Grand Rapids Community Foundation’s Post

The Florida State Parks Foundation and The St. Joe Company Community Foundation have announced another round of grant funding that will enhance accessibility at 🌳Topsail Hill Preserve State Park 🌳and Grayton Beach State Park! Learn more about the grant, part of the “Beyond the Matting” accessibility campaign, and how it will positively impact our community in this The Associated Press article: https://ow.ly/exV350Ub3gN

It is the last day of #FairHousingMonth. Thank you to all the great FHIPs, FHAPs, nonprofits, and other organizations that hosted events throughout the month of April. I want to leave this year’s Fair Housing Month with a challenge: 1. If you have not, then go read ‘The Color of Law,’ written by Richard Rothstein. Rothstein argues with detailed examples how segregation in America is the result of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal levels. In sum, de facto segregation is a myth. Those governmental policies continue to harm our cities today. 2. If you have not, then go read ‘Just Action,’ written by Richard and Leah Rothstein. Just Action describes how we begin to undo those harmful policies today. Fair Housing Month may be ending, but the work continues…

𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘌𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺. 𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴. This quote was provided by an anonymous foundation as part of a survey we carried out last year in collaboration with Philea - Philanthropy Europe Association. Case studies are collected in our latest publication "Removing Obstacles to Cross-Border Philanthropy; The Time Is Now.” The real-world examples show how intricate and exhausting fiscal systems across Europe are when it comes to donations and fundraising, and urge the #Eu to remove these barriers. The time is now! https://t.ly/HPhti #philanthropy #donations #taxsystem #transnationalgiving

Take a look at page 4 and 5 for an excellent write up on Home Match and the impact shared housing has on the lives of older people in our communities! #sharedhousing #prevention #homematch Front Porch Communities & Services

In our recent issue of PARTNERS in community, Stacey Hongsyvilay-Thayer shares how she makes decisions as a young professional committed to giving back to community. Learn more about how she gives back to support students through monthly giving that makes sense for her family's budget. Read more here: https://ow.ly/Q3x850TBtS1

On todays’ episode of Impact with John Shegerian, John interviews Nikki Clifton. Nikki leads UPS’s global philanthropy, social impact, and international community affairs, leveraging the company’s partnerships and logistical acumen to respond to the world’s most pressing social, humanitarian, and environmental needs. Bringing nearly three decades of litigation, legislative affairs, and philanthropic expertise to her role, Nikki oversees The UPS Foundation’s work delivering health and humanitarian aid, eliminating systemic barriers to economic opportunity, building local capacity, and advancing sustainability around the world. Listen along as Nikki discusses the company’s impact mission. https://lnkd.in/gr3aazQn

Is America as divided as it seems? Drew Lindsay reports for #TheCommons on researcher’s efforts to answer that question and how they often find that we have more in common than expected. Read the full story at: https://bit.ly/3xHl6gd The Commons is a new project from The Chronicle of Philanthropy exploring how America’s nonprofits and foundations are working to heal the nation’s divides and build community. With guest essays from leaders in the nonprofit and philanthropy sector, we are looking at how the country is splintered along political lines but also by income, race, geography, culture, and more — division that can threaten progress and even the nation’s stability. This week, April 15-21, is National Week of Conversation. Organized by the Listen First Project and CitizenConnect.US, the event is designed to foster communication to build bridges across differences and help people #DisagreeBetter. All week the Chronicle will be sharing content from The Commons.

Part 2! Of my interview with Ludovic Blain, ED of California Donor Table. This one right here is chock full of hard earned reflections. Almost every paragraph Ludovic takes on some important topic in the world of social justice philanthropy, donor organizing and electoral power building, pointing us away from any simplistic analysis and towards a more complex understanding. I hope we can use his boldness to inspire (and agitate) all of us to think and act more rigorously about this work many of us do. As Ludovic writes in his linked in post below, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Quotes to pique your interest... "If unions and progressive elected officials, both of whom are elected (and funded) by large bases, are not amongst the folk we are listening to and following, philanthropy won’t succeed." "The Left is really good at opposition but our power building gets weak the closer it comes to power wielding." "In many ways, the individual donors are less stuffy than many of the biggest foundation boards. And it can be a little bit clearer how to get individual donors to grapple with their privilege, compared to getting the top 2 or 3 levels of a foundation to do so." "What we really need is wealthy donors who understand the medium and long term strategies. We need donors to understand that we invest in places that we are absolutely going to lose for the next two, 4 or 6 years...So the questions become, are we losing forward?" "We have a lot of wealthy white folks who are not really accountable to anybody, so they can literally fund whatever they want (for good and bad). Many wealthy people of color are in a different situation. Their wealth might be mostly due to their income, so they’re accountable and dependent on the wealthier person who’s paying them...So it’s a weird thing that actually we have sets of white folks who are more able to be ideologically bold with their wealth, and are motivated to do that because maybe they don’t like their grand-parent who made the wealth in an oppressive way. They are able to do both the right thing (take a progressive stand) and also do the rebelling thing at the same time. A win-win for them! Whereas for the people of color with wealth, they’re often new money, so it's their kids who might be the leftist rebel, but the money hasn’t passed to them yet." "Most (wealthy) donors are white and the country is becoming more and more majority people of color. And more political contestation isn't just between white folks and people of color anymore, it’s also amongst people of color. More and more, doing this work requires racial understanding 501, if not 701. Creating multiracial coalitions that we need to win is going to continue to be very complicated and uncomfortable for everyone, including people of color. I think people should expect messiness, lack of clear ways forward, and very few kumbaya meetings. Almost every step will be hard. Worth it, but almost drudgery. We are making this road by walking."

📖 The PhiLanthropic Year - Volume 5 Case Studies : Challenges, Lessons and Implications of Collecting Social Identity Data in the Social and Community Services Sector By Isabel Cascante, Director of Research, Public Policy and Evaluation & Umair Majid, Manager of Research, Public Policy and Evaluation at United Way Greater Toronto « When implemented well, social identity data (SID) can help agencies understand who is – and who is not – accessing services, highlight service gaps and disparities, and ensure programs are appropriately designed for those in need of the services. » 👉 Read full article here : https://ow.ly/QB1l50Sj3OQ

When trusted local organizations step up, communities thrive. The Philadelphia Citizen highlights PASSi and others filling critical gaps in public benefits enrollment after major nonprofit closures. This shift not only helps connect more people to the resources they need but also builds deeper trust in community-based solutions. Read the full story to learn how these providers are carrying the work forward and innovating along the way. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eNSSckgB This story was published as part of the Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative, a coalition of 25+ local newsrooms reporting on issues that affect daily life with a solutions lens.