MPR News with Angela Davis

How philanthropy can support housing stability and racial justice

a women poses for a portrait
Susan Bass Roberts was named president of the Pohlad Family Foundation in 2024. She's pictured in the Kling Public Media Center in St. Paul on Tuesday.
Nikhil Kumaran | MPR News

The Pohlad family announced last month that they were looking to sell the Minnesota Twins after owning the team for 40 years.

Well, for almost that long, the Pohlads also have had a private family foundation. It gives away millions of dollars every year to nonprofit organizations around the Twin Cities.

In recent years the foundation has focused on two priorities — giving money to ease the housing crisis and address racial inequality. One of the foundation’s goals is to increase the number of Black homeowners.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the president of the Pohlad Family Foundation, Susan Bass Roberts, about how and where the Pohlads give away their money and about her own career in corporate and community philanthropy,

Guest:

  • Susan Bass Roberts was named president of the Pohlad Family Foundation in 2024, after joining the foundation in 2016 and serving as its vice president and executive director. She previously served as executive director of the Best Buy Foundation, vice president of communications and community relations for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and director of community affairs and philanthropy for Limited Brands, Inc.

two women smiling in a broadcast studio
MPR News host Angela Davis (right) talks with Susan Bass Roberts, president of the Pohland Family Foundation, in an MPR News studio in St. Paul on Tuesday.
Nikhil Kumaran | MPR News

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