Charting a New Path Forward
A Message From Our President and CEO
CEO Tonia Wellons shares a preview of The Community Foundation’s new strategic vision and path to pursue economic justice, with a neighborhood-centered approach.
Dear friends,
Following several tumultuous years for our community and our country, the Greater Washington Community Foundation embarked on a strategic planning process to explore how we can best support our community as it recovers from a trifecta of crises – the COVID-19 pandemic, persistent structural racism, and stark economic injustice – and grapples with deep-seated inequities that were exacerbated by the pandemic.
We spent time listening to and learning from our donors and community partners. We engaged our staff, Board of Trustees, and Advisory Boards in Montgomery and Prince George’s County in conversation about our organizational vision and values, how we can align our operations with those values, and the impact we want to create both now and in the future. And we carefully looked at data to better understand our neighbors’ experiences in their communities, and the people and communities struggling the most in our region.
In the fall of 2021, I was proud to share with you our intention to lead this community in addressing the most catalytic opportunity of our lifetimes: closing our region’s racial wealth gap. We believe that by changing the prospects for how our Black and Brown neighbors generate, sustain, and share wealth, we will ultimately improve the quality of life for everyone who lives, works, and raises a family in this region.
Together, we are charting a new path forward for our collective future. Together, our community will prosper.
This annual report features our new vision for change and stories demonstrating how The Community Foundation, our donors, and partners have impacted our community during fiscal year 2022 (April 2021 – March 2022) and beyond. These stories highlight how your support and partnership help us be responsive to all kinds of needs, as we work to strengthen and support communities across the region.
Thank you to those who have long supported and partnered with The Community Foundation on our mission to create a more equitable and just Greater Washington region. Our work continues and we are glad you have joined us.
Sincerely,
Tonia Wellons
President and CEO
Our Strategic Vision: Together, We Prosper
The Core Pillars of our Strategic Vision
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In order to achieve our vision for a more just and equitable Greater Washington region, we are reimagining how The Community Foundation invests in, partners with, and supports our community in alignment with our organizational values and vision for change.
• Our Investment Policy Statement Reflects our Commitment to Do No Harm
• Our Anti-Hate Group Policy: Hate has no place in our Philanthropy
• Our Commitment to Diversity and Equity in our Investment Practices
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We are centering equity at the heart of everything we do at The Community Foundation. This equity lens guides our internal operations, our investment strategy, our partnerships, our grantmaking, and our community leadership approach as we work with a spirit of shared humanity and in bold possibility.
Read about how we are Centering Racial Equity and Inclusion at The Community Foundation
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We will provide strong leadership to do the difficult but essential work of identifying the most promising ways to make progress toward closing our region’s racial wealth gap, and then mobilizing the resources and support to make it happen.
CONNECT PHILANTHROPY TO IMPACT
The Community Foundation mobilizes philanthropic resources and leverages our expertise to help our donors and partners invest in strengthening this community.
Our Collective Giving Made an Enormous Impact on Our Region
Read about how The Community Foundation is helping some of our donors and partners turn their philanthropic passions into action and impact.
Responding To Gun Violence
The Davon McNeal Memorial Fund aims to give at-risk youth, in Wards 7 and 8, a respite from potential violence through pro-social programs in sports, the arts, and education.
Professional Development
The David Bradt Nonprofit Education Fund supports senior level nonprofit leaders in advancing their careers and leadership skills by providing funding for them to attend an intensive executive training program of their choice.
How The Arts Survived Covid-19
America Remembers Fund was created by local artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg to support the installation of “In America: Remember,” which blanketed the National Mall with 660,000+ white flags, each honoring a person lost to Covid-19.
Exploring Issues that Matter to Our Community
Celebrating Philanthropy
2021 Annual Meeting
Our fall Annual Meeting offered an exciting preview of our new strategic vision and featured a powerful conversation with the Washington Post’s Michelle Singletary who shared her reflections and personal experiences with misperceptions about race and inequality.
2021 Celebration of Giving
In November 2021, many donors, nonprofits, and community partners from across Montgomery County came together in-person to reflect on what we’ve accomplished over the past year and recognize our 2021 Montgomery County Philanthropist of the Year, Kevin Beverly.
2022 Celebration of Philanthropy
In May 2022, we brought together over 200 of our closest supporters, friends, and community partners to celebrate our shared impact on this region by enjoying incredible performances from local nonprofits, learning more about our new strategic vision, and joining an important conversation about economic justice.
Stories from 2021-2022
Pursue Economic Justice
The Community Foundation’s new strategic approach is focused on investing in strategies to increase economic mobility and close the racial wealth gap.
INVESTING IN BLACK LEADERS BUILDING AN ANTI-RACIST AMERICA
Ten local Black leaders were selected as Black Voices for Black Justice Fellows, receiving financial support to help scale their activism and work. Fellow Xavier Brown, a Black agriculturalist creating healthy green spaces in communities, was able to purchase additional farmland and invest in a new food cooperative providing healthy, affordable prepared meals for families East of the River.
ENSURING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF BLACK-LED ORGANIZATIONS
A generous gift from Facebook enabled historic investments to help Black-led organizations address immediate infrastructure needs -- such as leadership development, human resources, and technology -- to ensure organizational sustainability. Mamatoto Village was able to bolster its advocacy and organizing efforts by training and paying community members to advocate for maternal health rights and equity.
A Worker-Led Approach to Guaranteeing Opportunity
The Community Foundation joined with several regional foundations to launch Let’s GO DMV!, a 5-year guaranteed income pilot providing $1,000 a month to 75 hospitality workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic.
Helping Excluded Workers Meet Basic Needs
Phase 3 of the DC Cares program, a partnership with the Executive Office of the Mayor and Events DC, will provide $36.9 million in direct financial assistance to 15,000+ excluded workers, specifically immigrants, returning citizens, and gig workers.
Distribution partners include: Bread for the City, CARECEN (the Central American Resource Center), CentroNia, Latin American Youth Center, and Mary’s Center
Strengthen Neighborhoods and Community Institutions
The Community Foundation uses data to direct resources toward neighborhoods with the greatest needs and the community-based organizations that serve them.
Sharing Community Funds brought donors together to award $1.1 million in grants to foster an equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, including investments to fight food and housing insecurity, improve access to health resources, expand domestic violence and suicide prevention services, build access to career development programs, and help kids get back to school.
Faces of Sharing
Address Critical Community Needs
The Community Foundation and our donors respond to both acute and everyday crises to help stabilize and improve the quality of life for our neighbors and communities.
Supporting Recovery for local arts and culture organizations
Arts Forward Fund, a donor collaborative started by the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation and housed at The Community Foundation, received a $1 million investment from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott which enabled nearly $1.7 million in additional grants to support the recovery and reopening of 89 arts and cultural organizations.
Expanding Access to Learning In Montgomery County
The Children’s Opportunity Fund invested $703,000 to address learning delays caused by the pandemic, including reactivating Equity Hubs to serve 125 students during remote learning, expanding Imagination Library’s free monthly book delivery program to three new zip codes, and supporting the Equity Afterschool Program to partner with KID Museum to serve two Title 1 Elementary Schools.
Nurturing An Equitable Recovery From COVID-19
The COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund invested $337,000 in equitable recovery grants to increase testing and vaccination rates in impacted communities, provide counseling and support services to frontline nonprofit workers, improve food access through outreach and advocacy around federal nutrition programs, and expand access to out of school time learning opportunities.
Developing Emerging Leaders In Philanthropy
The Emerging Leaders Impact Fund brought together 40 young professionals from area colleges, businesses, and civic organizations to learn about strategic philanthropy and pool their resources to give microgrants to five nonprofits addressing chronic absenteeism and high truancy rates in Prince George’s County schools.
Improving Food Security In Montgomery County
Food for Montgomery, a public-private partnership with Montgomery County Government and Food Council, invested over $2.3 million to combat the food insecurity crisis sparked by COVID-19. Strategic investments empowered partners to expand food distribution sites across the county, prevent food waste, sustain local farmers and small businesses, and improve the hunger relief system.
Helping Youth And Families Achieve Stability
The Fund for Children, Youth, and Families made its final investments totaling nearly $4.8 million awarded to 50 nonprofit programs, including housing services from District Alliance for Safe Housing, support for youth in foster care from the Center for Adoption Support and Education, academic support from Horizons Greater Washington, and career development support from Bright Beginnings Inc.
$95 million Health Equity Fund Established to improve outcomes for DC residents
The historic Health Equity Fund is focused on improving the health outcomes and health equity of DC residents by addressing social determinants of health. Mindful that health and wealth are inextricably connected, the fund’s first investments (fall of 2022) will support economic mobility programs and wealth-building strategies in historically underinvested communities.
New Community-Led Fund Supports And Empowers LGBTQ+ Community
Using a participatory grantmaking approach, a majority BIPOC and entirely LGBTQ+ grants committee awarded $50,000 from the LGBTQ+ Fund for Philanthropy to help SMYAL lead the DC LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition to secure over $4.7 million in funding from the District for LGBTQ+ issues and enable the Wanda Alston Foundation to support 21 young adults in its transitional housing program.
Investing In Solutions To End Homelessness In DC
The Partnership to End Homelessness continues to bring the private sector to the table to invest in proven solutions that end homelessness. It has partnered with Enterprise Community Loan Fund, Inc. on an impact investment to support the development and preservation of nearly 500 affordable homes. It has also partnered with nonprofits to successfully advocate for funding to end chronic homelessness for 500 individuals and 260 families through Permanent Supportive Housing.
THE Community Foundation REMEMBERS
In Memoriam of Our Friends Who Have Recently Passed
