Dear Community Foundation Fundholders,
I hope you and your family are enjoying a safe and happy summer break!
Last quarter, thanks to the continued generosity and care of our community of givers, we collectively awarded nearly $24 million in grants to nonprofits working to strengthen our region and beyond.
At The Community Foundation, we remain focused on supporting our community through the COVID-19 crisis and ensuring an equitable recovery now and for the future. Last quarter, our work leading the region’s coordinated philanthropic response effort included:
Investing $330,000 through the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund in nonprofits addressing vaccine hesitancy, mental health, food access, and return to school.
Announcing a $1 million gift from MacKenzie Scott that will go towards helping arts and culture organizations stabilize, adapt, and thrive through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through the Partnership to End Homelessness, recommitting to a $5 million impact investment, alongside donors and other partners, to increase affordable housing in DC.
Selecting 10 Black Voices for Black Justice Fellows to receive direct financial support for their work to advance social justice and racial equity in our region and beyond.
The Children’s Opportunity Fund being recognized by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading as a Bright Spot Community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Making $50,000 in initial investments from the LGBTQ+ Fund using a participatory grantmaking process to address the needs of our LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities.
Celebrating our community’s champions — including the donors, nonprofit partners, local individuals, and companies — who helped navigate the COVID-19 crisis.
Adding new leaders to our Board of Trustees bringing expertise in law, cultural policy, LGBTQ+ issues, and digital technology and communications.
As we are wrapping up our strategic planning process and preparing to release our new strategic vision to the community, we are also updating some of our policies and procedures to ensure greater alignment and clear purpose. As a social justice organization with a mission to build equitable and thriving communities for all, we have adopted an anti-hate group policy that is consistent with how our peers are prohibiting funding to organizations designated as hate groups. We have also updated and clarified our policies and procedures for funds that participate in fundraising to better support your efforts to mobilize resources for the causes that matter most to you.
In the fall, we look forward to sharing with you our new 10-year strategic plan with the goal of increasing our impact on this community now and long into the future. This moment in time demands that we leverage our leadership capacity and ability to mobilize resources to ensure an equitable recovery and a brighter future for our region.
Thank you for your continued partnership in serving our community’s needs today, and in building a better tomorrow for the Greater Washington region.
Sincerely,
Tonia Wellons
President and CEO