The Catalytic Philanthropy Podcast

Dan Ely - ”Actions Speak Louder Than Words.” When We Uncovered that Enslaved African People Contributed to the Wealth of the Foundation, Our Board and Staff Did More Than Make Statements

Dan Ely, Vice President and former Board Chair of the 1772 Foundation, shares the actions board and staff took as soon as they uncovered the connection between the foundation and profits made from the labor of African peoples enslaved in the late 18th century by the forebears of the benefactor, Stewart B. Kean. One operating principle of catalytic funders like the 1772 Foundation, is taking responsibility for an issue and acting creatively and decisively. By taking a series of steps immediately upon learning this information, the foundation offers other funders an example of action and accountability. Thanks to Afia Amobeaa-Sakyi, Director, Equity and Inclusion, at Exponent Philanthropy, for partnering on this episode.

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Dan Ely is a trustee of the 1772 Foundation and is former president of the foundation's board. Dan had a 40-year career with First National City Bank (now Citibank N.A.), serving in corporate banking and risk management positions, and later as managing director. Dan is on the board of the Hamilton Partnership for Paterson and also serves Raritan Headwaters Association in Gladstone, NJ. He was a volunteer fireman with the Ralston Engine Company for 17 years.

Joey Borgogna - Embracing a More Powerful Role for Our Foundation - Using Our Position to Nurture Leaders and Build a Peer Learning Community Part 2

In Part 2, Joey Borgogna of the Speranza Foundation shares the techniques he uses to build a peer learning community for the foundation's artist fellows, and personalize learning and technical assistance to individual artists' needs. The leadership program encompasses one-on-one coaching, peer interviews to learn about the artists' work and life, individualized training and technical assistance, group workshops, in-person visits to experience artists' work, and celebrations. Joey urges foundations working in any field to connect people in their network and nourish their growth as leaders and as human beings. 

Related Blog:

• Funding the Arts Is Funding for Social Change

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Joey Borgogna is a creative producer and coach at the intersection of art, philanthropy, culture, and community, whose work is inspired by humanitarian and cultural expeditions spanning 21 countries on 5 continents. He currently serves as Director of the Speranza Foundation where he manages the Lincoln City Fellowship, an annual enrichment program for individual artists.

Joey Borgogna - Embracing a More Powerful Role for Our Foundation - Using Our Position to Nurture Leaders and Build a Peer Learning Community Part 1

The pandemic underscored challenges faced by artists and performers, and at the same time, the indispensable role they play in sustaining our culture and connecting us. As Joey Borgogna, director of the Speranza Foundation, puts it, "We get the gift of artists being in the world." The foundation shifted from supporting arts creation, to the more hands-on work of building community among its artist fellows, to nurture renewal, growth, and leadership in ways personalized to the artists' individual needs. In Part 1 of this Podcast, Joey explains the "Why?" of this shift; in Part 2 he describes how he designs the training and builds the peer learning community. 

Related Blog:

• Funding the Arts Is Funding for Social Change

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Joey Borgogna is a creative producer and coach at the intersection of art, philanthropy, culture, and community, whose work is inspired by humanitarian and cultural expeditions spanning 21 countries on 5 continents. He currently serves as Director of the Speranza Foundation where he manages the Lincoln City Fellowship, an annual enrichment program for individual artists.

 

Richelle Todd-Yamoah ─ ”Not Thinking Anything Was Too Big” - A Small Foundation Partners with a CDFI and the State to Nurture Businesses and Fill Transportation Gaps in a Struggling Region

When working to advance its mission, the Pascale Sykes Foundation in New Jersey has never backed away from challenge and the need to venture into new kinds of work. The foundation focuses on nurturing opportunity and success for working families. Recognizing that lack of jobs and transportation in rural South Jersey undermined hope for families, the foundation built relationships with organizations in other parts of New Jersey to target resources to this underserved region. Richelle Todd-Yamoah explains how the relationships and expertise the foundation tapped into made it possible to fill gaps in the larger system that affects families. The foundation's work focused attention on South Jersey and catalyzed additional investment in this region by a factor of five. 

Related Blog:

• How We Help Black Business Enterprises Access Capital To Grow and Thrive

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Richelle Todd-Yamoah is Vice President of Programs and Operations at the Pascale Sykes Foundation, responsible for helping to strengthen the capacity of grantees in support of the foundation’s mission and Whole Family Approach. She has developed and maintained relationships with key philanthropic, government, and private stakeholders to encourage investment and partnership in this vital work. Richelle serves on the boards of the Community Foundation of South Jersey and Mural Arts Philadelphia. 

 

Colleen O’Keefe ─ ”We Never Would Have Made This Impact by Relying on Grant Proposals.” How Listening and Building Relationships Allowed a Small Foundation to Catalyze Transformation - Part 2

Colleen O'Keefe, Executive Director of the Sauer Family Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota, points out that all grantmaking is done in the context of large systems encompassing nonprofits as well as government agencies. Colleen realized she needed to talk with people who work in different parts of the child welfare system to understand the system as a whole and where the foundation could add real value. In this two-part Podcast, Colleen shares how listening without preconceptions, inviting people to step back and reflect, and convening staff from diverse agencies re-framed and transformed the work. By listening and convening, the foundation was able to look at underlying causes, focus on prevention, and target its support to remove barriers and scale up services that had potential to change the way children and families were served, and address racial disparities.  

 

Related Blogs

• https://www.exponentphilanthropy.org/blog/listening-in-on-a-system/
• https://www.exponentphilanthropy.org/blog/targeting-racial-disparities-in-child-welfare/

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Colleen O’Keefe is the Executive Director of The Sauer Family Foundation, whose mission is to invest in strengthening the well-being of children, so they thrive in their families and communities. In Minnesota she led a systems reform effort for the Child Welfare system and continues to work alongside colleagues on the reform efforts. Colleen has facilitated conversations for Exponent Philanthropy’s national community of lean funders on aligning philanthropic work for greatest impact, and the importance of listening.

Colleen O’Keefe ─ ”We Never Would Have Made This Impact by Relying on Grant Proposals.” How Listening and Building Relationships Allowed a Small Foundation to Catalyze Transformation - Part 1

Colleen O'Keefe, Executive Director of the Sauer Family Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota, points out that all grantmaking is done in the context of large systems encompassing nonprofits as well as government agencies. Colleen realized she needed to talk with people who work in different parts of the child welfare system to understand the system as a whole and where the foundation could add real value. In this two-part Podcast, Colleen shares how listening without preconceptions, inviting people to step back and reflect, and convening staff from diverse agencies re-framed and transformed the work. By listening and convening, the foundation was able to look at underlying causes, focus on prevention, and target its support to remove barriers and scale up services that had potential to change the way children and families were served, and address racial disparities.  

 

Related Blogs

• https://www.exponentphilanthropy.org/blog/listening-in-on-a-system/
• https://www.exponentphilanthropy.org/blog/targeting-racial-disparities-in-child-welfare/

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Colleen O’Keefe is the Executive Director of The Sauer Family Foundation, whose mission is to invest in strengthening the well-being of children, so they thrive in their families and communities. In Minnesota she led a systems reform effort for the Child Welfare system and continues to work alongside colleagues on the reform efforts. Colleen has facilitated conversations for Exponent Philanthropy’s national community of lean funders on aligning philanthropic work for greatest impact, and the importance of listening.

Kimberly Quintero — How a Next Generation Influences Its Family to Embrace Environment, Social Justice as Integral to the Mission

Families that welcome the engagement and ideas of their next generations open up the potential for innovation and new opportunity. Kimberly Quintero, Program Associate at the Pincus Family Foundation, explains how foundation staff facilitate involvement by the 3^rd generation, their collaboration with the board, and partnership with grantees. 

Hear how the next generation of foundation leaders honors the founders' values while linking the mission to address current and emerging issues. This evolution thrives because of mutual respect among the generations, constant conversation, and the support of talented and experienced staff. .  

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Kimberly Quintero is the Program Associate of the Pincus Family Foundation located outside of Philadelphia, PA. She has been instrumental in supporting the foundation's next generations and the junior board in their development as grantmakers, and the executive team with grantmaking. Kimberly is passionate about sharing knowledge and reducing barriers to accessing resources. Before joining PFF, Kimberly co-founded and oversaw Aquinas Center Immigration Legal Services. 

https://pincusfamilyfoundation.org/

Henry Rael — How a Small, Place-Based Foundation Was Instrumental in Catalyzing Investment in Native American Communities, in Ways Determined by the Communities Themselves Part 2

What impact can result when a funder collaborative engages deeper and deeper with nonprofits, and keeps challenging how it does philanthropy? The journey of a collaborative catalyzed by the McCune Foundation, a small foundation in New Mexico, led to the design of a platform enabling a wide variety of private and public funders to build capacity and leadership in Native American communities, in ways prioritized by tribal leaders and community members. Henry Rael of the McCune Foundation shares how the platform structure also builds capacity of Native American-led groups to apply for millions of Federal dollars, and to direct these funds in ways determined by the communities themselves.  

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Henry Rael, Director of Strategy and Initiatives at the McCune Foundation in New Mexico, has 20 years of experience with innovative enterprise design and development across for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Notable projects include a start-up Bluetooth semiconductor company, a cooperative of small farms, a communications firm serving nonprofits, and several collaborative funding structures. 

https://nmmccune.org/

Henry Rael — How a Small, Place-Based Foundation Was Instrumental in Catalyzing Investment in Native American Communities, in Ways Determined by the Communities Themselves Part 1

What impact can result when a funder collaborative engages deeper and deeper with nonprofits, and keeps challenging how it does philanthropy? The journey of a collaborative catalyzed by the McCune Foundation, a small foundation in New Mexico, led to the design of a platform enabling a wide variety of private and public funders to build capacity and leadership in Native American communities, in ways prioritized by tribal leaders and community members. Henry Rael of the McCune Foundation shares how the platform structure also builds capacity of Native American-led groups to apply for millions of Federal dollars, and to direct these funds in ways determined by the communities themselves.  

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Henry Rael, Director of Strategy and Initiatives at the McCune Foundation in New Mexico, has 20 years of experience with innovative enterprise design and development across for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Notable projects include a start-up Bluetooth semiconductor company, a cooperative of small farms, a communications firm serving nonprofits, and several collaborative funding structures. 

https://nmmccune.org/

Sandy Cook — A Womens’ Collective Giving Group Asks Nonprofits, ”How Can We Support Transformation at Your Organization?” Part 2

Creative, high-impact philanthropy is practiced by donors of all types - foundations, donor advised funds, social venture funders, and collective giving organizations. We visit with Sandy Cook, a leader at Impact100 Metro Denver, one of several hundred womens collective giving organizations around the country. Find out why Impact 100 Metro Denver invites nonprofits to step back and consider what they need to make significant shifts in how they work. Sandy shares examples how investing in nonprofits' unglamourous infrastructure needs, such as redesigning space, and buying trucks and equipment, helps organizations achieve exponentially more impact.  

https://impact100metrodenver.org/

https://philanos.org/

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Sandy is a board member of Philanos, an international network of collective giving organizations with a mission to strengthen collective giving and promote informed impactful grantmaking. Following a career in academia and a role as partner with Hewitt Associates (now AON Hewitt), Sandy’s “second career“ has been philanthropy - particularly collective giving. She is a founding member of the Women’s Giving Alliance in Jacksonville, Florida. At Impact100 Metro Denver, Sandy is a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the DEI task force..