Opinion: Community Foundations Rally to Fulfill Role as Philanthropy's First Responders

By Terry Mazany
Senior Vice President of Philanthropy 
Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

Community foundations have historically been philanthropy’s first responders. 

When disaster strikes, they immediately stand up platforms to receive and distribute relief funds; take stock of the damage; identify the greatest needs; and marshal nonprofits, government, and businesses to create rapid, agile and coordinated responses extending from relief to recovery to reconstruction.  

Thus, it should not come as a surprise that in the face of a pandemic that poses an unprecedented threat, more than 400 community foundations in every U.S. state immediately set up COVID-19 response funds.   

Community foundations across the country are rallying support for nonprofits working on the front lines of Covid-19. The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, for instance, has been supporting the Mercy Care’s Street Medicine and Community Health Outreach Program, which helps unsheltered persons experiencing homelessness. Hitting the streets, they provide education on COVID-19, distribute hand sanitizer, and symptom screen.

These funds opened the tap for a remarkable surge of contributions already totaling more than $756.7 million, according to figures compiled by the Community Foundation Public Awareness Initiative. 

In many cases, community foundations are leading partnerships that also include private foundations, local United Way chapters, local government, and companies, all of whom are contributing to impressive local efforts to mobilize support for nonprofits and those in need.

And, just as fast, dollars from these funds started to flow into communities across the U.S. 

Nearly $350 million has already made its way to local nonprofits through rapid-response grants – with hundreds of millions more on the way in the coming weeks as these foundations are able to respond to the fast-changing needs and release funds into their communities.

Those figures don’t include hundreds of millions more in direct contributions to nonprofits made through donor-advised funds housed at community foundations nationwide. A recent survey of 64 U.S. community foundations found that donor-advised funds at these foundations granted $821.9 million to nonprofits in March and April.

The size and speed of this community-focused response is unlike any in our nation’s history – and it speaks to the unique value community foundations play in big cities, suburbs, and small towns across the country. It reinforces the notion that community foundations are foundational to communities.  They have a personal stake in the survival of their fellow residents and the revitalization of the communities they serve.

But while they have more than lived up to their reputation as philanthropy’s first responders, their work over the coming months and years is even more critical.

And it will require donors, companies, and other partners to stick by their side during the difficult days ahead.

Following 9/11 and the Great Recession of 2008 – as well as in the aftermath of massive hurricanes and other natural disasters – community foundations have learned that the story doesn’t end when the news cameras leave. In fact, it is only just beginning. 

We must be there not only to provide short-term relief, but also to support mid-term recovery, and long-term resilience in our communities.

This lesson is especially true now, given the mushrooming size and scope of this crisis – as well as the fact that the virus has hit vulnerable groups the hardest and is accelerating social and economic inequality at an alarming rate.

So while we should marvel at the speed at which The New York Community Trust is mobilizing and granting upwards of $100 million in relief funds in the span of weeks, or how the Seattle Foundation quickly built a rich tapestry of partners to fund rent support, food security, healthcare, and childcare in its most disproportionately impacted communities, we must now prepare for what will undoubtedly be a long and costly journey ahead.

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the inequities in our communities and the toll on those most vulnerable continues to mount with devastating hardships.  

In the face of such strong headwinds, we all stand to lose if we stop for too long to admire the generosity and difficult work of the early days of this crisis.

Instead, as government, businesses, and individuals consider how they can best address the tidal wave of need that is crashing on us, they should double down on their investments in the work of philanthropy’s first responders.

Not only have these community-based institutions proven their mettle in the early months of this crisis, they have been serving our country well through wars and economic hardship for more than a century. 

Today, our communities are in trouble.  

We have much work ahead of us, but thanks to the committed leadership guiding community foundations across the country, we have what it takes to come together to overcome this adversity. 

Terry Mazany is senior vice president of philanthropy at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.

During the 2009 financial crisis, Mazany, then CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, led the Recovery Partnership, a collaboration of 150 nonprofit, foundation, and government partners who responded quickly to the crisis and deployed more than $1 billion to jumpstart economic recovery and job creation.