New Investments in Preventing and Ending Homelessness to Impact Hundreds of DC Residents

The Greater Washington Community Foundation’s Sharing DC Fund has announced $160,000 in new investments in eight nonprofits working to address homelessness in DC. Sharing DC will award grants toward two separate funding priorities: offering flexible funding to programs that help people with costs related to obtaining and moving into permanent housing and providing support for youth homelessness prevention and intervention programs.

Sharing DC, established in 2013, is dedicated to improving the quality of life for the District of Columbia’s most vulnerable residents. Stewarded by an Advisory Committee of donors, in collaboration with The Community Foundation’s staff, Sharing DC gives donors the opportunity to learn first-hand about the challenges facing our community and identify nonprofits working to make a difference in the lives of children and families. The focus area is determined annually by the Sharing DC Advisory Committee.

Advisory Committee Chair, Laura Stone, explained the collaborative process that resulted in these grants: "This year, the Committee chose to focus on homelessness prevention and intervention in alignment with The Community Foundation’s broader impact initiative strategy for DC. As part of the planning process for a forthcoming partnership between The Community Foundation and The District of Columbia Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH), these funding priorities were identified as two areas where private philanthropy can augment the District Government's homelessness service delivery. Sharing DC released an RFP focused on these areas and conducted a thorough and collaborative grant review process. We are proud of our list of grantees."

Kristy Greenwalt, Director, DC Interagency Council on Homelessness, Executive Office of the Mayor, shared, “We are so excited to be working in partnership with the Greater Washington Community Foundation. We all have a role to play in ending homelessness — it is not something one agency, or even one sector, can do alone. Our efforts must be strategically aligned to have maximum impact, which is why we are so excited The Community Foundation is piloting this grants program which supports implementation of the District’s Homeward DC and Solid Foundations DC plans.”

Addressing Youth Homelessness in DC

Youth experiencing homelessness are particularly vulnerable to harm and exploitation. The trauma and instability that results from homelessness can impact a young person’s development and have long-lasting effects on their well-being.

Sharing DC’s youth homelessness program grant recipients include: the Latin American Youth Center, Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL), Casa Ruby, and Sasha Bruce Youthwork. Funding will support street outreach, drop-in centers, hotline, prevention and stabilization services, emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent housing solutions.

Lupi Quinteros-Grady, President and CEO at Latin American Youth Center, noted, “With support from Sharing DC, LAYC’s bilingual, culturally competent staff will provide 400 runaway and homeless youth in DC with comprehensive services, including emergency care and supplies, crisis intervention, coordinated entry assessment, referrals to housing and other supports, case management, family intervention, and aftercare support.”     

Sasha-Bruce-Youthwork-DoMore24-e1464211830911.jpg

Sasha Bruce staff and clients at its emergency youth shelter, the Sasha Bruce House.

In DC, 17% of homeless youth self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning, while 7% self-identify as transgender. With this in mind, Sharing DC chose to invest in SMYAL and Casa Ruby, two of the District’s premier LGBTQ-led service providers. Ruby Corado, Executive Director at Casa Ruby, shared, “Casa Ruby is really happy and in need of the grant received from The Community Foundation. Our LGBTQ Respite Center and Housing Program will greatly benefit from the ability to purchase the most comfortable bedding we can provide our youth." SMYAL’s Executive Director Sultan Shakir expressed that they are “incredibly grateful to Sharing DC for partnering with us to change the lives of homeless LGBTQ youth. We know our youth face a number of challenges, and we’re working together to ensure young people can overcome whatever gets put in their way.” 

Flexible Funding

District government dollars cover the large, recurring costs of helping residents obtain and maintain housing, however, there are small expenses associated with helping clients return to stable housing that aren’t covered by existing federal and local government housing assistance programs.  

Sharing DC’s flexible funding program grant recipients include: Pathways to Housing, Community of Hope, Friendship Place, and Miriam’s Kitchen. These grants will allow providers to help single adults, families, and youth move to permanent housing by funding key needs which often present barriers to exiting homelessness. Funding will help with small costs related to obtaining and moving into permanent housing that are not otherwise covered by government funding sources — such as security deposits, rental application fees, transportation to see rental units, moving costs and household furnishings.

Catherine Mitchell, Director of Neighbors First Families at Friendship Place, noted that "This grant fills in a gap in DC's funding for our permanent supportive housing program for formerly homeless families. Some of our families are living in unsafe conditions, and now we will be able cover their costs to relocate to safer and more stable housing, where they can move ahead toward goals for recovery, health, wellness, financial stability and educational and career advancement."


The Community Foundation is excited by these investments and the opportunity to mobilize private funding to help expand services for people experiencing homelessness. If you are a funder or donor interested in learning more about our work to end homelessness in DC, or would like to learn about how to become engaged in Sharing DC, learn more on our website.

Corporate Philanthropy that Unites Communities

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is a New York-based law firm with offices in Washington, DC, Houston, Palo Alto and in the U.K. and Europe. About 15 years ago, Willkie’s DC office was looking for a way to give back to give back to the DC community that would complement the firm’s already-extensive pro bono efforts. Willkie’s goal was to enhance its impact on the community by concentrating its charitable giving on a key area of need in the DC region and harnessing the volunteer spirit of the entire office to serve a common cause, in a way that also would serve as a unifying force for the DC office.

In 2004, Willkie launched the Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP Greater DC Community Foundation as a component fund of the Greater Washington Community Foundation. The Willkie Foundation’s mission is to support educational and enrichment programs for underserved youth in the region.

Willkie1.jpg

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP attorneys and staff are actively engaged with Principal Grantees.

As the Willkie Foundation was launched, The Community Foundation provided an array of services to assist in the foundation’s organization and management. The Community Foundation’s professional staff helped Willkie develop its grantmaking program, including the strategy and identification of investment opportunities, facilitating meetings, and training on how to review proposals and make grants.

The partnership between Willkie and The Community Foundation led to a highly-customized foundation structure that is unique among law firms, but could provide a blueprint for other law firms and organizations looking to achieve similar goals. The key components of the Willkie Foundation model are:

  • Focused Mission: All efforts of the Willkie Foundation are directed toward organizations that provide educational and other enrichment programming for underserved youth in DC and neighboring jurisdictions.

  • Partnership Consensus: The Willkie Foundation’s mission statement was developed and endorsed by the Willkie DC partners and counsel, whose voluntary, individual contributions are the primary source of funding for the Foundation.

  • Office-Wide Advisory Committee: The Willkie Foundation is managed by a committee that includes partners, counsel, associates and staff across all practice groups.

  • Rotating Principal Grantees: Periodically, the Willkie Foundation selects an organization with which it partners, typically for a period of 5-6 years, making it the recipient of the majority of the Foundation’s annual giving, volunteer hours and other support.

  • Active Engagement with Grantees: Willkie attorneys and staff are actively engaged with grantees through events organized at Willkie DC for its grantees and through volunteer opportunities provided by grantee organizations.

  • Undirected (General Fund) Grants: The Willkie Foundation selects its grantee organizations carefully, but then allows the recipients of its grants to determine how best to use the awarded funds.

The Willkie Foundation awarded its first grants in 2005, and since then has awarded nearly $2.3 million in grants to about two dozen organizations providing educational enrichment and other related services to DC youth. Examples of the work of the Willkie Foundation include:

  • The Willkie Foundation’s first Principal Grantees, DC SCORES and Higher Achievement Program (HAP), received significant financial support that was instrumental in their growth and expansion. Along the way, Willkie attorneys and staff members participated in HAP’s mentoring program (a 26-week commitment), volunteered at their events, sat on their boards, organized school supply drives, and coordinated numerous activities for their students, including mock trials, shadow days and tours of Willkie’s offices.

  • The Willkie Foundation has provided over $100,000 in “rescue grants” to organizations finding themselves in unexpected or difficult situations, such as a $10,000 grant to Life Pieces to Masterpieces, to replace equipment lost due to vandalism of its facility, and $30,000 to DC Scores to cover an unexpected budget shortfall.

  • Willkie provided the lead gift in support of For Love of Children’s 50th Anniversary Capital Campaign, committing to a multi-year lead grant of $350,000. While FLOC was the Willkie Foundation’s Principal Grantee, Willkie lawyers and staff volunteered at FLOC, and Willkie organized events for FLOC’s students and volunteers at the firm, including a mock trial program, Scrabble and Uno tournaments, college fairs, resume reviews and mock interview and shadow days.

  • In 2017, a gift of $75,000 in seed funding from the Willkie Foundation enabled the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project to leverage a matching grant to fund its first-ever Social Worker. Having a full-time social worker has led to more collaboration with partner agencies, more children enrolled in early childhood programs, more parents learning skills to support their children, and more children getting their needs met in school and in the community.

  • The Willkie Foundation’s current principal grantee is Horton’s Kids. Aside from more than $200,000 in grants to date, Willkie has been an active participant in Horton’s Kids programming, including sending volunteers monthly to Horton Kids’ Homework Help sessions and participating in spring and end-of-year holiday celebrations and gift drives. And Willkie has hosted Horton’s Kids for resume and mock interview workshops, trivia night dinners and office tours.

As part of this continuing partnership, The Community Foundation shares its vast knowledge of and relationships with nonprofits across the region to help foster connections to organizations which share the Willkie Foundation’s charitable focus. This includes facilitating opportunities for Willkie employees to learn about the issues facing our region and the nonprofits who are working to address them.

“The Willkie Foundation has been so successful because it not only offers a vehicle to give back to the community by sharing our treasures, time and talent, but in the process brings together the entire Willkie DC community,” said Willkie partner Joseph G. Davis. “What excites people even more than the grantmaking is the fact that these groups and the youth they serve have become part of our extended Willkie family.”

Year-End Giving Tips from Leslie Smith of Chevy Chase Trust

With the end of the year quickly approaching, professional advisor Leslie Smith hopes individuals, families and businesses recognize that expertly managed and cost-effective donor-advised funds offer numerous financial advantages. Leslie, Senior Managing Director with Chevy Chase Trust, notes that a fund at the Greater Washington Community Foundation offers a special opportunity to learn about the issues facing the community and can support worthy causes, such as providing scholarships for students or helping to create a brighter future for vulnerable neighbors. There’s no better time to consider the financial benefits than in the last days of December.

Leslie has a long history with The Community Foundation—including as co-chair of The Foundation’s Professional Advisors Council and serving on The Community Foundation’s Advisory Board in Montgomery County and its Sharing Montgomery Grants Committee.

“I quickly went from having an academic understanding to comprehending the tremendous benefits of community foundations and donor-advised funds,” she says. “The bottom line is private foundations are not a very efficient option for most donors.” 

Leslie estimates that she and her colleagues have helped dozens, if not 100 or more clients set up donor-advised funds over the years. One client told Leslie that she wanted to focus on her own charitable giving after her husband passed away. A volunteer with the Literacy Council, the client was personally moved by stories of her immigrant neighbors who were determined to learn English while raising their families and working full-time, usually at low paid jobs. She wanted to find a way to help their children go to college. Leslie introduced her to Anna Hargrave, executive director of The Community Foundation’s local office for Montgomery County. Anna arranged a meeting with staff from the Literacy Council and Future Links, a nonprofit that provides academic support, internships and scholarships to underserved high school students. Fast forward four years: Leslie’s client has provided scholarships to three students, so far. 

“Every time we meet, she talks about those students and her terrific experience with The Community Foundation,” Leslie says. “Of course we also talk about her portfolio, but it’s her charitable giving and those scholarships that really make her light up.”

Leslie and her colleagues at Chevy Chase Trust not only refer clients to The Community Foundation, they also host learning events for clients on topics like hunger and poverty and roll up their sleeves and volunteer in the community. They are not alone. The Community Foundation partners with many corporations, professional advisors and financial institutions throughout the region who have demonstrated a strong commitment to addressing the community’s greatest challenges. 

Leslie recognizes that giving through The Community Foundation makes it possible to maximize the tax benefits and impact of philanthropy. As the year comes to a close, Leslie offers these five tips for end-of-the-year giving:

  • As you are considering your tax situation, you may find the cap of the deduction for state and local income tax as well as property taxes (a $10,000 deduction limit for all) results in higher than expected taxes, despite the reduction in federal rates. It may make sense to give more to charity, or to accelerate charitable giving into the current year.

  • Always consider gifting appreciated securities rather than cash, to avoid the capital gain on the securities. 

  • If you want to take advantage of the standard deduction rather than itemize, it could make sense to bunch charitable giving into alternate years so that one year you itemize and the next you use the standard deduction. 

  • If you don't want to make larger gifts to your usual charities in one year, a donor-advised fund can provide the mechanism to make a large deductible gift now, then take your time deciding how it will be used to benefit the community in the future.

  • If you are at least 70 1/2 years old, consider using your IRA to make a direct contribution to charity. You may give up to $100,000, which can include your Required Minimum Distribution. A donor-advised fund does not qualify for these donations, however, The Community Foundation offers other giving vehicles that allow you to take advantage of this type of gift.

Community News and Updates: June 2018

Welcome to the Board

Please join us in welcoming two new community leaders to our Board of Trustees:

 
CathySulzberger.jpeg

Cathy Sulzberger chairs the Board of Directors for Martha’s Table, and is a partner at a real estate development company in Maryland. She has served on the boards of various philanthropic organizations and educational institutions throughout her professional life.

 
 
David Roodberg.jpg

David Roodberg is the CEO and President of Horning Brothers, a full service real estate company. David has also been appointed by the Mayor to the Housing Production Trust Fund Board for Washington, DC, setting strategies for the City’s investment in affordable housing.

 

A Partnership to End Homelessness

Washington, DC, like every major city across America, faces an affordable housing crisis. At any given point in time, approximately 6,900 people are literally homeless - living on the streets or in the City's emergency shelters. In partnership with the District of Columbia Interagency Council on Homelessness, we are preparing to launch a public-private partnership focused on ending homelessness in the District. Spurred in part by the District Government’s own plans, which seem to be working, we believe now is a crucial time to bring together key public and private sector partners as we identify gaps and leverage points in the District’s plan to pinpoint how the private sector can make critical investments to accelerate our community’s response.


New Investments in Job Training to Benefit District Residents

The Community Foundation’s Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative is pleased to announce new investments in five local community-based organizations designed to help DC residents get the skills and training they need to gain employment. The funded programs will offer training in a host of industries including hospitality, IT, healthcare, education, and the construction trades. These investments are part of the 965 Florida Avenue NW Job Training Grant Program, a philanthropic partnership between the Workforce Collaborative and the developers of a new mixed-use property, a joint venture between MRP Realty, JBG Smith, and Ellis Development. 


A Tribute to Nancy Fax

Our dear friend Nancy Fax passed away last week after a brief illness. Nancy was a dedicated philanthropist and volunteer in her community -- serving as a member and chair of our Montgomery County Advisory Board, co-chair of our Professional Advisors Council, and as a Trustee. We honor and will remember her compassion, leadership, and significant contributions to the growth of The Community Foundation’s charitable assets and giving. Please contact Anna Hargrave if you would like to receive information about Nancy’s memorial service or make a donation in Nancy's honor to one of her favorite charities.