Visiting the HQ of Chicago Beyond was inspiring.
If you want to restore your faith in humanity spend a few days with people working in philanthropy.
I’m just back from a whirlwind visit to Chicago where we visited with leaders from the legendary MacArthur Foundation and organizations called Lever for Change and Chicago Beyond.
Thanks to the Bank of America philanthropic services team doors across the nation have been opened to the philanthropy I have the privilege to co-lead, The Carl Angus DeSantis Foundation.
As we gear up to expand our giving, we take what is called “What’s Possible” tours to grow our knowledge, expand our network of experts we can tap into and to observe how other foundations operate.
These tours have been invaluable.
They are also inspiring and quite frankly taxing because keeping up with the thought leaders in this field forces us to stretch intellectually.
What’s wonderful about philanthropy is that no two foundations are alike.
In others words, if you’ve seen one foundation, you’ve seen one foundation.
That’s enables the new kids on the block (us) to drop in and glean ideas about how to be effective, as well as learning what to avoid. After all, throwing money at a problem is not the best way to move the needle.
What I love about this space is the generosity of the practitioners.
These are busy people. But they always make time to share their work, offer advice and hand over their playbooks. Generosity is about more than giving. It’s about sharing knowledge and helping your peers. I look forward to the day that we can help others serve effectively.
The importance of philanthropy is heightened these days thanks to tough economic conditions and government funding cuts to nonprofits and social services.
More is needed and more is expected from the philanthropic sector to fill the gaps left by cutbacks.
My belief, and it’s shared by my foundation peers, is that philanthropy can do a lot, but it cannot replace government investment in programs and research.
The key word in that sentence is investment. Lifting people and communities up pays dividends. Letting them sink creates costs. Asking everyone to pull themselves up by their bootstraps is a great saying but we all need help and some need more than others.
What we’ve learned on these trips is that philanthropy is risk capital. That makes the sector super important. In business, life and community building those who take risks move the needle. We can learn from their failures and successes. This is where innovation can happen.
At all three stops in Chicago, we heard about lessons learned, risks taken, new approaches that could be shared and further developed.
Chicago Beyond was founded by Liz Dozier, a true American hero who turned around a troubled high school and then founded a philanthropy that invests in local leaders who are in the trenches making a difference across America.
The lessons learned from those “proximate leaders” are shared nationally. Chicago Beyond is helping education, improving prison conditions and investing heavily in birth centers to help women bring babies into the world safely.
Lever for Change is helping foundations make big bets all over the world. We learned so much from their approach to vetting, managing and monitoring investments.
As for the MacArthur folks, they were truly inspiring.
We spent time with their Chicago Commitment team who concentrate on Chicagoland, a fascinating place with a wide variety of assets and challenges.
We capped the day with a meeting with MacArthur’s renowned President John Palfrey, a remarkable leader who is making big bets on programs to preserve Democracy, save local news and lift communities.
For me, the MacArthur meeting was especially personal. It was the MacArthur Foundation that funded our Downtown Master Plan in 2001, an effort I co-chaired while serving on the City Commission.
That plan added fuel to the fire lit by previous leaders, strengthening our core by promoting downtown housing, race relations, downtown parks, the addition of parking infrastructure and so much more. That plan and that process was a highlight of that era and continues to pay dividends today. All thanks to MacArthur’s bet on Delray.
A generation later, I had a chance to personally thank its president for their investment. Now it’s time to pay it forward. And we plan to.
How exciting to see how your connection with the MacArthur Foundation has evolved.
And to think of how the seeds planted in Delray Beach have taken hold.
Hi Carolyn,
Who would have ever guessed? It’s so cool the paths that life takes us down.