On Wednesday, October 25, the Greater Washington Community Foundation hosted its 2023 Annual Meeting at the MLK Library. The event celebrated what has been an extremely busy year for The Community Foundation, so far, including the launch of the Together, We Prosper Campaign, the announcement of several groundbreaking community investments, and surpassing $1.7 billion in grantmaking (with $95 million awarded in FY23, alone).
“Today, we gather to celebrate and reflect on all we’ve accomplished together,” President & CEO Tonia Wellons shared. “But we also come together so we can be reenergized for the work ahead of us – the work of building community, fostering belonging, and sharing prosperity.”
Wellons began the program by acknowledging the outstanding contributions of our Community Champions and other fundholders who continue to partner with The Community Foundation to impact our community, as well as the efforts of the more than 2,700 nonprofit and community partners who are doing the work on the ground to make our region a stronger, more vibrant, and inclusive place to live, work, and thrive.
“It takes all of us working together to ensure that our community is operating at its best,” Wellons shared. “At The Community Foundation, we look forward to bringing people together to create meaningful impact in our region.”
Wellons then welcomed Alex Orfinger and Diane Tipton to present the 2023 David Bradt Nonprofit Leadership Awards. Named for a long-time fundholder and former Trustee of The Community Foundation, the David Bradt Nonprofit Education Fund is a charitable fund that supports the development of senior-level nonprofit leaders in advancing their careers and leadership skills. Click here to learn more about the David Bradt Nonprofit Leadership Awardees.
“We are so grateful for the leadership of our incredible nonprofit partners,” Wellons shared. “We truly could not do this work without them.”
The David Bradt Nonprofit Leadership Award is just one of more 700 charitable funds that The Community Foundation manages on behalf of generous individuals, families, businesses, and local government partners. Over the past year, The Community Foundation has welcomed 28 new charitable giving funds to our community of givers, including the Developing Families Maternal Health Fund – a $5 million investment that will support life-saving efforts focused on women of color in DC’s Wards 5, 7, & 8.
In addition to partnering with donors and partners to make direct investments in the community, this year, The Community Foundation also continued its role as a key convener and facilitator by convening faith and philanthropy leaders for interfaith conversations around addressing antisemitism, anti-Black racism, islamophobia, and other forms of hate and bigotry. It also celebrated four years steering the Partnership to End Homelessness, which is working towards investing in housing justice for our region.
“As the region’s largest local funder, we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to mobilize our community to address pressing needs,” Wellons acknowledged.
At this point, Wellons provided an important update on one of The Community Foundation’s most active mobilizations – the Together, We Prosper campaign for economic justice.
Publicly launched in May, the Together, We Prosper campaign for economic justice seeks to mobilize philanthropy to close the racial wealth gap in our region and to grow endowments to ensure The Community Foundation can continue to respond to future community needs. The campaign will also sustain the launch of innovative economic pilot programs such as the first guaranteed income program in Prince George’s County and Brilliant Futures – a children’s saving program in partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools and Prince George’s County Public Schools.
“I have been completely blown away by the resounding response from our community,” Bill Taylor, member of the Board of Trustees and Co-Chair of the Together, We Prosper campaign shared. “It is gratifying to know that our community is responding to the call to eliminate the disparities which prevent all of us from living in a just society.”
“We know it will take all of us to ensure that our community is operating at its best,” Wellons shared. “This is the role of philanthropy – to connect all of us to our shared values, our shared stewardship, and to inclusion.”
“When we begin with the core, unifying values that many people share, we realize that it’s in everyone’s best interest to build a system where no one is left behind.””
Wellons was then joined by Cat Goughnour, Racial Wealth Equity Fellow at Prosperity Now, and Bobby Milstein, Director of System Strategy for the Rippel Foundation, for a panel discussion around race, belonging, and how we can create an inclusive and diverse community for all. Click here to watch the full discussion.
“Polls show that vast majorities of people have strong unifying values,” Milstein shared. “But many are unable to convert those values into actions in the moment. We hyper-focus on our differences or we get disillusioned by the myth of scarcity.”
“But when we begin with those core, unifying values that many people still share, we can overcome these obstacles and come to the realization that it’s in everyone’s best interest to build a system where no one is left behind.”
“Exclusion – particularly exclusion caused by the racial wealth gap- is costing all of us,” Goughnour shared, citing a recent CitiBank study that estimated the cost of racial inequality to the US economy over the past two decades to be roughly $16 trillion in lost GDP.
“The racial wealth gap is not just a problem for those on the lower end of the gap,” Milstein concurred.
Milstein then shared a model for inclusion called “Bridge, Block, Build”. The model is to put forth bridges and solutions to help bring people together, block the negative forces that are preventing growth, and continue to build and reinforce the relationships that strengthen community.
“What is most important for a sense of belonging is the table design for the people who’ve been excluded,” Goughnour added. She explained the need to exercise and prioritize efforts to build a more inclusive economy –going out of the way to include those who have been historically excluded or marginalized.
“How do we value the power of the community so that actions are not done ‘to’ them, but ‘with’ them? How do we help people to recognize their lived experience as power, as expertise – where we pay them for their participation as consultants, and not just with gift cards?”
“A lot of the innovation and creativity we yearn for is genius that has been left on the table for decades,” Goughnour said. “It’s time we were more intentional in valuing those voices. It’s time we recognized that we can go further, together, faster.”
“Belonging is one of the most powerful and fragile things that exist in social movements,” Milstein added. “We have to be able to see the future, see ourselves in it, and believe that we can navigate there.”
“Once it becomes visible and valued, we need to make it investable – we need to back it up with capital.”
“I’ve been heartened by philanthropy’s role around closing the racial wealth gap,” Goughnour added. Quoting Arundhati Roy, Goughnour shared that “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
“May we continue to put our resources where our values are.”
Click here for photos from the Annual Meeting event or to watch a recording of the panel discussion. For more information about the Together, We Prosper Campaign or how you can get involved in creating a community of belonging, contact Mary Robinson, Interim Managing Director of Development at [email protected]