November 3, 2023

This week I read “How Philanthropy Can Partner with the Public Sector to Build Equitable Infrastructure” in Philanthropy News Digest, written by the President and CEO of the James Irvine Foundation and the Senior Advisor for Social Innovation to California’s Governor Newsom.

The authors note there’s unprecedented federal funding available to strengthen regions across the country. What’s required to secure and effectively use those dollars, though, is regional collaboration. From their perspectives, philanthropy is particularly well-suited to lead such collaboration, to enable their communities to answer the question, “What will it take to fundamentally transform our region and foster an inclusive, resilient, and sustainable economy?” 

They see the availability of this funding as a concrete opportunity for community foundations to leverage their existing relationships and skills, step into their natural policy leadership role, and help securing millions in critical infrastructure support for those they serve. As an example, the authors cite the work California’s Central Valley Community Foundation, which is the central convenor of representatives from nonprofits, education, employers, workforce training organizations, organized labor, local governments, and tribal entities from four counties and is guiding the state’s funding of a Regional Economic Recovery and Transition Plan.

For many community foundations, stepping into such a regional leadership role may feel like something new. Yet as I know from conversations with community foundations across the country, we are in fact more experienced with policy leadership than we realize. 

When the pandemic hit, many of us naturally led on government service issues. In that moment, community foundations were better able to assess the needs and capacities of various service providers across our regions than our partners in government and private philanthropy.  And in many cases, we convened them in various ways to help them understand what they needed to do to keep our communities strong

At Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, where I was Director of Advocacy & Capacity Building at the time, we rallied our private philanthropic partners to explore with each other what we understood was needed, what the government was providing, what we were each providing, where the gaps were, and how to communicate with our government partners where the need remained. And we advised them on how to fill the many gaps we were simply unable to fill.

Stepping into that policy leadership role was new to many of us.  Yet those who engaged can also recall how natural and relatively effective those communications were.  The work wasn’t always “easy” or  “perfect.” But it was almost always helpful, provided millions of dollars of support where it was needed,  and served our communities in ways we couldn’t ourselves.

Indeed, there are increasing examples of community foundations embracing that role into the future. The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and the Adirondack Foundation (among others) regularly engage with regional partners to secure the federal and state support required to strengthen their quieter parts of New York State. In Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Foundation and Scranton Area Community Foundation, respectively, are increasingly focused on enabling their state and regional community foundation partners to collaborate toward shared policy goals. 

Such examples existed before the pandemic as well.  My original interest in community foundation policy leadership was sparked while I was at the Pew Charitable Trusts, where I was impressed by the power of a collaborative of community and private foundations in Michigan that was leading policymakers to consider constructive responses to justice issues.  

The infrastructure our communities need to maintain their strength span many forms – at scale we need our governments to provide. Climate solutions that transcend county and state borders. Creating access to the education and training that enable our community members to secure the jobs that can enable local economies to thrive. Properly supporting the front-line social service and health care workers we depend on – and who are increasingly burning out. The list is as expansive as our communities’ needs. 

As Gina Dalma of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation noted when reflecting on their policy experiences in a recent CFON discussion, community foundations can successfully lead our regions to meet their challenges and enable a more successful future. Yet to do so, we must be willing to invest the time necessary to reap the significant financial rewards our policy leadership can provide for our communities.

To explore more about community foundations’ regional leadership potential and what we learned from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s approach to policy leadership, please register here for the Center’s next “Expert Perspectives” session, on Friday, November 17, at Noon ET/ 11CT/ 10MT/ 9am PT.