SDG Collaborations & Working Groups
In This Issue
Collaborations Overview
New Job Opportunity: SDG Funder Collaboration Consultant! We are excited to announce that, thanks to grant funding from SDG member The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF), SDG will be able to improve our support of the collaborations/working groups. We are currently seeking to hire a Funder Collaboration Consultant. Click here for a pdf of the position description, and please pass it along to colleagues and any qualified candidates.
The San Diego Grantmakers mission is to connect, educate, develop, and inspire a diverse group of foundations and corporations to stimulate effective philanthropy in the San Diego region. One way we "connect" funders is through collaboratives and working groups. These are groups of members that work together to leverage the power of their giving: by pooling funds and making grant decisions together OR "aligning" funding to some of the same grantees OR (and most common) simply having regular strategic discussions and presentations by experts. Each group is championed by a member or several members of SDG.
The benefits of collaborative work are many. Collaborations, in general, represent a critical mass of funds, energy, and expertise that can achieve results beyond those of any single funder. Collaborations provide community clout in their ability to find and implement innovative solutions, and to attract national and government funders. Leveraged dollars and pooled resources (i.e. funding, knowledge, research, and more) make larger-scope projects possible. Finally, partnerships result in shared learning and diversified risk.
Current SDG collaborations include:
- Homelessness Working Group
- San Diego Neighborhood Funders
- Child Welfare
- Education
Funders
- San Diego Workforce Funders Collaborative
- Nonprofit Leadership Development
- Prisoner Reentry Funders: The Coming Home to Stay Project
Check out the information below to find out how these funders are tackling big issues in San Diego, and how you can learn more or get involved!
Homelessness Working Group
Member Contact: Mary Herron, The Parker Foundation, mherron@san.rr.com
The SD Grantmakers Homeless Working Group formed itself "to prevent and reduce homelessness in the San Diego region by enabling funders and other stakeholders to have greater impact through advocacy, collaboration and education." A dozen foundation representatives meet monthly to accomplish our purpose. Some of the members cofunded the "Opening New Doorways Initiative" to encourage the Corporation for Supportive Housing to guide the San Diego region in addressing homelessness. At each of our monthly meetings (2nd Tuesdays, 10am, at Alliance Healthcare Foundation) we have enjoyed a guest speaker and stimulating discussion regarding how we can best collectively and individually address issues related to homelessness. We support the Plan to End Chronic Homelessness (PTECH), now forming committees to enter its implementation phase. Some of our members have volunteered to serve on PTECH committees. We are currently exploring a greater focus on episodic homelessness. We have affiliated with the National Partnership to End Long Term Homelessness, participating in programs and dialogue with its leadership at the Melville Charitable Trust. We believe our membership in this organization will increase our impact both locally and nationally. If you would enjoy lively dialogue with grantmaking colleagues, we invite you to join us!
Next Meeting: February 11, 2008, 10am-12pm, Alliance Healthcare Foundation
San Diego Neighborhood Funders
Member Contacts: Shirley Adams, Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, sadams@jacobscenter.org
Steve Eldred, The California Endowment, seldred@calendow.org
Jennifer Vanica, Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, jvanica@jacobscenter.org.
San Diego Neighborhood Funders (SDNF) is a collaboration of funders working in concert to support resident-led change in the Diamond Neighborhoods of southeastern San Diego. We go beyond grantmaking and listen to residents, find out what they need, and work in partnership with them on solutions. Our goals are to:
- Work with residents to transform southeastern San Diego into a vibrant community through projects that remove blight, build assets, strengthen the neighborhood, and create social self reliance while enhancing resident skills in planning, project management, research, and developing resources.
- Develop an effective process for funders to work directly with the residents so community members own and drive the change in their neighborhood. Working across traditional areas of interest, SDNF members share tools and techniques that guide resident-led change at the neighborhood level.
SDNF members work on the ground with the residents, going directly to the source to identify problems, opportunities, and bring about resident-led change. Residents are a passionate and knowledgeable resource, and resident-led change uses the creativity of the community to address and solve problems in the neighborhood. Funders learn what is needed directly from the source and establish relationships that lead to productive and meaningful collective action.
Our current work focuses on the Village at Market Creek along the Euclid Avenue/Market Street corridor. It encompasses 45 acres envisioned as a vibrant, multicultural experience where people will live, work, and play. The Village includes components essential to building a strong community -— housing, business, arts and culture venues, education and training, capacity-building services, and recreational spaces.
Our mission is to support and link a wide array of resident-led work and build social and economic bridges to the broader region.
Next Meeting: March 7, 2008, 12pm-4pm, Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation
Child Welfare
Member Contact: Jorge Cabrera, Casey Family Programs, jcabrera@casey.org
Since 2005, the Child Welfare Funders group has brought together foundation, corporate and public child welfare leaders in an effort to create common understanding and knowledge around critical issues that impact foster youth and the initiatives and priorities of the public child welfare system and their community partners. The group's quarterly working meetings provide educational resources--in the form of presentations from local, statewide and national leaders as well as former foster youth--and a space for deepening dialogue about opportunities for aligned and strategic investment in support of child welfare initiatives. We are currently exploring a more defined public/private partnership with the County of San Diego Child Welfare Services that would focus on supporting the needs of youth transitioning from foster care to independence.
Next Meeting: February 25, 2008, 10:30am-12:30pm, at Casey Family Programs
Education Funders
Member Contact: Sedra Shapiro, The San Diego Foundation, sedra@sdfoundation.org
This group is a learning community of funders interested in supporting public education. We have convened members of our community to share knowledge as well as promote creative dialogue and action on education issues. A series of workshops and lectures with experts and community members has been programmed to impart current research, policy, and initiatives. We have had presentations on education collaboration models from other areas of the country, school finance and governance systems, and national best practices conveyed by Grantmakers for Education. We have also brought in local school leaders. At the moment, there is a special task force preparing recommendations for the group on how to identify the most critical needs and focus areas in order to achieve greater impact.
Next Meeting: TBD
San Diego Workforce Funders Collaborative
Member Contacts: Sid Voorakkara, The California Endowment, svoorakkara@calendow.org
Jacque Picone, San Diego Workforce Partnership, (619)228-2918, jacque@workforce.org.
The San Diego Workforce Funders Collaborative is a public/private partnership of philanthropic foundations, employers, and the State of California Employment Development Department working together to create well-coordinated and well-financed solutions to the region’s workforce needs.
The current SDWFC members are: The California Endowment, San Diego Workforce Partnership, State of California Employment Development Department, San Diego Grantmakers, Alliance Healthcare Foundation, Invitrogen Corporation, WebMD Health Foundation, The Girard Foundation, and Kaiser Permanente. The members have generously committed close to $1 million in funding for the first year. In addition, the Collaborative recently received a 3-year, $450,000 grant from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, a partnership of the Ford Foundation, U.S. Department of Labor, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Hitachi Foundation, to strengthen and expand local workforce partnerships.
The Collaborative will focus its funding and workforce development efforts on industry sectors with current and projected growth in the region, potential within those selected industries to move individuals into livable-wage jobs with basic skills training, and opportunities for career ladders and lattices after initial job placement. The Collaborative will support innovative programs that establish career pathways connecting employers, education systems (K-12 and higher education), workforce development providers, social service agencies and families. Based on an analysis of current and projected labor market data, the Collaborative has decided to initially concentrate its efforts on two industries: healthcare and biotechnology/life sciences.
Next Meeting: February 13, 2008, 9am-10:30am, Biocom
Nonprofit Leadership Development
Member Contacts: Janine Mason, Fieldstone Foundation, janinem@fieldstone-homes.com
Lori Finch, The San Diego Foundation, lori@sdfoundation.org
This group is in the early stages of formation as a learning community of funders interested in building the leadership capacity of San Diego nonprofits. The topic was initiated by the 2006 USD Center for Nonprofit Research study demonstrating that as many as 70% of current San Diego nonprofit Executive Directors will be retiring in the next five years. Thus, leadership development and transition issues will be a huge challenge for our nonprofit partners in the foreseeable future. To date we have met with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations to understand best practices in philanthropic support in this area. The focus going forward in 2008 will be to hone in on how SDG members can work most effectively together to support nonprofit leadership development productively and broadly in San Diego.
Next Meeting: TBD
Prisoner Reentry Funders: The Coming Home To Stay Project
Member Contact: Judi Larsen, The California Endowment, jlarsen@calendow.org
This group has been meeting since Fall 2006 to discuss the challenges faced by formerly incarcerated persons as they return to the community and attempt to reintegrate with their families, neighborhoods, and social institutions. The funders recognize that the reintegration process is affected by an array of public systems, including parole, education, child welfare, health and human services, employment development, law enforcement, and others, and that a comprehensive response from a collaboration of funders that cuts across program boundaries can help policymakers and service providers think differently about how to work with this population. We share a perspective that the incarceration of an individual has a negative impact on not only that individual, but also his or her family, neighborhood and community, especially in those neighborhoods and communities that are disproportionately impacted by crime and incarceration. We also share a perspective that those same families, neighborhoods and communities benefit when a recently incarcerated person successfully reintegrates back into the community rather than continue behavior which will result in their return to prison or jail. The working group is beginning to apply what we have learned to date, to identify ways in which we may work together to address some of the reintegration challenges. Potential areas of collaboration include supporting increased public awareness and political will to create community and policy environments that are more receptive and supportive of reintegration efforts, and to identify neighborhoods or regions with higher numbers of returning prisoners, where we may mutually support specific reintegration reform efforts within a targeted geographic area.
Next Meeting: February 8, 11am-1pm, Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation
Resources
Our mission is to connect, educate, develop, and inspire a diverse
group of foundations and corporations to stimulate effective
philanthropy in the San Diego region. For more information,
visit www.SDGrantmakers.org.
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