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As the region’s community foundation, Philadelphia Foundation takes seriously our role as a civic leader.
In doing this, we pursue the community’s greatest opportunities and work to address the most critical challenges. We inclusively unite people, institutions, and resources from throughout the community and seek to produce significant, widely shared and lasting results.
Philadelphia Foundation is intentional about manifesting the values, developing the relationships, accessing the resources, and building the understanding and skills needed to do this important work.
The breadth and depth of our relationships across the region are unmatched. We maintain strong ties at every level of government – local, state and federal – and nurture deep relationships and understanding among our neighborhoods, the corporate and nonprofit sectors, as well as the philanthropic community.
Beyond connectivity and trusted relationships, Philadelphia Foundation has earned a reputation for creativity, agility and action in pursuit of solutions to complex issues.
In November 2022, we launched the Civic Coalition to Save Lives – a coalition of organizations and CEOs who have come together to learn about, support, and drive proven, sustainable intervention strategies to materially reduce gun violence. While the rate of these crimes remains high, few cities can match the level of gun violence reduction Philadelphia has experienced.
This progress is a testament to the dedicated work of the many civic, philanthropic, non-profit, business, grassroots and government organizations sharing ownership of the problem as well as acting on solutions.
As Philadelphia Foundation prepared to enter its second century of service, we co-hosted On the Table Philly in 2017, 2018 and 2019, bringing together thousands of socially and civic-minded individuals for conversations to inspire new ways to work together to make our communities stronger, safer and more dynamic.
These conversations helped inform our second century strategy and underscored the important civic leadership role Philadelphia Foundation can and must play in the region.
A report by the Philadelphia African American Leadership Forum funded in part by Philadelphia Foundation — How African American-led Organizations Differ from White-led Organizations: Research Report on African American Nonprofit Organization in Philadelphia — shows Black-led organizations have less access to financial networks, smaller staffs, fewer cash reserves and are more dependent on government grants than white-led organizations.
These factors can make Black-led organizations more vulnerable to recessions and changes in government, and thus more financially precarious than white-led organizations.
The Black Community Leaders Fund provided selected nonprofits with operational and capacity-building support to enable strong leadership, resilient operations and finances, and greater infrastructure to weather unexpected adversity.
The Fund includes an initial $1 million contribution from Facebook, which selected Philadelphia Foundation as its regional partner in the company’s $20 million “Supporting Black Communities” initiative. Additional inaugural support of $200,000 over two years has been provided by the Barra Foundation, as well as $100,000 from the S. Albert Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation.
Philadelphia Foundation has served the community for more than a century, and the breadth and depth of our relationships across the region are unmatched. We maintain strong ties at every level of government – local, state and federal – and nurture deep relationships and understanding among our neighborhoods, the corporate and nonprofit sectors, as well as the philanthropic community. Beyond connectivity and trusted relationships, Philadelphia Foundation has earned a reputation for creativity, agility and action in pursuit of solutions to complex issues.
The Civic Leadership Fund operates as the Foundation’s annual fund, providing flexible, unrestricted resources to enable us to rapidly convene and organize partners to address critical needs when they arise.
Your tax-deductible contribution will help us continue to respond to emerging challenges and create better lives for the people we serve. With your partnership, we can ensure that greater Philadelphia remains a resilient and supportive community for all.
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