Mitchell Kapor Foundation Weblog

Looking forward to more work and words in 2009. Until then, have a restful and pleasant holiday season.

Flickr photo by Thomas Hawk

Last Saturday, the Mitchell Kapor Foundation received a Community Partner Award from 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, Inc., one of our Black Boys College Bound Initiative (BBCBI) grantees. The award was part of the organization’s Annual Fundraising & Awards Gala celebrating their 20th anniversary, various individuals and organizations that have made a positive impact on their work, and the many students who are recipients of the organization’s scholarships.

We appreciate the recognition of the Foundation’s commitment to working with the community to create positive social change, and we’ll continue working with our BBCBI grantees in 2009 to raise the number of black male students who successfully complete high school ready for a quality post-secondary education experience.

Community change is built through collaboration, trust, and vision. Foundations are committed to these principles and are actively working together to understand our role in building change. Instead of functioning as individual entities, we are looking to each other as partners in order to better support the efforts of community based organizations.

CARMEN: The Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN) is a network of funders committed to grantmaking at the nexus of environment and health. By building this cross-cutting philanthropic community, HEFN and its members are supporting an increasingly powerful movement towards healthier people, ecosystems, and communities. At this week’s HEFN-CA annual convening, funders gained an understanding of the environmental funding landscape in California as well as developed an understanding of systems analysis work. We also heard from a panel of amazing organizers and legal advocates who made it clear that the Central Valley in California has become the new front line of social and environmental justice work.

Photo from: http://www.macalester.edu/americanstudies/enviroart.

TIFFANY: The Social Justice Funders Group is a collaborative of Bay Area grantmaking organizations committed to promoting social change through philanthropy. The group meets regularly throughout the year for ongoing conversations, information sharing, and strategizing about issues pertinent to social justice. In our most recent November meeting, we discussed the impact of the current economic crisis on each of our social justice grantmaking strategies, ways to get involved in the work surrounding AB 624 legislation regarding the scarcity of foundation giving to low-income communities and communities of color, and the impact the latest Presidential election may have on the social justice movement.

Photo from lesleymcdade.blogspot.com.

CEDRIC: I just returned from the annual meeting of Funders Committee for Civic Participation, which “brings together grantmakers committed to enhancing democratic involvement in all dimensions of civic life.” This year’s gathering focused on debriefing the results of the 2008 elections, which were monumental in certain ways but left room for improvement (i.e. additional voter participation and smoother elections administration) in others.  In session after session, we discussed stats, implications, and strategies for looking ahead. Through these gatherings and monthly phone calls, FCCP is a breeding ground for philanthropic idea-sharing and collaborations. I especially appreciate the trust and camaraderie shared by FCCP members as we jointly seek to make this democracy work for all Americans, residents and citizens alike.

I want to revisit a post that I wrote two months ago, admittedly more optimistic than I am now about the impact of the economic crisis on philanthropy and nonprofits.  As a sector, we’re in for a tough road in 2009; there’s no getting around it. I hear news almost daily of foundations losing assets and tightening up on grantmaking.

The Mitchell Kapor Foundation isn’t exempt from this madnesss, of course, but we’re committed to maintaining current overall funding levels in the first three quarters of the new year. We’ll keep a close eye on our investments and assets throughout 2009 and will make a better determination about 2010 as we see how the economy responds.

The implication here is that we’ll probably focus on renewal relationships and make many fewer new grants. If you’re interested in engaging with us for the first time, please call me or Carmen Rojas before proceeding with the grant application.

My hope – the silver lining – is that this recession will encourage further entrepreneurialism and efficiency across sectors. We’ll try to do our part.