How trust in nonprofits is built by showing up

Every day across Minnesota, thousands of people place their trust in community organizations when the math at home no longer adds up. They trust that a food shelf will be there when the cost of groceries is higher than expected. They trust a volunteer will treat them with dignity. They trust that a local organization will help them find a way forward when circumstances — often beyond their control — leave a gap in the budget. That trust is built one interaction at a time. Last year, Minnesotans made more than 9 million visits to food shelves, the highest number ever recorded. Behind that number are millions of individual decisions: a parent figuring out how to put the same groceries on the table with fewer SNAP dollars, a family absorbing a steep increase in health insurance premiums, or a worker watching groceries, gas and energy bills rise faster than their paycheck. Across our organizations, we are seeing those decisions firsthand: brand-new shoppers across all progra