The Philanthropic Leadership Fund Update: 2014

The Philanthropic Leadership Fund
Update: 2014
The Philanthropic Leadership Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation supports activities
that expand the impact of giving throughout the state. Since its inception in 2006, the Philanthropic
Leadership Fund has helped donors and nonprofits learn more about community needs, identify and
cultivate promising ideas, inspire others to give, and strengthen the nonprofit sector.
We’re excited to share with you what we’ve been able to accomplish in the past year through the
generosity and vision of the individuals who’ve contributed to this unique fund.
Connecting the local food
movement with the fight
against hunger
Our latest Understanding Vermont publication, Local
Food For Healthy Communities, explores an interesting
challenge: while Vermont’s nationally recognized
local food system is bringing health and community
benefits across the state, many Vermonters still
experience hunger on a regular basis.
The report highlights where there are opportunities
to connect these two issues to ensure that all
Vermonters have access to healthy, local food.
The strategies in the report form the cornerstone
of the Community Foundation’s Food and Farm
Initiative, and the Philanthropic Leadership Fund
has made possible broad outreach efforts and local
events featuring speakers like former USDA Secretary
Kathleen Merrigan, to attract additional support for
the Initiative.
The Philanthropic Leadership Fund also supports
Results Based Accountability training for the Food and
Farm Initiative grantees, so that they can set and track
goals for the change they effect in the community.
Helping nonprofits tell their
stories effectively
An important part of any organization’s efforts to
inspire awareness and grow support for their work is
the ability to tell their story clearly and compellingly.
This is especially true in today’s world of fast-paced
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Advancing mission investing
news and information sharing and it’s a big part of
why the Community Foundation has offered support
in this area since 2010.
The idea that foundations can use their invested
assets to further their philanthropic goals has gained
a lot of traction lately, and for good reason. “Mission
investing” or “impact investing” offers grantmakers
the possibility of generating both a financial and a
social return by making capital more available for
initiatives that benefit the communities they serve.
The Vermont Community Foundation was among
the first community foundations in the country to
adopt a formal mission investment policy and is
considered a leader in the field.
This past year, the Philanthropic Leadership Fund,
in partnership with the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation,
allowed the Community Foundation to offer, freeof-charge, a series of 12 storytelling workshops
across the state, focused on basic storytelling
skills, storytelling through social media, and using
storytelling to do community building. The workshops
were geared towards organizations that don’t have
their own marketing and development staff, or that
would like guidance in identifying the right stories for
their audiences.
This past year, the Philanthropic Leadership Fund
made it possible for the Community Foundation’s
president to step up as co-chair of the steering
committee of Mission Investors Exchange—a group of
over 230 foundations that help one another develop
and spread the use of these innovative programs—
and produce the “Community Foundation Field Guide
To Impact Investing”.
The skills developed by nonprofit staff in these
workshops are helpful in everything from fundraising
to reporting back on the difference the organization is
able to make in the community.
To date, more than 200 individuals have participated
in the workshops, and we know from experience that
nonprofits continue to need support in this area as the
need for philanthropic resources grows.
Connecting nonprofits with
grant opportunities
The Community Foundation is always interested in
helping nonprofits find support for their good work,
whether that support comes from within our family of
funds or from other Vermont-focused foundations.
Thanks to the Philanthropic Leadership Fund, we’ve
been able to partner with the Foundation Center in
Washington, DC since 2007 to make available, freeof-charge, the Vermont Directory of Foundations, an
online resource that allows grantseekers to research
funding opportunities anytime, from anywhere
they have an internet connection. The directory
has more than 2,500 users per year, and saves
grantseekers time and money that they can better
spend on running their organizations.
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Photo courtesy of Stephen Mease.
Supporting community-defined
civic spaces
The city of Burlington’s proposed plan for
redevelopment of the abandoned Moran Power Plant
is both ambitious and inspiring, and a last chance
to save this remnant of mid-20th century Vermont.
Significantly, the city’s plan offers an opportunity
to create a public showcase for local food, energy
efficiency, and the creative arts, among other things,
demonstrating what’s possible with homegrown
vision and planning. Support from the Philanthropic
Leadership Fund helped move the project through
the planning process, as well as supporting
architectural, feasibility, and fundraising studies.
On Generator’s opening night, kids were particularly
enthralled with the Oculus Rift technology.
Helping to strengthen nonprofit
governance
The August 2014 meeting was hosted at Generator in
Burlington (pictured above) and focused on the Maker
Movement and the rapid growth in focus on creativity
in education, society, and the economy—an area that
is ripe for philanthropic investment.
When a Community Foundation fundholder
approached us with an idea to strengthen the
boards of Addison County nonprofit organizations,
the Philanthropic Leadership Fund stepped up to
partner with the United Way of Addison County and
provide matching funds to present workshops on
governance, strategic planning, and monitoring
financial indicators of health. Workshops were
held every other month, attendance was sometimes
standing room only, and the resounding feedback
on the post-workshop evaluations was “more,
more, more!” This has inspired the fundholder and
the Community Foundation to work with capacity
building groups like Common Good Vermont and
Marlboro College to develop more programming to
meet this need.
Fostering collaboration for
greater access to postsecondary
education
In partnership with the J. Warren and Lois McClure
Foundation, the Philanthropic Leadership Fund
supported the McClure Foundation’s fifth annual
education summit to discuss accomplishments,
challenges, and opportunities related to building
access to college and career education.
For the first time in summit history, the fall summit
of 2013 took the shape of a learning seminar for
Vermont-based funders and grantmakers with an
interest in workforce education. Keynote Speaker
Lawrence Miller, then Secretary of the Vermont Agency
of Commerce and Community Development, joined
panelists from leading nonprofits and state agencies
to discuss the roles of funders and the business
community in encouraging workforce development
and opportunities for work-based learning.
Bringing grantmakers together
Since 2009, the Leadership Fund has supported the
Vermont Funders Network, which brings together
local and national grantmakers who do a significant
amount of grantmaking in Vermont, to share
information and find new ways of working together.
At the February 2014 meeting, Vermont funders
had the opportunity to hear from staff of the
state’s federal delegation about issues in which
legislators and grantmakers can work more closely
together.
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We gratefully acknowledge all the generous contributors who have made a gift to the
Philanthropic Leadership Fund since its inception.
If you would like to learn more or make a contribution,
contact Patrick Berry at 802-388-3355, ext. 248 or [email protected].
Anonymous (7)
The Morris & Bessie Altman
Foundation
Arnold-McKenna Fund
Autumn-Harp Foundation Fund*
Avada Fund*
First Years Fund*
R E & M V Fontaine Family
Foundation
Forest Park Realty Corp
Claudio D. Fort
Foundation Source
Hildegard Bachert
Bay and Paul Foundations
Lois M. Beardwood
Stephen C. Biklen
Katharine Blanchard
Blue Ridge Fund
Seth and Christine Bongartz
Deb Brighton
Aaron J. Brondyke
Jonathan N. Brownell
Paul A. Bruhn
Jane E. Bryant
Brian T. Byrnes and
Bernard S. Schlager
Walter Cerf Community Fund
Judith R. Chalmer
Champlain Title Company of VT
LLC
Richard M. Chapman
Carol S. Clawson
Community National Bank
Compton Foundation
Stuart and Lucy Comstock-Gay
Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust*
Charles R. Cummings, Esq.
Staige and Marnie Davis
Dew Construction Corp
John and Sandra Dooley III
Doug Fund
Eagleridge Fund
Jan S. Eastman
Peter and Lisa Espenshade
John and Jane Ewing
Carl and Judy Ferenbach
David F. Finney
Fountain Fund
Charles Gamper Fund*
GDS Legacy Foundation, Inc
William E. Gefell
Lois B. Gordon Charitable
Remainder Trust
Natalie Grant
Great Grandmother Fund
Luther F. and Sally S. Hackett
Blair Hamilton Energy Efficiency
Memorial Fund
The S & C Harvest Foundation, Inc.
John Hawkins
Jeffrey H. and Deborah K. Hayes
The A.D. Henderson Foundation
The HF Fund
High Meadows Fund*
Honey Pot Fund
Kathy Hoyt
James T. and Deborah C. Hunt
Robert D. Ide
David and Eleanor Ignat Fund
Johnson Family Foundation*
The Kelsey Trust
Ellen Kahler
Margaret Kannenstine
Karlson Family Foundation
Robert M. Kaufman
Jane and Donald Seymour Kelly
Fund at New York
Community Trust
Susan H. Keniston
A. Jay and Carol Kenlan
John Killacky
Claudia and Peter Kinder
Charitable Fund
Susan A. Kireker Memorial Trust
Kokoro Fund
Stephen S.and Linda M. Kornbluth
Landmann Family Fund*
Donna M. LaPerle
Gale Lawrence
River-bankers Fund
Tom M. Roberts
The James E. Robison Foundation
Kimberly Rock
Howard E. and Susan W. Rood
Rowell Family Fund
Suzanne H. Leiter
Ann C. Livingston Fund
Sam Lloyd and Jesse Lapham
Education and Technology
Fund
Localhost Fund
Andrea Long
Lawrence H. Mandell and
Marcie A. Andres
Jessie Mazar
J. Warren and Lois McClure
Foundation
Lois H. McClure*
J. Michael McGean
Elizabeth Page McRae Fund*
Ruth and Peter Metz Family
Foundation
Michael’s Fund
The Harvey L. Miller Family
Foundation
Daniel and Cecile Moran
New Castle Fund
New Visions Foundation
Patricia P. Motch
David W. and Mary K. Otto
Ourmont Fund
Permanent Fund for Vermont’s
Children, Inc.
Julie Peterson
Ernest A. Pomerleau
Prospect Hill Foundation of the
Community Foundation of
New Jersey
David G. Rahr
Rainbow Fund
Betsy Rathbun-Gunn
Thomas P. Salmon
Bruce and Margaret Seely
Kristen R. Sharpless
Snelling Family Fund*
Snow Angel Fund at
Fidelity Charitable
Sallie Soule
Elizabeth Steele
Stettenheim Foundation
Dorothy A. Stone
Sustainable Future Fund
Peter D. Swift and Diana McCargo
Charitable Gift Fund
Takoradi Fund
Tane Family Fund
Teepeejay Fund
Russ Testa*
Ronald E. and Margaret S.
Thompson
Charlie and Mima Tipper
United States Department of
Agriculture
United Way of Chittenden County
Vermont Conservation Fund
Tim R. and Mary M. Volk
Dorothy C. Weicker
James G. and Catherine D. Wheeler
Richard and Katharine White
David A. and Peggy Williams
Whittington - McLendon Fund
Robert E. and Margaret S.
Woolmington
Christine A. Zachai
3 Court Street, Middlebury, Vermont 05753
www.vermontcf.org
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* Founding Supporters