Philanthropy operates best in a culture of reciprocity. Not where the roles of giver and recipient are fixed, but where we recognize that everyone has gifts to share and benefits to collectively experience. In the broader landscape of community, we are all one another’s supporters.
For the Greater Milwaukee Foundation to responsibly serve the community in this context, we must be both proactive and responsive. We must actively listen as well as listen to act. This is our way, and it results from thoughtfully connecting with community stakeholders and philanthropists to best understand interests and needs, and advance solutions.
As author Margaret J. Wheatley has said, “There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.”
Providing space and opportunity for such discovery is a fundamental role of our community foundation. Following through with support consequently helps achieve that unified vision.
Emergencies & emerging needs
Sometimes, this process happens urgently, in the face of the unexpected. In one of the most unanticipated natural disasters to occur recently in our metro area, devastating floods caused by severe weather in August left many community members in need and seeking assistance.
While local governments and residents awaited news about Federal Emergency Management Agency aid, the Foundation convened funders and nonprofit partners to understand how we could best help homeowners facing significant property damage and loss. The Zilber Family Foundation quickly stepped forward with generous donations to both the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County to mobilize relief efforts.
By following residents’ voices, we developed a strategy to address some of the gaps people were experiencing. This led the Foundation to fund the work of Revitalize Milwaukee to help clear flooded basements and conduct needs assessments for homeowners. Because one of the most prevalent needs was to replace damaged hot water heaters, the Foundation issued grant funding to Housing Resources Inc. to provide that service. The community has helped support this work and other recovery efforts through our flexible MKE Responds Fund, which received nearly $160,000 in donations in August and September.
With a separate grant to the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, the Foundation also helped those with home-based child care centers clean and replace classroom items. Drawing on cross-sector collaboration capacity built during the pandemic, the Foundation continues to coordinate ongoing response and data collection with the city of Milwaukee and other partners to complement the resources FEMA is now bringing into the region.
Responsive to the sector
Extreme weather has not been the only source of strain on our nonprofit community this year. As changes at the federal level began to affect resources that many organizations had built into their budgets and programs, the Foundation reached out to over 400 grantees to evaluate the impact.
Nonprofits expressed that they are especially challenged by an increased demand for services, reductions or freezes in funding from federal government sources, and policy changes affecting the services they can provide.
They identified rapid response funding, amplification of nonprofit voices on public platforms, and advocacy for stable and supportive policies as the most valuable support they could receive.
Even though it was just a snapshot in time, this survey of partners echoes concerns we are hearing in community meetings and individual conversations about reduced access to resources hindering service delivery.
As urgency and need have increased in the community, Foundation donors are responding by giving early and giving more. In a typical year, donor advised fund grantmaking from January to July averages about $16 million. In that same period this year, our donors granted $39 million from their funds.
Proactively engaging stakeholders
Thoughtful engagement and 360-degree communication are certainly not limited to moments of crisis. We also are committed to outreach and research that helps align stakeholder views and Foundation practices.
This year, through the expertise of The Center for Effectively Philanthropy, we conducted a trio of surveys to understand how our donors, our grantees and the professional adviser sector perceive the Foundation.
We learned that community impact and communications were among the Foundation’s strengths, and we identified tailored engagement and growing our role as a connector among opportunities for expansion. Among the insights gained from survey participants:
Donors are interested in an active relationship with the Foundation.
- 53% want some or full partnership
- 80% have interacted with us within the last year
Professional advisers, through whom we have initially met many of our donors, speak highly of the Foundation’s responsiveness.
- Rated 6.22 out of 7 for being current on emerging trends in charitable giving
Grantees place strong emphasis on additional, non-monetary support the Foundation provides, such as fundraising guidance and topical convenings.
- 57% receive assistance beyond the grant – up from 16% in the last survey (2021).
Shaping the work together
To best serve the region, the Foundation must maintain meaningful connection with these stakeholders and all others – from neighborhood residents to elected officials. Given our big tent of philanthropic partnership, it is essential that our future work reflects priorities and perspectives from a wide array of community sectors.
Deep engagement, therefore, is central to the development of the Foundation’s next strategic plan. Throughout this fall, we have been hosting individual interviews, focus groups, town hall meetings and extensive surveys to record candid insights from diverse voices across the region to best understand our opportunities for philanthropic and community impact in the years ahead.
The conclusion of our 2020-2025 strategic plan will not complete our work to build a Milwaukee for all, rather it will serve as a springboard for our next phase of collaborative progress. For a region of our size to remain competitive – especially relative to faster growing areas – we must work together more closely and with mutual intention.
In that spirit of reciprocity, I encourage you to foster a meaningful relationship with the Foundation. Explore how we can support your philanthropic interests. Help us form stronger coalitions for change. Partner with us for your next community convening or meeting. Subscribe to our publications to stay apprised of our impact. Every action has meaning.
I am profoundly grateful for your ardent engagement. When we prioritize connection, we keep the wheels of positive change in motion.
Gregory M. Wesley, JD
President and CEO
Greater Milwaukee Foundation