In last week’s episode of Expert Perspectives on Community Foundation Policy Leadership, we explored why – and how - community foundations should engage in shaping government policy that serves our communities. Our featured experts were Megan Quattlebaum from the Council of State Governments, Christa Franzi from the planning firm Camoin Associates, and Ralph Serpe of the Adams County Community Foundation.

Ms. Quattlebaum works with legislators in states across the country (and members of Congress). She urged us to see policymakers as people who need community foundations’ help to understand the impediments to progress in our communities – and what’s needed to overcome them. She noted that a significant number of state legislators are new to their jobs and that all legislators must address an extremely wide range of issues despite being “experts” on very few. As trusted leaders focused on the greater good, community foundations are seen as credible information providers. We can significantly impact policymaking by educating policymakers about the obstacles to community progress we see, and our best ideas for addressing them.

Ms. Franzi works with local, regional, and state governments on economic planning, creating data-supported economic development strategies with a focus on equity. While she works at governments' request, their recommendations typically fail to become reality meaningful community input before they’re created and ongoing community engagement after they’ve been issued. Community foundations can add significant value by partnering with such planning groups to share insights, facilitate communication and capacity building with non-profits and the community leaders, and foster consensus across the community in an increasingly divisive political environment. Without these things, even the most valuable plans can nonetheless fail to serve their communities.

Mr. Serpe has broad experience with community foundations, in Silicon Valley, Princeton, Baltimore, and at the Adams County Community Foundation in Pennsylvania, where he is President & CEO. To his eyes, a community foundation has one purpose: The health and wellbeing of its particular geographic footprint. In this way, a community foundation is aligned with its donors and (most) officials and should therefore strive for those people to see their team as their experts on their community’s need. By positioning ourselves in this way; consistently engaging our community members, donors, and officials on important issues relating to our communities’ future strength; and being present at key events related to those needs and policies, community foundations can become the hub of information for our communities’ problem solving and potential success.

He urged that we maintain a 10,000 foot view and attack our communities’ big problems – in ways that make sense to our donors and government officials. He believes that “advocating for our communities is our primary act of civic leadership.” By developing policymakers’ trust on key issues by providing reliable information regardless of the politics, we can become trusted advisors on key issues. When that’s the case, they'll more readily champion the key issues of concern we identify in our communities.

In the latter half of the meeting, attendees and panelists explored a range of questions on these topics, including preparing for meetings with officials; working with local media; leveraging government match funding; and the panelists' advice on specific projects in which the attendees are engaged.

The discussion was engaging and directly relevant to work, so our hour together went quickly. We hope you can join us for the next installment of Expert Perspectives on Community Foundation Policy Leadership, when we’ll explore “Different Situations, Shared Concerns” on Friday, March 24 at 12pm ET (11CT, 10MT, 9PT).

To register, please click here.