Hidden in Plain Sight: Community Foundations' Systems Change Power

Foundations are powerful.??They are economic, political, and structural forces that significantly impact how America functions.??

Foundations play a central role in funding the non-profit sector, a major element of our economy.?Virtually all foundations have been established and funded by people who have successfully navigated the politics, laws, and dynamics of the business world, which drives America.?As such, foundations come to the table as forces to be reckoned with, across the public, private, and governmental sectors.

Yet private foundations’ power is limited.?In exchange for the tax exemptions and private control they enjoy, private foundations waive their ability to “lobby” for changes in law and policy. ?Private foundations can assert their beliefs, grant to non-profits, and generally support causes.??Private foundations walk loudly, but the policy stick they carry is smaller than you'd think.

Community Foundations, however, enjoy unique “lobbying” power under the Internal Revenue Service Code. This vests tremendous power in their potential.?

Yet historically, Community Foundations have essentially waived their power to advocate for equitable change. Indeed, most contemporary Community Foundation staff and board members only vaguely recognize, much less exercise, the serious system change power within their community service toolboxes.?

Why??It’s largely a matter of history.?Having rarely been used at the outset, this power became obscured by Community Foundations’ grantmaking operations and resulting culture.?Over time, most simply forgot about or abandoned the significant power they hold to foster reforms.?

Yet there’s a small movement growing within the Community Foundation community to reclaim, leverage, and successfully wield their advocacy power.?These organizations recognize that by doing so, they can exponentially increase their ability to strengthen the equity and well-being of the communities they serve.

Adding to their potential advocacy strength is Community Foundations’ proximity to their communities.?The nation’s ~750 Community Foundations are located within virtually every region in the country.??They tend to be respected by their local civic, governmental, and non-profit organizations.?And many have recently begun to develop the power of the people and communities they serve.?Their local presence and engagements enable them to understand the unique obstacles to success within their respective communities.

Community Foundations' proximity to those they serve, respect from local leadership, and considerable lobbying power make them valuable potential leaders for equitable and strong communities across the country.

Community Foundations are increasingly recognizing this power, and acting upon it to catalyze their regions toward systems improvements that better enable all to thrive.

Yet to be clear, such transformation doesn’t happen overnight.?Most Community Foundations are only starting to recognize the power they possess.?“Lobbying” for system reforms is foreign to Community Foundations’ historical nature, operational functioning, and supporters’ expectations.?Advocating for improvements is therefore a valuable muscle that needs to be recognized, nurtured, and developed.?

As we’ve found at Fairfield County’s Community Foundation, catalyzing the organizational potential to drive system change is a very big ship to turn.?Deliberate soul-searching, discussion, agreement, planning, aligning, executing, and perpetual adjusting are required for the Community Foundation ship to successfully navigate the turn toward community empowerment.??And if every element of the ship isn’t aligned heading into the turn, the ship could crash – or sputter and stall coming out of it.?

The risk is real.?Yet arguably, it is one that needs to be made.?If most Community Foundations are to maintain their relevance, they need to recognize that their old game plan provides diminishing returns in the new philanthropic marketplace.??In light of the realities laid bare by the pandemic - and the nation’s racial reckoning - such returns will become increasingly unacceptable to potential donors.

Given their unique advocacy power and their corporate responsibility to effectively serve, I would argue that every Community Foundation in America should be exploring the best uses of their “lobbying” power to advance the system changes that can strengthen their communities in ways exponentially more powerful than grantmaking alone.?

For if not now, when????

And if not ever, why?