Though I am a regular reader of this blog, this is my first take as a writer for it.  As co-chair of The Women’s Foundation’s Open Door Capacity Fund and member of their Program Committee, I wanted to share the news about The Women’s Foundation’s participation in a unique private/public grantmaking model.   

The Women’s Foundation is a founding investing partner of Hispanics in Philanthropy‘s (HIP) local Funders’ Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities, a collaborative of local, national and transnational funders that seeks to build the capacity of small and medium size Latino nonprofits in the Washington metropolitan area.

Power of giving together and partnership, key words for The Women’s Foundation, are well ensconced in this Collaborative, which provides a robust model for leveraging grantmaking for our region.  Through it, the founding investors include a mix of local foundations (The Meyer Foundation and The Women’s Foundation), the private sector (Fannie Mae and GEICO), the public sector (DC Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs) and and an international multi-lateral institution (Inter-American Development Bank’s Solidarity Fund). 

Each of these partners invests in the Collaborative and the aggregate investment is then matched by the national office of Hispanics in Philanthropy for local grantmaking.  A great example of how the sum can be greater!

As a demonstration of the impact of this collaborative, the partners awarded its first round of grants–totalling $425,000!–last week, on June 21 at the Inter-American Development Bank. 

At a reception to honor this inaugural group of grantees, HIP’s President Diana Campoamor offered remarks that reframed stereotypes, saying that Latino communities "are givers of the economic prosperity in these United States."  The Meyer Foundation’s Albert Ruesga, who is also Chair of Hispanics in Philanthropy’s Board, described the nation’s demographic shifts, suggesting that by 2050, one in every four iPods may be playing Celia Cruz tunes. 

Thirteen local nonprofits will benefit from this initial nearly half million dollar investment in our community, including The Women’s Foundation’s Grantee Partners Ayuda, CARECEN: Central American Resource Center, Community Bridges, the Latino Federation of Greater Washington, and Tenants and Workers United.

When I asked Community Bridges’ Ana Lopez to tell me more about the two-year capacity-building grant from HIP, she said that it would go toward the development of a three-year strategic plan to guide programmatic expansion, enhancement of communication systems, and development of new fundraising approaches, and she noted that HIP will also provide technical assistance and bring grantees together twice a year for training and support.  In fact, she said that an afternoon training for all grantees prior to the June 21 reception, "resulted in more than just a training, but a true network of support amongst organizations working with the common goal of strengthening the Latino families and youth we work with in the D.C. metro area.”

This echoes what Grantee Partners of the Women’s Foundation often express after they leave a quarterly technical assistance workshop or monthly discussion meeting, so it makes sense that The Women’s Foundation would be an investing partner in this work.     

And what does it mean for The Women’s Foundation to be engaged in this way?  Here are a few possibilities:

• It puts the foundation in a position of strength with a broad set of funders to leverage grantmaking and the grantmaking process. 
• Partnerships like these allow peer organizations to know more about The Women’s Foundation’s expertise and mission with women and girls in our region. 
• And then there is the multplier effect: together with other local funders, we were able to leverage national funding to our region.  As a result, our resources were bundled to make deeper investments in greater Washington.

This is clearly evidence of the power of giving together.

In addition, finding better ways to model grantmaking, whether through giving circles or public/private/international collaborations like this one, is a good check on our effectiveness and our leveraging skills. 

Finally, all of these grants focus on capacity building and leadership development, directly tied to the mission of The Women’s Foundation. 

I am looking forward to hearing about the collective and individual impact of these investments, both from Grantee Partners as well as from the other local funding partners. 

Eduardo Romero is the Director of Membership for the Nonprofit Roundtable.  He also serves as co-chair of The Women’s Foundation’s Open Door Capacity Fund and is a member of the Program Committee.

Photos courtesy of Michael Colella.