Report: New Community Foundation Leaders Take Hands-On Approach to Change

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has published an extensive feature on community foundations  — with a focus on how a new crop of leaders is leading the field to take a more active leadership role both locally and nationally.

The piece quotes new leaders from several community foundations — including the Seattle Foundation, Boston Foundation, Baton Rouge Area Foundation, The New York Community Trust, and Marin Community Foundation — and spotlights the trend toward more active advocacy work in many communities as well as greater collaboration across the field.

By working together and combining their expertise and knowledge, foundation leaders hope to increase awareness of the work that community foundations are doing to support efforts like arts and culture, while also addressing hot issue topics like climate change and racial injustice.

Foundation leaders also aim to reach a new generation of donors who are more progressive and want to take bolder steps with their giving to push forward policy change.

Terry Mazany, network executive of the Community Foundation Opportunity Network, emphasized that to reach new donors, leaders must play a bigger role in the community by taking the lead on major issues.

By taking on a more active leadership role, community foundations have an opportunity to drive meaningful change, said Rhea Suh, president of the Marin Community Foundation.

“The solutions to many of the things that we’re looking for, and leadership that we’re so desperately craving today, is likely to come from the local level,” Suh told The Chronicle.