why people

GIVE

COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS

HOMETOWN
HEROES
by JULIE KENDRICK

WE MAKE IT
EASY

for people

to create a legacy of
giving, instead of just
a one-time gift, so that
they can experience
a deeper level of
philanthropy.
Alicia Philipp, president of The
Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

Above, left to r ight: Alison

Lucacsko, who has a donor-advised
fund at The Community Foundation
for Greater Atlanta, volunteers with
family members at the annual Family
Volunteer Day; The Ideas Challenge
is a region-wide, social media-based
competition that asks residents of
greater Atlanta to submit an idea to a
broad community question.

100 d e l t a s k y / d e c e m b e r 2 0 1 5

Community foundations are fueled by individual,

family and corporate donors who join forces to
improve their quality of life in their own towns.
The word philanthropist can summon images
of a bewhiskered gentleman somberly cutting
a ribbon for a building with his name on it. But
modern philanthropists have ditched the stuffy
old guy model and are more likely to be young
professionals, successful start-up founders or
multigenerational families. Many are embracing
the give it now, dont endow credo and are
seeking hands-on involvement in local causes to
which theyre passionately committed.
Community foundations all over the country are
responding, serving as collaborative catalysts
for donors, nonprofits, governments and even
private businesses. Heres a snapshot of three
organizations making a difference close to home.

ATLANTA
If youre passionate about improving the quality
of life in Atlantaand you want to be actively
engaged in seeing the impact your philanthropy can havethen youll want to learn more
about The Community Foundation for Greater
Atlanta, says Alicia Philipp, foundation president.
Sometimes we fly a little bit below the radar, but
when people find out about us, they say, Where
have you been? she says. We make it easy for
people to create a legacy of giving, instead of
just a one-time gift, so that they can experience a
deeper level of philanthropy.
The foundation often connects neighborhood
institutions with fresh thinking and innovative
ideas. Noting that entrepreneurship is in our
Atlanta DNA, Philipp points to a new pub-

lic-private initiative, BetterLife Growers. The forprofit business concept is a hydroponic lettuce
greenhouse and packing facility, located in the
Mechanicsville community, which will eventually be owned by its employees. The concept came
to life when, after extensive research and 110
interviews with local leaders, the foundation pinpointed an opportunity to provide neighboring
universities and hospitals with fresh lettuce and
herbs, since 90 percent of all lettuce consumed
in Georgia currently comes from California. The
greenhouse will create 25 jobs, which will be
open to people who might be otherwise difficult
to hire, including those with criminal records.
We want to create a new generation of what
we call raging philanthropists who are highly
engaged in experiencing the impact of their
giving, Philipp says.
AT A GLANCE
The Community Foundation for Greater
Atlanta
Leader: Alicia Philipp, president
Founded: 1951
Assets: $950 million
2014 giving: $106 million
Active funds: 700
Areas of work: High school graduation,
post-secondary education opportunities,
arts organizations, HIV/AIDS prevention,
environmental initiatives
Learn more: cfgreateratlanta.org

why people

GIVE

COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS

Left to r ight: Seattle Foundation

president and CEO Tony Mestres with
Seattle Sounders FC midfielder/forward
and GiveBIG 2015 Spokesperson Lamar
Neagle at an event for GiveBIG, an
annual online giving day; a young student
participates in an educational program
through Seattle Foundation.

SEATTLE

THEY WANT

TO ROLL UP
THEIR SLEEVES,

not just write a check.

Mary Grace Roske, Seattle
Foundation vice president of
marketing and communications

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Rebooting the old-school model of donors,

Seattles active, tech-savvy philanthropists
want to be investors instead. Theyre interested in putting their capital to work in ways
that generate positive community change,
says Mary Grace Roske, Seattle Foundation vice
president of marketing and communications.
They want to roll up their sleeves, not just
write a check.
The foundations framework, A Healthy Community, supports a complex fabric of issues to
improve the regions overall quality of life. One
successful initiative it has supported is The
Roadmap Project, a collective impact effort
of community groups, school districts and
philanthropists to increase academic achievement from cradle to career. By 2020, it aims to
double the number of students in South King
County and South Seattle on track to graduate
from college or earn a career credential. The
project has already been recognized with a
federal Race to the Top grant and has succeeded in installing full-day kindergarten in all
targeted schools, enrolling 25,000 low-income
students for the Washington State College
Bound Scholarship program and

cutting ninth-grade suspensions and expulsions nearly in half.

One trend were noting at Seattle Foundation
is the involvement of entire families in philanthropy, Roske says. We provide a Giving
with Goals curriculum that helps them identify collective values and areas of philanthropic
interests, allowing them to combine the heart
and science of philanthropy.
AT A GLANCE
Seattle Foundation
Leader: Tony Mestres, president & CEO
Founded: 1946
Assets: Nearly $1 billion
2014 giving: $100 million
Active funds: 1,200
Areas of work: Arts and culture, basic needs,
economy, education, environment, health/
wellness and neighborhoods/communities,
global development
Learn more: seattlefoundation.org

why people

GIVE

COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS
UTAH

FOR THE GOOD

OF THE
COMMUNITY
According to
the Community
Foundations National
Standards Board,
there are more than
750 community
foundations in the
United States. The
first was founded in
1914 when Frederick
Harris Goff started
the Cleveland
Foundation, saying:
How fine it would
be, [if an individual
who was] about to
make a will could
go to a permanently
established
organization and
say, Here is a large
sum of money. I want
to leave it to be used
for the good of the
community, but I have
no way of knowing
what will be the
greatest need 50 years
from now. Therefore, I
place it in your hands
to determine what
should be done.

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Utah is the last state to form a community

foundation in the United States, capitalizing on
opportunities to learn from other foundations
while keeping a fresh outlook on innovative
ideas. Through smart philanthropy, we want
to harness our states well-known entrepreneurial spirit in service to the common good,
says Alexandra Eaton, executive director of the
Community Foundation of Utah. People come
to us with ideas they think are important for
our state, and we work as a central hub and connector. We partner with others, collaborate and
convene the stakeholders in our community.

AT A GLANCE
The Community Foundation of Utah
Leader: Alexandra Eaton, executive director
Founded: 2008
Historical assets: $55 million
2014 giving: $7.8 million
Active funds: 203
Areas of work: Social enterprise, education,
homelessness, recidivism, early maternal
health and the LGBT community
Learn more: utahcf.org

Utah was one of the first states to become involved in social impact bonds and public-private partnerships to address pressing social
issues with metrics illustrating outcomes. This
innovative funding model of performance-based
philanthropy, called Pay for Success, includes
mission-driven investors who finance the upfront costs of delivering high-impact programs.
If the predetermined goals are achieved, investors have the potential to earn a return on their
investment.
In an effort to demonstrate that everyone can
be a philanthropist, the foundation launched
Love Utah Give Utah, a 24-hour day of charitable
giving to nonprofits statewide. The initiative has
raised $2.8 million for nearly 500 participating
Utah nonprofits since its inception three years
ago.
One thing that people sometimes forget is that
the person doing the giving also receives significant benefits, Eaton says. I recently met with
a very active philanthropist whos in his early
70s. He told me, Its a lot more fun to be giving
when youre alive than when youre dead!

Top to Bottom: Lavine Shapiro (Utah Food Bank funds

director), Alex Eaton (Community Foundation of Utah
executive director) and Ginette Bott (Utah Food Bank chief
development officer) at the Utah Food Bank in Salt Lake
City; A gathering at the National Ability Center in Park City,
Utah, which empowers people of all abilities by building selfesteem, confidence and skills through sports, recreation and
educational programs.