venturing out of your community to research an index of all road construction projects in your county from way back when?
        • Venturing out of your county to find out how crime rates in nearby regions compare with crime rates in your region?
        •  Venturing out of your region to find out what the state will look like in 2030 on the aging front?
        •  Venturing out of the state to check out how Minnesota compares with other states in the nation on childhood obesity rates?

You don’t have to go far. In fact, you don’t even have to leave your desk (or armchair if you’re on a laptop) to satisfy your curiosity or desire for information on these topics as well as thousands more.

Minnesota Compass is a virtual goldmine of facts, trends, and reports on topics from Aging, Education, Immigration, Health, Public Safety, Transportation and more. As described on its site, "Compass gives everyone in our state - policymakers, business and community leaders and concerned individuals who live and work here – a common foundation to identify, understand and act on community issues that affect our communities."

Further as described on the site, the idea for Minnesota Compass began in 2008 when Twin Cities Compass was launched, gained broad interest from a variety of sectors including business, government and philanthropy, and took shape when a group of funders worked with Wilder Research to launch the project.

You’ll find this resource very easy to use, as well as useful. Don’t be surprised if you come away from the site with nuggets of information that you can use as relevant in a project you happen to be working on right this moment, or as a bookmarked page to refer back to when you’re writing that next grant proposal, preparing an upcoming presentation, or participating in a community project that needs local, regional or state context.